Bringing a house back to life and chronicling the adventure.
The Truth About Adair.
Found this little ditty online, a foreclosure. I negotiated a low cash deal and closed within just days of my offer. The initial tour of the property told me that it was a worthwhile neighborhood, an old house with solid bones and had plenty of room to do the work and still make some money.
Phase 1: Demolition
First things first, get rid of everything and evaluate the structure and support of the house. Or in other words...it's a damn dirty job, but somebody has to do it. One of the main thoughts that came to me over and over, "somebody was living here, with this house, like it is." Things are gonna get worse before they get better, but it is a process. So I got myself a dumpster and I started loading out the junk.
A floor plan to decide how to tackle the wiring, plumbing and to generally give me a sense of scope.
Demolition, Trepidation, More Demolition
Headed back to Adair house to continue demolition and the thing that I realize is that I am being too conservative about what I am getting rid of. Somehow I thought the more I can keep the better off I would be when I put it back together, but the more I work on it the more I realize that I will just have to work around whatever I leave. So I am taking a new approach and the sledge hammer and sawz-all are my new best friends. So I went until my muscles and the Dewalt batteries gave out.
A Tiring Weekend
Cleaned up the debris from demoing the middle bedroom and turned our sights towards the kitchen and laundry room exterior walls. We spent most of our energy just digging out the crawlspace in the kitchen. Then turned our focus on stabilizing the main beams of the house, which do not even reach the exterior walls. In the process of digging a footer we made a fascinating and shocking discovery. Take a look...