Tag: debris

Second Floor Demo Floor Demo

November 28, 2016 / / 2 Comments

Our demo party filled the first dumpster, so we swapped it for another one the same size and we filled it up too. In addition to all of the remaining plaster and lath debris, of which there was plenty, we took up the flooring down to the subfloor. This was an involved process, mostly because there wasn’t anywhere that had only one layer of flooring. The living room and dining room had a floated Pergo-style laminted pressboard floor that looked like hardwood. It, like most of the work done to the house shortly before we bought it, was cheap and installed badly. Despite being less than ten years old, it was in bad shape and we pitched it. Under that was peel-and-stick tiles, under that was a thin veneer hardwood, under that was the original hardwood floors, and under that was an inch-thick layer of plaster, mud, and general crud from when the house was built.

Under-floor Crud

As with the first floor, we didn’t save the hardwood floors. For one, there wasn’t enough of it. We’re completely changing the floor plan which would complicate any effort to save it, we’re installing radiant heated floors, and they were in really rough shape from all of the nails.

Bathroom floor removal in progress

Living room done, dining room in progress

Because our subfloor is planks that are spaced apart by a quarter inch or more, we couldn’t use a broom to sweep up all the debris without pushing cascades of crud through the cracks and down into the first floor where all of our stuff is in storage. Now granted, we covered everything with tarps and it’s all pretty dirty already anyway from the dust of the demo party and unavoidable debris that comes down anyway, including through various holes in the floors and walls. Even so, we wanted to do what we could to prevent it from being any worse than it had to be. Sarah spent several hours a day over the better part of two weeks sucking up all the crap with the shopvac. We hauled out about eight contractor bags of the stuff and filled our toters a few times, since the dumpster was gone.

Of course, then I went around de-nailing studs and joists and leaving nails and random other bits of crud all over the floors she had just vacuumed, but this is kind of how it goes. I’ll get it cleaned up again after we’ve pulled out the rest of the interior walls and the plumbing and are ready to start putting things back together. It’s already starting to look like the kind of space we can start building things in, but it will really start looking promising once we get the whole floor completely cleared out.

More First Floor Cleanup

September 12, 2012 / / 3 Comments

This is going to be a picture-heavy post. To start with, I got the partition walls on the first floor down. That really opened things up (and made the house sway a bit in heavy winds, which is concerning). I removed the pocket door mechanism whole by taking down the long board the four pieces are mounted on. We’re going to try selling it to a restoration shop, since we don’t have a place to put it.

Walls removed

You can see our massive lath collection on the left. Progress continues removing the plaster from the wall cavities. It’s time consuming but it’s getting done bit by bit. It’s still a big dusty mess, and I come up from working on it looking like a coal miner.

Bedroom floor cleanup

Here’s a view looking toward the front in the bedrooms. Again, the partition walls separating the bedrooms and closet have been removed (except for the room full of lath that you can see at the end). With help from Matt and Will I pulled up the floor in the back bedroom. Tonight I pulled up the remaining bedroom floor. You can see the subfloor planks in the foreground and the hardwood in the back.

Debris

We carefully separated and de-nailed all of the old wall studs and put them in the basement for later use. The rest is thin pieces that were used to edge the doors and cap the wall studs, which unfortunately has a tendency to crack and split when we pull out the nails. I’m not sure it’s worth saving.

Filthy

I don’t think I can understate what a mess it is. The original floors were installed over felt paper and cross boards to float them so they wouldn’t pop with the temperature swings. This created a cavity under the floors that is basically full, both with the plaster dust from demo as well as a hundred years of regular day to day living. I’m fairly sure we’re going to need another dumpster,  albeit a smaller one than before. I’m looking forward to a step in this process that doesn’t involve a shovel.

First Floor Demo Prep

July 9, 2012 / / 1 Comment

We’ve continued making progress on the first floor. The biggest step was moving the washer and dryer down to the basement. After clearing a few remaining odds and ends, the first floor kitchen is finally starting to look a little empty.

First floor kitchen

We ran out and bought a dolly to get the washer and dryer downstairs. We wound up going out the front door, down the steps, out the gate onto the front sidewalk, over to the other gate, back along the length of the house, down the back steps and into the basement. Somehow, that was easier than going down the back steps, mostly because there wasn’t any room to turn on the landings. Let me tell you, that washer is heavy.

Washer and dryer

After installing the vent through the boarded up window we got everything hooked up and working. It’s an extra flight of steps to do laundry, but it works. We’ll need to cut a tarp from our giant roll of plastic to protect them during demo.

Electric removal

With that out of the way I started removing all of the wiring from the first floor. Most of it was already disconnected, but there were still switches, outlets and light fixtures. I thought I’d gotten most of it a week or so ago, but there were several outlets hiding behind our piles of debris. Some of the flexible conduit is still in the walls, but all of it is disconnected. There’s quite the mess to clean up, and we still have trim to remove in the kitchen and back bedroom, but we’re getting closer!