Une Petite Maison - Demolition!

Demolition started on Monday, and has proceeded with amazing speed.  Corbin and Beckett got a tour of their old house when they arrived home from school. The front half of the roof had already been removed, and a blue tarp made the house look like a big tent.

The interior finishes were also removed.  In Central Texas cottages of this vintage, the typical construction was 2x4 framing with 1x6 "shiplap" pine on the interior.  A cloth would then be tacked to the interior siding, and wallpaper hung on the cloth.  Here you can see remnants of the original wallpaper.  The shiplap interior siding acts as a diaphragm to strengthen the building, so we're leaving it in place.  It will eventually be covered with sheetrock.

Ashley was very surprised to walk in the front door and see all that had happened in a single day...

By the end of the day the trash pile in the front yard was getting intimidating.  Unfortunately our lot doesn't have a good location for a haul-off dumpster, and the site-built 8'x8' square container failed to contain the mountain of debris...

While Joe Hopkins and his able crew were moving forward with demolition, Nick Bell of NSB Builders framed a temporary wall between the front of the house and the back.  I've worked with both Joe and Nick before-- Joe framed the Yaspar Residence in 2005, and Nick has contracted two projects for me, the most recent of which I'll be posting soon on my website.

Steven Kruse of Modern Electric has cut power to the front of the house, and installed our temporary electrical pole in the front yard.  Once the addition is framed up he'll start pulling the new wiring.

We'll move into the back of the house at the end of May, at which point the addition should be "dried in" and the work will be less disruptive.  We're currently living across the street at Jason and Tara's SoCo rental.  The scene in the backyard is much more peaceful than the view of our front yard.

By the end of the day today, I had come to the full realization that this project is nothing short of a complete reconstruction of the existing cottage.  Perhaps it was when I unlocked the door and saw this...

All that remains of the original cottage is the exterior (and a few interior) walls, and the original oak flooring, now protected by yellow corrugated plastic.  Tomorrow the new interior walls will go up, as well as the second floor trusses and decking. 

 
In the meantime, we have a nice "open air" shower...