[On to Phase 3] [Seen Enough]

Simple enough, gut the second floor and expose the roof so it can be removed. Easy you might say, well pictures say a thousand words. Only YOU don't have to worry about breathing insulation, sleeping on the floor, and worrying when or if things will get worst!

When attempting to do this yourself, you really find out who your friends are! I asked lots of people to come help me thinking that if I had an army, we would polish it off no problem. Well, a small army showed up which made all the difference in the world. These people were the hero's of the day. My true friends in MN - oddly enough all the people who showed up to help me with the dirty work were my co-workers from MediaOne (the cable company).

Tools Used:

	Reciprocating Saw (saws-all): This is the absolute best tool, indestructible, reliable, and way better than other competing products. Used for cutting out doors, windows, nails, and anything else that wouldn't move.		Sledge Hammer: If your destroying something be sure to use something that means business and can take a lot of punishment.		Crowbar: Great for tearing things apart and has unique leverage. Don't skip on small ones, get large ones that are 20" or longer.
	Claw Hammer: A good all purpose hammer with a serious business end is a must for any destruction phase.		Shovel: Snow shovels (or large aluminum scoops) provide a great way to speed cleanup of plaster, insulation, lath, etc.		Shop-Vac: Important to have one of these with 4-6HP motor and 10-15 gallon capacity. Do not settle for smaller ones or you will be sorry.
	Axe: Just the trick for cutting through lath and plaster. Good luck trying to do this with a crowbar or sledge hammer. Again, preference for long hammer and larger heads.		Hatchet: Only briefly used but it did come in handy when it was needed.		Wonderbar: Extensively used this tool to pull nails, remove remaining plaster, and pieces of the walls that remained attached.

The Actual Work:

This was was ugly as it contained several different types of lumber and construction techniques. For example, some was from that of 1898 which used balloon construction (or using a single studs that ran from foundation to the roof). The dormer in the room rode onto of this construction -- was a mess!

The floor vents were stuffed with plastic, than covered in plastic and stapled to the floor. If I had known that so much debris would have come down, I would have also found a small piece of plywood and additionally nailed the plywood over the vents. As it turned out, while scooping up the debris, the vents were uncovered by the shovel sending all this debris down the vent into the basement.

Steve Baker was the un-sung hero of the day! This guy brought down the ceiling (blown insulation and all). During which Steve turned white (with plaster dust) and then gray/brown with insulation which covered him head-to-toe. Don't ever give this guy a axe.

We called him the hatchet man, but with the axe, he was an amazing machine in action. I tried to keep up with him by bagging insulation and lathe in is destructive path, but he was just too quick.

Still, a large axe could have done the same in less time, but Tim presence made all the difference. You can see here that Tim wore a mask and goggles however it was so hot that the goggles would get fogged over and you would sweat then everything would stick to you including the insulation. However, without the breathing mask, you would soon be coughing up black mucus because the air was thick with airborne debris - most of which was not very kind to lungs.

What was left after Steve the "hatchet man" took down the ceilings -- insulation, lath, and plaster were everywhere! Steve was a one man wrecking crew and once he took down the ceiling, we all had to evacuate for half an hour while the dust settled. You could not see more than three feet in front of you once the stuff started falling. Guess they forget to show you stuff like this on HomeTime or This Old House. If they did, you would run like hell because no one in their right (sane) mind would attempt this alone or even with 10 of their best friends (if they have that many). One out of every four people I asked who said they would definitely come over to help showed up. I was sure to give them dates, times, over a month in advance.

You can see this old fan going full blast in the window here. The fan was extremely useful, only we could have used two or three of them. As it was, each time a portion of the ceiling came down, we all had to evacuate for fifteen to thirty minutes while the fan worked to blow the airborne debris out so we could not only see but breath. If we stayed in there we would be going through new masks every hour.

Special Thanks goes out to those who also helped but that I don't have photos of -- they are in no particular order:

Ray Gratke (good friend from work who also helped tremendously)

John Klein (cozen that was unbelievably helpful)

Al Bahlmann (my dad) - enough said!

Maggie (dad's dog) -- a general menace to the work place but in this case who cared!

Nettie Bahlmann (my mom) -- Didn't help out directly during this phase but was there for moral support (?)

Peter Bruss (only neighbor I have that pitched in to help)

[On to Phase 3] [Seen Enough]

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