Don't let TV fool you - demolishing a home is hard work! I have a whole new appreciation for laborers who do this 8, 10, 12+ hours a day! It is also very dirty work. I think I shower on average 3 times a day now... especially after taking out sheetrock ceilings...tends to leave a bit of dandruff ;)
But it is also very fun, and super rewarding. Physical labor like this is rewarded with daily, even hourly progress that is visible and fulfilling to see. I'm not used to that after working in software for 20 years where the product is virtualized bits that are only sometimes visible on a screen.
We've worked a solid 8 hour day for the past four work days, with Ethan helping out a few hours when he is able to after school, and the results are promising. Here is a quick before/after of our projects underway thus far:
We completely demolished the kitchen, removing all cabinets, appliances, sink, etc.
We opened up the wall (and ceiling) between the existing family room and den, removed the fireplace, removed the carpet and demolished the awkward built-in shelf thing:
Ethan created a cool time-lapse video of this project in action so you can watch the three of us get the job done in 30 seconds.
From the front living room we removed the half-walls and columns in the front living space, and removed all the carpet from this area:
Want to see how it was done? Here is a quick 10 second time-lapse video of the work in progress:
That looks far too easy! :)
In the dining room, we tore down that faux ceiling that has driven me crazy ever since we moved into this neighborhood (our current home has the same design). Of course, all the nasty carpet is also gone!
And we tore out all the carpets and pads from the upstairs bedrooms as well. I think it may actually be the original carpets from 20 years ago! They look suspiciously like the carpets we had when we bought our current home 10 years ago...
The result of all that labor: our recycle bin is completely full of wood.+ drywall waste and we have a wall of carpets. We're also reusing some of the kitchen cabinets for garage storage.
What's next?
We have just a few remaining demo projects on the interior before we can claim success and start construction:
1) We need to tear out all the existing wood floors. This is a labor intensive, time consuming, and back breaking job. #saveforlast
2) Once we have engineering check and city sign-off on removing the wall frame between dining and office, that wall frame will be forever gone!
3) We are also going to remove the window in the existing office, and create a rough opening in the wall for French doors!
Worth thinking about
I couldn't help think about how our time demolishing the home was like life: sometimes you have to be torn down in order to grow and become a better person. This house will be better for the demo, but it may not think that way! I know from experience that when you're under the hammer it is a painful process.
During such times, this story has always helped me remember why such things happen. If you have 5 minutes, give it a listen:
See you next week
We are now going to take a long weekend break from the project to visit family in Utah! Our muscles need a few days off, but we look forward to hitting it again next week.
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We really appreciate your support! We have thoroughly enjoyed having a few neighbors come by the house while we were working and say hello, we even put a few of them to work while they were there. :). You are all invited to do the same if you're in the neighborhood!