The latest efforts focused on three things:
- Demolition
- Gas/Hot Water
- Electrical Upgrade
I’ll follow up on the second and third, but first it’s time for the demolition update. I got a dumpster on site and my goal for this particular weekend was to get as far as possible on the demolition and fill the dumpster. When you pay for the dumpster, or “container” in shop-speak, you are paying primarily for the size (15 yards, in this case.) This includes a maximum weight and time limit of one week. If you go over the weight or time, you pay more – and the time penalties are huge, hence my goal to fill it and get it removed quickly.
There’s a “door” on the container so you can walk items into it (rather than climbing up six feet to toss them in) and there’s a need to pack the container wisely to assure everything fits. I tired to put lightweight things on the bottom so that additional weight on top would compact the bottom and make a little more space. This seemed to work well with, for example, all the fiberglass insulation I was discarding. In the end, I either ordered just the right size or there’s that mental game of “using what you’ve got” and filling it perfectly based on the available space.
You may recall from a previous post that my initial demotion efforts were rewarded with the discovery of an active wasp nest. I was cautiously aware this time that many things may be hidden in the walls of an old house. I discovered TONS of evidence of mouse activity and ultimately unearthed two live mice. Both eventually found their way out of the house without incident. I also found a large ant colony and spent some time assuring that was destroyed before proceeding with further demolition. Gladly, I didn’t see any obvious evidence of damage to the wood structure from the ants or any other pests.
After the better part of three days, all the interior walls were stripped down to the studs, and the ceiling in the living room was removed. We’re strongly considering keeping the open ceiling in the living room – adds some character and a bit more space to the room. The 2×4 grid seen here at ceiling height will be removed – it served no purpose other than to hold the ceiling in place – all the structure is in the roofline. We might even add a skylight!
As an added bonus during the demolition, Tracy found a project to tackle and removed the linoleum flooring from the kitchen. We were rewarded with the discovery of intact hardwood flooring that matches the living room. This is nice because we want to remove the wall between those rooms and if the floor carries through both, it will have a nice, integrated look. The wood floor most definitely needs to be sanded and refinished, but that seems doable at this point.
Good progress for slightly more than a weekend effort!