Everything You Need To Know For Demo Day
Demolition of a House to make it a home
Holy moly did I learn a lot during demo. Going into it I figured there didn’t really need to be that much preparation or decision making. What I forgot though was that after you start peeling away the layers, you uncover unknowns and more decisions are needed to be made. Things like… Should we unhook this? Do I want to change my mind on that finish? Is the spacing going to work?
Ultimately, what I learn EVERY time I tackle a new project is resiliency is key! You just have to be open to learning along the way and adapting where necessary. I am never fully prepared and that’s okay! That’s also why I’m hear to share everything with you. The more I share the more I hope it will help you prep for your big demo day! So, today I’m sharing what my kitchen demo costs, what tools I used/needed, and some of my learnings! With that, I’ll leave you to it!
Cost of Demolition of a House
The cost of demoing a portion of a house varies on a number of things. How many rooms are you demoing? Who are you using to do the demo (subcontractor or company)? Is it an exterior or interior wall? Etc. Etc. Etc.
When speaking to my contractor, my Tangletown house - kitchen demo was bid out at $2,000. To put this into perspective, this room is currently 12x10, and I was asking for the cabinets + soffits + one wall to be removed. If you remember my investment property renovation breakdown, that kitchen demo was much cheaper at only $600. There I had them remove the floors + remove cabinetry on one wall + demo my fridge nook. This time around I’m using a different crew, and labor + material costs have gone up significantly over the last 12-16 months!
It’s a give and take all around when budgeting a project. I know this crew is less expensive on things like drywall than my last crew was, so I’m always trying to be mindful and look at total bids to see where I can give and take. For this project, I helped cut down the demo cost in half ($1,000) by demoing out the soffits and kitchen cabinets myself. I left the majority of the dining room wall to the pros, but you better believe I took a peak at what was in the wall ;)
Tangletown Kitchen Before
Tools Needed
When I originally thought about demoing my kitchen, I figured all I would need is a crow bar, hammer, and some brute strength. Well, turns out you need a couple of extra tools along the way to not only help work efficiently, but to also help troubleshoot nooks and crannies. When you’re trying to save a window frame or trim, it’s more about finesse than it is about destruction. So, to help you plan for your next demo, I’ve pulled together a list of tools that I found most helpful when demoing out my kitchen.
Drill
Crow Bar
Hammer
Sledge Hammer
Wrench
Ladder or Step Stool
Sawzall (preferably cordless - you should turn the electricity off to the room)
Protective Eye Wear
Gloves
SHOP THE POST:
Demo Learnings
Thanks to a handful of conversations I’ve had with relatives and friends along the way who have experience in renovations, I didn’t go 100% blind into my demo. I knew that I needed to open up the wall between my kitchen and dining room + the soffits to see if there would be a bunch of HVAC, electrical and plumbing that would need to be moved. This can drive up the cost quite a bit because of the unknown when you are first bidding out projects.
Appliances
If you want to be super proactive, hire the professionals to come unhook your appliances. It isn’t too hard to unplug your fridge, or take down a microwave. However, turning off the gas to a range and turning off the water to your dishwasher, and unhooking those can make you feel uneasy if you’re a newbie. I’m fairly risk adverse if I don’t have someone on speed dial that can save the day, so I left these appliances alone and just worked around them.
Soffits
Did you know, back in the day, soffits were used to just fill up empty space. A lot of times soffits will have nothing in them. Instead of adding more cabinets above, or adding crown molding, builders would just add a soffit. They come in handy when running HVAC and electrical because it’s a great place to hide these extra items. But boy oh boy am I excited to make the kitchen feel that much taller by getting rid of these empty dwellers!
Floors
One of the most nerve-racking and exciting things that comes along with demoing (in my opinion) is the big floor reveal! In a lot of these older homes, people have covered up beautiful hardwood floors with carpet, laminate, or a number of other flooring choices. Well, in my case, they decided to put hardwood floors over the original hardwood floors. Before demoing the kitchen, I was planning on just having the floors sanded and stained down as best as possible to match the rest of the house. Now after seeing that the floors weren’t installed under the fridge or range or cabinets, I came to the realization that I would need to install new flooring….until I saw that the “subfloor” was the original hardwood!! Hallelujah! Saying a little prayer now that we are demoing up the “newer hardwood floors” to get to the original, and hoping they are in good shape.
This sums up my knowledge around dominating your demo and everything I learned this past weekend. I hope you find it helpful and as always I am here if you ever have questions!
Cheers!
Jen
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Investor // Landlord and DIYer // Realtor // Business Consultant // Globe Trotter // Converting Vegan.
