Just when we thought we were making appropriate, appallingly slow progress on renovations, we came home one evening to find a quarter of our foyer ceiling on the floor. At this point we deemed the plaster unsafe to remain, and Matt with a few wrist flicks had the rest of the ceiling on the floor. Our house was once again covered from top to bottom in the plaster dust.
Of course this took place in the middle of a miscarriage after doing a round of IVF, because why would a house wait until you were emotionally ready for it to fall apart. As if there is ever the right moment for the sky to come crashing down. We were grateful that no one was home when it fell. The biggest casualty of the night was our toddler who we made go play outside in her sandbox, to keep her out of the dust, and she ended up covered in mosquito bites.
The initial thought process was to to put drywall up over the lath, but after a lot of talking we decided to remove the lath. A few days later, I got a call just before heading home from work giving me the heads up that I was probably not going to be happy with what I saw when I got home. Stepping in the door I was met with a mess of hanging wires. There was knob and tube, cloth covered wires and some new stuff, all tied together a mess. Adding to the fears, were cut live wires that were just hanging in the ceiling space. This discovery has meant a change of renovation plans.
Needing to live in the house as we renovate, we moved downstairs to the den. Up until now it has been used as a playroom. This room has two doors that we can close off to the rest of the house. So the plan is to completely finish this room, move the living room into this space. This will give us one clean, dust-free area of refuge, as we eventually tackle ceilings to get at the electrical, in the rest of the house. That is another post!
Renovating the Manse 