Demo and More Demo

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!!!

Apparently we are running short on witty opening titles. Nevertheless, we have been extremely busy with demolition. Approximately 90% of interior demolition has been completed.  Here is some show and tell:

The "Cat Room" Before

When purchasing the home, we referred to the den as "the cat room".  The previous owner, an elderly woman, spent most of her later years primarily in this room with her cats before she moved out.  Due to the lingering feline scent, we decided to gut the entire room (walls, floor and ceiling).  We made sure to salvage the old driftwood paneling walls.  We plan to wash, sand, plane, rip, and miter the planks in order to re-purpose them as hardwood floor insets in the kitchen! Whenever possible, we will savage original items throughout the home and out-buildings.

The Den (After)

And yes... the floor beams are trees, literally!  It's too bad that these will get covered up again unless we started a new trend of "open concept floors", just watch your step!  Now that the floor is open, we will install a center beam running perpendicular to the joists, with two sonotube concrete footings.  Since the beams are so old and the span is 20', the new center beam will eliminate the future risk of sagging.  Finally, before installing the plywood, we will install a plastic vapor barrier on the ground and some form of insulation (still researching that).

The Guest Bath (Before)

The Guest Bath (After)

We temporarily left the sink, toilet and tub for use while we work.  The glowing wall in the picture above is a view into the kitchen downstairs!  This turns out to be very helpful because it allows us to install metal rafter brackets which weren't available when the home was built.  The original bathroom had a wall dividing it from a small back room that had no recognizable purpose. We removed the wall and will be redesigning the layout to include our future laundry room. (The previous owner had the washer and dryer installed in the kitchen)

The "Blair Witch" Basement (Before)

The Basement (After)

Not surprisingly, we discovered more neat craftsmanship on the original wood stairs.

This was a nasty job but what a difference!  Just the change in smell alone was remarkable.  Being a unfinished basement with no vapor barriers, mold and mildew had wreaked havoc on every surface. All of the debris and insulation was removed and each surface sprayed with a diluted bleach solution and scrubbed.  The after shot may still look a bit creepy but wow, what a difference!  Eventually, we will be completely finishing the basement; converting the entire space in to a conditioned moister controlled environment.  In order to accomplish this, the floor will be dug out 24" and replaced with gravel, 4" foam board insulation and topped with a 4" concrete floor.  Finally, the walls will be lined with 2" airtight foam board. Once completed, we will use the basement for temperature and moisture controlled storage space.  

The more observant readers may have noticed the 55 gallon oil drum in the back of the basement connected to the boiler.  You are looking at our "one of a kind make-shift above ground home heating oil storage tank"!  The original tank was buried underground and the bank required the seller to remove and discard it.  Since the boiler is over 30 years old, we will be upgrading the entire heating system (geothermal pond loop). But, in the mean time, this was a cheap and effective way to use the current system for heat.

This weekend we plan to fully complete demo, which includes the removal of all plumbing and electric.  Also, if time allows, we will begin the installation of the radiant floor heating!  Stay tuned...