Demolition Is Mostly Complete

The house that we bought is now nearly completely gutted.  Last week, the first new structural elements (some metal beams that will join the floors to the walls) were added.  Holes were also dug for the foundation of a structural wall we are adding to support the stairs leading to an apartment above the bar. Opening the holes was a bit of a nervous moment for us because we were required to hire an archeologist to be present for the process. Of course, discovering anything below the floor of the house could have been a major setback to the progress of our construction. Fortunately, there was nothing more then some relatively recent (maybe 100 years) remains of the house predating ours. There is some more digging to be done, but so far it does not appear that we will have archeological discoveries.

Having the crane has already helped move things along nicely.  The old stairs were supported by a stone wall in the interior of the house.  Moving the mess of stones created when that wall was demolished would have been a huge job without the crane.

There is still a lot of work to do, but it's nice to see the space finally opened up.  I can stand there now and dream about what the bar will look and feel like.  It's an exciting process, and it gets easier to imagine as more work is completed.