What would you do different remodeling this colonial in Louisville KY

last year

last modified: last year

What would you do different? ive got it gutted and ready, heres my floor plan for remodeling. In a previous post I used "renovation" instead of remodel.

Here's how the house sits right now:

Here's photos of the interior of the house, as it sits right now:

Here's a couple photos of how it sat when I bought it:

I wanted to knock down walls so I could see what I was working with. I felt the home was very choppy due to previous owners renovations over the years adding on.

Budget for renovation is $150,000-$200,000. I like a big open kitchen and big island. I have also ripped up some walls upstairs and opened things up, but that's a different post for a different day.

Here's the structural engineers report:

The 2-story, wood framed house is constructed over a full basement. The purpose of this structural
engineering investigation was to size structural members for a remodeling project in three rooms of the
house, (2 beams on the first floor and 1 on the second floor) in order to remove both load and non load
bearing walls. Our structural investigation is limited to this issue.
Note: All directional references to left, right, front, or rear assume the reader is standing in the street,
facing the front door of the building being referenced. There was no documentation reviewed as part of
this investigation.
Beam 1 is located on the 1st floor in the front dining room/ hallway area next to stairs and is
approximately 23’ long. Replace the existing stud wall with a W12x35 Steel I-beam.
Beam 2 is located on the 1st floor in the front living room / breakfast nook area is approximately 8’ long.
Replace the existing stud wall with either a W4x13, W6x8.5 Steel I-beam, or a Double 1 3⁄4” x 9 1⁄4” LVL
Beam 3 is located on the 2nd floor rear bedroom and is approximately 21’ long. Replace the existing stud
wall with either a W8x35, W10x22, W12x19 Steel I-beam
Install a minimum of 3-2x4 studs under each end of the beam and ensure a minimum bearing length of
3” on all columns.

Here's the eagleview report:

This is not a flip, this is a home I plan to live in. It's a very sought after, old neighborhood in town.

Featured Answer

lmckuin

last year

Is there a reason that you put the kitchen at the front of the house? You have the more formal dining area next to both the casual TV watching area and mud room. I would put the kitchen where you have the dining space (plenty of room since the dining space is bigger than you need) and put the dining space where you have the kitchen. You would have room for a spacious butler’s pantry between the kitchen and dining space and could better utilize storage space.

It looks like you have an outdoor kitchen (is that on the other side of the current dining room window?). It is a really long trek from the kitchen to the outdoor space.

And why are there two exterior doors to your mud room? Does one go into a garage? I would also put a door behind the main stairs to make that hallway a little more private (where the powder room is).