Demo started last week and let me tell you it's not as glamorous or as fun as they make it look on HGTV. Scott and Drew are not there to hand over the sledgehammer and bam over commercial break it's all demolished. Our demo came with some ups and downs. The first obstacle was figuring out how to get a dumpster to the property. There are only two access points into the property, one is the bridge and the other a 3-acre drive on a hayfield. This obstacle taught us that a bridge has to support the weight of a firetruck(which can range from 33k to 62k pounds).
Once we jumped over that hurdle it was demo time. Our house was built in 1865, so we prepared for the worse(and so should you, if you take on renovations of an old home). The first thing we discovered was that the design consultant missed the location of one of the furnace fireplaces. So it's back to the drawing board for our new master bedroom.
The second was discovering that most of the studs and structural supports are actually old tree trunks cut in half!(see pictures below)
Another factor we didn't take into account was the emotional toll this takes on you. Once you see your houses completely gutted, it's scary! (To understand the feeling, a look at the before's here.) The excitement of tearing a wall down is over, reality hits and you realize there is no turning back now.
That is why my biggest take away from this part of the renovation is to be prepared and realistic about what could go wrong and make sure you have a contingency plan in case things don't go according to the original plan. All in all, once the walls were down and the debris was cleared it was much easier to envision the plans for our new home.
xoxo Diane, Nick, Theo & Max
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