Removing beams

We are at the end of day 2 and I am continually impressed by the speed of the demolition. Today the workmen removed the ceiling, wall drywall and a whole bunch of beams so the ceiling can be exposed. It's amazing how they put together the addition to the house back in the late 60's. You can see where the old roof ends and the new one juts out. All of the old materials (other than roof shingles) is still there.

One of the odd things is the lack of supports in the middle of the room. Originally, there were room dividing arches that we has assumed were load bearing. I guess since there isn't anything up there they are not as load bearing as we thought, at least I hope they are not.

Tomorrow I belive they are removing the tile on the floor.

It is very interesting to see the crappy craftsmanship of previous work. In some areas there is still carpeting where the previous cabinets were placed and there are two levels of old linoleum tile below the existing floor, which would explain why the floor had all the cracks and was not level. There are also several layers of wallpaper in areas that were behind the cabinets. While the additional wallpaper isn't a big deal, it does mean that previous owners were laying wallpaper over wallpaper during at least part of the house's lifetime.

First day of construction

Yesterday the workmen actually came and ripped out the old kitchen. While the floor and some of the walls are in place the majority of everything else has been removed.

What I was most impressed with is the tidiness of the place when I got home last night. I guess I expected more kayos.

The one thing that did not arrive yesterday was the dumpster, so the workmen piled the garbage on a tarp and covered it so it would not go all over the neighborhood.

Our house is a split level so it was interesting to be able to see the bathroom pipes behind the exposed wall. If I was more gung-ho I would use this opportunity to remove the tub trap and clean in out since I won't get this opportunity again.

Shown to the right is what it looks like after the demolition has been started at the end of day 1.