Episode 6: Demolition Men

I finally have some more progress to report. I haven't had as much time spent on the kitchen as I would have liked, this last week, however the Thanksgiving holiday has provided the opportunity to do some serious demolition work. As usual, I do the work, and project manager Meggie makes sure I don't slack off.

Here she is using her Aussie mind control powers to get me to give her a treat for managing the job so well. The whole glowing eye thing is starting to freak me out. Every once in a while I have this uncontrollable urge to let her use the reciprocating saw, but I've managed to fight it off, so far. The force is strong with this one.

Here is the kitchen as it appears, so far. I have most of the drywall down. I've started to pull down the ceiling, but I've been a little hesitant to go too far because of all that nasty blown in insulation that's above. I hate that stuff. I wish people didn't use it. I will not be repeating that mistake.

Here's a couple more views of the plumbing nightmare I am facing. This will all be coming out. What you don't see is the cuts in the concrete floor that I have made since taking this picture. I have to bust out some concrete to move the drains to the new sink location.

Yikes!

This is the electrical nightmare I am facing. I still have the sheet metal covering the junction box. I don't want anyone accidentally coming in contact with the wires. This box will be moved to the overhead storage space on the 2nd floor. There will be a corner cabinet and a tile backsplash in this location. The box cannot stay.

A shot of the open kitchen ceiling, showing the shower and toilet drains, and a couple of the A/C vents to the kitchen and the bathroom on the other side of the wall.

I had help today. The missionaries from Church really wanted to tear something out, so I saved a wall for them. This is the former storage room that was accessible only from the outside of the house. I don't have any pre-demo pictures of this room. I had already pulled down much of the drywall months ago, but have saved tearing out the old wall until I was ready to put the plumbing in. I have built a new wall in the house to make the room bigger, and today we pulled down the existing wall. We now have a room that is roughly 8x10 feet for a laundry room/pantry.

Here you can see some of the blown in insulation floating around. It was so thick in the air we could hardly see. It had settled a bit by the time I took this picture. The old wall has already been torn out, and you can see the plastic covering the new laundry room door in the background. What you can't see is the demolition "weapon" the missionary is using. Last year for my birthday my wife bought me the Stanley "Fubar". When I first got it, it looked pretty cool, but I couldn't figure out what I'd use it for. The first time I was on the demolition part of a job out in Farmville, I finally realized it's full potential. So did the guys I work with. They all think I have the most awesome wife in the world. "I wish my wife/girlfriend would buy me tools" they'd say. I should take a picture of the thing. It's fun to use. The missionary using it couldn't stop laughing (maniacally) as he was using it. It has that effect on the most peace-loving of people.

One of the missionaries hurt his knee yesterday. They had decided to play it safe yesterday and not participate in the customary Thanksgiving football and basketball games. They played tennis, instead. Guess the hurt found him, anyway. He pulled down the aluminum siding on the outside of the planned laundry room. I will be closing in that doorway and installing a window. Previously, this room had only been accessible through this door. Now it is open to the interior of the house.

Here are some views of the laundry room after we had cleaned up the mess. Here's the new doorway.

We've pulled down all of the drywall on the walls and ceiling. The existing drywall on the ceiling was severely water damaged on the storage side of the old wall, and the bonus room side had that popcorn texture all over it. This room will be getting a new ceiling light and an attic access door. I'll be building new cabinets for the laundry supplies and some pantry shelves when the room is ready. We still need to run the plumbing for the washing machine, and the new electrical lines.

Just another view looking toward the back door. There will be a window where the door is currently located.

A shot of the ceiling and a whole lot of nothing in the space above.

All of that supervisory exertion has taken it's toll on Meggie. That and the shower I made her take. She was due for one. No, the vacuum in the background was not used to clean her, although the thought did cross my mind. Wouldn't it be great? Someone could invent a sort of "Carpet Fresh" product for dogs. Just sprinkle on and vacuum off. Oh yeah, Meg would love that. NOT!!