The smell of fresh wood hits you as soon as you enter what will ultimately serve as an eat-in kitchen. Like “new car smell” for home construction, this scent – all too familiar to residential contractors – represents yet another sign that progress has been made.
The house at 1427 Scenic Street in Lakewood’s Historic Scenic Park Neighborhood now feels real, as an architectural rendering no longer proves necessary to visualize how the final product will look. Once a small plot of land belonging to LakewoodAlive, the property now contains a wooden frame encircling the first level, shedding light as to how the 1,425 square feet of living space will eventually be utilized.
A wooden frame now encircles the first level at 1427 Scenic Street in Lakewood.
“I like the smell – it kind of reminds me of walking through a pine forest,” said Dana Paul, owner of Prairie Stone Group, the company spearheading construction at 1427 Scenic Street. “So far our progress has been steady, and I’m happy with where we’re at right now.”
Since Paul’s crew poured a concrete foundation and laid approximately 1,000 cement blocks to form the basement walls in late May, construction work has continued in earnest. The exterior of the basement walls were waterproofed, with stone backfilling added to the surrounding areas. Installation of underground plumbing, pouring of concrete for the basement floor and digging of footers around the perimeter have also been accomplished.
More recently, Paul’s crew commenced a highly visible portion of the project, as the wooden frame accounting for the distinctive smell has started to rise. The frame’s second level will be finished in the coming days, resulting in the completion of a skeleton surrounding what will serve as a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home.
The frame has afforded insight into size and shape of the rooms comprising the first level – including the foyer, kitchen, bathroom and living room. Meanwhile, construction of a deck in the backyard is underway, and a large rock unearthed during excavation has been added to the front yard to serve as a centerpiece for future landscaping.
“I like this part of the process because you can really see your progress, yet there’s still time for creativity and adapting your design,” said Paul, adding that the project remains on track for its scheduled completion in late 2016.
With assistance from the City of Lakewood and the Cuyahoga Land Bank, LakewoodAlive has sought to convert this previously-vacant lot in western Lakewood into a new, single-family home. For more information, please reference our previous articles:
- Scenic Park House Project Launch Party Celebrate Rebirth of Vacant Lakewood Lot
- Scenic Park House Project Begins to Take Shape
