Wanda to the Rescue!

My sister came to help take down the drywall. She stayed for four days and man this woman is a dynamo! She removed drywall, removed paneling, pulled weeds (while talking on her cell phone), and cleaned. She does not ever stop. I was sad to see her go, but also relieved. When she is around I feel guilty taking a break (just kidding, Wanda, you know I love your visits - in fact, come again soon - PLEASE).

Wanda standing still for one second

Matt was also a big help this week. He took down paneling/drywall/insulation, helped to remove a partial wall in the dining room and, during his free time, created a complete house floorplan on the computer, using an old home improvement program we had. He had to measure each room and it was a lot of work! Mike had also given him the disgusting task of going under the house to clean up dog poop. When the house was inspected, we were told that there were traces of animals, but we didn't realize what those "traces" were until the electricians started working down there. According to the neighbors, the previous owner had five dogs and they apparently had made the crawl space their personal restroom. So Matt suited up in his disposable hazmat gear (he became HAZ-MATT) and raked it out.

Matt working on the walls

Haz-Matt is on poop duty

The electrician team (Craig, Dennis, and Dave) came on Monday and did a more detailed analysis of the work that needed to be done. While they were there, they gave us a lot of helpful advice on all the work that needed to be done on the house (very scary!) and helped us take down the half wall between the kitchen and family room. They came back on Wednesday and started pulling wires and even helped us take down some of the paneling and siding (guess we weren't moving fast enough for them). Craig brought his adorable puppy, Luke, to play with Zena while they worked.

The guys helping out

Craig's cute puppy

It took just a few days to fill up our first dumpster. We called for them to pick it up and bring a new one, hoping the second one would last longer, but it was almost full by the end of the week. It may take us a few more of these before the job is done.

First dumpster full

New dumpster arrives

Second dumpster almost full by Friday

Wanda went down to the valley on Thursday and brought my niece Brea and stepdad up for the day. Brea is a wonderful interior decorator and I had asked her to come up and help us design the kitchen. Matt and I were having trouble coming to agreement on the layout. Even though this is MY house and MY kitchen, for some reason Matt feels he has a say in where things should go! Actually I do appreciate his input - he is the person who brings me back to reality when I get too creative. Luckily, my niece, being a professional, was able to mediate a compromise that both Matt and I liked.

Laurie's working copy of kitchen floor plan

I spent quite a bit of time not only doing demolition work with Wanda and Matt, but also working with the electricians to determine where switches, outlets, lighting, etc. would be placed throughout the house. The light switch on the back wall of the dining area was originally on top of the window because there was not enough space to put it between the window and door. In order to move the light switch to a better place, we decided to move the window over which meant we had to put in a new smaller window which meant that the wall had to be reframed. Luckily the electrician is also a skilled carpenter and was able to do the framing for us. Matt and I went to Home Depot and bought a new window for Mike to install over the weekend.

Light switch above window

Framed for smaller window

Stats: 4 Home Depot trips; 2 Walmart trips; 1 Ace trip
Remodeling expense 7/26-7/30: $1,900
Remodeling expense to date: $2,508