So long, farewell!

And now I shall put my nerdiness on full display - it's demo time!  

When I arrived, the garage slab had already been removed and the back room had been taken down. 

Here is a quick video of how easily the exterior walls come down:

This is too much fun!!!

The upstairs door gave us a little show as it came down.

I don't know what it is about boys, but this little guy heard the trucks from inside his house.  He and his Mom hung around and watched with me.  So excited!

Here is the big finale, please don't pay attention to the crazy lady in the background...  I have no idea who she is.

While not completely finished, there wasn't much left to see.  This was all that stood when I left around 11:30 today.

Please Pass the Cheese-martini...

Blame it on a mouse

Tomorrow, there will be no demolition.  We didn't pass the rat inspection, but not because there were actually signs of rats.  A mouse tripped one of the traps - hard to believe since there is no longer a front door on the house (salvage), but rather a nailed-on louvered closet door.  The place is probably a prime vacation spot for every neighborhood critter, I picture mice sipping cheese-infused martinis.  Fingers crossed we pass Monday's re-inspection for demolition on Tuesday.

Finally a little daylight

This weekend allowed us to take a closer look at the garageless lot in the daylight.  Looking good!  We can finally get a sense of the view from the back of the house.  The lack of daylight during the winter might make our ability to track progress a little challenging.  Curse you, Northern Climate!

Craigslist is taking a snooze

With no lack of effort on our part, our Craigslist bounty has taken a bit of a pause.  Possibly the parameters of our remaining items are narrowing, regardless it's been a real dry spell.  Our big wants are a front entry door, dining room and kitchen lighting, possibly a mantle, and a kid's bath tub.  We must not tire!

Rats! Another delay!

Demo Delay
Alas, another delay.  Now we are scheduled for a Monday demolition.  This time the reason is 'rats.'  No, not because we have them, but to allow for an inspection to verify that we don't.  Seriously?

Dramatization of rat.

First Floor Plan
Because this is incredibly anti-climatic, we can spend some time looking at the inside of the house.  The first floor is approximately 1300 square feet.  Favorite features:  view to the back yard, mud room, kitchen island for kids/entertaining, pantry, and powder room.  It's going to be such a shock since we now in live about 1100 square feet total.

Ready to Roll - ish

Let's Roll!
As planned, the garage is sitting at the end of the drive way waiting for go time around 4:00 AM.  The garage is a tight squeeze against the house, but it cleared it by a few inches.  I get the sense that the house movers have navigated more complex situations.

As part of their process, they posted 'No Parking' signs along the entire street to ensure a successful escape.  Thankfully, everyone seems to be following the rules and none of our new neighbors will need to be towed.  That would be a terrible way to introduce ourselves.

Demo Delay
With a heavy heart, I have to report that demolition will not be tomorrow.  We are rescheduled until Wednesday.  A few things contributed to the delay.  First, the gas and water was disconnected a few hours later than expected, too late for the demo permit to be obtained.  Second, there is one outstanding item with plan that still needs to be approved by the city.  Our hope is to have both the demo permit and the approval of the plan tomorrow.

I really want to break the house into bits...

Color Kismet

Timeline Update: Demolition
We appear to have a date for the demolition - it will now be Tuesday, December 6th.  All previous calls for gawking/toasting still stand!

Color Inspiration
This has been a pain in the rear.  While I realize that we can't paint until it is built, or the spring flowers are popping out of the ground, materials can be purchased NOW.  That means we need to get the color scheme figured out.

If you love to look at books and magazines for inspiration, you need to discover Houzz.  Architects, designers, and builders upload their project pictures and there are hundreds of thousands of searchable photos to browse for inspiration.  With hundreds of thousands of pictures, still nothing that made the color combo come to life for either of us.

So, Andy has been trolling local architect sites.  He showed me one yesterday that I quickly dismissed.  Today we were on a Craigslist buying tour of the city and came back through an area with lots of tear-downs.  We snapped pictures as we went.  Sure enough, one stuck out to me!  Back at home Andy put the iPad under my nose, looking a little smug... it was the same house he showed me the day before.  I call it destiny, he calls it "I told you so."  Either way, we both seem happy with it.

The architect's shot, not ours.

Craigslist Delivers
The Craig-o-Meter is climbing!  The long weekend has yielded some excellent scores.  A few items are   New in Box (NIB) such as a kitchen sink, the previously discussed hood (from White Bear Lake) and a faucet for the kid's bathroom.  Thank you to everyone who we have purchased materials from - I have to say, everyone has been wonderful!

Count down to tear down.

Demolition Update
A first in construction history, things are moving ahead of schedule.  It looks like the house might actually be demolished as early as next week.  Here are some of the events that need to fall into place and their projected dates:

Close on loan Wednesday 11/30

Demolition Thursday or Friday????

The biggest open item is how the demolition will be celebrated.  My first reaction is to give the old place a proper send off (read, a round in it's honor).  My second reaction is...  I guess I don't have a second reaction.  Let me know if you might be interested in a viewing of the house's remains, then adjourning to a local establishment to share in a farewell round.  

Craig-o-Meter 2.0
The fact that people care about the Craig-o-Meter makes my thrifty side so pleased.  The fact that there is confusion about the terms of the Craig-o-Meter makes the engineer in me uneasy.  So here are the rules of Craig-o-Meter 2.0 (legalese thanks to Andy):

• The Craig-o-Meter shall only register savings for items specified in the building specifications.  The Craig-o-Meter shall filter out any items that are out of scope from said specifications. 
• Craig-o-Meter savings shall be delineated in two separate formats: (i) cost savings vis-a-vis the specified allowance for said item and (ii) cost savings vis-a-vis the lowest online retail price for said item from a respectable merchant.