Demolition Complete, Renovations Begin!

It’s time for another update on our renovations! We last left off having created a large opening in our attic! You can see that post here, along with demo part 1, and attic plans.

Now as stated in our prior post the ceiling consisted of a layer of panelling and lath & plaster, both of which are the bane of Charles’ existence. As such we wanted to remove those layers and replace it with drywall and had decided it would be easier to kick the plaster down from above now before we add flooring in our attic vs. having to tear it down from below later on.

And so while Anna and I took off on a daytrip Charles set about to doing just that! He started off by removing all furniture from the room and taping off the openings along with laying down a huge drop sheet on the floor.

Once the room was was “secured” he set about to removing the first layer of panelling from the ceiling.

Here’s what the ceiling looked like with the panelling gone! Apparently somewhere in the 70’s it was in style to “smoke” the ceiling and create these crazy patterns…I do remember one of my old friend’s dad did this in their foyer but their ceiling was aqua and the smoke was a lot more subtle. This however, this is just crazy!

It’s kind of like cloud watching! What shapes do you see??? Hahaha

Here’s a nice close up! Could you imagine having this on your ceiling…?

So now came the fun part! Busting out the sledgehammer, climbing into the attic, and knocking down that odd, smoky lath and plaster!

Quite the mess eh? I’m surprised Charles didn’t fall through the ceiling himself! Apparently it was done in a very safe and professional manner and Charles “does not recommend trying this at home” hahaha.

To clean up Charles shovelled all the bits and pieces into a garbage can and took it outside; this of course took several loads. Once it was cleaned up he then set about to putting up the drywall.

Ta da! We haven’t yet taped or mudded as we will do that all in one go when the attic is ready for drywall.

Now that we had a ceiling again Charles was able to go about the slow process of placing insulation back in between the floor joists and covering it with plywood which was screwed down; this will be the base for our flooring. Here’s what the attic now looks like from the opening.

And facing towards the opening.

Next up will be laminating the rafters with 2x4’s on edge using plywood gussets so that there is enough room to fit the insulation and insulation stops for airflow. Next renovation post I’ll explain this in more detail.

As I stated before in my prior demolition posts Charles is an official journeyman carpenter and a lot of what he is doing is quite technical (hence some of the crazy terms), and as such I would recommend hiring a professional to do any similar major renovations to your own homes. I hold no liability if you try this on your own!

Slowly but surely everything is coming together! Is anyone else tackling any large renovations on their home either with or without professional help?