Be Our Neighbor

We have reason to believe that the townhome next to ours will be for sale soon. It is a 115+ old rowhouse. It has a very small yard, but about 1300 square feet and three bedrooms.

We want good neighbors so badly. We will keep everyone posted as for when it is really for sale.

Bye Bye Wall

There used to be a much more substantial wall here:


We put up the header today. My dad had put up a fake wall and took down the old one. Today my mom, dad and I put up the new wall. My dad had also moved the electrical, added some outlets and jacked up the floor joists from the basement. We also put up plastic around all the insulation.

It is way more open now, and it will be very cool. Next up is hanging the dry wall. Does anyone have a recommendation for a taper in Minneapolis?

Progress

Today we made some progress. And by "we" I mean my mom, dad and husband. I spent most of the time at broomball.

My dad removed the hearth.


The dumpster is about 2/3rds full.


The most exciting thing is that we now have insulation.



Tomorrow, for the holiday, more work.

Demolition- Oh Wow

7 hours later, 99.9% of the demo is done, with at least a couple cool things revealed.





The windows must have been curved at one time:



My Dad is pretty awed by the 18+ inch wide boards that are the floor for the upstairs. They are very cool. If you think about how big a tree would have to be to produce that wide of a board, it is pretty impressive. Old growth forest.


There is a gas line in the ceiling, probably for gas light lamps than hung from the ceiling.


It was fun. There was wallpaper that was kind of cool near the fireplace. The ceiling looks like it was both painted green and wallpapered at one time.

Tomorrow is getting some insulation and poly up, plus some other stuff, and a broomball game.

It Begins

This week we have started our first major DIY project. The plan was (or is) to remove the wall between the entry and living room, take down all the plaster and dry wall, including the ceilings, tile the entry, tile the fireplace, add a mantel, fix up the trim, insulate the walls, re-hang dry wall, paint and all that.

Huge project.

Well, after taking down some walls, it looks worse.


That is a heat vent that will be moved.


Here's possibly another.


Most of the lathe is still up. And the studs are less than an inch thick, up against the outside brick, which means we will need to use some creativity with the insulation.

In general it is a huge mess:




And everything is in the dining room:


One thing for sure, the puppy sure likes the taste of dry wall.