Monday, November 3, 2014

A Little Demo And A Big Mess


Hmm….I thought Mike and I were taking it slower this time, lol.  We have been here for two weeks now and I have too many pictures to post in one update.  I will post the demo pictures now and on Thursday give you a new update.

Mike and I wanted to start with the garage so we can move some things out of the house.  We only got as far as taking apart the old workbench which was a bear.


Mike starts off using a heavy hammer:



Sadly that is not going to work.  The top of the old workbench was old the old wood flooring strips and it was tongue and groove and nailed in.  I pry the edges and Mike pops up the rest:




Time to get out the saw.  It's still too heavy to move:



Almost cut down:



And the last of it:




Finally we got the old work bench broken up after beating it, prying it and sawing it, lol.  Some things are just not as easy as they should be:




So now that we are starting to make a mess it's time to find a dumpster.  New area so new contractors.  Here is our first and "maybe" only dumpster:):)



Woo hoo….time to check out what kind of trouble we will find when we tackle the brick wall.  We have never taken out a brick wall before.  Always something new, lol.  Mike hits the top brick of the wall in the kitchen area.  This is straight stacked brick so hopefully it will come down neatly:




One full section is down and yes I am still cleaning up after Mike…after all these years, lol.  We got lucky and a wheelbarrow was left behind at this house.  It will be very useful:)




While I finish cleaning up, Mike has something else on his mind.  He wants to get the mantle down:




No pictures of that as I had to hold the other side up while Mike pried it away from the fireplace wall.  It just had some huge bolts that came out pretty easily:




OK back to the stacked brick:




Woo hoo…we are starting to see the living room from the kitchen:




Mike uses the cut off wheel to cut the rebar that is sticking out of the brick.  Let the sparks fly.  I always like these pictures although I stay far away.  We are leaving this part of the wall up for a buffer for the door.  We will eventually add sheetrock over the brick:





Here is the next wall to tackle.  This one is a staggered stack which won't be as neat to take out.  I just hope we can do it without renting heavy machines:




OK…looks like we are going for it.  Have sledgehammer…will break brick walls, lol.  We takes turns.  Mike takes the upper part and I do the lower part:




Brick is pretty darned stubborn.  It took a lot of hits just to break some out…and then the clean up was a lot…but we did pretty well that day.  From the kitchen side:




And the living room side:




The next day Mike works on the end of the wall.  We are only going that far as that is a utility closet between the kitchen and living room:




Mike chisels up the tile on the hearth:




My chance.  Hey sometimes I need a break from the clean up and Mike gets to rest:)




We have the bulk of the wall out:



Mike works on the hearth while Niki stretches.  We must be making her tired:




Ah…my mess to clean while Mike tried to level off the edge of this wall.  We need to make the corner as smooth as we can so we can add 2x4's and sheet rock.  It also took some direct banging with the hammer onto the brick to get this corner in god shape.  I did that while Mike directed me where to hit, lol:



The hearth is out:)




Yay…the brick that we are taking down is down…from the kitchen.  No more dungeon/prison feel:)




And from the living room:




We think it looks so much more open now:)  Now our plan is to add some studs and put some sheetrock up. This way the red brick will be gone from our view:).


We did take a break last week and drove around the area…and we also looked at flooring.  It seems we can never get away from stopping in at some type of home store.  We did pick out three different tiles that we like.  We are just waiting on a sample of the one to come in the mail….then we will decide.  We do like the area though so that was nice to find out:)  There are a lot of small towns within close driving distances which is kind of cool.


So that was the demo story…next up the sheetrock.  I will post again on Thursday for a new update.  I hope you all enjoyed this update.

Have a great week:)

Lisa

21 comments:

  1. WoW..what a huge improvement. All the light in the rooms sure makes a difference. You guys did a ‘clean’ job on the demo, bet you were sore for a couple of days after. The shop has good light with all its windows. It’s great having a nice big shop like that. Can you park your RV in there or is it too tall?

    What is your average temp. there this time of year? For all the work you are doing, I don’t see either of you sweating like in your last FL remodel..lol Having a beautiful setting sure makes it nice for working when you can step out and take a look around. Have you had a chance to meet any of the locals yet? You really need a boat to check things out from that angle. So much for taking it easy this time around, but with you two, not surprising..lol
    Gary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was pretty clean. After so many bangs the brick would crack and then eventually crumble. Pieces weren't flying, lol.

      Unfortunately we can't park the RV in the garage. We need to have a parking area and turnaround made for it. That will come after we finish the inside.

      We are close in temperature to the last house…just about 5 weeks later than when we started last week so it is cooler..yay:) We do have a lot of shade trees and a great breeze here. That might save us as it gets hotter. The temps are a little allover this week. Here are our highs for the next 5 days…78, 83, 83, 67, 73. We'll need the fireplace on friday, lol.

      I had to go out and pick up yard debris yesterday and it was so nice to be out there. I even talked with one fisherman for a bit. We only have 4 other houses on our block. We have met three of the neighbors. Two of them seem fine but the one couple seems very nice. They drove by on their boat last week and invited us for a boat ride and for dinner. They told us to stop by any time:) Mike has also been meeting some of the fisherman from other places while they fish near our land. I think we will like it here.

      Oh…we got Mike's boat on Sunday.:) We found a great deal and had to stop work before it was gone to go and pick it up. Sadly it is sitting unused in the garage for now.

      Delete
    2. The boat parked in the garage is just so wrong..lol You might want to get it serviced before you drop it in the water.. On that boat dock of yours you might want to add some padding all the way around the slip, saves the gel coat. Boat fenders will work though and add some hvy duty tie down cleats. It's always nice to have some lights in there for when you come in after dark. Need details..lol

      Delete
    3. I know, right…lol. The man who sld the boat to us was meticulous about everything. The boat is in excellent condition:) We are taking a couple of days off to get things registered and all the fun stuff. Thanks for reminding me about the fenders. I need to put that on our "to buy" list or we will forget, lol. I will post pictures of the boat on Thursday:) Right now I am in kitchen designing confusion…ugh!!

      Delete
  2. Looking good....Put on some safety glasses....Eyes are precious.


    Bones

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so very right Bones:) We have always been bad for that. I think because it was flying debris we just didn't worry about it. I know…poor excuses.

      Delete
  3. It really does look better with the wall and hearth gone. Can't wait for the next post!

    Kats

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for taking us along on this new adventure. LOL
    Looking good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That looks SO MUCH better!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree with Bones safety first you guys. Good to see Niki wonder if she is thinking "how long before we go back home"? LOL Was that work bench bolted to the ground? Love the openness of the 2 rooms now, great job as always. Jaxson

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that is the worst of the demo. I think Niki is thinking…."ugh…these fools are at it again…I'm too old for this:, lol. Ella called her on speakerphone the other night and I have to e-mail daily Niki pics to her.

      No it wasn't bolted but it was very very heavy. Thanks.

      Delete
  7. How about masks for the demolition dust? I guess that scare a couple of months back didn't kick in quite yet?
    Safety First!

    It looks great, and will look even better when the sheetrock is up covering the brick. You could probably go with 1x4 backing boards that are screwed to the brick, then screw sheetrock to that....less expensive than the 2x4s, and it will keep things closer to the brick.

    Always good to see Niki supervising.

    I continue to be amazed that you don't have a wheelbarrow.....though glad that you happened to find one there. It's been my little peeve with each of your remodel projects. The two wheel type are really GREAT!.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know. The dust wasn't actually bad. We had front and back doors open while we did the demo. The brick also kind of tumbled once we got a crack started.

      Niki has to keep us on our toes, lol.

      I hear you. Every time we get a wheelbarrow we use it. I just used it yesterday to take around the yard to pick up al the debris after some high winds. This one is really heavy. Yes the two wheels would be great but ours is free, lol.

      Delete
  8. What a great change! At first glance I thought you should just paint over the brick now for some nice texture, but then realized the different stacking patterns would look funny.

    Have you been to MIcanopy yet? I love that place, and the drive out to it on the back roads is so "Old Florida". We used to have a big booth in one of the antique shops there. SassyKat&Joe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Painted flat brick is one thing but the front of the fireplace had chunks that stuck out. It was odd.

      Yes we have been to Micanopy. It took me so long to pronounce it correctly, lol. Our good friends from our rving days are in Williston. If you like antiques you should try Webster on Martin Luther King Day. It is packed on that day. Mike and I want to also try Renningers this year.

      Delete
  9. Okay looking much better already.

    Sandy

    ReplyDelete