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.