Demo – TROVATO

History Revealed

Posted on August 11, 20191 Comment

It’s been a few weeks since the last update. A lot has happened since then. History has been revealed in the front of the building. For right now we are rebuilding the area above the existing store front. We will be reusing the existing glass/doors and repaint everything once its complete.

One incredible item uncovered was the original steel column on the North West corner of the building. The new design will have the tops of the columns above the glass exposed.

While the front demolition/rebuild is going on we are finishing the floor.

The floor after the repairs and sanding.

And now here is the floor with the first coat of stain and sealant.

Flooring Cleanup

Posted on April 21, 20191 Comment

The downstairs flooring continues. We finished exposing the broken floor joists and now we are cleaning up all the trash, old wood, and broken bricks left over from the years.

We are having to replace almost all of the floor joists on the east wall.

And here is the final pile of wood we saved. We will need to remove the nails, plane/even them up, and then our contractor will reuse them above the new subfloor/floor joists.

Along with the flooring we continue with our numerous projects. We found some bar stools for upstairs. We removed the seat pads and are having them recovered.

And finally an overview of the upstairs from when you walk up the south-side stairway. Things are coming together.

History Exposed

Posted on February 17, 2019Leave a comment

On the 1st floor in the rental space, there was plywood covering the east side of the floor.. This past weekend we became curious about what was below that plywood and what it’s going to take to restore the floors to their original luster. We know there are numerous footings that have failed along the wall and portions of the floor had been patched.The plywood was glued down and then nailed/stapled all over. We have never seen so many nails/staples in our life:)

We started with a small area and it actually came up pretty easy.

Since it was going so good we finished removing all of the plywood.

We were hoping to find something interesting under the floor like a chest of gold, silver, or at least an old bottle cap. no luck!!

This is what we found, lots of dirt, wood, and broken brick. Maybe we will get lucky when we start to remove the flooring to repair the footings.

Demolition Continues

Posted on July 29, 2018Leave a comment

We have a new power pole!!!! Oncor Electric finished installing the new power pole on the west side of the building. We are not sure but they may be leaving both poles in place to provide enough electric to our building and the buildings to the West. Either way it will not interfere with the emergency exit steps that will be installed along the side of the building. Starting this upcoming week, HVAC will start along with the remaining power and plumbing connections.

This past weekend we finished what we could demolishing the remaining firing strips upstairs and the old electric motor that was installed on the Otis Material Lift. We needed to remove the motor to restore the lift back to its original installation which was hand powered. Once everything is complete we will encase the material lift with metal railing for safety and re-install new ropes.

Finally, what upstairs looks like at the point in time.

Stay tuned for weekly updates.

2nd Floor Demo

Posted on May 6, 2018Leave a comment

They started this past week removing the original floor boards upstairs. The original boards were too damaged and it was not economical to save them. They are going to brace the existing floor joists and then install a new sub-floor making everything level before install new Engineered Hardware Flooring.

There was a lot of dirt and trash under the floor and above the 1st floor ceiling. They had to shovel and vacuum everything up so it’s all clean before starting new.

Finally there are a lot of holes that will need to be patched above and below.

Demo Updates

Posted on April 8, 2018Leave a comment

Below are some of the final pictures of us removing ceiling tin and bead board prior to our contractor starting the roof replacement.

This is the Material lift upstairs after we removed the bead board next to it.

Upstairs after cleaning up.

Straight on view of the Material Lift

Looking up the stairs toward the 2nd floor.

Downstairs in the back next to the lift looking upwards. This is where all the wood was stored. It will be our garage store room.

And finally the irony photo. This is going down the stairs:) To bad the building was in a fire in the 60’s when the Shaw building next door burned down. This is the reason for the fire damage upstairs in the rafters. And the reason we don’t mind installing a sprinkler system in the building.

Fire damage upstairs

And our mess:)

Demolition

Posted on April 1, 2018Leave a comment

Here are some more photos during the demolition. We are trying to save the beadboard and any wood that can still be reused for future projects.

Upstairs, still removing the ceiling tins:)

Dirty Job

Posted on March 27, 2018Leave a comment

We are getting very close to starting construction. Our builder is ready to get started as soon as the City approves the plans. Anything left in the building will be demolished and sent to the dump. We wanted to save some of the beadboard downstairs and the remaining ceiling tins upstairs.

Here is the beadboard next to the Material Lift prior to demo.

Then after demo. This is also a really good picture of the outside of the Material Lift.

Check out the Aluminum door behind the lift. It was a fire door that opened into the Shaw building. The opening was bricked in, but the door remains,. No telling how old it is, but it is really heavy.

Upstairs, during the removal of the ceiling tins.

Some interesting things we found above the ceiling tins.

And finally the results of doing a Dirty Job:)