Breaking Stuff

"Take things apart. Learn to be a maker by becoming a breaker."
Jake Von Slatt
Steampowered: The California Steampunk Convention
October 2008


Do you remember that second bathroom, the one in the photo on the left? It’s gone now. It was both fun and educational destroying it! I started one day when I got off work early. I'd been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work ahead so I told myself to just start doing something. I drove over to the estate armed only with a hammer and started smashing away. I was able to salvage almost all the studs and learned a lot about wall framing. I also found that behind the shower stall there were traces of mildew. This is a clear sign the shower had not only been finished but also used. I found the copper plumbing in the wall too and saved it.

What apparently happened was that the second bathroom had been added without building permits. When the bank foreclosed the occupants stripped the bathroom. The REO company then smeared plaster over everything to try to disguise the unpermitted second bathroom. We don't need a second bathroom anywhere near as much as we need a functional master bedroom so away it went. Early in the process I made a discovery that was like Christmas in October. Underneath all the 70's tile and old carpeting is the original floor of the house. It's really worn, but its hardwood!




From our first viewing of the house we also noticed an odd set of uneven ridges in the hallway. They seemed like the dim outline of a doorway. After a few exploratory holes I put the junior demolition squad to work. Child labor rocks. When all the rubble and framing was stripped away a perfectly preserved closet doorway emerged. From the discoloration on the floor we also can see where two pre-bathroom closets were. One was a linen closet in the hall, that's what the doorway was for, the other was a large bedroom closet. We plan on restoring them both.