Demolition is hard work

My mom and dad hired a contractor to renovate their entire basement.  However, to save some money we offered to do the demolition ourselves.  I have to admit, I’ve lived a pretty easy life in the sense that I have never repaired, built, or renovated anything in my life.  I’ve never even moved my own furniture.  I was actually kind of excited to do demolition.  Obviously when I thought that I did not know how much work it was.

For the last two weeks, Beau and I have spent our after work hours at my parents’ place tearing down their basement.  It’s not difficult.  It doesn’t require precision or skill.  But it does require strength and endurance.  The deal was that we’d leave all the garbage in the garage and the renovator will take it away.  When half way through the demolition dad said we should consider moving it out to the yard, the thought of moving all that garbage again nearly broke my spirit.  I thought I was fit and strong from the gym.  Truth is it just gave me a false sense of fitness until I had to carry 800 square feet’s worth of carpet and carpet liners, ceiling, and dry wall upstairs.

If you are considering demolition, I have some advice.  Get proper tools, it’s hard enough tearing things down, I can’t imagine doing it without proper tools.  Get good masks.  It might look clean until you take down the ceiling.  I was too lazy to wear my mask one night, and ended up hacking up dust all day the next day.  Wear gloves and sturdy shoes.  There are a lot of nails.