Let me introduce you to the sledge hammer.

Knocking walls down seem to be Rick and I's new favorite past time. There is this amazing, yet strange sense of satisfaction when you start ripping off chunks of dry wall and throwing a sledge hammer into a  two by four to loosen out a nail.

This house was owned by Jackson County Department of Disabilities. There were a few people, I'd say atleast six adults with various disabilities who shared this house together. So for whatever reason there are many strange alterations.

One of the first eye sore, alterations, my dad found. Thanks Dad! On the third floor, you walk up a twisty, narrow staircase, which, at the top is surrounded by a wood railing. Butt up right next to this railing was this awful wood paneling wall.

Sick.

This became my first demolition project!

We think maybe the wall was put up to divide an apartment, there's a kitchenette on the third floor. Or, it was put in for some kind of fire safety reason.

Looking back at this I wish that all demolitions of walls were like this.

No drywall! Holy Moly! Dry wall is such a mess! Dust in your hair, dust on your clothes, dust all over the floor, dust in my lungs, dust in my eyes, dust in all of the rooms near by! You come out of a drywall knock out looking like the bride of frankenstein! Not only is there dust there's all the crumbles of plaster laying around and bigger sheets.
So with this wall, it was just wood paneling, two by fours and a door frame. Yahoo!

My second favorite part of this project was Rick and I's ingenuity/laziness. We can't fit anything bigger than a full size mattress up these stairs, so thinking about successfully trying to bring all the wall remains down them, really wasn't looking like an enjoyable adventure. Thankfully, the third floor windows open! Pop off a screen and bon voyage scrap! It's not every day you get to javelin throw a two by four out of your third floor window!

Luckily in a week, our neighborhood is having a dumpster day. Our mountain of building remnants is growing quite high.

Oh, and don't worry! We are saving the good stuff to donate to Habit for Humanity Restore!

Something I've learned is the necessity to wear gloves!
Go buy them!
Feel empowered by them!
Feel smart while you wear them!
Rick and I would likely be in a lot less pain if we would have done this from the get go. You don't really feel like you're roughing up your hands too much until, you go and wash them, or look down and realize two of your knuckles are bleeding. It's worth the investment to get a good pair. Twenty bucks on some thick gloves is a hell of a lot better than hundreds of dollars in emergency room bills to get a rusty nail taken out of your hand and a nasty tetanus shot in your arm or ass.


I almost forgot! The after picture! Ohh! Aww! So much room! So wonderful and open!