There is a hole.....

There is a hole....

September 16th -- There is now a hole in the only original closet on the upper-level of my house that leads to the only working bathroom in the house.  Another day, another challenge to life among the ruins....

One of the most challenging aspects of living in the midst of construction is the aftermath of demolition.  OK, initially it is painful to see the destruction of the walls that I've come to call my own, but the worst part is the fine construction dust that ends up everywhere and contributes to the feeling that I'll never live in a "grime-free" environment again...well, not for a while, at least.

I prepare as best I can by trying to seal off rooms and cover things with plastic, but the fine dust has a way of permeating everything.

Here are some photos of my preparation efforts:

In the first (left) photo, the doorway on the left goes to the stairwell to the main level and the doorway on the right leads to my office/living space during the renovation.  Take a good look at the red oak floors because by the end of the day they will be covered in dust and will not look the same until they are resurfaced at the end of the project.  In the photo to the right you'll see the view of the sealed doorway from the stairwell.

 Underneath this blue tarp is a the box spring and mattress, wrapped in plastic moving bags, and assorted items that are now wrapped in plastic

This is the only closet on the upper-level.

 When the upper-level renovations are done there will be a new master bathroom and the current master bathroom will be a second bathroom.  This is the bathroom that will be the last room on the upper level to be renovated because I need access to it.  

So the photography is a bit tricky, but here is a view through the closet door of the wall that will need to be cut so that a door can be created to enter the upper-level second bathroom.

When I get home from the office, here is the view through the same closet, but instead of a wall, there is now a hole for the doorway.

 And, since one of the most despicable things on earth is construction dust, I hunker down and prepare to clean what I can so that I can once again use the only remaining bathroom and source of water in the house.  The best way to clean construction dust is to first sweep or vacuum what you can.  That takes about 2.5 hours.  The next step is to 'wet' mop what you can.  And, then repeat the process over and over.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I tried to prepare as best I could by covering everything in the bathroom in plastic before the demolition.  Here you can see the toilet, cabinet above the toilet, and a small cabinet next to the vanity wrapped in plastic.  Below you can see how I covered the small cabinet and vanity.

In these next photos you can see where the original doorway into this bathroom.  The door has been removed, the opening framed and now there is framing that bisects the old doorway.  That framing is for the wall in the master bath that will have a shower on one side and an enclosure for the toilet on the other side.

And, tomorrow is another day, with more demolition scheduled for the main level.  I've got about about 3.5 more months to go, and I think I'll be extremely happy when all the demolition is done.