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.