Starting The Demo
The home gym demo phase started today! The first thing to do was rip out the floor. It’s a laminate floor that clicks together, so this was very easy to remove. I started at the hearth, because it was the easiest place to start lifting the floor. After the flooring, I removed the blue foam padding, which you can see in the picture below. To do that, I cut along the red tape that was holding the sheets together then rolled each sheet.
Removing The Base Molding
Once the padding was removed, it was time to remove the trim. Starting with the base molding. If the base molding was installed correctly, it wouldn’t have to be removed. But whoever installed it, caulked it with silicone caulk. That’s a big no no! If you have to caulk anything that is going to be painted then you have to use a latex caulk! The base may be reusable if I can remove the caulk . If I can’t, then I will have to buy new base. To remove the base, the caulk will have to be cut between the base and the wall so it doesn’t tear the drywall paper when removing it. To do this, use a utility knife and carefully run it along the wall behind the trim,Â
then I used a hammer and pry bar to pry the base away from the wall. You have to be careful prying so you don’t pop a hole in the wall. Its better to locate the studs and and pry away the base in the location of the stud.
Removing The Window Trim
The next part of the demo is removing the window trim. Before removing the trim, the shade hardware will need to be removed. After the hardware is removed then I can take the trim off. First I have to cut the caulk.
Now that the caulk is cut, the trim can be removed along with the window sill. I am removing the sill for two reasons. One reason is I don’t like window sills. I prefer installing window trim all the way around the window. This will be easier to explain when I actually start the trimming process, so make sure you keep checking for future posts. The second reason, even if I wanted to keep the sill, the previous installer caulked it with, your guessed it, silicone caulk so it must go.
I’m also removing the jamb extensions. They are sticking out way past the drywall and if I were to leave them, the new trim will not sit correctly on the window and drywall. If you look at the pics below, the one on the left (top for mobile users) shows how the jamb extension is sticking out past the drywall. The pic on the right (bottom for mobile users)Â shows the space and how far the extension sticks out. If I were to leave it like this it would be difficult to trim with good results.Â
Selective Demo On The Fireplace
I call this selective demo because I am not removing the entire fireplace. So I’m going to remove certain parts of the fireplace and the first thing to remove is the tile on the floor. The tile is to dark and outdated, so it’s going to be replaced with a much brighter tile. This was easy to remove because it was glued down with a tile mastic or adhesive. Tile like this should be installed with a mortar type of adhesive. If you look at the picture on the left (top for mobile users) you can see a tile turned upside down exposing multiple grooves. This tile is made to be installed in mortar, not mastic glue. You can’t get enough coverage for adhesion. The glue will only hold on the lines. You can see in the picture there isn’t much glue on the back of the tile.
The next item to remove is the mantel. I want to be careful when removing this piece because the mantel is a solid piece of walnut and very expensive to buy, so I am going to repurpose this and use it somewhere else in the house or I will find a project to use it with.
Removing The Electrical Devices
Removing the outlet and switch covers are next. Eventually the outlets and switches will be replaced, but I will do this at the end of the project. If I leave the old ones in so I have power and lights, I wont have to worry about covering or protecting them during constriction. That will do it for the demo! Now I have to start cutting holes for the electrical upgrades!
What's Coming Up
In the next post for Creating a Home Gym, I start roughing in for electric and start purchasing some of the materials! Make sure to come back and check it out!
