Sunday, June 3, 2012

Seven years, one month, two days.

We moved into this house exactly

Seven years, one month and two days ago.

(actually three days now...but since DEMO was yesterday, I'm counting "two")

You know....but who's counting?!?!?!


I thought I'd make an obscenely long picture-filled post for y'all to relive the past few days with us.


Thursday, Dave and his brother, Matt, started demo-ing the inside of the house.


There was a window to the outside originally here...then they built the addition and drywalled over it.

D. is just too happy to stop and get his picture taken.  :)


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Matt did a little Matrix - action demo on the bathroom wall...hanging from wires.

Sorry, Matt...this is the only "action" shot that I got.  (photographer fail, my bad.)




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I stuck this shot on Facebook with the caption:  "Donde' esta el bano?"
Four years of Spanish in high school....and that's about all I remember.
Awesome.



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The major project on Thursday was taking down the ceiling (along with the 4" of sprayed in insulation).
The boys were a MESS.


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They also pulled the shingle-siding off...now you see the original half-lap logs.



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Fast forward to Saturday morning!

Saturday = DEMO DAY!!!

WOHOO!

Front before:




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The boys took sections of the roof off- since we had large appliances and water pipes in the crawl space
under the house.

Below my husband is dangling off the side of the house hooking up the chain to the loader.


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I snapped this picture of A. and his grandpa's while we took cover on the neighbor's steps.
This boy....LOVES his grandparents.
Can you tell which one is my dad, and which one is Dave's dad?


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The back roof getting pulled off.
Kinda action-y.


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Back addition almost all the way torn off.

The house was built in 1947.

This back portion was added 5 years later-
It was originally another bedroom and a sun room.
You can see pictures of the original owners building this addition here.
(OOPS!  UPDATED:  click here instead)



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Dumpster #2 arrives.



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Below was supposed to be a picture of Mr. James (our mason)
slamming portions of the roof out with a 2x4.
And, it just ended up being a nice silhouette.

I must say it, though....Mr. James was a demo-animal.


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Matt on top with the saw, James inside breaking it free with a 2x4.

Once again, U of M fans come out on top of Michigan State fans.  :)

(just sayin')




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The back wall comes down!

I'd LOVE to tell you that my umbrella survived the day.

But then I'd be lying.  :(



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I saw Matt break the lower left window to put the cord through.

He saw my face light up at the broken glass, and graciously offered to refrain from sawing the roof until I broke some glass.

And proceeded to present me with a crow bar.

Oh, sweet bliss.

Seven years of angst and five unbroken windows.
What an awesome feeling!



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Matt and James on the front roof, Dave on the back roof.

Teamwork!


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The back side cleared down to flooring...the roof 2/3 gone!

Good friends Randy and Ryan working hard.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the help, guys!!!


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I saw the upstairs window/wall and I wanted to vomit.

Look at all the dust!

Grody.


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Adios Dumpster #2, hello Dumpster #3!



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We're officially without a roof!


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The next three go in quick succession....

Front wall!





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The other half of the front wall!






Oops!  Hit the new house!


Thankfully, not too much damage, and that particular corner needed to be replaced anyway....


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Dumpster #4 arrives.


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Back wall!!!



(notice it too TWO guys to PUSH down the exterior walls of my old house?!?!?)


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Side wall coming down!!




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My hottie boy in the middle of the mess!!!


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A few years ago, A. did a little "growth chart" on our wall....

...Matt grabbed it for posterity. 

I'm glad Uncle Matt thinks about these things.  :)


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After all the guys left, the boys jumped in and helped.

They LOVED helping daddy!



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Today, we are the proud new owners of....

A HOLE!





What a pretty hole.

It only took
Seven years, one month and two days
to get this pretty hole.

But who's counting?!?!?!

3 comments:

mrsmarkdave said...

Wow! That was fun to watch. Was it bittersweet at all? Or just really, really sweet?

Sandy said...

The only bitter sweet thing about it all was what I heard today about the people that originally built the house. We met them a few years ago, and they were the SWEETEST couple...I loved them right away. We found out today that he passed away in January, and our neighbors offered to bring her up to watch the demo, but she just couldn't bring herself to come up since his death was too fresh. It made me cry. :( We saved some logs for her, and we're going to make something for her with pictures they gave us w/ our pictures.

They live literally 3/4 mile down the road.

Otherwise, just sooooo sweet!

Anonymous said...

Yeah - that would make me tear up a bit, too, knowing it was someones home but still being SO EXCITED for what is to come! What a good place for you all to build your lives!