Gut
Posted by Chris
Step one is to get the old stuff out. It’s amazing how much material goes into a single wall. I ran into some trouble in this phase, and nearly had some big-time structural issues. It seems as though you can never have enough dumpsters. Every time I thought I was done, there was more stuff to toss out. Walls, plaster, flooring, appliances, ductwork, cabling, carpets, ceiling fans, AC units, trim, closet doors, and the list goes on and on.
There were two major “gutting” days, but the rest was ongoing while work was being done. I couldn’t tear out the old stairs until the new stairs were done. I couldn’t tear out the 2nd floor joists until I figured out how to replace them. As in all construction, every task is dependent on some other task. In renovation, it’s not as linear as in new construction and you find the dependencies forming loops!
A big dumpster is $350, and I used 2 of them. I really needed 4, but was able to move a lot to the dump myself, or have it taken away a trashbag at a time by the garbagemen.
Originally posted in 2004:
On July 24th, 2004 we began to rip out old materials from my house. I sent out an eVite to round up my friends, asking for a few hours of work in exchange for pizza, coffee, donuts, and an opportunity to break things.
Me, taking a crowbar to the window frame. Note the purple panel walls, and the plaster on the brick.
After asking around a bit, everyone told me that a 10 yard dumpster would be WAY too small, and that I should get a larger one. I ended up with an 18 yarder from Benjer, a company in White Marsh. $350 included delivery, 10 days of use, and pickup. I think the maximum weight allowed was 3.5 tons or something… Parking on the street is limited, and I was determined to get the dumpster directly in front of my house, which involved a bit of street babysitting. Once a car would leave, I would drag chairs, trashcans, and anything else into the spot to save it… between 8 am and 2 pm on July 23rd, I was able to secure the space right in front. The dumpster was still smaller than I expected, but ended up holding up a lot.
To prepare for the demo party, I went out to Lowe’s and bought lots of stuff, to include crowbars, sledgehammers, gloves, facemasks, goggles and chisels. I also bought plenty of bottled water for my working friends to consume. I had purchased a box full of halogen work lamps
and extension cords that I found on craigs list for 50 dollars!
Will and Jason dumping a trashcan of plaster rubble into the brimming dumpster.
Alex inside the dumpster (we opened it early in the day so we could walk in and position the trash for optimal space.
Also before the work began, I ensured that all the power was off for the areas people would be working. I only left the kitchen and basement power on, and ran extension cords to the work areas.
The plan was to start with the main bedroom upstairs, and remove EVERYTHING except the floors and walls. The main bedroom had plaster covered brick on 3 sides, a plaster covered stud wall on one side, and a plaster ceiling above the drop-in panel ceiling. Oh yeah, on top of all of the plaster was a layer of panel walls… there were several layers of crap.
Alex shoveling plaster into a trashcan. This was the most time consuming task of the day.
Plaster walls are HEAVY. The plaster over the studwalls crumbled easily, but removing it from brick takes a lot of work with a hammer and chisel. After you get the hang of it, it comes off pretty fast, but then you have to cart it out of the house.
After a plaster wall comes down, it gets DUSTY as hell. Good ventilation is a must (we used a box fan in the window), and masks are extremely important.
A half-full trashcan of plaster rubble weighs about 250 pounds, and takes two people to take it out of the house. We ended up taking out about 20 or so half full trashcans.
With all the debris from the many layers of walls and ceilings, the dumpster filled up quickly… we kept packing it down by throwing a door on top and having a few people jump on it… it worked pretty well. I decided not to remove any of the framing upstairs because we had to get the little stuff into the dumpster… I would deal with the lumber later.
At the end of the day, the upstairs was left with one fully exposed brick wall, and 3 plaster covered walls. The framing is all in place, but that’s about it. Some old furniture was still there, along with the old bathtub and vanity, but I’ll deal with that later.
Leave a Reply