Well, I was on a high this afternoon (it might have been the second cup of coffee) and I attacked my wall. I poked holes in it to see what was there and was confused. Why would one hole be hollow, and the other have lathe and plaster walls???(hollow right in the middle - lathe and plaster on the right)
Immediately I thought, well that side (the lathe and plaster) will be much harder to take out, can I live with a sort of half wall sticking into the space? Then I got side tracked by something - oh right the construction guy who actually encouraged me to knock a bigger hole into the wall and helped figure out why one side was lathe and plaster and the other wasn't. Pocket Doors!So, armed with a new shopping list (because easy2DIY.com provides that as well) - I went to Home Depot to keep the economy going. I am now the proud owner of a shop vac, reciprocating saw (SUCH a cool saw), crow bar, electrical cover thingies, CLR, and 3mil contractor garbage bags. Yeehaw! Let the demolition begin!
And so it did, despite the cryptic warning from my astrological forecast: Don`t take matters into your own hands if you want to stick around. (da-da-dun!)
I knocked holes in the wall with my 4lb. sledge hammer being conscious of my forecast and thinking, well, how bad could it be? Realizing quickly that I was glad I bought the mask and safety goggles as plaster when flying everywhere. I did one side first where I had more room for the debris, went around to the other side and started smashing in the wall and promptly smashed my finger between drywall and the sledge hammer. Don't' ask me how I did that, because I'm really not sure. Since it was my left index finger (I'm right handed), I let it bleed and I kept smashing away, figuring that at worst, my finger would become gangrenous and they would have to chop it off "to keep me around". Oh and it was worth it . . .
It became obvious pretty quickly that these walls were hiding the remnants of pocket doors. It's a real shame they are no longer there. The lathe and plaster is original to the house, and the pocket door entry way was covered a long time ago ('cause it's funny lookin' drywall, let me tell you). The lathe and plaster is visible in the middle of this shot (below), what I was trying to get was the molding on the right hand side, which showed us that something else was supposed to be there. 
Here we are half way through demo-ing
And the last bit.I so desperately wanted to take down the studs and only have to clean tomorrow afternoon.
Ah, if only…I started pulling out the base boards, then I used the reciprocating saw to cut through the studs so I could just wiggle them out. (I have no idea what I'm doing - I just have a goal!) I got through the first two sets and started on the third. Got the one side out - no problem, didn't even need the saw. Took a look at the second stud and realized that between the heating duct and the stud there was some funny stuff… some fibrous, powdery fabric…between the heating duct and wooden stud…
Oh, all together now, it's probably asbestos! (da-da-dun!).
I freaked out because I do "want to stick around." I think all of these images in this entry are hazy from the plaster dust - let's hope it's ALL plaster dust!
I immediately got on Angie's List and found two companies and called them both. Hopefully someone will call me back tomorrow so I can schedule an appointment. I wrapped the whole thing up with saran wrap, but not before Inspector Jacques had a good sniff at the area in question.
Disclaimer: I took this pictures BEFORE I knew about the issue! Now I'm terrified that he's going to be sick! He's lying on the bathroom rug - being very passive. I hope he's just being weird because it's about 2hours past bedtime…(sigh)…cross your fingers for us.
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