Demolition!

6 August 2014

Demolition!

It was a full weekend of demolition!

We had an amazing group of friends and family come out and help us.  It was a long, full day, but in the end we were so pleased with how much was accomplished.

Except that my camera went home with my parents.  Whoops.  I took a few photos on my phone, but I'll post more next week when my camera returns.

My favourite demo was the removal of the wall between the living room and dining room.  My bro-in-law and his girlfriend were an amazing team all day, but I didn't know that I would get my full request of the entire wall removed!  I thought that a beam might need to stay (although it wasn't structural, it would tie into the dining room/kitchen wall).  But, within an hour it was gone!

Here's the before and after...

 

Also, the small doorway leading from the foyer into the kitchen was removed.  I love open walls!

 Before...

...And after!

 Here are a few pics of the kitchen & dining room before...

And after...Can you see the dream kitchen in there??  I can, but I have to close my eyes and concentrate!

My strapping husband slugged that sledge hammer and removed the hearth!  With lots of chipping in between, trying to save some of the bricks to complete the bottom of the fireplace.  We plan to paint the brick white and then add a gas insert fireplace.

On the holiday Monday I tackled the powder bath.  I peeled and scraped the vintage wallpaper and I'm so thankful there was only 1 room of wallpaper in the house!  And only the top half of the wall at that.  Let's just say it brought back lots of memories of removing layer upon layer of wallpaper in my parent's 1920's farmhouse.  I think one room alone had 16 layers of wallpaper - and some paint slapped on in between!  This was a piece of cake comparatively.  Carl helped me knock the vanity out and then I chipped away at the tile floor.  We removed the same flooring in the upstairs bathrooms (pics to come!)

Today, we worked at leveling the main floor.  Even a 1970s home has some settling that requires some attention.  We started with putting up a 6x6 post with a jack post (this girl is learning a lot of construction lingo!).  We'll slowly jack it 1/4" a day until the main floor is level, and then we'll add some plywood to each joist to strengthen and add support.

All in all, it's coming along!