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Historic Salt Lake City Triplex
comments (12) March 10th, 2009 in Project Gallery
InspiredInside, member
The whole 2600 sq. ft. house, built in 1895, (converted to a triplex in the 1930's) was basically in similar or worse condition as this original Kitchen photo. We bought the place as a home and investment; to fix up and live in one unit and rent the other two apartments, which in the end has worked out well. It's hard to imagine from this photo how at home I feel here now.
Photo: Weston Noyes
My wife Amy and I purchased a historic brick triplex home in the Autumn of 2004 near downtown Salt Lake City. What we thought would be a six month spruce-up, turned into a full gut, partial tear-down, complete remodel, and redesign. With little experience, but great resolve, and with valuable support from knowledgable family & friends, we accomplished most of the major work ourselves over the next three years. We did all the demolition, excavation, foundation, radiant in-floor heating system, framing, sheeting, shingling, trim, cabinets, flooring, painting, custom shelving, and finish plumbing & finish electrical ourselves... We did contract out some important items including rough electrical, insulation, rough-in plumbing, slab flatwork, roofing, and drywall. In the end, we completed THREE brand new apartments, all building systems, garage restoration, 3 new slab parking spaces, the entire exterior, decks, 2 fences and landscaping. We still live in one of the units, and as of early 2009, we have some exterior painting and a little bit of landscaping still to do.
It has been an ultra-marathon of a project, but our commitment was always to the integrity of the building. We worked as house-painters to earn money to live on while doing it. We pinched every penny and fell asleep every night dirty, exhausted, wondering how we were going to get up and do it again the next day. We were constantly stressed about our budget, our timeline, and making ends meet to make it all happen at the level we envisioned, but we trusted if we put our whole hearts into it, everything would work out, which fortunately, it has.
As gruelling, exhausting, and never-ending as the project seemed, we forged enduring friendships with lots of great folks who helped us out in countless ways, and we learned infinitely more than we ever thought we'd need to know. (I sometimes think of it as graduate school in homebuilding.) In fact, we enjoyed the process so much that through it all we decided to to it for a living. We now have a home improvement, design, and remodeling business called Inspired Interiors. We have one employee and are doing well, mostly working on small residential remodels around Salt Lake City.
Also, a note of special thanks to our architect, beurocratic red-tape cutter, tireless construction consultant, and friend David Richardson at Capitol Hill Construction.
Weston & Amy Noyes
Additional photos can be viewed here:
http://gallery.me.com/inspiredinside#100136&view=carouseljs&sel=0
Design or Plan used: My own design - Almond Street Triplex Remodel near downtown Salt Lake City.
posted in: Project Gallery, restoration, Historic Remodel Triplex Salt Lake City, Utah, addition
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How to Paint Fiber-Cement Siding
Painter Jim Lacey shares some tips for caulking and painting fiber-cement siding. read more
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Want to see the winner entries?
Fine Homebuilding editors are a finicky bunch, and opinionated too. So the task of narrowing down the nearly 150 entries from our “Before and After: What’s Old is New Again,” kitchen and bath contest to just five winners wasn’t easy.
After the field was narrowed down to a group of fifteen, the editors convened with coffee and notebooks into a conference room equipped with a projector (for easier viewing). After going back and forth, and sometimes cringing, a few entries kept rising above the others, and viola, we found our winners.
Thanks to all who entered, and congratulations to the winning participants who will be mailed a new, DeWalt 18V 1/2" XRP LiIon Hammerdrill/Drill/Driver kit.
To view the winners, and a few runners-up, click here.
Comments (12)
Posted: 9:05 pm on December 4th
Let us be the first to say...congratulations!
Truth be told, we had a hunch you'd be selected - your work together stands out.
Will you be posting some more photographs soon?
Talk with you soon,
Shawn & Jamie
Posted: 6:51 pm on April 13th
thanks for the clarification and illumination of the term "saltbox" for myself & others, about which you're right: I had mistakenly presumed to represent a style, not a form. I'll update my commentary!
Posted: 10:20 am on March 19th
I am not trying to contradict you since the house/houses that inspired the New England colonial details in your remodel may very well have been saltbox houses but these details are not actually exclusive to a saltbox. Nor is the term saltbox descriptive of a architectural style but a architectural form. And I think it is a misnomer to associate New England colonial style with the term "saltbox" So to clarify for others I would like to add.
A Salt box is distinguished by a single story lean-to addition across the long side of the house (usually on the back)
Saltbox homes got their name because they looked like the large asymmetrical wooden saltboxes everyone used in colonial times. (of course I have yet to see an old salt box with this shape that was actually used to hold salt but that is supposed to be the origin.) the shape is also known as a "catslide" Later saltboxes were built to include the lean-to as part of the original frame.
more info with illustrations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltbox
Yes it is a design most often associated with colonial homes since it was a aberration of the way early american colonial houses were built and then added on to. And the design originated in american architecture during the american colonial era.
So many associate all the details found on these colonial era saltbox homes with the american colonial style.
But saltbox houses were built during a very wide historic range and in many styles from the early Plymouth settlers in 1630s (usually no orientally as a saltbox but later became one) to modern contemporaries, they can be a very simple farm house with barn like trim and finish or have a high Georgian style or even mid 20th century minimalist style as long as they have that distinctive "Saltbox" shape they can be termed a saltbox.
So that said it would be more accurate to say "your project was inspired by early New England architecture" as opposed to saltbox since it does not share any layout or form of a saltbox house.
Posted: 11:24 am on March 18th
I really can't get over that funky lime green fridge...it's the same color as my now-retired 1971 Dodge Dart!
Anyway, I replied to your comment on our post but I wanted to let you know - and thought I'd check up on your progress, too, to see if you've had time to do any updates.
You're certainly getting plenty of thumbs up! There are impressive makeovers posting but I think yours really stands out.
Hope you and Amy are having a great time and keep up the great work!
Shawn
Posted: 8:03 pm on March 17th
Weston
Posted: 3:19 pm on March 14th
See:
http://finehomebuilding.taunton.com/item/4278/total-seattle-gut-second-story-addition
and:
http://finehomebuilding.taunton.com/item/5275/the-house-next-door
-Jim
Posted: 12:59 pm on March 13th
Thanks again for your kind words... They mean a lot to us knowing they come from someone who truly understands the process...
Posted: 12:41 am on March 12th
The contest rules say that "Your before picture should scare us and your after picture should delight us"
The photo-link you have attached to your profile says it all...
Along with presenting stellar finishing work, the collection of before photos are frighteningly good (some gave me the willies)! What a great series.
I also chuckled when I saw you wearing that respirator because there's a picture on the fridge of me in my own respirator after one of our "rat harvests" from the old house we worked on in Washington state.
Truly great work and continued success and enjoyment. You've certainly earned our admiration!
Jamie and I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Shawn (and Jamie)
Posted: 8:16 pm on March 11th
-Weston
Posted: 12:45 am on March 11th
Best of luck!
Shawn & Jamie
Posted: 6:57 pm on March 10th
Our first house was a remodel - and what an absolute mess it was; but we kept at it, just like you, and it gave us quite an education in building. It was a labor of love from the get-go.
We were (it seems) the same age as you are now when we took on the challenge, which is to say, late-twenties (Jamie) and early-thirties (me).
We sold that house (and our beloved garden) and now we're here in Maine in our mid- and late- thirties considering doing it all over again, this time back home in Washington state. Maine is a wonderful place but we miss our family and friends in the Northwest.
You never know where the adventure will lead you. The important thing is to do good work.
Seeing the good work you've done in Salt Lake City we think you'll enjoy the building process in Vermont.
We will keep up with you in the Gallery. And please send us an email if you find yourselves in Belfast. With a little luck it may be harvest time!
Keep up the good work.
Shawn & Jamie
Posted: 6:52 pm on March 10th
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