Day 1- November 19, 2009

We started construction this week and we definitely hit the ground rolling. The first step was to demo all of the old interior walls and ceilings. The floor joists will remain, but all of the other walls (which are plaster) have to be removed. We also have to take out all the old plumbing, electric and heating lines, as these will all be replaced.

In an effort to reduce waste and preserve some cool original features, we're keeping all of the old door and window trim and will reuse as much of it as possible. In addition, we're preserving all of the exterior doors, windows and fireplaces. The salvageable items that we couldn't reuse were given to the Brass Knob to be restored and used on other projects. They took the stair rails, interior doors and radiators.

Here are some pictures of the "before" interior and of the building after we started demo:

The stairs were pretty striking. Unfortunately, the way they were laid out would not have worked after converting the building to multiple units. The handrails were carefully removed before we started demo.





Here is the fireplace on the first floor. This will be moved to the front room, which will be the new living room.



All of the stained glass will remain.












Demo is hard, dirty work. There's really no other way to do it without swinging hammers, knocking down the plaster, bagging it up and dragging it out of the building (that's up and down three flights of steps, too!). These guys really work hard.



After the walls were demolished, the entire building was filled with debris about three feet high. We went through three full dumpsters today, and we'll do the same tomorrow.