It's Not The Same Without A Dead Chicken

Demolition day #2: Danny breaks up cement beds

I'll get to the dead chicken in a bit but as I had previously mentioned last week,we are embarking on yet another renovation project, the third floor junior suite. Here's our to-do list to give you an idea of the order/dependencies of work that has already been done and is yet to be done to complete our junior suite transformation:

the shower pre-final demolition

What Work Needs to Get Done

1. Clear out complete! Emptied out existing rooms (this took more than half of a Sunday to empty a bedroom full of stuff and bathroom where we had all our toiletries). For us, we also had to ensure we had another functioning shower so a few supply lines had to be replaced for the next door shower.

The hallway leading into the demo-zone

2. Preparation complete! Danny and team covered all areas in between the work area and outside with boards to protect floors, tarps everywhere and on furniture. Ensure shop vac is nearby at all times.

demolition day #1

3. Demolition [almost] complete! Danny and guys removed the wall originally enclosing the bedroom closet, removed the linen closet, strip tiles and cement backing off walls, broke up the bathroom floor (cement beds), ripped open the shower stall (more cement beds). Only piece left is making the pass through between the two rooms by cutting out half the wall.

After day #1, only the shower & floor to go

Where the vanity used to be

4. Frame (mostly complete): Existing framing was utilized where possible like most of the bathroom walls but the ceiling, back wall (done), closets (done) and wall where there used to be a door (done) required brand new framing. Additional framing may be required when opening up the pass through.

What's going on this week and next...

5. Electrical rough-in

6. Plumbing

7. Drywall

8. Tile: half wall bathroom, floor, entire shower

9. Install  fixtures: vanity, toilet, shower, sconces, light fixtures

10. Install final touches: shower shelves, towel corner shelves, marble transitions, towel racks, etc...

The Excitement

So back to the reason why you even decided to read this post... the dead chicken.

As I mentioned, demolition started this week and Day 1 was relatively uneventful. They were able to remove most of the bathroom and even cleaned up after a long day. By Day 2, Chris casually mentioned that despite our house's reputation for making every project a challenge, the project was going surprisingly smooth. If you have ever watched any horror movie, that's the inevitable jinx to any situation. So only a few moments later, while finishing-up ripping up the cement boards, the pressure on the old pipes was enough to make one burst. All I heard [yes, I was lucky enough to be working from home] was, I need towels!! I then see Danny running to shut off the water supply and we opened up all the showers/sinks to release the water left in the pipes. Luckily he was able to cap the broken pipe quickly and the damage was relative minimal.

So at this point, I was drained from the drama and thought it the perfect opportunity to get out of the house and tackle some errands. An hour later, I got a text message from Danny stating verbatim:

 "We found a dead chicken in your shower." 

As I am the only girl in this mix of boys working on the house, they tend to capitalize on my gullibility and I figured this was yet another hoax. After demanding proof, the next text contained the following image:

Dead chicken!?!?!

At this point I didn't know whether to laugh or throw up. Seriously? Who else finds dead chickens during renovations???? Isn't it enough that we have a ghost walking around, do we really need any other weird factors like weird voodoo rituals or dead pet chickens? So after returning to the house, investigating the facts, we decided that in fact it wasn't a dead chicken but a dead pigeon. The hypothesis of how it got there was the old attic windows had been left wide open and the attic floor had gaps so a bird could have flown in, found a warm spot near the shower and setup shop or got stuck.

Stay tuned for more on how the space gets transformed, more adventures and hopefully less dead animals. And don't forget, read here on you can ensure you don't miss any of our fun updates.