PHASE four: DEMOLITION Planning, preparation, safety and discovery

Demolition before a remodel: It’s messy and noisy and once it’s started, there’s no turning back. Tearing out the old can be fun, to a point, and some people might say that gnashing at the wall with a sledgehammer is therapeutic.

But while demolition is typically fast and may feel chaotic, it’s not necessarily mindless and uncomplicated. A lot of careful planning needs to be done before walls and floors come out and are tossed in the dumpster.

In this fourth installment of the monthly 2016 Tour of Remodeled Homes series, our featured builders — PGC Building + Design, Neil Kelly DBR and Sun Forest Construction — will share their professional insight about what goes into pre-planning, site preparation and safety measures before a single nail is pulled.

The first steps in site preparation include locating utility lines (such as gas and water mains), designating areas for material staging and storage, placing dumpsters and portable toilets and reviewing safety protocol for both the work crew and the homeowner. In some cases, as a courtesy, neighbors are notified by the contractor that a remodeling project will be underway.

Homeowners are responsible for moving furniture and emptying out cupboards and cabinets. Most often when a house is undergoing an extensive renovation, the homeowners live somewhere else during the demolition and construction. But, when the homeowners opt to stay put, this is a time when temporary living arrangements are made, such as creating a makeshift kitchen in the garage.

If only a certain area of the home is getting a facelift, say a kitchen remodel, temporary walls of plastic sheeting go up to protect other areas of the house from dust and debris.

The demolition phase of a remodeling project goes by fairly quick, but it’s also a time when unwelcome surprises are uncovered, such as leaky pipes and dry rot, critters living in the walls and insect problems, which may add expense and extended time to the job. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to expect the unexpected during demolition.