House Razing Recommendations

Momsie - what a trooper.

Well, my friends, it is done. Yesterday morning there was plaster on the walls and the house was pretty in tact, and by yesterday night it was almost as naked as the day it was born. Along the way we had some fun, and learned some things. Let me share my newfound wisdom with you.

1. Hire A Good Crew: Over the course of the day, 23 (25 including Jake and I) people were here to lend a hand, and we needed every single one of them. It was quite a sight to behold - our friends and family with pry bars in hand, bashing the CRAP out of our house. We are so lucky. Everyone worked their butts off - not a single slacker among them. So here is a thank you to you all (I sure hope I don't forget anyone!): Kathryn, Loren, Lori, Jill, Rachel, Thomas, Heather, Mom, Addy, Mark, Vanessa, Nathan, Ang, Jon, Sarah, Dean, Scott, Brendan, Brendan, Tom, Winston, Kyle, Jay, Tara (she sent the hugest Taco Dip I have ever seen, and also a bazillion strawberry tartlets, some of which had NUTELLA in them. They were instrumental in propelling us forward with our work). We needed every one of you.

At 9:20ish - the Dining Room.

2. Pay Them Well: We paid our crew in food and beer. Jake ordered a 50 litre keg of Rolling Rock beer, and we made pulled pork, costco helped us out with asian salad, quinoa salad, and ceasar salad, and mom made potato salad. Plus the taco dip and strawberry tartlets previously mentioned made for a well-fed crew. The keg was a bit of a story - we tapped it at 10:30 to discover only foam (and maybe an inch of beer at the bottom) was coming out, even after pouring 20 beers. Thankfully the foam was delicious anyway, and Brendan H was sent out to switch out the tap later in the day which meant for free-flowing drink from then on. We finished the keg at 10:30pm (the pulled pork still isn't finished....), which was surprising and perfect. I really didn't think we'd get through it and was gearing up to give Jake a lecture about excess, but then Jon went to get a refill and nothing came out.

Lori and I. What fun.

Lori's 'hammer'. It was super-effective.

Lunch! Strawberry tarts! With NUTELLA!

11ish. No more plaster!

3. Have A Supply of Buckets: We cleaned out the house almost exclusively (we also used some recycle bins) with 3 and 5 gallon buckets begged, borrowed and stolen (ok, not stolen) from local bakeries and friends. Jake initially wasn't sure of my plan, but a 3 gallon bucket chock full of plaster is still manageable - you can take 2 in fact. I carried over 100 loads out to the bin, and it never was a problem. I'm beginning to think those buckets are the solution to all problems - they also come in hella handy when canoeing and camping, for everything from food storage, to mixing salads, to doing dishes. Currently we are using one bucket as our garbage and one as our sink drain (more about that later).

Sarah means business. She may have been the only person not to look 30 years older by the end of the day.

4. Get A Bigger Bin Than You Think You Will Need: We weren't actually responsible for this part. Kyle said he could get a dump trailer from his work for free and that would be perfect! And FREE! But that fell through and then the most massive bin I have ever seen showed up behind our garage. Jake and I scoffed - there was no way we'd need the whole thing - but at least it was nice that it had one end that was a huge door so we could walk into it. At our first beer break (10:30) Jake took a peek and mocked my efforts to keep the pile of debris going up as much as possible before going out, still sure we wouldn't fill it. Well, of course we sure did! Right to the brim. We had to close the door around 4:00 and throw the rest of the stuff over the side, which sometimes included the buckets as well as the stuff (Rachel! ;).

The Bin around 2pm. Getting full!

The bin at 4ish. Gotta close the door!

Hanging Lathe

5. Take the Time to Rig Up Music: The night before as we were getting ready, Jake was struggling with the amp to get the music working through the speakers that were plaster-friendly (read: already garbage), and was getting frustrated. I tried to tell him - it's ok, we don't need music! - but I'm so glad he persevered, because the music was responsible for one of the most memorable moments of the day. At one point, when the living room/dining room was pretty clear, a danceable song came on and Mom and Addy started ballroom dancing along! Addy even had a crowbar in his hand. It was just too perfect. I caught the very very end on a video, but the image of them dancing among the debris is engraved in my mind. Also, shout-out to Jake - he spent time putting together a playlist of work music that everyone would enjoy and pulled it off beautifully. It has everything from new Paul Simon to old Beatles, to Bon Jovi to Corb Lund. We were dancing and singing through our masks.

10:30 - Keg is empty!

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So all in all, it was the very best experience of gutting a building I think we could have hoped for. The house is empty, no one got seriously hurt (a miracle considering how many pry-bars were being swung at once in there), and we all had some fun.