Demolition of the Creepy Basement Room

Last weekend, the electrician offered me use of his reciprocating saw to get rid of the creepy basement room. Creepy because it was unlit, full of sizeable spiders, and very closed-in. I hadn't even thought of just removing it, rather, I've been putting off cleaning it aside from shooting a can of Raid in there after we moved in.

("creepy room" all the way in the back, walled in with gray beadboard):

The demo was fairly easy. I tried to accomplish it in the quietest manner possible, due to the baby being upstairs. I pried off the beadboard walls with a hammer. Under that, the walls were insulated on the inside with cardboard. It looks like this is a box the insulation originally came in:

Then there was a plain box with a Montgomery Ward shipping label still attached. I wonder if the house isn't a Ward's house. There was this unpleasant surprise on one of the room's sagging shelves. Who knows how long it had been there. This chandelier was in the room. A few parts of it are broken, and all it says is 'made in Spain.' I wonder which room it had been in, if any at all.

Almost done:

All that was left to do was get rid of the wall studs. I picked up the saw to make it easier, instead of hammering them out. The wood floor-plate was held in place by metal rods which easily came out.

I left the existing shelves up, for now. They'll be easy to take down later.

This is where I started to get tired of the project. I tend to start things and not finish them. I had no interest in cleaning up all the debris. I didn't realize there'd be so much of it. But, I took the nails out of the wood, so I could throw the wood in the burn pile. (Living in a rural area does have its benefits, like being able to burn whenever you want).

Finished! (Almost). Cleared up about 25-30 square feet, turning creepy into not too bad. It will also make rewiring the living room much easier.