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Tuesday |
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Two
out
of three little pigs agree: The apparent solidity
of most homes is an illusion. No big bad wolf needed. All it takes is 4 or 5 dudes with some handtools (circular and reciprocating saws, some pry bars, a variety of hammers from 16 oz. to 16 lb., socket and plumbing wrenches, and endnips) and the seemingly solid bastion of family security is reduced to rubble in days--and that's only if you do it with an eye towards salvage and recycling. Two guys could have done it in an hour--one to bash with an excavator, the other to hose the dust down. We were more careful. It's the demolition phase of a remodel with the finished basement remaining intact. These old houses are harder to take apart. The interior walls had a skeleton of lath over which plaster was slathered, making for lots of lateral stability and a very solid skin. It's dusty when it comes down but the wood is clean--fit for recycling, perhaps into exciting engineered wood products or just pulped to become next month's unwanted yellow pages. Either way, it's kind of difficult separating out the tangle, but still pretty satisfying to have a hand in all phases of a project, even the hard and dirty bits:  |