“And the walls come tumbling down”

Inagakisan is trapped in a web of wires! Fortunately, he is still smiling. This was a former exterior wall looking in from the former garage.

The old bath is in great shape. So, why tear it down? The stone floor is freezing cold in the winter. The stone is unforgiving if we were to accidently slip and fall. It's difficult to tell if the stone is ever clean. The bath fixtures are severly corroded and cannot be replaced unless the stone is removed (poor design). Other than that...the location of the bath, in the middle of the house, is a really bad idea. Sorry, but its got to go!

We will try to use the hinoki paneling elsewhere in the house.

No sign of rot behind the stone walls after almost 20 years. The builders did an excellent job of moisture protection.

View of the new addition from the former bath.

The baby blue bath tub was never my favorite color.

A ten pound sledge hammer and a pneumatic jack hammer was needed to break the stone walls

This will be a hallway leading to the new additions

A matching baby blue toilet and sink will be removed as well.

The ceiling hasn't been exposed to daylight in almost 20 years. Most of these wiring runs will need to be redone and hidden from view.

This will be the new pantry with a door leading into the kitchen. The 50A circuit breaker box will be replaced and relocated. The circuit breaker box will be replaced with a larger unit to accomodate a new oven and stove.

Hello. The old stone bath is finally gone. This area will be used as the hallway that leads to all of the renovation that has occurred. Demolition continues with the removal of the toilet area and several interior and exterior walls. This transformation dramatically opens up the original floor plan. Even though this house was originally built in Canada and shipped to Tsukahara, several modifications have been done to make the home…Japanese. One modification that has driven me nuts is the addition of a tatami room (not pictured).

Tatami mats are magnets for mildew. Cleaners are available to eliminate surface mildew, but we discovered that mildew finds its way deep into the mat. I completely dissected a tatami mat to find mildew hidden inside the various layers of material. It’s impossible to remove this mildew. Mildew can cause upper respiratory problems. In other words, it can make you sick! We can’t stand the smell of mildew and tatami, especially on those really hot and humid summer days. The solution to the problem is rather straightforward…get rid of the tatami! This will be part 2 of the remodel. I’m hoping Erika can convince Inagakisan to do this part of the remodel before he decides to retire.     George