My Story

I have always had an interest in houses and construction. I am the daughter of a carpenter recently turned restaurant owner so I grew up around construction sites. My dad built our family house (on weekends and after work) and it took 4 years. When my dad first started the "yard" was 5 acres of trees. Slowly it took shape and I visited the construction site all the time. I think that experience has made this whole project easier. Any normal person would probably be freaked out.

I work in the renewable energy field and have an interest in energy efficiency. I hope to make our house as efficient as we can afford. About two days after we closed on the house I called and scheduled an energy audit. There isn't much for them to look at, but we need to have an audit before we can take advantage of 0% interest loan for energy efficiency improvements. We had a serious debate about what to do with our original 1860s windows which were historic and pretty, but probably contain lead paint and definitely have significant heat loss. I was fighting to keep the windows and re-glaze them and add new storm windows, but in the end I lost the fight and we agreed to get new windows. Yes, they will cost a fortune and we won't see a payback, but I think I will like them.

Yard

We chipped all the brush and now you can see our 2 car garage. We will be looking for a salvage company to take our garage away, it's all metal.

We're tired...

And so is our family.

Since our last update we have thrown another 8 tons of our house away. All of the lath is gone. The yard is clear except for our garage. All non load-bearing walls are gone. The chimneys and cast iron stack are gone. We've gotten quotes on a new roof, insulation, kitchen cabinets and framing.

After a month's worth of work we are finally ready to put our house back together.

12.3

They finally removed the dumpster and it weighed 12.3 tons. That means we (me, greg and family) carried out over 24,000 lbs of plaster! The dumpster company is making a fortune off of us.

Monday night Greg's parents came up and helped us take out a wall and clean up the downstairs. Tuesday night was our night off and we went to Bargain Outlet to look for a door, they had the back door we want, but not a nice front door. After Bargain Outlet we went to Ruby Tuesdays to treat ourselves to the salad bar, and celebrate almost being done with demo.

Tonight my dad and Ed are coming up to mark where the new walls are going to go. We hope to get a framer, plumber and electrician in very soon.

Dumpster

This morning the dumpster was scheduled to be removed. When I arrived Greg gave me a look and I knew there was an issue. It turns out a 20 yard dumpster full is too much for the truck to handle. The dumpster company has another truck that should be able to get it out, but it is broken so right now we have two dumpsters.

My parents and Greg's dad came up today to help on the house. We took down one of the chimneys, removed interior walls and the awkward bathroom downstairs. The chimney was pretty easy to take down. Mom and I didn't really do much, we went into town and shared a frozen custard and checked out what the town has to offer.

Tomorrow we'll tackle the other chimney and the upstairs bathroom. Soon, we'll be ready to have the framer, electrician, and plumber come take a look.

Last Weekend

Taking the plaster down.









Lots to carry.











Four layers of plaster/sheetrock all came down in one piece.

Upstairs

Today we put in a full day at the house. We removed plaster from 5 closets and the front and back stairs. The upstairs is about 95% complete, in terms of plaster removed.

Tomorrow I go back to work, I have been out for a week so I am not looking forward to all the emails and voice mails. It was nice to be able to get some good work days in on the house although I wish the circumstances were different. I think my parents are coming up on Saturday and Sunday which will be nice, I bet we will have all the lath and plaster removed by the end of Sunday.