demolition days- garbage removal

On Tuesday morning the dumpster arrived..
We had planned on leaving Saratoga and heading back to the city on Thursday afternoon so that meant we had 48 hours to go crazy and fill that baby up!

You might be thinking "what perfect planning on their part!", but don't give us too much credit. We really went back and forth on whether or not it was worth it for us to have a dumpster delivered so early in the renovation process, so we didn't plan ahead. It wasn't until our second day there when the garbage started piling up and it was hard to determine what was trash and what should stay, that's we decided we should have one delivered. We were looking up garbage removal companies (our county dump required us to get a permit- a lengthy and sometimes pricey process), but because it was Labor Day weekend, we were out of luck (I'm sure if we were doing the renovation in New York City we'd get a response pronto but upstate they like to have their holiday weekends). So on Sunday we really started to feel like it just wasn't going to happen when we got a visitor. Literally I'm not even kidding, a man was driving by, noticed we had just purchased the house, pulled up and told us to let him know if we needed anything because he owns a waste removal company! Welcome to the neighborhood!

Once the dumpster was dropped on our driveway the first priority became filling it. During the first few hours cleaning, landscaping and stripping wallpaper took the back burner.

Brush
Ben was told that we should load the brush in first- mostly because it would flatten out with all of the other garbage on top.
The guy who delivered it also suggested that we hold out that larger trees because he would use them for firewood. Because we were being charged for the dumpster rental and the weight of the garbage, the more he took the better- he was saving us money and we were giving him free firewood, so it all worked out.

Radiators
If you haven't noticed, there are radiators throughout the house- a sure sign that it was built in the early 1900s!
I really hadn't considered the radiators and how we were going to treat them during the first walk through and inspection of the house. In fact, I wasn't even sure what we were going to do with them until the demolition process began. My father in law mentioned that the wooden radiator covers (all existing) are really just like blankets over the radiators. They make the heating process in the house much less efficient because the heat is often times trapped inside the covers and very little is able to escape.
First reaction? Toss them! I want this house to be as cost (and energy) efficient as possible- there's no reason to waste gas.
Once we removed all the radiator covers I started feeling as if the old radiators were less intrusive- the rooms felt and looked bigger. I also wanted to embrace the fact that the house is old. And I think it the end I might really like the look of freshly painted (vintage!) radiators.
Originally when we decided to get rid of the covers we started putting them outside just to get the out of the house. Remember this picture?
But as soon as the dumpster arrived Ben took a mallet to them (he saved a couple for me) and broke them into pieces so they wouldn't take up too much room.

Kitchen Cabinets
We were debating whether or not we should keep the base cabinets with the sink because realistically we may be without a kitchen for some time, but we also wanted to take advantage of the dumpster- we aren't sure when we'll have one again. We decided the sink was too valuable (and because we are keeping a row of cabinets there the floor didn't have to be finished underneath them), so we kept the base intact. The upper cabinets were another story.
I'm not exaggerating when I say they were being held onto the wall with two, very old screws. And even more crazy than that- the top of the cabinets was actually just a piece of plywood set inside (not attached).

There are two corner pieces in the kitchen that are original to the house and for a couple minutes I thought that was a reason to keep them-
then I changed my mind. The thing is, I use my kitchen, so it better suites me if we continue the kitchen around to those corners (I'm hoping to install a "baking" station in one of them- an area I'll use frequently).
As you can see above, Ben tried to remove them, but that's when he discovered that they are so original to the house that they're built into the wall! As soon as he began tugging at the shelves with a crowbar, the wall started pulling away. So instead of making it into the first round of the dumpster he decided to save that project for a rainy day.

Miscellaneous Garbage
There was so much of this I'm not sure I'll remember to post about it all. It all ranged from being either dated, completely broken or just overall ugly. Here's a quick list..
The TV antenna..
One of Ben's more brilliant moments..
The window treatments..
First I made sure none of them worked with our new decor.
The ridiculously heavy garage heater..
We literally rolled it down the driveway and somehow wedged it into the dumpster- still not sure how that worked but I'm pretty sure that's where my shoulder injury stemmed from.

The stairs that were literally disintegrating..
Ben built this temporary set to make it through the winter.
They'll be great as soon as the floor guy sands down the top step because you can't open the door at the moment.. (he never claimed to be a carpenter!)

Believe it or not, those few items were enough to fill the dumpster.. and clear out the house. On Thursday morning our time was up and while we were packing up to head back to the city, they picked up the full dumpster and the extra wood..
Suddenly our house looked a lot less like a construction site and a lot more like a home. Our week up there had come to an end and while it might not look like we made a huge amount of progress on the computer screen, you'd be amazed at the transformation if you saw it in person. And it's just the beginning!