The Great Tear Out…

The day after we had our friends and family over to see our new project, we started the great tear out thanks to our hardworking crew (the fantastic Richard with his helpers, Breck and Ben, and Richard’s wonderful wife Stacy). I expected it to be messy. I didn’t expect it to include 12 burst pipes  (carefully tested/ fixed but left many holes in the walls), especially since it was supposed to have been winterized by the VA.  I also didn’t understand the amount of dust that would be expelled into the atmosphere when the tile was removed from the basement and the grout was ground out, but there we were. The house looked vastly different without the carpet, tile, bathroom fixtures, etc. To be honest, it looked rather depressing with its clouds of dust everywhere. The problem with tear out is that it doesn’t improve the look of a place. It makes everything look worse than when you started. A turning point to the positive happened when the ghastly wall full of mirrors was removed. Jeff pried them off carefully and I carried them out to the dumpster after checking to see if anyone would want them (no one did). I can’t imagine why people wouldn’t want 10ft tall mirrors that make everything look bigger than it is. I mean it was working wonders on my self-esteem every time I ventured past them as it magnified my backside magnificently. (No, Thank You!)  We were grateful to our friend Phil for coming over to help Jeff reach the really high ones. Not sure what we would have done without his help! When (Richard) started fixing the walls that previously had mirrors, we started to get hopeful that this place would turn out ok after all!