Demolition Diva

For about the last week now, while Seth worked on the electricity,
I have been working on demolition (i.e. making a mess). Last
weekend I focused on tearing out the cabinetry to make a home for our future fridge. I took out three wall cabinets and a double-door base cabinet. Much to my surprise (although by now it really shouldn't be), after pulling up the platform for the base cabinet, I discovered a large hole in the floor that must have been either an opening for duct work or for a laundry chute. Unfortunately for us, it poses yet another problem to overcome;
How do you put a very heavy fridge on a floor with a big hole
without cringing everytime you shut the door? Seth reassures
it is easily fixable ("alright...").

After I finished the demo in the kitchen, I moved on to busting out the walls between the new kitchen and the current kitchen. This will allow us to place the fridge back so it is flush with the door to the basement as well as give us more room for cabinets and counter space. The walls come down pretty easily, but unfortunately the plaster is exceptionally heavy and will not be picked up by the trash company. So, we have decided we are going to have to rent a dumpster. It's not cheap, but it is much easier and quicker than taking it to the dump by the truckload.

In the meantime, we finally have a brand new heat pump and furnace. The guys from MidWest were out on Monday to take out all of the old rusty junk and put in the new equipment. I met them at the house to let them in, get them aquainted with the house and warn them about the hot wires. We also spent a good deal of time discussing the positioning of the duckwork to the second floor. They were there most of the day. When Seth and I got to the house that night, we were interedted to see this hole.
Hard to tell, but I took this picture from the bedroom on the second floor and you could actually see all the way down to the basement. On Tuesday, they came back and finished up. The ductwork runs up a corner in the dining room and then up into to bedrooms upstairs. We will have to do some framing in the dining room and the second bedroom (our closet) upstairs to cover up the ductwork, but Seth assures me it will be easy ("alright...").

We still have a little bit of demolition work to do (taking down the 2 x 4's and peeling up some of the vinyl in the current kitchen) but we should be done by this weekend. I have to say that although the demo is fun, and I have become quite good at it, I am ready to start improving the look of our home and not just the structure. Regardless, I know that it will all be well worth the trouble.