Now we're getting somewhere! The framers worked for two days after the family room wall was demolished just to saw out the old beams holding up the garage and family room ceilings. I don't think I'll park the road rocket in the garage for a while.
The wall now gone gives the old place that trashed out doll house look, don't you think? However, in amongst the devastation, note the hanging ivy plant above what used to be the bar. Kind of reminds me of home... wait a minute... this IS my home.
On a positive note. Paws pooped on the family room rug while all this was going on. Cleanup was a snap. The carpenter took out his flooring knife and just cut out the spot and hurled it into the dumpster through the open wall... bulls eye!
Now the roof is supported by just a couple of 2 by 4's and the garage doesn't seem to be supported by anything. Note the great gash diagonally across the floor. That's where the old beam was taken out. Looked like a perfectly good beam to me. Guess it's called progress when an old beam is declared too weak to hold up the house and new engineering calculations have forced us to upgrade. For the record, the new beam is 0.5" wider and 2" deeper. And for this we pay two grand?