I take back what I said about how lathe and plaster is the most terrible of the demo process, because this past weekend, I met its match: insulation. Seemingly harmless, it is light and white and fluffy. “It cannot be that itchy,” I had thought to myself prior to starting on Sunday morning. But for anyone planning to take on insulation in the near future: Don’t kid yourself. It is a nightmare. Like clouds of itchy mosquitoes and bees combined, it pours out of the cracks and crevasses of the walls and ceiling, floating in the air with evil vengeance. Once it lands on you, it begins as a slight itch that burns and slowly expands across your skin until you cannot ignore it. No matter the urge, do not to itch, because this pushes the fibres of the insulation into your pores, making it even worse. This weekend, we also found two more surprises in the walls. Not the pleasant, let’s go research and preserve for display type: while digging out the insulation, two large squirrel corpses were found burrowed in the rafters. How long they have been up there, we have no idea. The boys joked that they should be placed in memory boxes, with the other findings that I have plans to keep as cool mementos for the house… Not happening. Luckily, we had a lot of help this weekend. Our parents and friend Brandon all stopped in and gave us a hand with both the last of the lathe and plaster in the living room and the dreaded insulation in the upstairs ceiling. I am amazed by how much more we were able to accomplish with just a couple of extra pairs of hands. It makes me wonder about how many people it must have taken for the original construction of the house. How many families contributed to the labour, cooking, and things like childcare? The human need for teamwork and cooperation still exists today, but is often undervalued in a time when we think that we can do everything independently. I firmly believe, especially from my experience with this house renovation, that, no matter who you are or what you have, people need people. Overall, the weekend was a huge success. We are nearing the end of the messy part of the deconstruction and I can almost see to the phase where all of my pinteresting and HGTV watching will pay off. Note: Mummified squirrels will NOT be a part of the décor scheme ;).
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About MeKyle and I just became new homeowners. The house we purchased is not what one would classify as "move in ready"; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Built at the turn of the 20th century, our Victorian style house is both beautiful and terrifying in its ancient status and will be a project in renovation. This is a documentation of our triumphs and lessons learned, as we deconstruct and reconstruct this house. The end result? A space that we can proudly say we created. Archives
December 2016
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