Maybelot, as they like to say in the South, is all tore up.
The original structure, built in the 1930s or thereabouts, was a 60’x20’ road-side fruit stand with a dirt floor and a row of garage door openings. There were columns every 10 feet. The Berry family bought it in the 1960s. They added a wood floor, took out the garage doors, and put in storefront windows.
They also built a number of additions over the years, including living space in a finished attic. They ran one of those road-side souvenir shops. They called it The Berry Patch.
When we bought the place the original structure was still one big room with columns. We’re changing that. We hired a structural engineer to help us get what we want - three rooms with no columns that will hold up the finished space upstairs (the engineer told us that what we have already wasn’t intended to carry the load of a finished attic anyway, so it’s good that we’re doing this).
We pulled up the flooring and the floor joists (it was all bad - it was really spongy to walk on). Since there’s no plumbing or electrical running under that floor, we decided to fill it with gravel and install a concrete slab.
On the far end of the house will be a garage (we have a garage but it’s below ground so you have to come up the stairs - this one will be right off the kitchen). I’ll have a sewing room, and the rest of the space will be a family room. All load-bearing columns will be hidden in walls.
This is what we had just was we were starting the demo (all that engineered hardwood flooring will be reused - it’s only a few years old).
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Here’s what it looks like now. We put up temporary columns to carry the load and removed the old columns. We have engineered steel beams and columns on site - the first beam and set of columns are going in Wednesday. The columns will sit on these footers. then the first half of the concrete floor will get poured (we have to do this in two stages).
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![IMG_9817.jpeg](./download/file.php?id=16585&sid=7ce8e5a5491c010843c09a6f9d44a24b)
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![IMG_9819.jpeg](./download/file.php?id=16586&sid=7ce8e5a5491c010843c09a6f9d44a24b)
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"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson