Fire: Demolition Derby

Meet Big Red.

When the contractor told me that demolition on my house would begin last week, I expected carnage. What I got was an orderly, tidy removal of pretty much everything from floors to ceilings. Just my style.

Once all the furniture and personal effects were out of the house, demolition began. at the finish of day one, all wall cabinets in the kitchen, appliances, trim and insulation were removed. By the end of day three, I walked into a house with no flooring, ceilings, built in shelving, light switch and outlet covers, you name it. Gone. The walls shared with the garage were stripped to the studs and this is what was very interesting to me: the studs are perfect.

I came inside the house to find a lone dude playing whack-a-mole on the living room floor, pounding in staples to ensure the subfloor was properly prepped. I wandered around the house taking pictures and when I got to those walls that were shared with the garage, I stood there for some time trying to figure out if those studs there were new. So, I went back and asked him. He smiled and laughed a little, recognizing my shock, and explained that the drywall and foam insulation that was on those walls did their job in protecting the studs. I'll be damned.

In the photo below, this is a shared wall with the garage, and you can see the studs are perfect. The red circle in the lower left corner denotes the origination point of the fire within the garage.

For comparison, this photo is from within the garage. The studs on the left are the other shared wall, which was protected by drywall and foam insulation. The studs on the far wall are completely charred.

Hard to believe until you see it for yourself. The fire chief was right. I bet if my garage ceiling had been drywalled, the damage to the trusses would not have been so severe in the attic. That is #1 on my upgrade priority list.

They did a hell of a job cleaning out the garage. While it's still dirty, every last bit of the carnage was removed and disposed of. 

As of Friday, we are ready for the next phase! Monday is when the truss engineer will be coming out to measure and get the specs for the new roof trusses (I'd estimate about 75% of the trusses are being replaced). Electricians and plumbers will be out to get things moved around to facilitate the roof construction, and the contractor will be there to give his final OK for the next phase. 

For my part, I'm focused on my upgrades. Any renovation causes disruption and since I'm already disrupted and displaced, I might as well go ahead and do all those things I've thought about doing for years. Right now, I'm trying to decide on flooring.