Demolition

Mom and I decided to tackle the illegal conversion in the garage.

I'm standing next to the water heater in this photo.  Illegal wall and that floor is raised off the concrete slab.  Both need to be removed (along with the illegal wiring, but that's a project for another day).

We tackled the wall first.  Since there are various holes that need patching throughout (and likely a large area in the kitchen when the tile gets taken out), we tried to save as much drywall as possible.  Took out the worst looking sheet first so we could destroy it as needed.

We were able to get the remaining three sheets off relatively successfully.  There will be plenty of drywall for future patches.  With the sheets off, we could see what a poor job of construction had been done.

Alas, I don't have many pictures (but will take more on future projects).  The wall was supported on eight 2x3 boards nailed together.  Not very stable.  While I took apart most of the wall, Mom undid the wiring to the outlet so it could be removed.  We kept the light for now (will need to be removed eventually) because light in that area is very handy.  Once the wall was completely removed, we broke for lunch.

With our stomachs full, we headed back into the garage to remove the raised floor.  Pulling up the carpet was easy.  Mom is an expert at cutting it and rolling it to fit into garbage cans, so she did that while I started on the plywood sheets.  The first one was super attached!  It look a lot of time and figuring to get it removed from the framing underneath.  Once I got it, we got a look at the random framing method - basically rectangular, with a mishmash of boards, whatever was handy.

We found rats' nests, $2.05 worth of coins (mainly pennies), Vans, CDs, film negatives and a whole bunch of trash under the floor.  Treasures galore!

We spent the rest of the afternoon prying up plywood and generally getting a good upper body workout.  We saved the long boards for potential future projects.  After sweeping up, it looks pretty nice.  Still need to install a proper garage door and remove the illegal wiring but pretty good for a first full day of work!