Off Day

Just like baseball players, renovators need an off day, and Monday seems like a good day to be off. Pretty stiff and sore today anyway, so the aging bodies will appreciate the rest. Apparently, you use muscles during demolition that lay dormant otherwise. It gives me a new level of respect for people that make a career of this type of work. It's one thing to have a physical job in your twenties - it's quite something else to continue that type of work through middle-age and into retirement.

An update to the cat situation - since sharing a bathroom with a cat really stinks (both figuratively and literally), we've decided to un-ban Neuman from the basement on a trial basis. He seems happy to be able to trip around down there at his leisure, and inspect the renovation. We'll just have to wait and see if this arrangement is going to work.

Tomorrow it's back at it - we'll be pulling nails and cleaning-up and repairing the walls.

Day 4 - Completing the Demolition

We're almost totally finished demolishing stuff.  All the big stuff is gone, and there are only a few things left to dismantle. It took longer than I thought it would, but we managed to complete it during a weekend, and still got to go the Glebe garage sale, so it's all good.

Today's Challenge

Lesley also took advantage of the dumpster by cleaning out the garage this morning while I got started ripping out panelling and strapping. She did an outstanding job - the garage has never looked so good. We still had leftovers from when we first moved in, so it was nice to get rid of all that stuff.

Cleaning out the garage

Today went very well. We've become quite experienced in demolishing out basement, and our approach has become more methodical. I started taking out the big panels, followed by the ceiling tiles, followed by the strapping. We managed to get everything out well before 4pm today. Unfortunately, we have lost a hammer. With all the debris getting piled up in the middle of the room, it's easy to lose tools in the pile. Goodbye brave hammer - you hung pictures like a pro...

Standing on the debris pile, removing strapping

No real adventures today, except for me stepping on an electrical wire staple. I thought I had a sliver in my foot until I realised that was impossible. When I checked my shoe, I discovered an electrical staple buried deep in my shoe. Lesley was nice enough to remove it for me.

Ouch!

So where's the cat?! We've had to banish our friend Neuman from the basement during the reno. He was already banned from the main part for reasons I won't get into here, but he's been double-banned since we began demolition. One downside is having to share a bathroom with a cat.

Banned by floor tiles

Sharing the bathroom

We still have a few days before the dumpster gets picked up, so we'll be tossing in odds and ends until then. We're both quite relieved that the worst is over, and we won't have to breathe in any more demo-dust.

Fighting the dust, robbing a gas station, or cute ninja?

Next steps involve taking out all protruding nails, including those in the concrete, cleaning the floors and walls, and repairing the concrete. I also have to remove 3 existing stud walls, and I'm planning on saving the 2x4's to use later on. Tomorrow it's back to our actual jobs for which we get paid, so progress will be slow until the weekend. We're still hoping to accomplish all of the above prior to next weekend though so we can begin to lay the subfloor.

Raining Mouse Poo

Demolition continued today. We got a late start because today was the Great Glebe Garage sale, which can't be missed. The Glebe is an affluent area of Ottawa, and the entire neighbourhood has a yard sale the same day. It's pretty cool. We got there at 7:30am and stayed only until about 9:30am. I dropped Lesley off to meet her friends for brunch, and it was off to Home Depot & Canadian Tire for me. Picked up the work light and shop-vac we needed, both of which were indispensable today.

Our new shop-vac with detachable blower

Let there be light!

Lesley got back from brunch just as I was finishing up lunch, and it was down to the basement for more demolition. Today we tackled the entire back half of the room. Since we have to work around a tv and a couch, the demo has to go one half room at a time.

Taking down the strapping

Under-stairs storage exposed

Today saw a lot of ceiling tiles come down. In certain areas, and especially around the stairs, the tiles were COVERED in mouse droppings. Every tile that came down caused a shower of mouse poo to rain down. But that's not the most disgusting incident of the day. Oh, no. Poor Lesley pulled down one ceiling tile, and a dead mouse came falling down nearly right on top of her. She was pretty grossed out. I disposed of the carcass and figured I'd be pulling down the rest of the tiles myself, but Lesley really hung in there and got right back to pulling down tiles. I am impressed by her resilience in the face of adversity and poo.

We managed to get quite a bit done today in 6 hours of work, though not quite as much as I'd hoped. Still, we should be able to finish the job tomorrow with a full day's work.

Filling the bin

Down the stairs

Looking forward to finishing the other side of the room tomorrow. Demolition is cathartic, but it's also very messy and dusty, and there are nails poking out of everything. Lesley stepped on 3 nails today. Didn't slow her down though - she's tougher than she looks! We've now moved the tv and couch to the demo'd side, and will move the floor tiles over there first thing tomorrow before tearing down panelling.

For now, we sit and enjoy a beer before the Stanley Cup finals begin. Go Hawks.

It Begins

Today, the demolition began. Very cathartic, if somewhat messy.

Starting the Demo

Taking out the first panel

It's a Friday, so only about 2 hours of work got done before it was beer time. Managed to get about 75% of the long exterior wall removed, and the ceiling tile under one of the bulkheads. Lesley was fairly put out by the mouse poo that rained down from the ceiling. Ew. I had to shut off the power (obviously), so it was really quite dark down there. Those tiny windows don't offer much light. We're going to need floodlights to get this job done.

The first pile of debris

Some discoveries: the wall is covered with puffy lime deposits, and quite possibly some mold. Double ew. Also, there is an electrical outlet encased in concrete (seriously!), and electrical cord sheathing that was completely rotten thanks to a rusty tack. The baseboard heaters were not wired properly either. I shudder to think what might have happened down there had we left it for 20 years (*shudder*).

The first bit comes down

I'm also going to have to figure out how to fasten the top plate of the new stud wall for the wall in these pictures. A peculiar thing about the construction of this house: the floor joists are embedded in the foundation wall rather than sitting on top. This means that the floor boards run right over the foundation wall (the concrete goes right up to the floorboards). The nearest joist to the foundation wall is 11" away, and since toenailing nailers to the concrete seems like a bad idea, I don't know what I'm going to nail the top plate to. So far, my best idea is to extend the wall right to the floorboards and nail the top plate into them, then install cross-pieces where the ceiling drywall meets the wall drywall for added strength. Any suggestions here would be appreciated.

Some good news: it looks as though the bulkheads are very well constructed, and I will be able to drywall over them without having to rebuild them. That's going to save me hours of work, and some money on strapping.

Tomorrow we'll be making the project's first trip to Home Depot. Items on the list are a Shop-vac and floodlights. With luck, we'll be able to get the rest of the panelling and the ceiling tiles down before the day is done.

Day 1 - The Dumpster Arrives!

Today we got our dumpster - very exciting! Now we can begin the demo of the existing basement in earnest. Getting the dumpster was a piece of cake. I booked it online, including instructions as to where it was to be left, it was delivered while we were at work, and will be picked up in a week, also while we're at work. Brilliant! Didn't even need to talk to anyone. All shopping should be this easy!

The dumpster takes up nearly the whole driveway

We've already removed one panel and discovered that the existing finish was done by tacking wood strapping directly to the concrete wall, and then nailing the panelling to the strapping. Of course, the strapping is quite rotten in places, as one might expect. This means that we'll have to buy all new lumber to frame new walls instead of using the existing framing as we'd hoped. No worries though. Every renovation has surprises, so if this is the worst we get, we'll be in good shape.

A peek at what's to come

We've also had to leave some things in the room we're renovating, which is not ideal, but we're confident that we'll be able to work around them with a minimum of cursing. The couch, which only barely made it into the basement in the first place, will not come back out unless it's in tiny pieces, so that stays. The tv weighs 120lbs, and is too heavy for Lesley to help me move it, so it stays. The bench and weights are temporary and can be moved out as necessary, but I am hoping (rather foolishly, I suspect) that I'll be able to continue some semblance of working-out during the reno. We'll also have to move the subfloor tiles around until they're ready to be laid. Notice the bench pointed directly at the tv...

Not quite an empty room

 Will he get in any workouts?

Tomorrow, we start the demolition. I have a sudden urge to stock up on first aid supplies...