Gravel and Styrofoam Floors
During the past week and a half, we are happy to announce that we have met major milestones! This time, myself and Oliver have joined in on the demolition work. We both had shovels in our hand, lifting the fallen ceiling tiles from the concrete floor, and throwing them out the back door onto a pile of demolished debris already sitting on our yard.
Much of the ceiling tiles have turned soft after having soaked in moisture from an incessant leak caused by pooled rain water on a flat roof. The ceiling tiles have a soggy-like texture that weighed heavier than its appearance.
In my perspective, there are two sides to demolition work — the thrilling bit where swinging a crow bar to remove unwanted fragments of the interior is involved; and the not so thrilling bit where ravaged remnants sit in the building for an unknown period of time, and they need to be manually handled.
The days seem to pass by at a much faster pace with the workload set before us. In just two days, we were able to have the former blue bathroom completely gutted: drywall and insulation removed, the heavy bathtub cut in half and removed, and the floors demolished all the way down to the dirt. The back room where the future kitchen will be located, has also been fully gutted and ready for the next step.
The gypsum rock walls removed during the demolition work have been salvaged for use as fill — now sitting crumbled on the dirt ground, where it once laid the beams and joists supporting the floors.
Michiel and I had tackled the challenging project of removing layers of paint from the beautiful, antique tin ceiling using sandblasting equipment. It was somewhat disappointing when we realized that our compressor did not hold enough pressure to do the job.
After having fidgeted with the components of the hand-held sand-blasting gun, the sand dispensing tank, the hose, and various valves to engage and disengage the pressure released from the tank, we came to the conclusion that we needed a blasting equipment that was compatible with our compressor. Another challenge that we faced was that our off-grid set-up does not produce an ample supply of power needed to operate the sandblasting equipment.
As our renovation work needed to move forward, we decided to leave the sandblasting project for another day.
Having made the decision to postpone the tin ceiling project, we plowed through our timeline removing the floors just beneath the gem-of-a-ceiling above us. Crow bars in hand, Michiel and I both worked as a team to lift the various generations of flooring installed. It was definitely a laborious work, even though it wasn’t necessarily heavy work — there is a method involved.
He and I both worked into dusk, where our shadows casted by the LED work-light above us eventually convinced us to hang our hats, and get back to the house to spend some time with the kids before they start their bedtime routine.
Michiel worked diligently to remove wall studs in the dining room and dining room – kitchen area. Since the beams above are structural, the posts to support them need to be in place. Some wall studs were removed to open up the room to suit our needs, however, Michiel made sure to add posts where pivotal, to ensure that the entire second floor is structurally sound.
In the mudroom, an old set of stairs leading down to the crawl space is covered with pieces of wood in preparation for the next major step that will take place in our project. Concrete will be poured throughout the whole main floor — however, we wanted to keep a portion of the crawl space untouched so that it can still be accessible as a small mechanical room.
There is much planning and coordinating in the evening after a long day’s work for Michiel. So, his day doesn’t end after having done the physical labour to move us forward in our renovation endeavours. During the last few evenings, I have seen him hunched over his phone, researching and ordering materials, equipments, and tools needed for the next phase of our project. I see that even going to bed, his mind is still whizzing — even without him consciously knowing, he is without a doubt, executing the details — both mental and physical, of the next stage awaiting us.
The days of ripping out ceiling, drywall, wall insulation, wall studs, posts, tiles, floors, floor beams, and floor joists are now over. It has been the most messy and dirtiest of tasks so far in working on this house. Though, it only took three weeks to have the entire main floor — half of the house gutted from ceiling to floor, it was a stage that we are happy to leave behind.
The following days were labour intensive, having levelled the fill in preparation for the gravel to be poured. Our kids were thrilled to participate in shovelling gravel into the wheelbarrow for Michiel to bring into the house. More gravel was dumped and levelled in preparation for the styrofoam and metal mesh to be installed over top.
Standing back and having a good panoramic view of the open concept interior, I realized how quickly our space is beginning to look more like a livable home. The styrofoam spreading across the span of the entire floor space was much easier on the eyes — it gave me a focal point without the chaos and busy-ness of clutter that encroached the room from the start of demolition work. The transformation before my very eyes has come to realization!
We are moving forward with installation at a rapid pace. Our days and weeks are filled with physical labour in the day, and planning and organizing in the evening. As the weather turns from cool to warm, we are expecting much more progress and transformation to materialize. We are getting more giddy as we continue our renovation projects spearing ahead with grit and persistence.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! Please keep them coming!
Happy Mother’s Day to my friends and family who have children of their own — or who are in the position to care for children and take on the role of a mother! You are a blessing and you are blessed!
Good night and sweet dreams, dear friends and family!
