The Backroom Blitz

As soon as we got home from work on Tuesday we put on our grubbies and went over to the house. Eric made many a measurement based on our architects' drawings and laid tape lines to see where things would fall and make practical determinations like whether our dining room table will fit anywhere (we think it will). I went for hands-on destruction. I was really hoping that we'd be able to move the steps to the front of the house as I am very fond of the open rail, staircase, landing arrangement in our current home. Alas, roof height and cost made such an alteration prohibitive. So I am hoping we can make the most of the current stair. I ripped all of the wood panelling off of it last night and immediately felt better. Removing a header from the doorway gave it another foot and a half in height and opened it up a little more. Meanwhile, Eric had stopped his measurements, donned a respirator and was tearing chunks of drywall from the back bedroom walls next to where I was working on the stairs. We removed about 8 rolls of old pink insulation from behind the drywall and retired them to the possum shed until we get another dumpster (maybe this weekend at the rate we're going!). Then we tackled the two-by-four framing on all of the walls. Out came the handy mallet, "Thor"! Thor is mighty. We removed the framing from three walls including around two windows in half an hour. It's a little nerve-wracking to be swinging a sledgehammer within a foot of a glass window, but the framing wasn't attached to the window frames and all portals remained intact. Plus, when you'd get one vertical beam free around a window you'd get the attached horizontal one as a bonus! Our back porch has a mountain of beams piled on it with the theory that some may be re-useable. We're going to hit the Build-it-Again Center after work again Wednesday in search of some simple light fixtures to put up in the entry room and kitchen once we take the ceiling fans down. We also need to get some hinges for the door to our fence on the west side of the house. The previously empty apartment next door is now occupied and Monday and Tuesday when we've come to the house we find that our unattached fence door has been "borrowed" by the new neighbors to seal off their yard. Um, I was hoping it would do the same for ours?