Kicking off the Hill House demolition
THE HILL HOUSE
The Hill House renovation is officially on! We’re knee deep in demo debris, tile picks, and metal finish samples and I’m happy as a clam :) Goodness renovating these old houses is sure fun! Today we wanted to give you a quick update on demo at the Hill House and share all the tools and demo gear we swear by. Let’s get the ball rolling on this long-awaited project…
The Hill House is our 9th full home remodel and as close to a ‘forever house’ as we can get. Of course we said that about the Farmhouse and that only lasted 7 years, so maybe we should call it ‘this phase of life house’…? Anywho, the entire house needs work but taking it all on at once feels daunting so we’re phasing it and starting with the upstairs. We’ll be living at the Poplar Cottage during this first phase.
You can see our current floor plans for the Hill House renovation here. The upstairs calls for slightly reworking the existing 3 bedrooms and a complete gut of the bathroom plus adding a second one. And of course, making everything really beautiful and well-built to last a long, long time.
psst find the whole tour of the Hill House ‘before’ here.
Demo
Last month we started in on demo. We brought the kids over on a weekend and went to town. They were really into it, especially our 7 and 9 year olds. There’s something really fun about knocking down walls and pulling up carpets. Plus I think it’s really special to get to help renovate your own childhood home. I can just imagine them telling their friends for years to come about when they knocked that wall down and carried the old cast iron tub down the stairs. At least I hope they take pride in helping :)
Really, this demo couldn’t come soon enough. We’ve found plenty of operational knob and tube (eek!) and the panel is ancient and “a fire hazard” according to Papa (a retired electrician) so I’m incredibly thankful we’re finally kicking off this project and making the necessary upgrades!
Demo tools and essential work wear
Here’s un updated list of the demo tools we use for every project…
1 Reciprocating saw / 2 flat bar / 3 gloves / 4 men’s coveralls and women’s overalls / 5, 6 face mask + particulate filters for mask (HIGHLY recommend!)/ 7 safety glasses / 8 sledge hammer / 9 ear muffs / 10 utility knife / 11 circular saw / 12 claw hammer / 13 heavy hammer / 14 pry bar / 15 diagonal cutter / 16 torch / 17 drill + driver / 18 Garrett’s work boots / 19 Cathy’s work boots (here’s a second shop to find them) / 20 pipe wrench / 21 electrical tester
Every single one of these tools gets used during other parts of our remodels, so they’re an investment for the entire project. We leave our demo tools at the house for the entire remodel and find ourselves grabbing them again and again.
Thanks for being here! Excited to get the ball rolling on this long-awaited project!
We’re sharing more of this project over on Substack and this link will get you 30% off of a one year subscription. We’ll also have occasional free posts if you’re not ready to be a paid subscriber.
xx
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