Sunday, August 24

More Demolition?

Well, this is the progress we have made on the framing. We have 4 additional walls built that we haven't stood yet because we have to do some demolition first. Yes, I thought we were past that, too. But, I seem to have forgotten that the back wall of my existing home, the one I am living in , sleeping in, cooking in and half-heartedly cleaning, needs to be removed and replaced. So, rather than building this week, we have been installing bracing posts in preparation for the walls to come crashing down around me. (And I don't mean that figuratively.)Before Troy could install the posts in the kitchen, (Yes, they will be permanent fixtures until we move into the new house.) I had to empty the cabinets and drawers. He is being really nice and postponing the installation of the post that will be located behind the kitchen sink until it is absolutely necessary. My friend Tonya gave/loaned me a truckful of plastic storage crates, (you can see some on the counters) to temporarily store my cleaners, medicines, dishes, pots & pans, utensils, spices, Tupperware, cookbooks, baking ingredients, essentially EVERYTHING I normally keep in my kitchen. This is the main cause for the disarray.
To make our house more energy-efficient, we blew insulation into the space between the roof and the ceiling about 4 years ago. When he broke holes in the ceiling to support the roof with the beams, the insulation started falling out. The black garbage bags are for collecting it, and putting it back up in the small cavity around the post. They add such a nice touch to the decor, don't they?
Here is our bedroom. That door used to lead to our walk-in-closet, which has since been torn out. Yes, that is our bed. A saws-all and a shop vac are also present. Notice the nice plastic storage container. That one contains everything that used to fit under my bathroom cabinets before we shrunk the bathroom by 25 square feet.
Here is our first post. Notice the insulation-filled garbage bag? Like I said earlier: Permanent Fixture. *Sigh*
Here is the bedroom on Saturday morning. All 3 posts are installed and the warm, cheery sunshine in shining in through the hole in the wall! Troy spend most of Saturday on the roof, pounding out concrete, and in the bedroom battling with the walls. You can see some of the smaller holes. They grew.
As you can see, he won the battle, but it took a lot of effort. He broke the "Virtually Indestructible" handle of his 16 pound sledgehammer. He enjoyed a brief break while I went to Home Depot to return it. I was pleased that they exchanged it, no questions asked. It is only 5 years old. But, the label said it was indestructible. If you look closely into the gaping hole, you can see the bed we slept in Saturday night. It was so romantic to lie in bed and look up at the stars through the hole in the wall! We are not sure how many of the neighbors can see in. Hmmm...
We all climbed up on the roof yesterday, and although it was nerve-racking for me to have the boys up there, they had a blast. Timmy climbed up the chimney and looked down, and asked me if Santa lived down there. He doesn't.
This is what the back of the house looks like when you are standing in the new part. Every inch of white you see, and some that you can't see, needs to be torn out. We think this will be a fairly lengthy phase. See the two windows? When we build the wall to replace the cinder block one, those windows will not be re-installed. I am so sad about that. I love to look out the window while standing at the sink and admire our accomplishments. The boys love to climb onto the counter, sit next to the microwave and watch Daddy work. It is nice when Troy and I are out working on the house after Spencer is asleep and Timmy is watching a movie to peek in the window to check on him. I will really miss those windows. This was the first thing I saw when I awoke this morning. Did I mention that there are live electrical wires behind those posts that are now exposed?
No, I'm not stressed out. But thanks for asking.

2 comments:

suz said...

How you were dressed and looking nice at church today is beyond me! It made me stressed out just to read your post!

Brett and Ali said...

All I can say is that you will really enjoy your house when it is done. Just keep thinking how wonderful it will be! I really don't know how you are enduring it. Good job and good luck.
Love,
Ali and Company