House vs Machine
The house suffered a few minor scratches before the main event on Friday. When I left the site on Thursday the house looked like this:
By 8:30 Friday morning the excavator had already chewed up the entertainment room, the garage and most of the kitchen.
Within minutes the claw had ripped into the main house.
And a few minutes later the entire back of the house was chewed into rubble.
From the front things didn’t look so bad.
OOPS
Not everything was demolished. One addition was spared in the hopes of saving it.
Hard to believe but once the house was chewed up it fit into 9 dumpsters. The last of the rubble was hauled away by Saturday afternoon. The only reason it took so long was the trucking company couldn’t keep up with the excavator. It should have been gone the same day.
A few answers:
No it is not my house. I have to drive 8 hours to get here. The landscape was ‘mine’ and it really hurt to see 6 years of gardening wiped away. The good news is that I get to do it all over.
What is the 26 foot deep hole for? – The new house’s basement is going to have a really high ceiling. You can guess why the ceiling needs to be so high. I doubt very very much anyone can guess correctly. If you do, you have a better imagination than most.
I’ll be headed home tomorrow. The dig isn’t going to start until the end of next week and there’s something a bit more important I need to take care of. After 32 years it’s still a good idea to be around for my wedding anniversary next Thursday. (think about that date for a minute) And no, it’s no joke.
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March 27th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I bet that was kind of hard to watch. Now, you get to start over…I have no idea why you need such a high ceiling……movie theater, very large christmas tree storage closet, hanging loft, living wall art, okay that’s all I can think of….:) Happy anniversary!
March 27th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
‘Coz the garage is in the basement and the owner drive a semi ? ‘Coz they’re growing a tree in the middle of it ? Or perhaps they have pet giraffes ?
Should we wish Happy Anniversary now or wait ’til April Fool’s ? (You’ll probably post about it but have a good one anyway…
)
March 27th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
It’s really hard to see such a nice looking house being torn down, even in pictures. I hope the new one will be better for the owners. When I was a kid, I helped my dad tear down a house with a tow truck. Anyway, I saw on the Green channel that some people had a high ceiling made for either solar or natural ventilation reasons. It was something similar to those reasons. And have a happy anniversary. That must be the perfect day to get married.
March 27th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Will the new owners want to play squash in their basement? — Regardless, a shame they didn’t call the fire department and made this a practice house. People here do this all the time, and you get a tax deduction (I kid you not).
March 27th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
That does seem like such a shame to pull down a house with so much character and charm and throw it away like so much trash. Please do let us know what the high ceiling is for!
March 28th, 2010 at 12:14 am
Wow that looked like a nice house too!
High ceiling is a mystery. No clue on that one! Unless the person is extra tall.
Congrats on 32 years of marriage! A lot of folks never make it 2 years now days! April Fools Day Wedding must have been pretty fun!(-:
I can’t wait to see what plans you have for the new landscape(-:
March 28th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Still horrified by this, but obviously a family of Na’vi have moved here from Pandora. Being ten feet tall makes it difficult for them to move around in a house with only 8 foot ceilings, and they’re going to build a gym in the basement, where they can shoot hoops and jump on trampolines. Of course.
March 28th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
My parents have a basketball court intheir basement, and that’s about how tall their ceiling is. I suppose it could also be a pool with a high dive. Or a sex cauldron.
March 28th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I’m guessing some kind of sports arena: basketball, squash, indoor tennis. Don’t keep us in suspense!
March 29th, 2010 at 9:35 am
I like the idea of pet giraffes but the last few comments dug up the reality so I’ll put the speculation to rest.
Basketball Court
BTW: The house looked much better than the condition it was in after 15 years of complete neglect by the previous owner. No one could see how much of the garage (and probably the addition attached to it) had been eaten by termites or how poorly the inside of the house was laid out. If I had the money I’d have done the same thing if it was my house. Except the basketball court thing – I’d have put in a solarium with a indoor-outdoor pond.
March 29th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Out with the old and in with the new.
I going to guess a recording studio for the ceiling.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
I can just hear his kids say, “Hey Dad, I’m going to go down and play in the dungeon.” The kid’ll be wore out descending the stairs to get there, much less playing. By the time he gets all the way down there, he’ll be tired and hungry, and have to rest before climbing back up to eat again. Oh, now I get it, there’s going to be retractable stairs. Send the kid to the cellar, and pull the stairs. Good idea. Are you sure he’s not exhuming the body of Jimmy Hoffa from wherever he’s got it stashed, and going to reinter him 32 feet down, and then pour a cement floor over him?
March 30th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Oh my, that actually looked like a nice house. Such a shame about the landscape though. Congratulations on your wedding anniversary, 32 two years is wonderful, and very worthy of celebrating!