Dumpster Day

Work has kept me at a distance from the renovation although I can't complain about a week in Los Angeles.

Before I left I ensured I had a dumpster rented for a few days of cleaning out the trash. Although it is easy to rent a dumpster, there are a lot of rules and regulations that I had to work around and just take the risk of breaking them. I'll spare you the details, but do enquire if you are interested.

I flew into NYC on Thursday morning, a bit tired from the work week and the red eye flight. I took a light nap while waiting for a phone call from the dumpster dude to arrive. I slept through alternate side parking and went outside at 12:30 PM to make sure it had been placed on the SW corner of Cabrini and 181st. I smiled when I saw the beautiful 5' high, 12' long, 7' wide, empty 15 cubic yard dumpster. It was all mine!!!

Although I had the New York Yacht Club awards ceremony to attend in the evening, I thought I'd make a few trips and throw some bags of plaster in just to stake my claim. After 15 bags, it was time to jet.

Friday, a bit hung over and tired, I was eager to begin work after a few morning meetings. Just after the meetings, the elevator broke and trash time was on hold. Just my luck! Take a day off of work and now I'm stuck in my apartment 6 flights up with a load of trash!

I ran some errands and it still wasn't fixed. My neighbor was also doing a bit of renovation work and asked to throw some plaster in there. He offered money and I grabbed $50 from the deal, helping to defer the $550 fee for the dumpster.

Just after 1 PM the elevator was back online. I immediately started taking bags out to the courtyard with a flat cart and lined them up in anticipation of help from volunteers.

By 3 PM, I had 90% of all the bags in the courtyard. Jen, Brian and Alyssa arrived around 3:30. Brian and I tackled throwing the bags into the dumpster while Alyssa and Jen bagged up the lathe and kitchen floor.

By 5:30 PM, everything was in the dumpster and it was about 2/3 full!


I celebrated with a photo finish....


and then I took everyone out for dinner and drinks.

Dad and Uncle Steve are flying in tomorrow and we plan to tackle lots of wiring tasks. Stay tuned for more blogging...

Dirty Demo Days

I was almost convinced earlier this week that demolition isn't too bad. Then I started in on the ceiling this weekend. The long evenings earlier this weekend definitely paid off and I was glad that I didn't have to deal with the walls. Yet, the wall area didn't quite equate to the total ceiling area.

Despite the large task at hand and lacking troops to help, I dug in at 9 AM on Saturday chipping away at the plaster. Jen came around 1 PM just as I was loosing some steam and revitalized me with a breakfast sandwich. We continued to work and by 5:30 PM the ceiling was down.

Today was more of a cleanup day, having given the dust a day to settle and just the need to not live in a construction site. After 4 hours most everything was spick and span and 2/3 of the kitchen floor was ripped up (I plan on replacing this with oak to match the living room floor).


The worst part about the demo was tearing down the lath. There was a lot of dust and debris in the ceiling void compared to the wall. The air was thick and my hair was disgusting. Black water was pouring off of me for 10 minutes in the shower! I don't remember it being so bad when I did the bedroom, but maybe that's because I just tore into the walls and ceiling ruthlessly and expected the mess.

Anyhow, I'm super glad this part is done in just two short weekends. The bathroom is the only room left to be demolished.

The bags of plaster and wood are stacked up ready to go. I was hoping to rent a dumpster this weekend but didn't have the troops to back it up, so will schedule that date soon.


Oh, and don't forget to take in the spirit of all this with the new portrait.

It's Official, I'm Clinically Insane

I just the day off of work to tear apart my apartment. I've got to be clinically insane. I've made a way bigger mess then I can handle and now I've got to clean it up. The dust is killing me, much worse then knocking down the kitchen/living room wall, likely due to the bigger space I'm working in. I was able to squeek out cleaning the foyer up tonight, but that was more necessity then anything else as I do need to get out and go to the bathroom.

I'm taking Friday off (not for Good Friday) to continue working and clean things up. On the bright side, my Dad called me today and had a change in plans. He is going to come out tomorrow to help me out with this mess. I didn't know how much time this would take me so I didn't call any of my buddies to ask for help this weekend. I'm sure they are all booked with family plans anyways and this is the nasty part of the renovation process. I want to subject as few people as required to this mess if I want any friends in the future.

All in all, I'm sure this will be worth it in the long run. Cracking plaster, 1/8" of paint, no insulation and water damage were all the reasons for this. I'm not insane to try to make this place loads better...am I???

Can you taste it?

Dust, dust and more dust. This is what you get for knocking down an old dry plaster wall. Blah!

My floors have a nice coating on them, no matter how much I mop. It's getting better though as I keep cleaning. I think I just need to buy a new mop!

The electrical starts next week and I went to buy supplies the other night. 18 recessed cans at home depot worked out to $275. Not too bad. I got free dimmers from Matt Franks at work, 6 of them which retail @ $50 a piece. Again, connections are great!

I'm looking forward to the lighting being installed, although it will be a bit of musical chairs as I have to clear out the kitchen and living room, and then flip it over the weekend so that the bedroom is clear. I think it will work out in the end.