After our real-estate agent, Chander Chaddah, closed the offer on our very first fixer-upper, he ended up being our unofficial restoration guru. He not only assists people get as well as offer homes, he’s a serial renovator who has serviced lots of of his own house renos (check out the lovely cottage he’s building). Over coffee one Saturday morning, he shared his listing of suggested tools as well as methods to assist us do a few of our own demolition work. It was genuinely a lifesaver as well as we did undoubtedly utilize nearly whatever on it!
Hand tools:
Good set of leather work gloves: These saved our hands from splinters as well as calluses.
Proper security boots (protected toe/shank): With nails around the floor, I never walked into our work area without these.
Safety glasses: I couldn’t believe the force at which things came flying when we utilized a pry bar.
Mask (preferably the kind with a rubber facemask with side canisters): We gotten the type rated for asbestos as our home is about 100 years old. undoubtedly we did discover some, so were thankful we had these on. however mainly these were vital to keep out the extraordinary volume of dust kicked up by demo work.
Wrecking/pry bar: These were excellent for taking down whatever from trim to plaster to ceiling tiles.
Hammer (Estwing): We did opt for this brand of hammer as well as every guy who sees our location is promptly smitten. It’s well balanced as well as works beautifully.
Heavy-duty broom: I believed we might get away with just a bit corn broom, however the dirt as well as debris produced from a demo needs something heavy-duty. I can utilize it in the future for our front walkway.
Flat-end garden shovel: This was vital for scraping the plaster off the walls as well as ceiling.
Large vice grips: excellent for gripping all kind of things, as well as for pulling nails with trim that is to be saved.
Good high quality adjustable wrench: extremely beneficial for eliminating pipes, etc.
Variety of screwdrivers or multiple-head screwdriver: I believe we utilized every screwdriver head we had in taking down cabinets.
Staple gun as well as staples: We utilized this a great deal to put up the durable poly to lessen dust in other areas of the house.
Heavy-duty tape determine (inches on both sides): This will be beneficial for many years to come.
Chalk line: This assisted us to produce directly lines for where we wished to stop shearing off the plaster.
Spritzing water bottle: In situation you discover asbestos as we did, this is great to have on hand. Spritzing it with water assists stop it from ending up being airborne.
Power tools:
Cordless drill with bits as well as motorist heads: We utilized this a great deal for taking down cabinetry. I envision we will utilize it a great deal in putting the home back together.
Reciprocating saw: This was our tool of choice. We utilized it for whatever that needed cutting, particularly wood as well as metal lathe.
Circular saw: We didn’t really utilize this, however may as the work progresses.
Corded drill: This is great to have as a backup when the cordless batteries die.
Materials:
Super poly (6 mil. plastic sheeting): excellent recommendations to get this thicker poly. We utilized it to make makeshift “doors” as well as to cover all the vents in the home to keep out dust.
Tuck tape: This was excellent to seal up the vents with the poly.
Masking tape: A excellent essential when labeling wood trim etc.
Spray foam (in can — as necessary): We didn’t utilize this yet, however envision we will around our back door where there are big spaces letting great air inside.
Latex caulking: likewise excellent for filling out spaces as needed.
Empty plastic sand bags: Genius! These assisted us to keep our task site clean. Every day, we would fill them up with the plaster debris. They can be reused as well.
Heavy-duty building paper: excellent for covering wood floors so they don’t get ruined during the demo.
Chander’s demolition guidelines:
If the hardwood floors are meant to remain, they must be papered as well as taped to the edge of the floor (baseboard) if walls staying put.
If plaster being removed, take off trim/baseboard as well as paper to plaster wall.
If the floors are carpeted or are going to be replaced, no requirement to worry.
Decision needs to be made as to exactly how much of the walls as well as ceiling are going to be replaced.
If all of the ceiling in a space is going to be replaced, no requirement to concern about exactly how high on the wall you are stripping plaster.
Decision needs to be made as to whether or not any type of of the trim/baseboards are worth saving. Don’t bother trying to save quarter-round.
If trim not being saved, now is the time to eliminate it. No requirement to be as well cautious — utilize pry bar, hammer as well as gloves.
If trim to be saved, one needs to take a lot more care to eliminate it as well as to pull nails with the trim rather than hammering them back out— utilize pry bar, hammer, gloves as well as vice grips.
If trim being saved after nails pulled through, mark as well as tape together the trim from different openings to keep everything together for reinstall.
Decision needs to be made if any type of cupboards on the wall are to be saved.
Time for your mask.
When taking plaster off the ceiling, be prepared to get very, extremely dirty.
Plaster must come off the wall as well as ceiling very first (independent of the lathe underneath). try to keep the lathe up up until all the plaster is down. This makes it much easier to clean up the plaster into the sand bags (a full bag evaluates a lot more than 40 pounds).
Once plaster is eliminated (don’t concern if some bits are still stuck to the lathe) as well as bagged, it is time to take down the lathe. A flat garden shovel works well to scrape plaster off of the wall, as does a pry bar.
When taking down the lathe, be cautious if knob as well as tube wiring is present as it can be extremely brittle as well as quickly damaged by as well much force on the wiring. You likewise requirement to see if ducts are covered with asbestos (whitish papery material).
If you encounter ducts covered in asbestos, eliminate lathe over ductwork slowly as well as carefully. (It is a great concept to spray the surface of the duct with water prior to lathe removal to assist keep the fibres from ending up being air-borne.) when the lathe is removed, paper as well as plastic over the studs surrounding the offending ducts. If you are planning to eliminate the asbestos-covered ducts, or asbestos wrap, it must be done by a licensed environmental abatement company.