Hey, where's the stand-in crew?

photo by Russell Kaye

It was eye-opening to see how much could be accomplished in 8 hours—including filming!

For our first day of demo, I was expecting an army of contractors to descend upon my home, while Tom and the guys provided direction, maybe coming out of Tom’s trailer periodically to do some filming.

But much to my surprise, the guys were doing all of the work.

Tom and Kevin attacked our kitchen walls and ceiling, Norm was on his hands and knees opening up and inspecting the floor, Rich was digging out the sewer and water lines in the basement and Roger was excavating with a Bobcat.

Before I knew it, Tom gave me and my friend Mark harnesses that we used to carry the washer and dryer from the first floor to the basement. Next, we got some tools ourselves, broke open one of the walls and tore out wallboard. It was a great feeling to jump into the demo and see the room begin to open up.

Even more fascinating was the history that we uncovered. We discovered that there were three different ceilings and floors, each installed in separate renovations. The third renovation reduced the ceiling height by almost one foot—something that I was excited about reclaiming.

Tom and the guys pieced together the likely configuration of the original kitchen area: a window in the rear staircase, a pantry with cabinets, an entrance to an outside entryway and porch.

During the day we also did a “perc” test to determine the rate of water percolation, or absorption, in the back yard. We had been working with Mike Cosmo of Everett M. Brooks, Waltham, for our survey and topography, and this test would be the last piece of information needed to develop a drainage design for our back yard.

Finally, we took out those yews that were hiding porches. Roger jumped in the middle and started working his way out with a chainsaw. Before I knew it we could see how nice the side of the home was and the expanse of our front porch!