Renovation Update: Demo Day(s)!

It’s been a little over three weeks since we moved out of our home to begin the much-talked-about renovation. It’s crazy to see how fast our contractor and his team are able to take things down. I’m hoping that speed and sense of accomplishment continues throughout the project, but since we have about ten months to go, I’m pretty sure that won’t always be the case.

Before I share the demo updates, let’s talk moving for a minute. First of all, it’s the worst. And the only thing that made our move more painful that usual is the fact that we had to juggle what to get rid of, what to take to my parents, and what to put in storage. Oh, and how to deal with twin toddlers who had the stomach flu. I’m happy to announce we survived, but we could not have done it without the help of our village. Seriously, our neighbors who took the kids and parents who helped us pack and organize – how’d we get so lucky?!

B&B with our amazing neighbors and good friends’ kids

Not sure how we managed to fit everything in the storage unit, but we did! Also, typical frugal finance fashion, Troy did the math and we saved about $1,000 by going with a storage unit vs PODs.

We were completely out of the house on a Monday, and I managed to put together a quick video tour of our empty house (don’t mind the mess). Not only did we uncover lots of cobwebs behind the furniture, but we also literally cut though the wall to drag out the refrigerator more easily. The benefits of knowing everything is coming down!

I definitely had a mix of emotions saying goodbye to our home as we knew it, which feels so silly to say. I know everything is gong to be so much better, but I did fall in love with this sweet home and it’s quirky charm.

Finished! And tired AF 😉

I actually didn’t visit the site until just this past weekend, but Troy sent me pictures of the demo progress and holy crap it’s insane to me how quick they got to work!

Week 1 Progress

Week 2 Progress

Week 3 (current) Progress

Going into the project, I assumed that a lot would still be somewhat intact since we were keeping most of the first floor plan. Nope! As you can see by the latest pictures, they basically took it allll down. A ton of foundation work has to be done to support the second floor and the additions to the first floor. Apparently it’s cheaper and easier to start fresh with the walls vs piecing them together.

Oh and if you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen me mention some foundation setbacks. There was an addition done to our bedroom sometime in the 80’s. After demoing everything, our contractor discovered they simply covered an existing patio with a concrete slab rather than pouring a proper foundation that was in line with the rest of the house (see the red portion). Unfortunately, that will all have to be removed (jackhammered) and re-poured along with the new foundation for the portion of the room we are extending. We also learned the foundation the garage sits on has no chance of supporting the new structure. Not too thrilled about the unexpected cost, but I suppose it’s par for course to have something pop up during renovation, right?! Let’s just hope we don’t have anymore.

As for the fun stuff, we recently picked out windows, appliances, and plumbing fixtures. More details to come soon!

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