Wall Removals - Part 1.....

Saturday 8th August

We have decided that due to the difficulty of getting someone to do our renovations for us (because it's either too big for the small guys - or too small for the big guys) - that we would start by removing the walls that we know we want to get rid of - and it gives us a better look at the area we're working with.....

So, day 1 - remove the wall that creates the hallway to lead to one end of Rob's office.....  I had started this by just bashing holes in the wall ... then Rob realised how much fun it is to destroy things and he came out to help too....

There is an advantage to being tall, we could both reach the tops of the walls... :)

Protective feet he has there! ;)

Done.....  it was amazing how this opened up the area downstairs... and there was more to come the following day....

Sunday 9th August....

Next we wanted to remove this wall that is by the downstairs sliding doors (which are pretty much the only entry point into the house (well, there is another front door - but that's now enclosed with the side yard - so the sliding doors is how visitors get in)...  

Basically you had to walk around this wall and around to get to the bottom of the stairs... (which - was fine for the previous owners who'd had this area as one of the two lock up garages.... (the other garage was converted into Greg's room back in November 2007... - which has since become the main guest room)....

(view of the wall from inside the current downstairs lounge area)

(view of the wall from the front sliding door)

This is the other side of the wall.... there was a shelf that we used to put our helmets and riding gear on... but, we can work out another solution for that later....

So, once the walls started coming out - and we were pulling out the ceiling etc.... a pile of bones fell out of the roof.... they weren't human - we're guessing they were probably cow or pig ribs.... but there was a pile... so I'm guessing that one of the builders stored his lunch in the ceiling when he was building the verandah upstairs.....

Views of the ceiling coming out....

not sure what this bone was....  maybe they had a roast or soup or something.....

Rob wielding a hammer.....

and the dead wood and termite dust went flying....

(we don't have termites anymore - but - there's still evidence of their existence.....)

I decided to hide behind the door to avoid the hammer if it went flying.....

  

Someone enjoys destroying stuff way too much!

And the wall is out....

  

It took a pile of cleaning to get rid of all of the mess... but I managed it!

We're still stuck with a pillar in the middle of the floor area - so we're guessing that we're going to put a wall between it and where the stairs are and build a library downstairs just so that the post doesn't look so out of place... but it's so nice being able to walk directly to the stairs when coming in the door.....

Poor Stampy got kicked outside while the work was being completed... he's still out there now as we're still moving a pile of things around downstairs.... but he'll come back inside eventually :)