I should just leave some things alone. It’s just that… well… I can’t.

After finishing the electric all along the outside walls, I decided that would be a good time to change my mind about the insulating approach for the house - we really need to focus on really sealing up the house and adding some stronger insulating factors. Soooo, out comes the new electrical and in will go a 2×4 studded wall to allow for a cozy R-14 insulation.

In the process of prepping the space for the new walls, I found myself paying more attention to the ceiling in the front half of the house. It was once part of three different spaces: the kitchen, the hallway and the front bedroom and over 100 years has added 2 layers of drywall, some ratty cardboard fiber tiles, plaster and lathe. The upper sill for the new wall was being completely swallowed by this 3.5″ inches of ,may I say, “history”? Granted, those layers have created their own version of insulation but they also hold an incredible amount of unknown material and potentially toxic debris. I told myself to ignore it and just let it go - knowing that it would be a massive job to remove the entire ceiling. But yet, a night of sleepless anxiety convinced me otherwise and I just couldn’t help myself.

Rachel’s parents kindly came out to help a bit more on the house and I sprung the idea on removing the ceiling as soon as they asked “what can we do?”. Well, 4 hours of extraordinary dust, a emergency call to “Dumpster Mike” (seriously, that’s his name) for a dumpster, some marveling at the energy level of my in-his-fifties father-in-law, and (as noted in the picture) a bit of sweaty mess - you can see the rather satisfying results in the photos. You may also be able to see in the photos the new wall and header span that separates Rachel’s studio and the laundry room.

Whew, I feel much better. Now, I can sleep.