Let the Xmas demo begin!

Since it has been TOO many weeks since the last post, I better confess as to why I've been away. Xmas festivities took up a few days and oh what fun that was! We traveled the crazy 3 hour drive up to my parents home for a few days and got to enjoy a 'Winter White Xmas' as they had way too much snow. It is amazing how much of a difference the weather is between the areas of one state! You just have to appreciate the Midwest I guess :o) The family Xmas was fun, lots of people to see and way too many cookies were consumed. Ugh.. oh well - that is what New Years Resolutions are for, right?! On Xmas Day, Brook and I (and dog Cody) drove back home to get to the 2nd family Xmas, only to find a few inches of snow on the ground....phew! No need to spend too much time plowing the driveway, but it was good that the roads were normal and no stress for the ride down. We ate soups and many more goodies (peanut butter homemade fudge... seems to be my new favorite go-to snack)! I got exactly what I asked for - a food scale :o) Hehe! Do you think it will tell me how much that fudge was?

After a long day of opening gifts and celebrating Brook's birthday with the family, we headed home to just relax and get a good nights sleep. I was exhausted... and definitely needed to get into some sweatpants. Jeans these days tend to get a little uncomfortable after a few hours. I'm not sure that I'm a fan of this yet!

Dec 26th, 2010 marks the official day of demolition! That's right, we started our year long (make that... 2 year long) planned out project a little early (well, late in 2010 anyway). The 'Master Bathroom' or technically our main bathroom has been broken down and planned to be built back up. I don't mean your typical change the paint color and a few fixtures either. This is a huge project, probably our biggest yet - so it has been pretty exciting for me. Not to mention, I will ACTUALLY have a bathtub when this is finished....ahhhhhhh relaxation!

Here are a few images to remember the madness...

Before: walking into bathroom

Before: toilet area and shower to the right

Before: inside the 1938 shower....somehow this was classified as a bathtub?

Before: standing by the vanity/window

Day 1-3 were pretty much demo days. Brook and I with sledge hammers and rotary hammers taking the floor to ceiling tile down, breaking into the plaster walls, breaking down those plaster walls to expand the bathroom floor plan, and then tackling the 1930s shower. This was one day of demo in itself. The walls of this shower were made with concrete and wire, multiple inches of it, and thick tile from that era. It was crazy.... completely covered my home in dust and gave me a whole new meaning to a workout. So far, we have taken 7,500 lbs of waste to the local landfill and have one more truck load to be going soon.

Here are some photos of the chaos...

I'm honored to take the first official swing at the tile!

Not much damage... but give me the rotary hammer and I'm off!

Brook working hard!

Using the rotary hammer  for the majority of the tiles.

Tiles down. check! Almost through the wall...

Breaking through to back bedroom closet, CHECK!

Starting to see how much more room we're going to have!

Once the 3 days of the major demo was complete, we spent 2 days redoing all of the copper pipes and venting system that goes under the floor. Took a couple of days off to bring in the New Year with some friends and have gone back at it as much as we can after the workday is over. Happy with the progress so far, but we have a long way to go! Last night we took down the final wall in the hallway and put in our new studs and pocket door frame. Tonight we added drywall to finish out the wall so the cold drafts of winter aren't blowing through the rest of the house.

Everything is down (including the ceiling). Now if the shower would just fall! Please?

Just so you all know... we finally found the sub flooring to this room. After 2 layers of tile and 2 layers of concrete.

Here's a closer view of just how thick the floor was. Try picking THAT up and throwing it out :o)

The shower is finally down! Who knew the 'bathtub' portion was completely lined in copper?!

Bare walls and ceiling. Definitely keeping an eye out for bats and constantly ducking.

Here's a view from the old vanity spot and toilet area. Door on the left is the original bathroom door. Door on the right is where the old linen cabinet used to be (opened from the hallway).

Brook finishing up the new subfloor.

Preparing for the hallway wall to come down! (We are making a larger doorway and turning it into a pocket door - so everything had to go).

He's so strong. Look! No more wall!

This gigantic opening made me almost want french doors....almost :o)

This entry was written on Jan 3rd. I am finally getting photos posted and publishing! Sorry for the long wait, but we've been busy!! :o)