Making Progress...

Now that the basement projects are underway we also have started putting up blue board in the living room.  Now when I say "we" you know I mean the royal we -- aka T and my Dad.  I told my Dad the other day that he is hands down the best contractor we have and believe me we have a few...

Anyway, I thought I would show you the ceiling - a real ceiling.  Walls to follow I am sure...

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More walls come down

We call it an "open floorplan"...

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The new living room wall...

Progress is being made folks - thanks to our good friend Thom who brings to the table some excellent carpentry skills.  The wall is up and level.  Next onto moving pipes, calling the electrician, and designing a built-in bookcase...and of course ripping down more walls!

Some pics to bring you up to date:

Measure twice...cut once!

Newly framed wall



The wall you see behind this wall is the dining room and most of that will be coming down - the rest will stay or become a closet.  Yes T will be patching that hardwood in front of the wall - better add that to the list...

More demo fun...

The demo crew...day one...let the sledgehammers rip and the fun begins...

How many men does it take to wrestle a Majestic stove out of the wall? Note - the stove outer metal has duct-taped seams and it did not extend past the first floor celing...

Nope we won't be putting this beauty back. It is sitting on my front lawn right now in case you want it.

A insulated heat pipe outside the uninsulated wall.

That is NOT snow folks...

A celing squirrel nest. So far no sign of squirrels although the cats were running around the house like nuts in the middle of the night chasing mice (I think it was mice...). No trace this morning - either they ate the evidence or they were not successful.

The mess part one....

The mess part deux...

Dave wrestles the ceiling. Dave wins!!!

Doesn't every old house have a railroad trestle instead of a load-bearing wall???

Scott wants to know - what exactly does one of these puppies weigh? And why is it only supported on the ends by 2x6's?

Now if that doesn't make you want to run right home and start ripping down walls, I don't know what will!!!

The end result...or what is life like living with no insulation or walls... Rory can tell you - it's cold!!!!

The Demo Begins...

We have officially demoed the living room. What better time than the first week of December to rip down ceilings and walls and cover *everything* with a fine film of dust ??!!

The nine new windows are arriving this weekend (finally) and should be installed next week. After two late nights of very nasty demo we are ready for them!

During the demolition we did not find any money or jewelery or newspaper clippings, but we did discover...

1. two huge squirrel nests - no creatures within but about a field's worth of grass/hay


2. lots of mice poop and one dessicated mouse


3. a huge metal I beam spanning the removed wall - think railroad trestle woo woo!


4. a horse hair plaster ceiling sandwich - horse hair plaster, strapping, and two layers of wallboard - yum!


5. two true friends that we can never hope to pay back...


6. clues as to the original layout - where the walls and doors were...