Demolition Day 7- Bye Bye Paneling

This was actually easier than I expected...kinda. The entire 2nd floor which is considered 1/2 a floor? is essentially a big finished attic. The entire thing was covered in wood paneling except for the bathroom which was covered in peach tile (and wallcovering of course).

Big difference with the nasty carpet and paneling gone! Much brighter.
Now one question I do have and would love your vote on. Ok, I love the wood stairs, they are definitely keepable...although a little squeeky. But my inital thought was to carpet them with the new play room at the top of the stairs because I was worried about the kids falling down them (or myself). They are kinda steep and turn quickly 90degress at the end. What is your vote? Leave a comment to let me know!

Big Difference in Lilly's future room too.

And there is actually particle board and very old insulation behind the paneling. I comtemplated with leaving it and laminating drywall over it but decided the best idea would be to rip it all out now and do it right. But that just does not sound fun at all!

Demolition Day 6- I have a roof ...and a Hole

Don't worry...the hole isn't in the roof.
Well the rain held off and my roof got done and looks amazing. I had a neighbor stop by that night asking if I had bought the place. I said yes and she said "Well I like what you have done with it already!"...followed by "You must like projects!" Ummm....Yes, yes I do.

And while the guys were hammering away outside I dug out more of the problem corner inside and confirmed that we are going to have to tear it all out and re-frame the whole corner. Hopefully we can salvage most of the Aluminum siding we take off the corner and only spend a few hundred dollars on the structure. But right now...you can see daylight...not cool. And I think now that most things are torn out this might be the only big surprise I run into (Knock on wood...unrotten wood that is).The final item I tried to conquer that day was the dining room floor...but it conquered my instead. For some strange reason someone decided that they should install a ceramic tile over the dining room wood floor...??? I have always hoped that it is salvagable...but everyone always told me not to get my hopes up because you could not tell how they had installed the sub-floor.
So Cheryl and I had been hitting at this floor with sledge hammers randomly since we started. It was a slow process and even when I got a 3'x3' space cleared I had a hard time prying it up from underneath. The good news was that the subfloor had been glued and stapled down (instead of screwed which is good news for salvaging the wood floor) and the 3'x3' piece did come up pretty cleaned, just leaving behind a sticky residue. The bad news was...this was going to take me 2 days to do by myself. So? I paid my crew to do it and it was done in an hour. Sweet. Now I just need to scrape off the goo and try to see if it will sand down with the rest.

The Eagles Nest in the Dormer

So even since December before they flew south for the Winter there were two Sparrows scoping out where they would build a nest in the A-frame attic dormer of the house. There was a hole in the wire mesh screen behind the vent you see below. I should have closed up the hole before Spring but then again I didn't think it would take 3 months to close on this house either! So needless to say the two little sparrows were back trying to build their spring nest before I got the house last week.

Now by the size of the nest you would not think that these were two little sparrows...but more like two Eagles. I stuck my camera inside the dormer a few weeks ago bc I was afraid if I went in there they would poke my eyes out (What? Haven't you see the movie "The Birds"?)

I think their goal was to build the nest up to the vent so they could sit nicely on their eggs while watching the world outside...but holy cow that nest is 30" tall!

So I took the opportunity yesterday with my roofers there to scare them away and finally went in the attic. Their nest had collapsed a bit since the week before and I am thinking that instead of being sad about ruining their home and taking over their month of hard work that I am really helping them realize that maybe with the economy this year that a bird mansion is really not the way to go.
I am still afraid that they might find me and poke my eyes out...but I did have my dad seal up the vent until I get a new window installed. This little attic dormer/Eagles nest area is going to be finished out for a new toy room!

Sheer Brilliance

So do you ever watch Holmes on Homes on the HGTV network? Well let's just say he would LOVE this house. Because that so far whoever has done any kind of repair or renovation to this house before I bought it completely sucks (except for whoever built that extra braced wing wall in the bathroom). All the plumbing throughout has shown some sort of leak issue. There is duct tape holding together alot of the HVAC, there what is suppose to be a air supply going into the bathroom that really goes into an air return. The plaster patch in the master bedroom is the most pitiful patch I have ever seen. The false wall downstairs covering the crawl area is just scary. The tile backsplash in the kitchen looks like a 5 year old did it. The new stick down tile floors in the kitchen and bath are just plain ugly, and the basement cabling and wiring and everything else that is suspending in all directions of the ceiling kinda freaks me out.

But after yesterday I can now give an award to the top #1 Stupid Contractor- The Gutter Man. See the picture below? See the small 2'x2' gutter that is at the bottom of the A-frame dormer? Guess what- it doesn't go anywhere. It is just for symetry with the other side. So guess where the water goes that sits inside it? INSIDE the WALL! Sheer Brilliance!

Sooooooo needless to say the outside corner of my dining room is just alot of rotten wood as well as the whole structure above my front door and behind the front door. Awesome. Well honestly I cannot say that this is the biggest shocker to me, I knew there was going to be some sort of issue. I pulled back some bubbled wallpaper at least a month ago (accidentally of course since the house was not mine at the time) in one corner of the dining room and thought I saw water damage to the plaster and when I looked outside and knew exactly why. I think it just just funny as how I noticed this and not the inspector or the appraisal guy. I think I might just start my own show!

Guess I will be ripping out more plaster this weekend! And I am thinking that maybe when my gutters get installed later this week I will decide to go with what actually works vs. it looking pretty. What do you think?

Demolition Day 5- A demo crew AND a Roof!

Well I not only had a crew out on my roof yesterday, but I also had a crew inside to demo. My little sis Cheryl, parents and even my grandma came over yesterday afternoon! We tore down a ceiling (mental note to self: do not wear a tank top when tearing down a ceiling because you will be coated in insulation and just general filth). That was the messiest job yet.

But we were tough!
Plaster walls and ceiling will eventually be laminated with drywall after the plumbing all gets gutted and redone, including the bathroom above.

My dad got the 2x4 out that was the bottom of the wall I tore out the day before...I think it was more sturdy than the wall! Then we thought we were going to have to cut the drain to get the base out but no worries there! When we got down in the basement the drain just pulled right apart! Niiiiiice! Gotta love high quality.

While the inside was being gutted the roof had been torn off that morning. All three layers of shingles! Needless to say it took them longer than expected and they are wrapping it up this morning so I will post final pictures later today.

It is a pretty steep roof, they were using ropes just in case.

And you can tell it is an old house when it has 2x4 as the decking instead of plywood. None of it needed to be replaced so that was good news. The facia boards were all rotted and got ripped off along with the old old gutters. The house right now has foundation moisture issues due to the gutters essentially being non-existent for who nows how long. I even got a big surprise yesterday due to the existing gutters being installed very poorly...but that is a whole other blog.

The back of the house got wrapped up last night, the picture doesn't really do the new roof justice, it is very pretty 3dimensional shingle (color: driftwood) and will look amazing once the trim goes back up and the house gets painted my favorite color!!

Demoliton Day 4- I TORE DOWN A WALL

That was about the extent of my day, only had 2 hours on site (due to needing to work in order to have money to pay for the house). Cleaned up from the day before, ripped the rest of the carpet off the stairs and tore down the 3' wing wall at the end of the shower. And let me just say that it was the strongest little braced wing wall I have ever seen. I had three people hit it with a sledge hammer the day before and the thing didn't budge.

So I had to rip off the drywall, pull out some screws and crow bar it from the wall. It was insane but it felt pretty good!!

Demolition Day 3- All Muscles

Well it was Easter Sunday so I did take it kinda easy. Plus the muscles were starting to ache a bit...which is a good thing. I ripped this nasty-asty carpet off the cool stairs to the second floor. I am pretty sure it was put down in 1960 because of the type of carpet pad underneath it and I am guessing it had not been vaccumed in the last 10 years. At least someone hadn't locked their dog up there though like the carpet in my bedroom I removed. YUCK!

So...what do you think of the fabulous wallpaper? It is definitely vintage. I thought it was original but I discovered another pattern underneath that is even better- I will try and rip off a piece to show you.

I also had some visitors stop by for a tour and sledge hammer swing (That invitation is open to all so if you are in the area please let me know!). My bff Steph was driving through town on her way home from Tennesse where her brother and sister are starting a church plant (very cool), and decided to stop by and see the new digs! So of course I put them to work!

I think the sledge hammer weighs as much as Steph but she handled it well ...but I am not sure OSHA would approve of the flip flops or underage worker! Ha!

It was off to hide some eggs after that...but check out what I did the next day! Whooohoo!

Demolition Day 2- Destruction

Day 2- Well it was the Saturday before Easter and I didn't want to dig into anyone else's plans for Easter weekend so I was on my own...but actually got alot accomplished!! The rest of the wood cabinet and paneling came down on the dining room side. See the pictures before and after below- it is a HUGE difference in opening up the house from the Kitchen all the way through. Now I will be able to see the kids jumping on the couch while I am making dinner!

BEFORE:

MIDWAY: AFTER: Soooo much brighter without the dark paneling! Next in this room I will be sledge hammering the tile floor. There is actually wood flooring underneath but I am not sure how they installed the sub floor so stay tuned for that!!

The next thing I tackled was the main floor bathroom, it had been somewhat updated with fake tile paneling vs. the original tile so I just pryed and peeled it all away and started demo of the shower. My plumber doesn't come until Thursday so I just tore off what I could.

Demolition DAY 1- Where do I start?

Friday (Good Friday to be exact), I started the demolition. I am trying to do alot of the demo in order to not only save myself some money, but also to get my hands dirty. Swinging a sledge hammer and prying off wood panels with a crow bar can be a great stress reliever! I am also hoping for it to be a calorie burner!
So one of the first things to go was the Carport. It was in very bad shape and needed to be replaced. Both my girlfriend and I wanted to take a sledge hammer to it, but the professionals came in for that job.




I did have a helper on Day 1. She may only be an 18 year old 90 pounder...but that girl can swing a sledge hammer! And I know what you are thinking- "I hope it wasn't all work and no play that day". Oh no worries there- Prom dress shopping came after the demolition! And only the people who hang out with me could use the following sentence to describe their day; "Well this morning I researched a sociology paper, then after lunch I stripped wall paper and tore down a wall with a sledge hammer, then I found the most beautiful prom dress for the best deal ever, went to a very moving Funeral for Jesus and ended the day on a swingset!" It's all true.




We stripped the wallpaper and border off the walls, tore down the wood cabinet between dining room and living room and the carpet out of my future bedroom got torn up as well! It was a good day!
My only question: Why would they staple carpet pad to such beautiful wood??? Madness.