Monday, Oct. 15

Day One -- Deconstruction! Our first day was spent tearing out the walls and ceilings of a "double-shotgun" house in downtown New Orleans. The house suffered wind damage to the roof during the hurricane, which resulted in interior water damage. The homeowner, a single woman who is finishing her college degree, is going to totally redo the inside of the house, which she shares with her younger brother, who lives next door in the other side of the duplex. The house is over 100 years old and is beautiful in the architectural details, including fireplaces in each of the five rooms, 12-foot ceilings, and lots of crown molding and details original to the structure. We all could see what a nice home it would be once she gets it repaired. For today, it was crowbars, dust, hammers, dust, wheelbarrows, dust, and did we say, "dust?" We made a lot of progress, but will have to return tomorrow to hopefully finish out the ceilings in two rooms, and the walls in the kitchen and another room. The bathroom will be the last room we tear up, and the homeowner actually wants to expand it from the existing 3' x 5' size to something a bit larger, so walls will be torn out for that.

We're tired, but having a great time. Celine is making a speghetti sauce that smells wonderful to have for dinner with our co-workers tomorrow night.

We are having some technical difficulties with Blogger, so we'll try to publish photos tues. night.