Hammer time

The final numbers for carpentry and drywall and electrical are nearly in, and while they're really not bad, we need to save where we can. Coupled with a chance viewing of DIY Network's Ten Grand in your Hand, we decided today to begin demolition in the west bedroom.

Here it is before, an ugly expanse of wallpaper glue left from the old faded burlap.
Here's the other side of the room with the ancient built-in desk. Bill's going to do a window bench here. Those pieces of paper up in the corner are there as we were judging sizes for new crown moulding.

And here is the east wall shortly after we began swinging hammers. The closet in the center remains, but gets a double door instead of the sliders that were there. The tiny closet in the corner on the left goes away. It currently holds slanted shoe shelves and not much else. Removing it lets us install a 30 inch door into the bathroom rather than the too-narrow one there now. That change saves us the cost of a door and hardware as well as making that whole part of the room less congested.

Here's Brett with his hammer. The other benefit of demo work is that we got to blow off some angst and steam we built up yesterday. The sweatshirt is your clue, nuff said.

So far it seems like our house is exremely well built. Phyllis had told us that in 1952 Joe Hoffman was the premier home builder in this part of town, and I'm inclined to think she was right. Nails are long and plentiful, and everything is incredibly solid. For some reason the drywall is double layered. There actually is insulation, but its old and not very thick and I'm happy we're replacing it.

The wiring is all intact and while it's not scary, it does look old and I'm glad we're replacing it as well. Another electrician comes tomorrow night to give us a bid, and hopefully I can get someone to deliver a roll-off. So far we've got 12 contractor bags of broken sheetrock, assorted doors and shelves, and miles of nail-ridden trim.

More photos to follow as things progress.