Work on the first floor has continued. After the demo party I worked on taking down the ceiling. I got all of it down except for the front bedroom where we stacked all the lath. The dumpster was hauled away and we’re left with the aftermath, which for the time being is mostly cleanup.
Full Dumpster
The first floor is currently a dusty mess. In addition to the room full of lath, the floors are coated in plaster dust and the walls are full of chunks of plaster that need to be cleaned out. There are also some bits here and there that still need to be torn down, along the edges of windows and such.
Post demo first floor
After spending a few hours with the shop vac sucking up plaster I decided I was going to take down some walls because it felt more productive. The wall between the dining room and the bathroom has clearly been modified at points in the houses existence. I’m guessing there was originally a built-in china cabinet in the wall of the dining room next to the chimney, since the space has been strangely closed in.
Dining room wall
Whatever the case, it was done a long time ago and then more recently modified. The boards were cracked in places and the whole thing was pretty rickety. I was impressed by how heavy the old 2x4s are. They’re definitely a lot more solid than the studs you get these days.
Wall removed
It’s took a lot less time and effort than removing chunks of plaster but it was a lot more satisfying. I’ll need to get back to cleaning, of course. There’s a lot of that left to do. I also need to figure out what to do with all the lath. The original plan of burning it seems inadequate to the volume of lath.