Day 3, Can Be I Done Yet?

Today went pretty well. I still need to drive down to my storage compartment and pick up my stereo and porch swing, but maybe I'll do that after supper. The dumpster's almost full already. Eek! I haven't even gotten the cabinets out yet! Then there's the washer and dryer in the basement and some disgusting old appliances in the kitchens too. Better go with the 18 yard dumpster next! I hate the thought of how much I'm sending to the landfil, but I guess I have to look at the situation as if I didn't do the renovations; the whole house would be on its way soon.

My Mom and twin sisters came up today to clean some of the grossness off the house. They cleaned one of the bedrooms, the kitchen, and the downstairs bathroom from top to bottom. A tall order, considering the condition of the house! They also brought me a TON of cleaning supplies. Thanks guys! Mom lent me her digital camera, so I can keep the pictures coming now.

I finished removing the framing from the dining room closet, and removed all but four studs from the living room partition wall. I'm not looking forward to taking down the wall with the wiring, so i'm letting that one simmer a while. The jumble of studs would be from the intersection of the two closet walls and the wall where the 1st floor unit's front door was. For some reason the PO nailed together this horrible cluster of 8 studs. No, it wasn't load bearing, don't worry! In fact, once I pulled a neighboring stud down, the 'column' started falling over. It took a lot of strength to carry that thing out to the dumpster.

I ripped up the carpet in the upstairs hallway and NW bedroom. The backing made it out to the dumpster already, but I need to cut the carpet into sections so I can bring it out the front door. That's the big wad of carpet in the middle of the bedroom. In the photo it kind of resembles a dead body lying on the floor. I wish it was whoever removed that wall! The newly revealed hardwood floor shows exactly where the walls should be... just a little off from where I thought. The walls were load bearing, so when they were removed somebody threw in a huge joist that cuts across at an angle. I'm not looking forward to framing that out again. Did I mention I've never done any framing before? I'll be calling Dad...

In other upstairs news, I started taking apart the cabinets upstairs. They'll be on their way out as soon as I smash 'em up a bit. P.S. Look at my amazing new drill on the kitchen counter!

In the stairwell I ripped out the last of the wood paneling and scraped the loose paint from the ceiling. Look at that exposed plaster just begging for some paint. (and some kilz!)

Mom took a photo of me while I carried out the LAST piece of fake wood in the house. Success!

Notice how in the photo I am wearing flip flops. Just add that to the list of lessons learned the hard way. Yeah, I stepped on a nail. It went all the way through my shoe, but just poked my foot; no skin broken. I was wearing my gloves though, so I am learning!

Rubble, Rubble, Toil & Trouble

The trouble lies with my camera. It is non-functioning, so I appologize for the lack of photo documentation. I'll have to see if I can borrow one from a friend tomorrow to document some of the work thus far.

As for the toiling; I've been toiling away making rubble. Lots of rubble.

It all started this morning when I picked up my building permit I should have had last night, then I headed over to the house. If you can imagine the reaction of a 4yr old girl when she gets a pony for her birthday, you can imagine the reaction when I saw the construction dumpster had already been placed in my driveway.

I ripped down all of the drywall for the extra walls in the living room and proceeded to knock out some of the studs. I now have an open staircase! I also removed all of the stairwell's drop ceiling and 70's paneling I could reach without a ladder. At 6' 1", there's not much left! So I understood why the PO's decided to go with the drop ceiling as soon as I pulled down the tiles and received a shower of paint chips. Most likely lead. Just love the stuff. The paneling was used to cover two make-shift access points to the tub plumbing and quite a few cracks. Just add it to the list...

Just so you know what I've learned so far,

DAY 1 LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY:
1. Wear safety goggles. There's a reason for them. I found out that it is quite uncomfortable removing a 1/4" chunk of drywall that is stuck onto the pupil of your eye. Yep, that was an ouch moment. Well, other words came too...
2. Wear a dust mask when removing drywall. Try blowing your nose and finding the remains grey. That's just not natural.
3. Overestimate the size of your dumpster. I thought 6 yards would be plenty, but it's over half full already. Wow.
4. Wear your work gloves, even if it's 90 degrees in your house. I can't tell you how great blisters & calloused hands feel in the hot shower as you scrub chunks of drywall out of your hair.
5. Don't break your camera. Houseblog readers will become bored by your post without pictures. Sorry guys.

On the bright side, I met my neighbor to the West last night, and he was very nice. I got the thumbs-up right away when I said I was restoring the house back from a rental. He has stopped in a couple of times to offer to lend me tools if needed, and I gave him a little tour of the place.

The roofers came today and repaired the flashing around my chimney, so no more leakage. Yes! Best part: cost to me: $0, cost to the seller: $I don't care. I'm so glad thats done so I can repair the water damaged wall in the SW bedroom closet.

Also, a friend from work is coming over tonight after her shift to help pull up carpet with me. I'm going to see if she wants to help take out the cabinets in the extra kitchen too. Hopefully she'll be up for it, I don't want to have to take them down myself. Help is always good, lets just hope there's enough room in my little baby dumpster!

I Own! Let the Demo Begin!

I am the proud owner of my very own shanty. First thing as I came in the door I kicked a hole in the entry wall. MY entry wall. I think I startled my Mom when I did it, but eventually my Dad took a swing at it too. I started peeling off wood paneling and stained carpet right away, but I opted to save some of the fun until I went to my favorite store, Home Depot... where I bought NEW TOOLS!!! It's like the fun never ends!

I left all of the windows open to get the smoke/animal/low-life smell out of the house, but it started raining while at 'the Depot'. This means either the house will smell rain fresh, or be soaking wet everywhere.

I'm going to head over now and start breaking walls and removing extra kitchens.

It's all so exciting, I OWN MY FIRST HOUSE!!!