DIY Demolition Begins!

We have been putting in some hours doing demolition to try and save a bit of money on the construction costs.  Every little bit helps, right? Dom has the most wonderful friends and they all came over on a Saturday to help us tear down some walls.  We fed them pizza and they worked like animals.  It was amazing.  I think they even liked it.

If you're like me, you have an idea of what demo entails from watching Property Brothers, Love it or List it, and Rehab Addict on HGTV.  What you don't see on those shows is that demo isn't just about tearing down walls.  After Dom's friends left we still had a LOT more to do. 

I had no idea that demo involves taking every single nail out of every single two by four. Or that demo is about bending down 10,000 times to pick up dry wall bits and then taking 100 trips to the dumpster. Demo is about back spasms.  Okay, okay, I'm whining.  But my point is that demo is much harder than it looks on TV.   We've only been doing demo for 3 days now and I'm wiped out.

I have a new appreciation for people who work like this on a daily basis.  

Sara's Mom helping to pull nails.

Bedroom #1 looking into the kitchen.

Here is the future home of our breakfast bar! We didn't have to pull these nails since we are tearing out these studs.  

Pocket Door Gone!

I removed the pocket door (woop woop!) and started opening up the entry to the future dining room. We are trying to save some of the old kitchen cabinets for storage in our garage. Fingers crossed we can take them down in one piece!

Dom hard at work

This is about 8 o'clock at night. We've already had our first injury.  Dom punctured his finger with a nail while picking up dry wall scraps.  We doctored him up and put him back to work. Here he is pulling nails from studs I told him I already pulled all the nails from. Ooopsie. Those little suckers are everywhere.  

He is exhausted and probably wanting to kill me for sticking a camera in his face.  But what kind of person would I be if I didn't document this part of the process? I mean, no one can pull off a dust mask like this guy.

Main Level Floor Plan

Here is the floor plan for the main level of the house.  

Floor Plan courtesy of Kerry Vanderzanden

Kerry Vanderzanden was our architect and did a great job on the plans.  He was easy to work with and got us plans quickly.  This was important as we were incredibly eager to see what this house could become.  We would recommend him and work with him again. 

As you can see, the garage is extended creating space for a mud room.  Grandma's bedroom, the main bath, and the living room all stay in the same location.  The other bedroom becomes the kitchen. The existing kitchen space becomes the dining room, connected to the new kitchen with a great breakfast bar.  Hopefully we will love this new, more open layout.  It should be light and bright!

Note: These plans aren't final. Some items will change.  The washer and dryer will not be located in the mudroom and the deck will be larger, allowing for sliders from the dining space.