Destruction!!!

We had an extremely tiring weekend. But it was the good kind of tired, the kind when your muscles twitch and you can barely hold your head up, when you have a smile on your face and a deep sense of accomplishment in your heart. At least that's what I think. Throw in a sore wrist and multiple bruises and you have a sense of how I felt come Monday evening.

My brother and his roommate came out for the long weekend to help us begin our demolition of the living/dining room. In preparation, my spouse and I went up into the attic space at about 6pm and didn't come down again until 10pm. We got out the rest of the boards on the old log roof and shoveled the insulation out so that we could tear out the ceiling when the boys arrived. It took a while, but it didn't take as long as we thought it would. We got the topside of the ceiling nice and clean. The boys showed up around 11:30, and we all pretty much hit the hay, since it had been a long drive for them.

Saturday we ran a few errands, including a Home Depot stop to get some better safety gear for the fellas. We have full-on respirators and whatnot, but we wanted some better stuff than just a plain ol' dust mask for the guys. We got the fancy fiberglass dust masks with the valve in the front, goggles for all, and a few other little things. Saturday afternoon we cut the carpet, rolled it up, disconnected the pellet stove, and moved the stove into the carport. Bye-bye, heat. We had a play to go to on Saturday night, so we sent the boys to a movie. We all fell asleep fairly early that night, too.

Sunday was the big day. We ripped out the wood paneling (we had done some of this on Saturday, too, but the majority of it was done on Sunday), ripped out the wood BEHIND the wood paneling (the stuff with wallpaper on it), and drywall where applicable. We also took out the brick behind the pellet stove, which had drywall behind it, and then the wood slats behind that. We found a newspaper from 1939, which was really cool, but other than that it was just tiring and messy. But the boys were GOOD at ripping stuff out. They could do it pretty much with their bare hands. One of the benefits of having very tall, very strong young people destroy your house, I guess.

Then the ceiling came down. This is where the tall guys really came in handy. Once everything was stripped down to the studs, we realized that those big beams that ran across the room didn't actually go ALL the way across the room. No, they're supported by 2x4s. Great. And they're really only supporting the old log roof in the ceiling. Very interesting. Some of the studs need to be replaced, and it's all sort of strange. We're having someone come to consult with us either this week or next. We need to know what we can move, and what moving things will entail. If the log roof isn't supporting anything, it would be great to get rid of it.

Monday we slept in, watched some anime, and ate lunch before tackling the pole in the backyard. This is the 20 foot light pole in our backyard that served some unknown purpose at one point in time. Now it's just rusty and strange. We borrowed a jackhammer from a friend and let the boys have at it. My spouse and the roommate hammered at the base while my brother tugged on the rope that was supposed to guide the pole's fall away from the house. After a couple of hours later and about 18 inches into the dirt, it just wasn't panning out. So we got out the sawzall and just cut the sucker down. Took a few minutes, and my brother just pulled it down. It was pretty amazing. So now the pole is out as well. Mostly- there are still a few feet sticking above ground. But you can hardly see it through the jungle of our backyard.

And that was the weekend. We pulled up the carpet pad yesterday and mopped the floor so we don't track crap all over the rest of the house, and now we just wait to hear what the consultant says. Depending on his feedback, we might need to get structural engineers involved. Hopefully we can just go ahead, get a permit, and do some structural work. Once that's done, we'll do the wiring, close up the walls, and put down hardwood floors. And one room will be done, with only 7 to go!

My spouse will post a series of pictures illustrating the grand events as soon as he can. Hooray!