We finally made it — after a few notable setbacks, the duplex is officially gutted. Today we’re sharing photo and video highlights from the demo and outlining our plans for rebuilding each side.
Having renovated the pink house, we learned that extensive moisture damage calls for a full gut to expose any hidden mold, rot, or structural problems. The duplex showed obvious issues before demolition — black mold, sagging ceilings from water damage — so a complete gut was the safest move. Demo revealed bad framing, outdated wiring, compromised plumbing, and even a few squirrel nests inside the walls and HVAC. Yes, actual squirrels. It was as surprising as it sounds.
The image above shows the living room on the left side before demolition (you can find more before photos in our original duplex tour). Below is the same room after demo. The hardwood floors are dusty now, but we expect they’ll clean up nicely, much like the floors at the pink house. I’m looking forward to dancing on them when they’re finished.
On the right side, the living room appeared to have fewer water issues before the demo.
Here’s that same view after demo. We removed walls and exposed significant rot along the right-hand wall, plus framing that will need reinforcement for safety. No squirrels on this side, thankfully.
One more before-and-after: the right-side kitchen used to sit inside an enclosed side porch. This area was where water began gushing out of the walls when we turned on the water meter, so the discolored and rotten floor spots were already there when we bought the place.
After demo, the original makeshift structural work is clear — parts of the back wall were essentially built from scraps, and we found several areas that aren’t up to code. It’s a wonder the house was standing at all.
We have more photos, but the most comprehensive tour is in the video embedded below, where Sherry walks through the space and talks through the floor plan changes we’re considering and the odd discoveries from demo. We’ll follow up with detailed floor plans once we finalize a few decisions.
If you don’t have time for the video, here are the main highlights and planned changes:
We’ll open the entryway on each side so the stairs feel connected to the living room instead of closed-off vestibules. We plan to remove several studs from the stair-side wall to create a wider opening and add a railing so the stairs read as part of the main living space.
The view from inside the living room helps visualize the change: the yellow line indicates the new opening we’re aiming for and a white line shows where a railing could go. The goal is more openness and better sightlines between living areas.
We’ll also add a powder room on each side by converting the closet under the stairs into a proper half bath with a sink, toilet, and a door. Both units previously had just one full bathroom upstairs, plus a strange exposed toilet by the back door on the right side, so this will make everyday living much more convenient.
We’ll widen the doorway between the living room and the future kitchen to create a more open, light-filled kitchen and allow the dining table to sit at the far end of the living room. The wider opening will reduce that closed-off galley feeling the house currently has.
In the right-side kitchen we’ll place the sink under the back window (we’ll swap it for a slightly shorter window so cabinets fit underneath) and run cabinets along the right wall for the stove and fridge. We found a brick chimney behind the walls and plan to leave it exposed as a design feature.
The left side originally had a narrow galley kitchen tucked into an enclosed porch. After demo we plan to convert that space into a multifunctional area with laundry, pantry cabinetry, and a small mudroom near the back door where the outdoor shower will be located.
Framing in the porch areas is chaotic — studs are sometimes oriented incorrectly — so some sections may need full reconstruction. That’s familiar territory after the pink house renovation, so we’re prepared to rebuild where necessary.
Downstairs, you can still see through from one side of the duplex to the other in places — a view we won’t have once we rebuild — so we’re enjoying that odd openness while it lasts.
Upstairs, the bathroom footprint is oversized. We plan to reclaim some of that unused space to create a small third sleeping nook on each side — a bonus sleeping area similar in spirit to the pink house’s bunk room. It won’t be identical and we may not install bunks, but it will provide useful extra sleeping capacity for a vacation rental.
One structural constraint upstairs is how shallow the roof is: the roof supports sit only a few inches above the ceiling, leaving virtually no attic space. We plan to increase the roof pitch where permitted so we can hide the upstairs HVAC there and improve water shedding to avoid leaks. The Historic Review Board has approved raising the pitch, which is a big win.
The front bedroom layout will remain mostly the same. The back bedroom will gain a small addition and a new en suite bathroom by converting a window into a door and adding a modest bump-out that matches the footprint downstairs. That change brings each side from one bathroom to two and a half, improving functionality significantly.
We’ll also keep exposed brick on both sides where it makes sense. During demo we discovered the chimney twists between floors — it’s parallel to the walls downstairs but angled higher up. It’s an odd quirk that will be a character point in the finished design.
Seeing the two mirrored floorplans opened to one another felt surreal — a moment of symmetry and surprise. The video walk-through has a lot more orientation and commentary about the floor plans, so if you want a deeper look, that’s the best place to start. Expect a follow-up post with finalized floor plans soon.
It’s been a wild ride so far, and we’re excited to move into the rebuilding stage. The video tour included above covers more details and offers a clearer sense of the space than photos alone. Stay tuned for the floor plans and progress updates as we turn this gutted duplex into two comfortable, functional homes.