D-Day!

 The countdown begins:

March 2, 2013:  The calm before the storm.....

The picture to the right is where the stove used to be.

 




The corner shown in the picture on the right is where the refrigerator was.







I was given the privilege of taking the first swing!

Heeeeyyy, battabatta....heeeyyyy, battabatta.....

                        SA-WIIING!!!!!!!

Don't mess with me when I'm holding a hammer.

March 3, 2013.  A day that lived in infamy.

Out come the cabinets.

Next the sink.....

Now the fun part....knocking out the walls!

Our house had cellulose insulation.  Stuff is a bloody nightmare!

These guns are ready to go.

You know those shows where the hosts chase ghosts and other paranormal activity?  We've discovered their secret.  Those so-called "orbs" of light that appear in the camera picture are nothing but dust!

Out comes the floor.

Look at that hunk-of-a-man with that manly saw.

 And then, all was quiet.....

 I spent the better part of the day going to town with the shop vac to every nook and cranny and along the walls.  It's amazing how much dust was generated.  Thank goodness for N-95 masks!

 I even took the vac to the ceiling beams.  Now more than ever am I grateful for the exercise classes I teach.  Manual labor takes some serious endurance and core strength! 

Anytime you tear out the walls in an old house, you're bound to find some issues that need to be addressed or fixed.  We found evidence of some termite activity in a corner along the ceiling (picture below).  Luckily the damage wasn't too extensive.  For a house built in the 40s and this is the only problem we found, I'd say we did pretty well!

All in all, the demo went smoothly and we go a lot accomplished this weekend.  We cannot thank our friends enough who came out and helped us this weekend.  Stay tuned as we start to put it all back together!