Uncle Hurricanes

My Uncles Curt (aka Louie) and Larry blew into town today.  They arrived even earlier in the evening than expected.  Now you'd think they would be tired after their long drive.  But no, they were all excited to get on with the bathroom remodel (especially the demolition).  We had barely shook their hands (me) and gave them hugs (Tammy) before they were in the bathroom with the tape measure to survey what needed to be done.

Before you know it they wanted to smash the bathtub.  The tub was cast iron and pounding on it with a sledge hammer would break it into pieces.  Tammy has been itching to take a sledge hammer to the bathroom.  I think she has watched too many home remodel shows where the remodel begins with a sledgehammer.  I am not that type of guy so we haven't used a sledgehammer so far..  But with my uncles the next I knew Tammy then Curt were bashing the bathtub.

It is not as easy as it looks on TV.  After a few blows and dings to the ceramic coating Tammy quit.  Curt took over and was able to break a few pieces.  It was left to me to destroy the tub.  Curt and Larry cheered me on.

The downside of this method of destruction was all the shards of ceramic and small cast iron pieces that needed to be cleaned up.  The stuff flew everywhere including out into the hallway's red shag carpet.  Those shards were a pain to vacuum up.

It turns out this was about the only way to remove the tub.  The drain pipe from the tub was a male that went into a female T section.  The stud at the head of the tub prevented a person from sliding the tub down so that the male end would come out of the female joint.  It was only after I broke the tub into the pieces seen below that I was able to wiggle the male out of the female.

Here is a 34 second video of Curt smashing my bathtub.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33HfDwiJyBM&feature=youtu.be