Lofty Ambitions

There comes a point in any major home improvement project where the intrepid do it yourselfer looks at the damage that he/she has wraught and thinks, "Oh shit what the hell did I just do?" This is a natural reaction to demolishing that which was to make room for that which is to be. It's typically shortly after that moment when things start to come together again in their new form and the moment of terror fades to be replaced by excitement at the soon to be completed project. So far in my current project, everytime I think I have hit that low point things just keep getting crazier.

It has occured to me now that not only did I misjudge the scope of this project when I started, I also have crossed a critical line into territory where the average do it youselfer would never venture. In the planning stages it seemed so minor, take out the ugly wood paneling and ceiling tiles and replace them with sheetrock. While the place is gutted, run new wire and install new lights and outlets. Presented in that format it doesn't sound so intimidating, the reality is that I have taken an outdated but otherwise livible floor of my house and gutted it down to the bare skeleton. This is no minor update, it's a full fledged remodel. Every stage of the project has been more labor intensive than I originally pictured it and the path is not so clear as I would have liked. The fact that this is a very old house and that the upstairs has clearly been renovated more than once where new construction was rudely tacked onto old confuses things and makes it hard to tell what is critical and what is not. The sheer amount of material that I have taken out of the upstairs is insane in and of itself. I'd say around 5 truckloads of garbage now.

For those of you who saw the loft before I started, you can appreciate how far this has come. For those of you that havent, just knowing that this was a fully finished space before I started should be enough.





As you can see the walls, ceiling tiles, slats that the ceiling tiles were nailed too, and blow in insulation are all pretty much gone now. Next steps are to finish up the last little bit of demo, rewire and install junction boxes for lights and outlets, then install new insulation. I think that's probably as far as I'm going to get this week. Sheetrocking, trim, and paint will have to be a weekend thing over the next month or so.

Because of the insulation and dust I have to work wrapped head to toe and wearing a respirator, the result is respirator warpaint: