2 Demolition days at the Duck

We couldn't resist....the weather was in the 50s for 2 days....so my sister and i headed out to the beast and to the ugly duckling (duck) to do a bit of demolition. actually, the beast didn't really get any work out of us...our time was spent at the duck. but we did spend the night at the beast so he did get some love. physical labor leads to sore backs and blisters. LOL

First we decided to find and cut out the doorway leading from the house to the garage. the former owner had sealed it up to keep the renters of the house out of the garage (smart move). here is what it looked like from inside the house.

This isn't the best picture but all i have. when you go down these steps from the kitchen....look to the left in the picture and you will see part of a door...when you open that it would take you inside the garage. go to the left from there and go down to the basement. anyway...right now...open that door (without a doorknob) and it just has a wall there. that is what we wanted to take out.

My sister hammered in nails from this side down the sides of the doorway and across the top so we could see what part to cut out. then we went around to the garage side to find the nails and start demolition.

Here we have pulled out the first piece of very thick drywall that he screwed in...from inside the garage area.

We have no electricity turned on yet so there were no power tools involved. our tools were a hammer, a pry bar and a crow bar. we were determined. LOL

We dug out a hole in the next layer of drywall so we could pull it out. it was going horizontally and was under the pieces on the sides. we didn't want to pull everything apart so we just dug through it. oh, yeah, we used a screwdriver, too. hahahahahaha

After we got that piece of drywall broke out there was still a piece of plywood back there. he had used screws on that, too so it wasn't too hard to get it down. then...ta-da....a door opening. are we good..or what?  LOL we won't talk about the garage side that has to be fixed back up.....someday.

There you see the steps going up into the kitchen. once we got that opened up we secured the door from inside the house with a board across the door. and covered the window with paper.

You might ask why we cut that all out just to seal it up again...well, it will get a new door there eventually. but this opening was critical to haul out the crap that is stored in the basement. ... a project for the next visit.

Our next project was to haul the junk out of the cubbyhole in the back yard that was filled with trash. in there was a tv...a huge monster heavy tv...an above ground swimming pool...a swimming pool ladder and all the crap that goes with it...pump, etc. an old 50s type chrome chair. frames from 2 chairs and a loveseat that were at one time covered in caning. the frames looked good so i am hanging on to them in the hopes of getting them refinished. and a queen size pillow top mattress that my sister successfully took apart with a regular pair of scissors and we stuffed it in 3 trash bags. (the springs are in the garage, though.).  and various other bits and pieces of junk. it all got dragged out to the garage to await a dumpster later in the year.

Here is the before..and this picture is kind of high and doesn't really show all the crap that was piled there: see those cute chairs back there in the back.

It all got drug to the garage..

And moved to various piles in the garage that only made sense to me at the time i did it. LOL

Here is the after: eventually i will take that 'roof' part off that ties the garage to the house and covers this cubbyhole. i want it to get some sunlight so i can plant something there. right now it is just another eyesore.

Then we tackled fence. this fence as seen from the street covered all the ugly in the back yard. notice it is made of plywood panels....ugly, rotted, unpainted plywood panels. also notice the lovely mattress that was destroyed by my sister...the humongous tv that was drug to the garage and the wonderful beaten up storm door. that is the cubbyhole there that we cleaned out.

I didn't get a whole picture of this fence gone since i dropped and broke my camera when i was going to take a picture of it. (another whole story..sigh). but here is the first part that we beat out to get from the cubbyhole to drag stuff around to the garage. just pretend the rest of the fence is gone, too.

See that lovely rusted T post there? that is one of a pair that had a clothesline hanging on it. they will stay. it will make a great run for the dog if she comes out to the house with us. keep her from running out into the street. i will clean them up and repaint them.

We took a little break about 2pm and walked across the alley to the Pizza Hut and had a bite of lunch. not only am i just 5 blocks from my sister's at the beast but i am within walking distance of several fine fast food eating establishments. LOL

Then we went around the garage to the other side of the house. there was also an ugly plywood fence on that side next to the neighbors fence. here is the before:

And here is the after. we couldn't get the posts out yet...that is for another day. i can just imagine that the neighbors were looking out their windows wondering what all the noise and frivolity was all about and then saying 'Thank You God' once we pulled that monstrosity down. i know i would have.

I've got a bit of work to clean that all up but at least it looks better than it did.

The last piece of fence went across the yard on that side. it was at least made of fence boards and not plywood. here is what it looked like before we attacked it. this is looking from the street side...we were working on the other side of it. the buckets had tomato plants in them at one point....redneck lovely. LOL   and that pile of rubbish looking weeds is actually their attempt at a raised garden bed. that is coming out next time, too. won't be hard...it is falling apart.

And once it came down (except for the posts) i can now see all the way across the yard to the gas station across the street. that's my place on the left and the neighbors with a cute little dog on the right.

 I feel we got lots done in our 2 days. the weather was kind of windy but not really cold so it was a good day to tear up stuff.

I stopped at the home center store in town, bought a ladder and a rake, and got books showing doors and windows. the first choice of a door that i really want is about $4,000. ... it is all lovely with beautiful glass side panels and stained glass pretties in the door. but reality will probably grab me by the butt before i actually buy that and i will settle for something just as lovely but a better price for me.

So that is our adventure for our New Years weekend. probably won't get back till early spring in March sometime....when the adventures will continue.