The night before the demolition began, I walked through the house one last time. I'd always wondered what was under the carpet in the back room, so I yanked it up to discover this beautiful vinyl floor.
Day one. The dumpster and phalanx of trucks out front were a good indication that something was afoot. The first floor looked pretty much unchanged, but there was a constant stream of dust and debris from the second floor.
After just a couple hours of demolition, there was no turning back.
By midday on the first day, our second floor was toast. All of the plaster and lath had been removed and was heaped on the floor.
The debris of our old "sunroom" and downstairs bathroom strewn about the backyard.
Upstairs after the debris was cleared out, looking from one bedroom across the hall to the other.
Looking toward the front of the house. The demolition crew left all the framing and electrical in place.
Out comes the oil tank (and part of the hedge). To our relief, there was no evidence of leakage.
No more hedges... the house looks naked without them.
After digging up the oil tank, the excavators dug for the new foundations in the back and on the north side.
All that's left of our overgrown holly tree.
Setting forms for the foundation.
Forms for the foundation and basement walls.
The first load of lumber. After two weeks of destruction, it was great to see evidence of construction.
Pouring the foundation. They pumped the concrete up from truck parked on the street.
More concrete for the foundation. That hose gets really heavy.
The finished foundation. The first section is where the stairs will be; behind that will be the porch (with a crawlspace); then the main part of the addition (with basement); and finally the basement stairs.
The new bit of basement, complete with a freshly cut door into the existing basement.
The foundation for the addition on the north side of the house. This addition will give us a bigger kitchen on the first floor and a bigger master bedroom on the second floor.
Our old furnace, sitting in the basement waiting to be hauled away. New posts and framing, too.
Downstairs with most of the walls missing. The addition has been framed up to the first floor.
From the outside. Andrey is getting ready to rip out a bit more of the back wall.
Floor and knee wall.
