The demolition has begun - Now with pictures

On Thursday, our contractor has started demolishing the ceiling in the parlor. It is a royal, holy mess. As I've described, we have the original horsehair plaster ceilings. Taking them down results in a gray, smoky dust. All of the doors were closed and the contractor had drop cloths covering the doors but it is still everywhere. Literally.

From Remodeling

(Click on the picture to go to the album)

We have the HEPA filter running so that I don't aggravate the asthma. On the plus side, we now have a reason to buy a Shop-Vac. Lowe's, here I come with my 15% off coupon. Woo-hoo!

Today, they demolished the bedroom ceiling. We did manage to get everything out of the room, which was a good thing considering the mess. They did some test holes yesterday and it turns out there is a hard wire mesh over the gypsum plaster. It does boggle the mind. We have no idea why they would fortify the ceiling in the bedroom and do such a shoddy job on the ceiling in the parlor.The good thing is it isn't horsehair plaster, so the mess was more or less confined to the bedroom and the immediate area.

For those interested, we have not yet made a decision on what colors to paint the parlor. And we haven't yet figured out how to get the paint off the existing jams without damaging them. We have decided to take up the current subfloor to see what is under it. We have a sneaking suspicion that there might be good wood underneath it. But all in due time. We also had them open up the plaster around the chimney just to see if there is anything there worth salvaging. There wasn't. But now we know.

That's all for now. Have a good weekend everyone.