Armed and Dangerous! Pre- Demo Day 1

Yesterday, I decided to take my brother in law's advice and begin removing some of the things in the bathroom. Armed with a hammer, crowbar and screwdriver, I pulled down all of the thick wood trim (and believe me there was A LOT!). It was actually interesting to see what lay behind it. I found the flowered wall paper that I had torn down when we moved in. Hannah thought it was pretty and didn't remember helping me rip some of it down when she was five. I hadn't realized that so much time had passed since we did that.
I also discovered "good" and "bad" news. Once the trim was gone, I could lift back the plastic wall liner and find that there was not tile under it after all. What I thought was deteriorated tile was actually crumbling green board. That meant our job in wall removal will not include removing tile on the walls. The bad news, however, was when I removed the trim near the tub, I found damp wood. Deciding I needed to see how far the rotting wood went, I began popping up tiles and found that with each easily removed tile there was rotting plywood beneath. Adding even greater to my "joy" was the discovery that they had place plywood and ceramic tile over laminate tile (which in turn lay on plywood). I ended up tearing up 4 layers of debris until I reached the floor boards. I think the floor boards can be saved (though they were also damp), but all of the rest has to ripped out. I only removed a 16 by 16 inch area of tile and it appears that the damage is contained in that area. The only other problem is that I know that there is more damage under the tub which we will not be able to get to until next weekend.

All in all, it was a successful day in that I now know a small amount of what we are facing come Demo Day-Friday. I am growing increasingly excited and nervous for next weekend!