Interior demolition for kitchens, baths and basements around Gahanna

Selective demolition is a different job from tearing a house down

A full teardown treats the building as one thing to remove. Interior work treats it as two things: the parts that are leaving and the parts that absolutely are not. The roof, the framing, the furnace and the hardwood next door all have to come through untouched. So the pace is slower, the tools are smaller, and more of the work is done by hand with pry bars, reciprocating saws and hammers rather than by a machine.

If the plan is to remove the whole structure instead, that process is covered on the house demolition page. Everything below assumes the house is staying and only its insides are changing.

What comes out of a kitchen gut-out

Kitchens are the most common interior job, and they hide more than people expect: stone countertops that take several people to carry, old wallpaper behind the uppers, a soffit hiding forgotten ductwork. A typical kitchen strip-out includes:

• Disconnecting and removing the range, dishwasher, refrigerator, hood and disposal, with gas and water lines capped before anything moves
• Lifting off countertops and backsplash tile, then unscrewing or prying the upper and lower cabinets from the wall
• Pulling the sink, faucet and supply valves once the water is shut and the drain is plugged against sewer gas
• Taking flooring down to the subfloor, which in older homes can mean three or four layers of vinyl, tile and plywood underlayment
• Opening walls and ceilings where the new layout needs rewiring, a relocated sink or a wider doorway

Bathroom gut-outs and the weight of old tile

A bathroom looks small until the tile starts coming off. Many houses built before the 1960s have tile set in a thick bed of mortar over wire lath, both on the walls and under the floor. That bed can be inches deep and remarkably heavy, and breaking it loose throws more dust than almost anything else in a remodel. Cast iron tubs are often easier to break up under a heavy tarp than to carry down a narrow stair.

Newer bathrooms with cement board go faster, but the sequence is similar: water off, toilet pulled and the flange plugged, vanity and fixtures out, then tile, backer and any rotted subfloor around the toilet or tub. Soft subfloor from an old failed wax ring is better found now than after new tile goes down.

Basements, water damage and what gets found behind the paneling

Finished basements around Gahanna and the east side of Columbus get gutted for two main reasons. Either the owner wants a better layout, or water got in. Basements on the lower ground beside Big Walnut Creek or Alum Creek often sit close to groundwater, and the dense clay soil here holds moisture against foundation walls through wet springs and freeze-thaw winters. When a sump fails, drywall and carpet soak it up.

Basement demolition usually means stripping paneling or drywall, pulling wet insulation, removing carpet and pad, cutting out bottom plates that have started to rot, and taking out drop ceilings to expose the joists and ductwork. With the walls open, cracks and old patches are far easier for a waterproofing contractor to judge.

Plaster and lath versus drywall: why the age of the house matters

Drywall comes down fast: it scores, snaps and bags. Plaster over wood lath is another story. It is dense, it breaks into sharp chunks, it grips hundreds of thin wood strips nailed to every stud, and it produces a fine gray dust that finds every gap in the house. Plenty of older brick and frame houses in Columbus, Bexley and Whitehall still have original plaster walls, and some have a later layer of drywall screwed right over them.

Removing plaster is often priced differently from removing drywall for that reason. It takes longer, it fills more containers, and it needs heavier floor protection because falling chunks can gouge hardwood.

Load-bearing walls are a call for an engineer, not a website

Opening a kitchen to the living room is a popular change, and it is where interior work can go badly wrong. Some interior walls carry the weight of the floor or roof above them. Others are only partitions, and you cannot reliably tell which from tapping on it or from anything online, this page included.

Whether a wall is load-bearing is decided by a structural engineer or through the building department's plan review. If it is, the engineer specifies the beam, posts and footings that replace it, and temporary shoring holds the structure while the wall comes out. Demolition stops at that wall until the answer is in hand.

Making plumbing, wiring and gas safe before walls open

Interior walls are full of live systems. The order of work keeps people from cutting into a pressurized pipe or an energized circuit, and keeps the rest of the house running while one room is torn apart. A sound sequence looks something like this:

1. Identify which breakers feed the room and turn them off, then confirm with a tester that outlets, switches and fixtures are dead
2. Shut water at the fixture stops or the main, drain the lines, and cap or plug supply pipes and drains so nothing leaks or vents sewer gas
3. Have gas appliances disconnected and the gas line capped by someone qualified to do it, and check for odor before work continues
4. Mark wiring, pipes or ducts passing through to serve other rooms so they stay intact
5. Leave everything safe and labeled for the electrician and plumber who will rough in the new layout

Lead paint and asbestos hidden in older finishes

Houses built before the late 1970s often have lead in some layer of their paint, especially on trim, windows and doors. Sanding or breaking those surfaces turns lead into dust that is dangerous for children and pregnant adults. Federal rules govern how renovation work that disturbs lead paint in older homes is carried out, including containment and cleanup practices, and testing before work starts is the sensible first step.

Asbestos turns up in older interiors too: in some vinyl floor tiles and the black adhesive beneath them, popcorn and textured ceilings, joint compound, pipe and duct wrap, and the insulation around old boilers. State and federal environmental rules address how materials containing asbestos are identified and handled, and when a sample comes back positive, an abatement specialist removes that material before regular demolition touches it. The demolition contractor will usually ask for testing on any suspect material before quoting the job as ordinary debris.

Protecting the parts of the house that stay

Most damage on interior jobs happens outside the work room: a scratched hallway floor, a dented door frame. Ask how protection is handled in any quote. Typical measures include:

• Plastic sheeting and zipper doors sealing off the work area
• Heavy floor protection, such as hardboard or rolled floor guard, along the path from the room to the exit
• Covers or tape over return air vents so the furnace does not spread dust through every room
• Negative air machines with filters that pull air out of the work room and exhaust it outside
• Daily cleanup with a HEPA vacuum rather than sweeping, which only lifts fine dust back into the air

Getting debris out of an occupied house

Everything that comes off the walls has to leave by a door or a window. A two-story with a narrow stair or a basement with one exit takes real planning. Some crews pass bagged debris through a window into a chute or a roll-off container in the driveway, keeping loads off the stairs.

The container needs a spot that will not crack the driveway or break a homeowner association rule, and a street spot may need a permit. Metal from ductwork, pipes and appliances is usually set aside for scrap. Mixed drywall, plaster and tile normally go to a landfill or transfer station.

If the project grows to include tearing out a patio or old slab outside, that is covered on the concrete removal page.

Why one gut-out costs more than another

No two interior jobs price the same, and the contractor sets the number after seeing the house. These are the factors that move it most:

• Square footage and the number of rooms or walls being opened
• Wall type: plaster and lath takes far longer and fills more containers than drywall
• Layers of flooring and tile, and whether mortar beds sit under them
• Testing results for lead and asbestos, and any abatement needed before work starts
• Access: stairs, distance to the container and whether the house is occupied
• Level of protection and dust control the owner wants for the rest of the home
• Disposal volume, recycling of metal, and any salvage set aside for reuse
• Structural work, shoring or engineering if a bearing wall is part of the plan

What a solid interior demolition proposal should spell out

A written proposal for selective demolition should name each room, each wall and each surface coming out, and just as clearly name what stays. It should say who disconnects the plumbing, wiring and gas, how the work area will be sealed, what route debris takes out of the house, where the container sits and for how long, and how the space will be left at the end: broom-clean, studs exposed, floor down to subfloor or slab. It should also cover what happens if rot, mold or suspect material appears once walls are open.

Contractors serve most of the east side, including Reynoldsburg, and the rest of the communities listed on the areas page. Send the address, a few photos of the rooms and a short note on what you want removed through the contact page, and we'll connect you with someone who will walk it and write it up.

Interior demolition for kitchens — common questions

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