Well, those TV shows make it look easy….and fun! And demo is fun, that’s for sure. But DAMN is it tiring! And considering it was just the hubs and I (and I don’t pull nearly as much weight as Dr. J), I’m very proud of where we ended up the day! Here’s a little photographic proof.
We had moments of showing off….
There were moments of sheer excitement and euphoria:

L-blogger, proving that it doesn't take much of a mountain to feel like you're on top of the world...
….and then there were moments of “What the hell?!” Like when we opened our bathtub wall area to find old Corona bottles stuffed in there….like a really gross message to the poor shlubs (us) that opened it up in a few years….classy…
…but at the end of the first day, here we are….and we’re right back in the saddle again tomorrow!
So this is how far we got today:
- Removed the mirror and counter (thank goodness we have somebody coming to pick them up tomorrow morning to take them to the dump!
- Moved the cabinets down to the garage where we will recycle them for some much needed tool storage and a future workbench for Dr. J
- Half of the floor tiles are gone and will also be picked up tomorrow and taken to the dump.
- All of the tiles around the tub are gone – you might notice that we’re keeping our tub. It’s in good shape, so why bother changing it?
…and here were a few other fun discoveries:
- The builders installed the cabinetry on the sub-flooring instead of on the tile flooring. This isn’t a big deal (and it made it much easier to pull up the floor tiles as a result), but it’s certainly poor form and overall C-H-E-A-P!
- Beer bottles and a ton of other trash that was thrown under the tub as what – a time capsule? Who knows? Regardless, it’s just gross…
- We filled up 5 very heavy trash bags with debris and junk….and yes, we hauled every single one of them from the back of the house, down the stairs, out the front door, and to our driveway to, again, be picked up tomorrow and dragged to the dump.
- Our tiles were so poorly installed that, for the most part, they came up pretty easily. Much of that was due to a pretty shoddy thin-set job and oftentimes just using globs of thin-set rather than back buttering….more on that later.
- And we closed out the day (as good contractors do), by cleaning up the mess and still managing not to have ANY tools left in our master bedroom, which I consider to be a pretty amazing feat!
And now that the first day is over and I’m very much pooped, I’m off to relax the rest of the night away with the hubby and wake up early tomorrow and start the madness all over again. Tomorrow we’ll be demoing the shower and toilet….yikes!
I cannot believe the beer bottles! Seriously?! You should leave a (nice) note or time capsule back there just in case there are any future owners and DIY-ers. 🙂
Hi, Karen –
We might just do that. Yea, I don’t even want to THINK about what might have been in those beer bottles….I’ll just leave it at that. I’m not surprised, though – our inpsector even said that our builder was known for leaving things “kind of messy”. Ahh…the joys of new construction….
Thanks for stopping by!
L-blogger
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Hhhhmmm…our house is over 60 years old….I wonder what we would find if we started pulling down some of the original construction.
J-bird
Good question! And honestly I’d be more impressed with your findings than with ours!!! Yuck!
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i *heart* demo.
love the buckeyes shirt, too, of course, but Dr. J, where is yours?
ps. I showed your RoR mural to my teen, and he is definitely going to incorporate it into his room! thanks for the inspiration!
Carole –
You heart demo?? Can you come over and help next time?!? Hah!
So excited you’re doing the cityscape! Report back with pics when you’re finished!
Xoxo
L-blogger
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