Demolition, Man

Demolition has started.  Three hours, two guys, one dumpster...

View from upstairs

...and the porches were history.

The house looks better already.  Those porches were just bringing the house down.

Under the porch were five shovels and a pitch fork.  There is no visible gap under the kitchen
but we still can't figure out why there's three feet between the outside of the foundation
and the inside of the basement.  The basement walls under the kitchen are poured concrete - so
much more modern than the rest of the basement - so it just may have been dug smaller than
the outside foundation.  I think this is where coal was shoveled in to the basement.



Inside the going is a little slower.  The kitchen tile is set in a bed on thick mortar
on a metal lath that's like a cheese grater.  Watch your fingers!

Above the tile is evidence of the stove flues that went in to the chimney.

The floor.  Ceramic tile on plywood on linoleum tile on plywood
on hardwood on subfloor.  It was a good two inches thick, maybe more.

Here's a few before-and-now photos.

One of the cats took up residence next to the sink after it was emptied out.
He seemed kind of sad about the old kitchen going away.
(Maybe that was just me.)

This is the same kitchen window that was next to the sink.

The bathroom window is in the distance.

Pretty, right?  It's so old!

Here's an old drum trap circa 1900. All lead.

The claw foot tub and sink drain to this.

The old pantry.

The back door to the porch air.

How's this for an example of bad construction technique?

A charred joist between the kitchen and bathroom that's about a foot shy of being

tied to anything.  I was told there had been a fire in the house - I saw evidence

of fire up above the ceiling where the new bathroom is - but this burned joist seems

to have been put here later.  Nothing around it or attached to it is burned.

I always find demolition both nauseating and exciting.  I always fear that something

horrible will be revealed, something will spring a leak, start a fire or fall down.

At the same time, it's the beginning of something new.