It is surreal to be walking through our house in it's current state. In a matter of 4 days, it has been stripped of drywall, tile, brick, carpet, wood paneling, outdated electrical, paint and one mummified rat.
Other than the 40 year old rodent, some panty hose and a few domino pieces, the excavation of our house has not yielded any hidden cash or other treasure. But it also hasn't yielded any really really horrible issues - which I will take as a hidden treasure over a pot of gold any day. But demo isn't done and the few minutely horrible issues that we did find haven't been completely unearthed yet, so I might need to retract my current positive attitude next week once we meet with the architect and structural engineer. We expected this.
For now, what stands is the skeleton of potential that we somehow have believed in since the Sunday afternoon in September 2011 when I first walked into the Open House. Our ideas are moving from the page and our heads into 3D and I can say that I am almost giddy. And I don't get giddy. As K would say "It's for real life, mom." Oh yes it is.
The effect of removing 24+ yards of debris (measured in the 7 cubic yard space of the debris trailer) is immediately palpable. As my friend Heather said as she walked through, "The heaviness is gone." And that is exactly how it feels.
There is more heavy tile to sledge out and concrete to jack hammer and debris to carry down our endless stairs but the end of this phase is near.
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