Category Archives: Deconstruction

Colorado has rules. There are more rules there than we are used to. We knew remodeling in a city would require lots of drawings and permits and inspections and stuff we don’t generally like to do. So the first step … Continue reading →

The summer months were spent tearing out the walls and some of the drywall in the house. Most of this work was done by me in one or two week visits to Colorado. This is what the house looked like … Continue reading →

We decided we could tackle one room at a time. Starting with the master bedroom. So off came the drywall and down came the walls.

If one room at a time was the plan, then the whole room would have to be demolished, including removing the concrete floor, the next step was renting a huge air compressor and jackhammer to get the floor out. Immediately … Continue reading →

The debris began to overwhelm the garage with the three filled bags so I called the Bagster company to find out about hauling it away. They declared that the bags had to be in the open, and could not get … Continue reading →

By late September, the project needed a boost. So my husband and son came out to help and to cut down the dead trees at the entrance and one that was planted too close to the house. That one rattled … Continue reading →

Now that the players have all been described, how are things going at the house? The slab was removed after days of breaking it up with the jack hammers and hauling wheelbarrows of concrete out to the rubble field. We … Continue reading →

We can say it is a good thing to find the trouble at the bottom which would have reared its ugly head someday especially if we had tried to install a cosmetic fix for the existing slab. Excavation of the … Continue reading →

Excavation resumed after the plumbing was dug out. The goal was 16 1/2 inches down from the top of slab or about a foot of digging throughout. The first few inches were completed before the plumbing was dug out, just … Continue reading →

We were very pleasantly surprised to find that the rear wall that holds back the earth bermed north side of the house has a caisson foundation. I had never heard of this type of foundation, and it is not generally … Continue reading →

The first step was removing the rest of the loose fill fiberglass insulation from the attic rafters. Messy job. I bagged all the loose fill in case I need it to fill in or increase the depth of the insulation … Continue reading →

Hey, what was that tap tap tapping on my house? Yeah, I think I let this one happen. Even while I was home it did not occur to me that the birds could drill a hole right through the siding … Continue reading →

I decided that the cathedral ceiling being extra tall and inaccessible, was too difficult for me to tear out myself. I enlisted the help of some demolition experts who I contacted through their ad on Craigslist. They came over with … Continue reading →

There were a lot of damaged fiberglass batts in the walls and ceiling. Most of the batts had to be discarded due to mold, mouse holes and urine. The fiberglass batts just about filed the 30 yard dumpster, as well … Continue reading →