So after taking stock of the state of the house in our post ‘Keys Please – And the Journey Begins’, the real work begins.  It is now time to see what we really have… time to tear it down in order to build it back up.  But where to start?  It is a little overwhelming as there is so much to do.  As I stand in the middle of the house somewhat shell shocked, my husband gives me a shake and says, “just start somewhere”.  “Grab a room and go!”

We decide to start upstairs, as it seems less daunting of a task.  As he sets out to remove all the window coverings we quickly learn that the cleaning that took place before we got possession did not go very deep.  A 40 year dust cloud envelops my husband and I start to cough and spit again.  Oh crap, where did we put those face masks?   I was originally joking about the hazmat suits, but now am thinking they may have been warranted.  So before we go any further we don on all protective gear we have brought.  Hat… check, gloves…check, safety glasses… check, and dust masks… check.  Or in my case full on respirator!  You cannot be too cautious in my mind.  So as my husband continues the dirty job of removing the window coverings, I begin to tackle the removal of all the items still hanging on the walls and miscellaneous items like lamps, wall hangings, trays and electronics from around the house.  Crowbar in hand, I then start on removing all of the trim work, panelling, baseboards and doors. Dust and spider webs flying.  Yes… the spider theme continues.  I have yet to find a space where these eight legged creatures have not infested.  Where the heck are they all coming from?  Just when I think the spiders are our main house guest, we start discovering remnants of another.  It appears my foreshadowing was correct.  Mice!  Seriously mice and rats?  Now come on!  But yes, it appears the smaller furry creature has at some point graced this house… if not still there.  Skin crawling again, I go wash my hands I think for the 20th time today and confirm my respirator is on tight.  Ughhh!  But I am strong and will persevere.  Spiders and vermin will not take me down!  

As I am struggling with being a bit of hypochondriac at the moment, and considering my demise, my husband is finding treasures.  Always seeing the positive, he comes to me with some trinket the previous owners have left behind that he classifies as a great find.  “Score!” he exclaims as he finds something he thinks is of value.  My find for the day?  A portable toilet!  I don’t dare look inside.

As we start building a demo pile in the ‘awkward room’ at the entry of the house and on the deck, we quickly realize that a dumpster is required sooner rather than later.  I start calling around to get one delivered, but keep getting, “I’m sorry we don’t deliver to that area” or people just not returning our calls.  Seriously… Who knew it would be so difficult to get something delivered in the country.  Like country residences don’t need services as well?  I see this could become a bigger dilemma as we get further along our journey.  But finally we find a dumpster company willing to deliver the next day.  Eureka!  Interestingly, as soon as the dumpster arrives the neighbours start to stir.  You can tell the neighbours are getting curious. Who are these people, and what are they doing?  Eventually they start making their way over to introduce themselves.  So far, seems like a great neighbour, with very welcoming neighbours.

Dumpster task completed… back to demolition! Just when I thought the dust and spider webs couldn’t get worse….  Have you ever pulled up a 40 year old carpet?  I do not recommend it.  The dust and dirt are almost indescribable.  As we cut the carpets into strips to roll up and through out, dust is flying everywhere.  As we try to pick up the carpets and trow them out, the disintegrating underlay keeps giving way, resulting in the carpet and carpet fragments dropping and constant dust clouds forming.  Ugh… where is that portable toilet, I might need it as I am about to lose my lunch.  Once the carpets are up and tossed, it amazes me what is left behind.  Piles of dirt all over the floor from years of being ground in.  We actually need to sweep the piles to get it cleaned.  Having experienced this, I swear I will never install carpet in any house I ever live in.

Once we complete that dirty task and I feel a sense of accomplishment and just glad that the job is done, I turn to look around and sadly notice moisture stains under each window.  Darn!  Obviously water has gotten in at some point.  And given our recent bathroom leak experience, we start to wonder do we have further mold issues.  Upon initial glance there does not appear to be, but behind the wall?  This will be for another day to find out.  Just as I am moving on from that thought, I notice an odd mark on the big picture window in the living room.  As I look closer I notice there is a small hole on the outside pane of the window, with little broken shards sitting in between panes.  My heart sinks as I think to myself, this was not a window we had planned for replacement.  And given its size will be pricey!  I turn to my husband to point out the hole and express my sadness.  He just laughs, as he says he had already noticed it and looked at it very differently.  He felt that since it was the outside pane, it would be fine.  Ah the glass is half empty versus glass is half full differening views.  However, my favorite solution was one brought to us by a family member that said clear caulking can do wonders!  Visions of the Red Green show dance in my head.  All options considered… the window will be replaced.

The upstairs is completed in this demo segment with the removal of the decorative partition wall between the living and dining room.  Are those acorns in the wall?  How on earth do acorns get in a wall.  Hopefully just a Christmas party gone wrong?  Just please don’t tell me we have squirrels as well.  Well if we do, maybe we can start a rodent zoo.  We also started the kitchen demo, mostly cabinet and partition removal and removed all of the laminate throughout the hall, bedrooms and dining room, which actually came up quickly and easily. And yes as you can see the piano is still in play! I think it may become a permanent fixture.

Now to move to the basement.  I have to admit I have been procrastinating on this one.  As mentioned in ‘Asbestos, Mold and Rats – Oh My!’, there were a couple of items from our home inspection we knew we would need professionals to help with along the way.  One critical one, was a foundation inspection and quote.  We knew there were some cracks in the foundation on the front side of the house, but how severe were they and what would it take to fix them?  Here was a another area we struggled to get a quote.  Once again people too busy, not working in the area or honestly just couldn’t be bothered to come by and take a look to provide a quote.  One actually said, just send some pictures and they would see what they could do or see if it was worth their time.  Seriously?  Fortunately we found someone reputable to come out to take a look and provide a quote.  This was one issue we were quite concerned with, but thankfully it turned out to be not as big of an issue as originally thought.  The cracks were not a structural concern and could just be sealed.  

With that out of the way, next on the list was the conversion of the oil heating system to gas.  Fortunately no issue getting a quote on this.  The company quoting says they do these types of conversions all the time, and there is even a government rebate on this.  Perfect!  Finally some good news.  The bad news… they pretty much need to rip up the basement hallway and utility area to do it, in order to remove the old equipment and install the new.  I guess when the basement was finished they built walls around the furnace and hot water tanks without leaving any access points.  Bad design plan.  So now we have to rip it apart and rebuild it.  Normally not a big issue, annoying yes, but not a massive undertaking.  However, remember that pesky little asbestos problem I told you about in the basement, well this is where that comes into play.  You see, asbestos as I  mentionned may be present in the drywall tape and as it turns out the stipple in the ceiling as well.  So in order to demo the areas they need access to, we pretty much need to have the basement environmentally assessed and potentially ripped up by a remediation team.  Cheap? I think not.  I see dollar signs everywhere and growing.  More on this lovely story to come.

But don’t worry my friends it doesn’t stop here.  As we enter the spider epicentre for further demo… oh my, is that a black widow spider?  Nope just a massive ugly spider that looks just like a black widow minus the red hourglass on its belly!  Well that’s a relief.   Not really in my mind.  So we proceed to remove the furnishings from the basement including what I am convinced was a mouse nesting zone, but really didn’t want to find out.  As the cushions fall apart in transport my coughing and spitting continues.

Once the basement is cleared out we continue our demo journey in the basement.  More trim, baseboards and door removal.  And then the joyous removal of more carpet… the nausea returns in the anticipation of what we may find.  To my surprise and satisfaction this was not that bad of a process and the carpet and underlay were actually in good shape with little dust.  Obviously a newer install.  Ok to be fair we have not yet touched the organge shag carpet as I am sure we will not be so lucky in that case.  So this was the positive.  The negative… more moisture along the foundation wall where the outside cracks were noted.  I am sensing more mold.  We also encounter some dirt or sawdust type material along the wall.  Please tell me it is just dirt and not termite or carpenter ant residue.  Oh no, do we have ants as well?  Only opening up the wall will tell us for sure.  Again, for another day.  In addition to this, we find an odd substance on the floor… a salt like pile of white powder.  What could this be we ask?   As it turns out, it is efflorescence.  So what is efflorescence you may ask… well here is another learning to add to your list.  It is when water seeps through the concrete and leaves behind salt deposits. Fortunately not a health concern, however it is a definitely a sign of an ongoing moisture problem.  Which again gets my spidey senses tingling and telling me we probably have a much bigger mold issue than originally expected.  Even though we have not yet touched the orange room we suspect we will find the same issue there.  I think my word of the year is going to be ‘remediation’.

With a 30 yard dumpster filled to the rim and a couple of days of demo under our belt, we stop to assess our progress.  Even given the issues we encountered we are pleased with the outcome.  We have made some real progress on the demolition.  All floors on the main level are up and most in the basement, all trim and doors removed, walls ready for paint prepping, kitchen cabinets partially removed, house mostly emptied of articles left behind.  A good couple days of work, I think.

With a sense of accomplishment, we discuss next steps in our journey.  One thing for sure is to book an environmental assessment on the house to better understand the potential issues and the level of remediation required.  We also take room measurements so that we can begin planning for the kitchen and bathroom renovations.  And that awkward space in the entry… Well it now has a purpose.  A family member had the brillant idea of turning it into an office space.  Perfect!  So an office it will be.

Satisfied with the current status and measurements in hand, we leave prepped for another day.  As I look back at the house, I smile as I swear I hear it breathe a sigh of relief and quietly thank us for saving it and beginning its rejuvenation.  As for me… a hot shower and hot bath are in order.  However, I am not sure I can scrub hard enough to ever feel clean again.