well that was fun. The DIY demo of the guest cottage was set up one random morning recently, and Brian and I enlisted the help of my brother, Ken, who was “born to demolish” (my parents would agree). I had never done anything like this before and honestly thought I would do it easily (I’m strong! I love getting my hands dirty!), which is probably not as true as I thought. So here’s how it happened, how much it cost, how long it took, and what we actually ended up with.
Kitchen”
The kitchen was very small and in very old condition. It all had to be dismantled, and only the floating shelves were usable.
The island was virtually unattached and very easy to throw in the trash, but the cabinets were sturdy, hardwood, and much more sturdy. If they were not covered with lead, they would make excellent firewood. I don’t know why there were two sinks, both extremely heavy and in poor condition.
During the DIY demo:
Turns out I’m more of a homemaker than a homewrecker. I didn’t trust myself to swing the sledgehammer with the amount of force needed to do the job. I was hesitant, probably because I’m a little clumsy. I’m also the type of person who picks up a piece of furniture without clearing the way or making sure it will fit where I want it to go. In other words, I might be a little careless and not very careful, so I was afraid that if I really went for it, it would backfire and hurt me or, worse, Brian or Ken.
under the stairs
The area under the stairs contained an old wood burning cooking stove, cabinetry and an old hot water heater. Thank God for Ken and Brian – these things were heavy and we needed some serious strength.
During the DIY demo:
Now that it’s empty, I can lay out the kitchen with more reasonable measurements. i’m playing around Say (A design program that is really intuitive and powerful for people like me who don’t know AutoCAD or SketchUp). I’ll show you soon what I’m working on – it’s incredibly fun.
“Canning Room”
First:
This room had all aluminum cabinets from the 40s or 50s, which were not in good condition. They were actually very easy to remove and really light. It’s a really big room with high ceilings and walls/ceiling that need to be repaired (and done properly).
During the DIY demo:
We were able to get the cabinets out, and Ken or Brian could carry them on their own – very strong men, both of them. These were much easier to remove than the wooden cabinets in the other room, which were solid.
“Gardening Room”
This room mostly needs its old floor coming out so we can start fresh – either with framed floors or with poured slab (leaning toward framing it for plumbing reasons). More on that later. Now this part was really exhausting for Brian (doing this was too dangerous for both of us – he had to break it with crowbars at full strength, and no one could be within 10 feet of this guy. This took him the longest, probably 2 hours here.
Here’s how it all broke down:
We rented a 30 yard dumpster – my brother thought 20 would be enough, but we had to be more strategic on how we put things in since it couldn’t stick up over the sides. He was right – 30 was perfect. It cost $950 + pickup/delivery, which I think total was around $1,200. They dropped it off on Thursday and picked it up the following Tuesday.
We completed most of the demo in 3 hours. Ken left after lunch, and then Brian stayed to finish the flooring, which took longer.
I wasn’t as helpful as I thought I would be. I ended up throwing most things in the trash because I didn’t enjoy swinging that hammer as much as I thought I would. I didn’t trust myself not to hit something that would fly across the room and hurt someone. I’m naturally more inclined to take care of something than use my brute force to destroy it. I was very, very, very grateful that Ken and Brian really managed to use their strengths to showcase this home – it really took all the effort 🙂
Now, this demo task was much easier because we didn’t have to open up the walls – there was no old drywall or gross insulation to remove. The walls are either paneled and very beautiful (not removing) or already open. We had already removed the asbestos (except for the knob and tube wiring), so it was really just a few cabinets.
Wait, so you’re not opening the walls at all???
If you’re already wondering how we’ll put in plumbing and electrical without opening up the walls, that’s a great question. My hope is that unless an electrician is willing to remove some panels and thread it in, we will have to explore the possibility of supplying power through open ducts. There are lots of great brass drain system options in the UK that extend to the outside of the wall (they have a lot of stone/stucco/brick buildings they don’t want to expose). So I’m looking at what’s legal to use here (I’ve found). jim lawrence And workshop belowWe can hide the plumbing more easily because we’re just putting it in the kitchen corner of the house, or putting it in the new bathroom under the house. But lighting and outlets will be a big thing, which is an exciting challenge to solve. I’ve looked at copper drain or painting drain, but would appreciate any and all suggestions. Is there an American company that makes Pretty Conduit Systems? I know I can buy parts from UK companies, but their plugs and light switches apparently don’t suit our system, so unsure what I would do with them.
What about heating and AC?
For heat/cooling, we are not building a ducting system. We are doing quilt mini splits (we have one in our gym and I love it and I’m excited I can make panels of it to match each room. I can be confident in putting heated floors in the bathroom and not putting a mini split there. Greensavers Coming soon to quote it and map it out, so I’ll soon know what we’re doing.
Next steps?
Well, I have foundation repair scheduled for early December, probably 5-7 days of work (shoutout). foundation firstThey’ve been super on it so far). You can do simple repairs without permits or engineering, so that’s what they’re doing. I’m still figuring out what permits we need (or whether individual members will pull them). It’s not my strength, but I have so many design elements to show you that I’m really excited about. I’m very intimidated by the permitting process – I took a free 15 minute consultation with the city where I thought I was in trouble the whole time, but I think it’s their job to try to get every permit possible (I don’t think anyone assumes we’re not going to use it as a rentable ADU, but we’re really not doing that!). I’m obviously enjoying it and since this is a public project, we’re not doing anything that can’t be considered 100% above board. I’m not stressed about it at all, which is good (again, because there’s no rush to get it done).
*by beautiful photos Caitlin Green
