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End of the demo
By Geni
04-06-2009
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With the subflooring complete, Larry seals off the spaces inside the walls.
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We spent two days finishing the subflooring. The plywood did not fit as precisely as we'd hoped, and we ended up shimming to make the edges flush with the rest of the floor. While I put in the screws on the top layer of plywood, Larry cut some small pieces from the scrap and closed off the spaces within the walls, as a barrier to both vermin and drafts. Before we install the flooring, we will seal all the gaps with caulk. When we're done, this will be the tightest and best insulated room in the house.With the subflooring complete, we turned to the walls. We had decided earlier that we would finish the walls before laying the floor so that we could install drywall, caulk and paint without worrying about damaging the floor. Initially, we had hoped to be able to use the existing lathing as a substrate for the drywall because experience told us that the studs were uneven and would have to be shimmed extensively. However, over the course of the work, we’d had to remove so much of the lathing that we now decided it would be better to take it all down. So it was back to demolition. Removing lathing is one of the most unpleasant parts of this work. It is a dusty, splintery, filthy job, and once the narrow strips of wood are down, thousands of nails remain. The quicker it can be done, the better. Larry started on the wall next to Johanna’s room and I began on the opposite end of the room on the fireplace wall. For the next three days, we pried, knocked and twisted lathing from the walls.
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I tried to take down this plaster in large pieces, but it tended to crumble in my hands.
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On the second day, we reached a point that I had not expected – all that remained of the bedroom closet was its ceiling, and that now had to come down. First Larry unwired the overhead light and removed the fixture (“Do you want to save this?” “Yes, of course.”), then cut around three sides of the ceiling with his reciprocating saw. The ceiling was tenacious and resisted his first efforts to bring it down, but Larry was determined. First the drywall fell in two pieces, and after a little more sawing the lathing fell as well, hanging by one end. Larry hauled out the drywall and lathing and when the dust cleared, we realized that the end wall still had its plaster intact. Larry suggested that I might enjoy taking off the plaster, which struck me as rather weird, but I set to with a hammer. And he was right – it was a lot more fun that prying off lathing – but the lathing behind the plaster had to go too. By the end of two days, we had removed all the lathing except for one wall, and that wall was blocked by the stack of flooring. On the third day, we restacked the flooring in the stairwell – the corridor we created from two closets and two fireplaces – and took down the remaining lathing. We pulled out the last of the nails from the walls and the lathing, vacuumed up most of the plaster particles and smiled in relief at reaching, finally, the end of the demo.
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About Geni
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Geni Certain and her husband Larry Wood divide their time between Michoacan, Mexico, and Munford, Alabama, USA.
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Contact Geni
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