Kitchen Demolition: Days 1, 2, and 3

Well. We are certainly in the thick of things now. There is a giant tarp nailed to the walkway that goes between our dining room and the rest of the house, and another one taped to the doorway down to the basement. Carl and Pete have been working since 8:30a.m. and are still going at it. I just heard the shower start so hopefully that means they have stopped for the night. I got home from work a little after six and ordered pizza for dinner. We ate in the backyard and then they went back to pulling tiny little staples out of the floor. Staples that lie between the last layer of linoleum and original hardwood flooring!! Yay! We can just sand and refinish the floor rather than having hardwood floors installed!!

Saturday Pete and I got started on the demo by taking all the food out of the pantry and down into the basement. Then Pete thought we should go ahead and take out what cabinets we could. While he unscrewed the pantry cabinets, I pulled up the quarter-round and baseboards along the floor.

Along the way we discovered some *lovely* old wallpaper that seemed to feature roosters and arrangements of fruit.
We didn't work too late Saturday night - Jen came over for dinner (our last in the dining room for a while!) and then the three of us went to Light the Night.

Sunday afternoon Mike came over to help us and we really got to work. The boys took out all the cabinets and I removed the backsplash. Tile. by. stinking. tile.
They were seriously hard core when it came to getting the countertop and sink out!!
Yesterday we only worked for about three hours. Carl drove in for today's work. I was gone by the time he arrived, but they worked from about 8:30am to 8:30pm. Carl and Pete ripped down the wall between the dining room and kitchen, ripped out the ceiling, and tore up the tile floor, the first layer of linoleum, a layer of plywood, and started to tear out the second layer of linoleum. When I came home both Carl and Pete were pulling out these tiny staples that are every few inches along the floor. I am amazed at how much they got done.

Tomorrow Carl has to leave by mid-afternoon so I suppose they'll spend the morning finishing up with the staples. Karen our designer/contractor is coming by in the morning to tell us if the wood floor is worth refinishing and to give her opinion regarding some cement board on the outside walls. Carl thinks it would be just as cost-effective to rip it out and put in new boards rather than sanding and patching the existing boards.

So that's all for now. I'll keep posting as more action occurs!!