Demo Rage

It’s a real thing.

Today the daughter of the previous owners stopped by. She moved into the house, with her family, when she was four. In addition to the family stories, memories of growing up in the house, and other delightful anecdotes, she mentioned, almost offhandedly, if I knew there was a pocket door between the main hall and the parlor?

Well, no, I didn’t know that. How would I? It has been dry walled over, covered in moldings, and until recently was the site of ungodly-ugly bifold doors. Leaving no trace of the door hidden in the wall.

Cue the demo rage.

I may have done some therapeutic screaming as I went at the molding and drywall with my hammer and pry bar. I certainly let loose a flood of profanity when a piece of molding snapped back and hit my knuckle.

And then…pay dirt. Or pocket door. Same thing.

I’ve certainly done more in-depth demo (and enjoyed it immensely), but this one really had the sweetest pay off. Most demo leads to something you don’t want going away. This time? The demo was to get to something I really want to keep.

Eventually I was able to clear away all the drywall. But in order to get the door out I had to remove a 5 inch nail they put through the bottom into the floor (why?) and use my pry bar as an extra handle to pull the door out using my brute strength. (Which I have. Stop rolling your eyes!)

It’s beautiful. Solid wood, 5-panel pocket door that matches all the other doors throughout the house. It weighs about 200 pounds, and needs lots of attention. For starters, it’s ridiculously heavy and no longer attached to any sliding mechanisms. There was more swearing as I finally was able to get it out of the pocket. I’ll need to call in reinforcements to either remove it for repairs or put it back.

So that was my day. Oh, but I also got internet and the natural gas line located. Add that to my visitor, the pocket door demo, and the endless stripping and carpet-tack-pulling and it was a good day.

I’ll be drinking tonight, while in the hot tub. Probably a Woodward Canyon NV red blend that I swore I bought as holiday party hostess gifts, but really I’ll probably end up drinking it all myself. The NV red blend will pair nicely with my bruised knuckle. They’re almost the same color.

Cheers!