the last extra wall

We pulled down another wall this weekend. This was was the last of the walls that had been added when the house was rudely duplexed back in the day, and was something that we’d been looking forward to getting down for a while. Company was coming over, so we figured that this might be a fun activity to share - how often does the opportunity to knock out a wall come up for most people?

We’d had the dramatic experience twice before of pulling down these extra walls (the arch and the hall upstairs). The difference has been immediate and astounding each time. The wall that we took out today had been added across the foyer and up the side of the stairs to separate the downstairs from the upstairs.

It was a relatively short wall, but with a huge impact on the floorplan of the house. As seen in the floorplans, it is that little horizontal wall sticking out the stairs. It totally split off the back of the entrance hallway into a separate and dark little room. When we come into the house, instead of a door and the stairs there is now a hallway with the three doors to the interior rooms, a transomed doorway to the back porch, and the steps to the upstairs. The space has become enormous and there is a ton more light.

It was relatively easy demolition, especially as our guests did most of the work (thanks Steph!). It was a 2×4 and sheet-rock wall with no electrical or phone lines and it came down in large pieces. After paster and lathe, sheet-rock is nice to pulldown. We found a piece of wood with a date in 1998 and the name of the guy that did the work, the bastard.

This is the wall before we started today. Notice the shadow at the top of the stairs.

This is after: