Forget All You Have Been Taught About Gravity.

Yes, again, it's been a while since we posted anything. But we've definitely been busy. We've been dying to start ripping out the kitchen (who wouldn't love to rip out the only functioning kitchen in their house?), but we had to do a little structural work before we could get started.

In the little nook behind the kitchen, a space underneath the main stair landing and where the side door to the outside and basement door meet, we found a small structural miracle. As we started to dismantle this space, which is to open up into the kitchen, we found that the large, heavy staircase landing was held up by 3 2x6's laid in the not strong way, which rested on some door frame molding (not the actual frame itself):

The sideways beam resting on door molding, as seen from above. Really, no joke, the stairs were held up this way for 114 years. The only possible explanation for why we can still get to the second floor is that the house is older than gravity. Occum's razor says that must be true.

Not only is this a weak system of supporting the only access we have to our upper floors, we wanted to take this door and wall out. Crap. We decided we needed to support the stairs better anyway. So, we ordered some tie rods from Simpson Strong-Ties so we could tie the joists back to a beam above them and cut them away from the door. It's hard to describe, even with photos, but we'll try:

The upper beam with Strong-Tie in place.

The threaded bar hangs down and goes through the joist, with a big washer and nut on the underside.

A view of the new system after we've dismantled the wall. You can see the three tie rods hanging down from the upper beam, going through the three 2x6's supporting the stair landing (you can see the backside of the lath and plaster wall of the stairway). You can also see some flimsy attempts at insulation to the right.

It works! The moment of truth arrived, and the stairs (and half of our house) still stand. Then, we finally took out the wall and door.

Adam dismantling the walls and doorframe.

Adam taking down the studs. (That sentence is funny if you take it out of context.)

The kitchen is now square, and it feels much more open and bright.

Now we get more light from the door's window, but the door needs some repair work, as it is now obvious that the cold easily leaks through the many cracks made when someone tried to bust the door open at some point in the past...

Next step, ripping out the kitchen walls!