Exploratory surgery

After the success of removing the shelving unit on the side of the house, I decided a little more demo was in order.  Not wanting to go too far or take away too much, I just started doing a little exploring.  First was the front porch ceiling.  When I bought the house, there was obvious water damage on the boards.

I had a pretty good idea of what it might look like under there, but wanted to actually look.  I figured it would also make it easier for contractors who came to give me a real idea of how it will need to be fixed.  The tongue and grove boards were already warped and came down pretty easily. 

It's pretty much what I expected.  Lots of water damage, and a small hole through all the roof layers.  A tiny skylight if you will.  Possibly install by PO?  He did seem to have an affinity for inconveniently placed skylights.

After the porch, I went into the bathroom and started to explore.  I started by pulling off a few of the tiles from the shelf that the owner had installed.  I thought it likely that I would find moisture.  Based on the fact that the tile appeared to be applied directly to the drywall (not ok for the shower), there is a moisture spot at the base of the wall in the adjoining room, and the shelf is directly across from where the shower head was, I felt my hypothesis had merit.  Sure enough I was right.

Yay!  What do I win?  Oh, nothing?  Just the chance to have to repair more damage?  Damn.  The wood and drywall (I was right about that too) were still saturated with water.  Keeping in mind that I have owned the house for several months, I don't know how long it has been vacant, and the shower plumbing is currently non-functional, that moisture has been there for a long time.

Because demo is addictive, I kept going, moving up and down the wall from the shelf

and poking around the plumbing side of the tub (the hole on the back side was there when I bought the house).

After plugging the tub drain, the tub itself became a pretty good storage spot for demo tile and drywall.

That was all from the small section of wall.  Now I just have to do all the rest.  And figure out were to stop.  This much is certain:  if I plan on doing this demo myself, I'm going to need a dumpster or will be throwing out pieces of my bathroom for the next year.