Demolition day #1

Boy, am I tired!!! Very physical and messy work but I did have a lot of fun demolishing our not so lovely kitchen. Goodbye forever! And the space - wow - it is sooooooooo much better without the wall. Just as nice, or even better, than I was expecting. We are only part way through demolition, but since we have no light fixtures in the kitchen anymore, we can't easily work in the evening. Since we were dirty and tired, we called it quits before dinner... pizza & wings (Adam's request and easily fulfilled). Photo story below....

We started the day by banishing Maddy to the upstairs with Parker - she wasn't impressed.

Next, on to disconnecting the dishwasher.  Bad news - it had been leaking for a while.

Can you see the "Hmmmm" on Wendy's face?

On to disconnecting the plumbing...

Adam was already tired so he just laid right down where he was sitting!
 

 While we were waiting for the dumpster to arrive... we did a photo shoot of me smashing through the infamous wall.... I've been waiting to do this since 1995!!!!!!

 

 

 

Me, proud as punch, with a very nice hole in the wall.

 

 

Still waiting for the dumpster, Adam and his friend Mike began removing the kitchen cupboards. They were both a HUGE help. Thank you boys, hope you had loads of fun!

 

Finally the dumpster arrives - not the one we ordered - one size smaller :-(

Wendy says it won't be big enough, Eric says "We'll see."

 

While the boys were finishing loading the dumpster with the piles from the morning and from the past 2 weeks (in the garage and in the backyard), Wendy took a moment to clean up a bit.

Looks better already... doesn't it?

 

Finally a picture of Eric - he took out the kitchen sink and...

 

found a very old calendar from 1970!

 

Adam and Mike tossing out the counter top.

 

We advised Mike to watch out for dead mice.

 

Mike and Adam discussing where to demolish next!

 

Murray arrived with his "Sawzall" and began in earnest to get rid of Wendy's nemesis wall.

Murray, too, had loads of fun!

 

Gratuitous wall violence...

Messy wall board everywhere.

This is the norm for the next 2 hours.

Murray, Mike and Adam tearing apart and down wood and drywall.

Wendy picking up, shoveling and encouraging the boys to do so too.

The above sequence of 3 photos are in order but, in the final one, the sledge hammer slipped away from Murray and fell to the ground. Bonus points if you can spot where it fell!

 

Yes, it really is in the picture. No, this is not a posed picture.

Murray broke up laughing after he swung and the sledge hammer went flying 

Eventually, Wendy finally found a mouse! Dead and hard as nails.

 

Wendy resorted to a bucket, then later 3 buckets to keep up with the smaller stuff.

 

Check out the 2 photo series above.

Adam  - astounded that the wood didn't budge, even though he smacked it hard.

 

When the ceiling started coming down, Wendy headed to the front porch for a rest and some non-dusty air. The drywall was flying and falling fast in sometimes rather large sections, so she had to stay out of the way.

 

We were starting to lose our light inside (no light fixtures and no ceiling!) so we had to call it quits for the day. Wendy, saying a final goodbye to Coca-Cola wall paper border.

 Messy, messy, messy!

 

Yes, the dumpster is almost full - but we are only about 60% done the demolition.

Who thinks we will need another dumpster?

 

Our new kitchen space!!

 

Tomorrow, we have to remove more drywall (where the green is so the contractors can do the wiring etc) and remove the panelling from the back hallway, the linoleum, the hardwood and the sub floor!