Re Muddling the Re Muddled Re Muddle

I challenge you to say that three times fast.

This tongue twister about sums up this phase of the restoration. The back addition on the house has seen numerous changes through the years, some minor, and another quite major one. Now I was about to add another major one to it's history - though hopefully one a bit better than a "re muddle".

Studs cut and ready for window framing

Window framing finished

With the sill repaired it was now time to make the necessary changes to the walls. The north side wasn't too bad, other than re framing for the twin double-hung windows for above the sink. As you progressed towards the porch however, the studs (I use the term vaguely) became a patchwork of pieces, as doors were added, windows filled in, etc. I salvaged many original studs from the interior wall that was removed and was able to use them in the wall reconstruction. When the next guy in the future opens up the wall to do his re muddling, it will be hard to tell what was original and what were my changes.

The plan of attack was to work on a section at a time and get it sheathed so I wouldn't need to support anything which worked out well, especially doing most of this myself.

New sheathing started, windows temporarily fitted

Because the original pine plank sheathing had too many issues with all the changes, I decided to replace it all with new sheathing and salvage what I could of the pine for other uses. The above picture you can see at this point I've covered over where the new door will be. I later went back and framed the doorway from the inside and cut the doorway out, then installed the new door.

South end with new framing and sheathing continued

Once I was up to the old porch section, the back wall framing didn't need much to work with, but the side wall was a lost cause. With the framing done to fit the octagon window besides not being at all square, and the fact that I was going to be framing for a new double-hung, I decided to just take it out and start over. Now this wall is level and squared up to the back wall and to the main house - and a few more studs than before.

North side new sheathing

With the south end completed and new window fitted, it was on to the north end to complete the wall reconstruction. This end was a breeze, just replace the sheathing and added a few filler pieces to re size the framing for the new window.

Walls, door and windows complete from inside.

With the walls completed, I removed the windows that were temporarily installed so I could wrap the structure in Tyvek. I actually wrapped the outside corners first with roofing paper for added security and at the inside corner I ran a piece down half on the addition and half exposed for the main house. When I redo the siding on the main house I can tuck this flap underneath the new siding and that way this critical corner will be nice and tight instead of having a seam here. Then everything was wrapped in the Tyvek paper and taped with the special Tyvek tape. The windows were then installed permanently using the rubber membrane tape around the framing, folding the Tyvek around to the interior, then topped with foil tape after the window was shimmed and secured.

Much, much better now...