I feel like the role of demolition in a project, particularly on TV is portrayed as some kind of romantic process. There is a wild, passionate throw of ideas like “we can knock this down and open that up and replace these fixtures and those sets of cabinets”. Everyone will get out their pent up aggression and an hour later will be moving on to making everything nice and new.

In the real world, that just isnt true. Demo is long, tough, tedious and dirty business. The conditions are less than ideal sometimes downright gross. Rot, mold, mildew, excrement and even dead animals are part of the discovery.

In my case, I am always mindful of ‘over’ demo. If I want to use one sheet of drywall or plywood, I am calculating precisely how far to go so as not to need one and 1/8 of a sheet. I am thoughtful that molding profile may not be easy to match again, so unless I want to redo the entire room, I need to be careful removing it. Gentle demo can take days longer.

I try to be consciences about reuse and value as well. Cabinet and fixture removals are examples of that. Habitat for humanity will take items in serviceable and good condition, but not damaged. I try to reuse wood and minimize landfill fodder as well. We burn appropriate and clean wood in our fire pit for family entertainment. That minimizes waste and maximize use, but nails and things need to be removed first.

I don’t mind swinging a sledgehammer ten times. But eight hours of prying, cutting at odd angles, hammering and wrestling sharp heavy objects quickly removes the romance. It is probably my lack of experience, but rarely does any of this go as planned or easy.

Yesterday’s progress on the bathroom. Boy is our work cut out for us.