Demolition Day
After a long Thanksgiving hiatus, I'm back to working on the Montford house. Well really, just starting to work on the Montford house. Most of the bids have come in, and it's time to start demolition of the kitchen and the bathroom to make way for the new. My most commonly used phrase has become "well, I saw someone do it on TV...." And my favorite comment from the construction people has been "You should get a man in here to do some of this work!" Um, yeah, dummy, that's why I'm hiring you. It's definitely very much a boys' world out here in construction land.
But anyway, things are progressing.... slowly. I intended to do most of the demolition today, but that didn't happen. I was going to take out the tub, except that I had to turn off the water first (which I finally accomplished), and I was worried about going weeks without water, so I tried to call someone about installing a new tub ASAP. But apparently, plumbers don't work on Saturdays, which I discerned after about 40 phone calls. One that I actually got ahold of estimated that the job would cost $600. My DIY book says that an experienced person should be able to install a tub in 3 hours. That's $200 an hour! The stupid tub would only cost $200 in the first place! Another wanted to charge $50 just to come out and give me an estimate. Another one couldn't even give me an estimate for three weeks. So my options have become 1) do it myself (with the help of our handy friend John Bugg), or 2) find someone who can refinish the tub (ie, paint it with epoxy paint).
I'm having fun, though. Today I ripped out about half the bathroom floor. Well, probably not half of it, since the tile was embedded in concrete and I'll probably have to rip out all the concrete anyway. I had my sledgehammer on one side of me, the crowbar on the other, and hammer and chisel in hand. It reminded me of being in high school and paying $10 at the fall festival to beat the shit out of some old car.
Tomorrow the reinforcements are coming in -- my mom is coming to pressure wash my deck (and maybe she'll be brave enough to unscrew the fuses from the old-timey fuse box that I'm certain will electrocute me if I try to touch it), and on Monday her boyfriend, who is a contractor and has done lots of high-end renovations of old houses, will join her here to give me some much-needed advice. Until then, I'll keep working on the bathroom floor.
But anyway, things are progressing.... slowly. I intended to do most of the demolition today, but that didn't happen. I was going to take out the tub, except that I had to turn off the water first (which I finally accomplished), and I was worried about going weeks without water, so I tried to call someone about installing a new tub ASAP. But apparently, plumbers don't work on Saturdays, which I discerned after about 40 phone calls. One that I actually got ahold of estimated that the job would cost $600. My DIY book says that an experienced person should be able to install a tub in 3 hours. That's $200 an hour! The stupid tub would only cost $200 in the first place! Another wanted to charge $50 just to come out and give me an estimate. Another one couldn't even give me an estimate for three weeks. So my options have become 1) do it myself (with the help of our handy friend John Bugg), or 2) find someone who can refinish the tub (ie, paint it with epoxy paint).
I'm having fun, though. Today I ripped out about half the bathroom floor. Well, probably not half of it, since the tile was embedded in concrete and I'll probably have to rip out all the concrete anyway. I had my sledgehammer on one side of me, the crowbar on the other, and hammer and chisel in hand. It reminded me of being in high school and paying $10 at the fall festival to beat the shit out of some old car.
Tomorrow the reinforcements are coming in -- my mom is coming to pressure wash my deck (and maybe she'll be brave enough to unscrew the fuses from the old-timey fuse box that I'm certain will electrocute me if I try to touch it), and on Monday her boyfriend, who is a contractor and has done lots of high-end renovations of old houses, will join her here to give me some much-needed advice. Until then, I'll keep working on the bathroom floor.
posted by Molly at 4:00 PM
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