Demo Day!

Well, it finally arrived: demo day! December 11th, 2017.

After long delays, we finally had the green light to demo the house. And it happened a lot faster than anyone thought. In just about 3 hours, the house was gone.

Thankfully, Grandma Eva, Aunt Bea and Michele and the boys were able to rush over for the big event. It was impressive to watch, and bitter sweet.

The Sunnyside house was built in 1913, and has been home to so many wonderful memories. It was sad to see it go. But, it was ultimately a joyful moment knowing the house will be rebuilt. And there were plenty of exciting demo moments! Enjoy!

As the morning light pierces the fog, so too does the iron claw of demolition pierce the walls!

First the garage. It took one punch to get through the roof. Two more and it was gone. Then, Dave (the operator and a really nice, joyful guy - considering he's destroying a century of memories) drove up into the garage to reach the house.

A few scrapes from the claw and the front of the house fell off. It was a little strange to see inside your bedroom...from the street.

In about one hour the front of the house was gone.

Dave finally made his way to the bathroom, where hilarity ensued when he crushed the toilet.

As more of the house got munched, Dave used it to climb further and further back to the rest of the house.

We make a picture!!!! (and photo-bombed by an excavator.)

You can't tell in the picture, but the back right of the house is actually the inside of the boys' closet. Dave had ripped the back closet wall away to reveal the inside of the closet wall, the side you never see since you're always looking "in". When Dave exposed the wall, we noticed the familiar handwriting of Matthew. There he had simply written, "I love you." He must have secretly written it during the Goodbye Party. It was perfect - the last farewell from a faithful house.

The boys soon arrived and got a (safe) front row seat to all the action.

Here Dave loads one of many scoops of debris into the dumpster. All the material gets separated by stone and "everything else." Ultimately, it all gets recycled. Amazing.

Dave moves in for the final blow to the back kitchen wall. The sound of the sliding glass door shattering was incredible.

Boom! With the NE corner down, all that stood was the SE corner.

Like The Last Watchman, steadfast at his post, the SE corner wall refused to fall. So Dave crushed it.

Here you're looking out from the back yard to the front.

One of the many small miracles of the day was Dave's ability to pull all but one of these fantastic timbers from the basement. These 100 year-old beams will get sanded, stained and reused in a half dozen projects, from a nice post in the house, to a mantel.

Incredibly, when the gutters fell, a bunch of moss and mud fell inside the gutter, making them appear like someone hadn't cleaned them in a year. Amazing.

The final pile.

It is completed. Sunnyside has been demo'd. But like the Phoenix, it will rise again! Coming July/August 2018.