Day 2 February 16

Today I found my calling, I have been summoned to dismantle walls with a sledge hammer and my bare hands! At the completion of today’s projects we now have no walls in our kitchen, including any 2x4s (which by the way I recently learned in fact do not measure to be 2 inches by 4 inches, but instead 1.5 by 3.5. Now that’s just seems dumb to me).

 

Day two was another successful demo day with lots of drywall dust coating David’s and my hair to the point it felt as if we both shampooed with chalk dust. I was in charge of taking down the drywall while David worked on unscrewing outlets and all the other electrical stuff. After I managed to fill any leftover work space with drywall scraps, David came through and whacked away at the studs. At this point my cleanup mode kicked in. I grabbed the wheel barrel, moved the truck to the front, and started the cleanup of drywall. Looking back, I probably should have loaded the wheel barrel as I was tearing down the walls. Eh, tomato, tomaaaato. Two truck loads and many wheel barrels later the house was clear of any remnant of drywall scraps. Now we have a large pile in the back ready to BURN! At least we have learned from our first experience of burning outside… dry weather, heavy winds, very dry pine… not the best combination for safety but perfect for 30 foot flames tempting to burn down the woods in back.

Aaaaaany who, I returned inside to David cursing about the previous dumbass owners ability to not do things to code, hidden junction boxes in the ceiling, and miles of wiring with no apparent purpose. I just nodded and agreed. At least one of us seems to know what we’re doing :o) Since we are hoping to reuse some of  the 2x4s to build our walls, I sorted through the miscellaneous stacks and made a pile inside of the decent pieces and dumped the rest onto the burn pile out back. Next, David needed a better look into the mudroom ceiling so I started the task of removing the wood paneling. With the help of my trusty putty knife it went incredibly smooth.  

That was a wrap for day two. On our way to church I forced David to make a list of things we’re planning on doing tomorrow. I feel lists help with productivity and efficiency, but it also helps when David is working on something that I can’t help out with, so I’ll just resort to my list of odd jobs that I can do solo. Then I don’t feel like a bump on a log just standing there waiting to lend him a hand in the event he needs one. As for tomorrow’s to do list, it is tentatively as follows:

-move refrigerator to basement (borrow dolly from neighbor or recruit neighbor’s muscles)

-build frame for divider wall and peninsula

-remove electrical wiring (David wants to start with a clean slate considering the jumble of wires that we have now)

-trip to Home Depot for supplies

-remove kitchen ceiling drywall (debated not doing this but in the end it makes it easier to route wiring and assess current plumbing situation)

A small find between the studs :o)