Reinforcements and Demo Prep

One would think that demolition to take a house down to the studs just involves jumping in and starting the destruction.  That's what I thought, anyway, but nope - it actually requires quite a bit of preparation.  Luckily, our son Jake arrived on scene from California to give us a hand with the prep.  Jake landed at the Richmond airport first thing in the morning a few days prior to the Fourth of July holiday and "fresh" from the red-eye for his vacation, luggage and all, we whisked him out to Urbanna and put him to work.  Never mind that he hadn't slept at all on the plane, we were on a mission and a schedule.  It was a hot sweaty day, and he didn't complain (much), and we got the house largely ready for demo.  First on the list was clearing the attic of the remaining trash and debris - it was hot and sweaty, so I stood at the bottom of the attic stairs while they hurled items and trash down to me.  Surprisingly, there was one good "find" still in the attic:

And under the old rule of "finders/keepers," Jake is now the proud owner of a fantasic pair of old spectacles:

Jake and I were able to test out the temporary slide that Rob had built for the demo (another prep item) and it worked like a charm:



We also removed all of the light fixtures and doors and other items we wanted to save.  During a quick break, Jake decided to try out the machete (yes, as in my bamboo machete) on the walls - we quickly determined that was not the tool of choice for plaster and drywall demo.

Later that week, we decided to give Jake a deserved break (it was his vacation after all!) and Rob and I went back out to lay the protective boards over all of the hardwood floors we intend to save and refinish.  We purchased and wrestled 50 four by eight sheets from the home store in Richmond to our trailer and then to Urbanna and into the house. 

Actually, I think it's fair to say that I wrestled with my end of the boards and Rob didn't even break a sweat the entire time.  The good news is that the floors are squarely protected for the demo to come.