You Never Know What's Inside Your Walls

One of the biggest unknowns in remodeling is exactly that: the unknown. A wall can look perfectly ordinary from the outside. Until it comes down, nobody necessarily knows what has been happening behind it for the last 10, 20, 30 — or more — years.

On this particular project, demolition revealed something nobody was expecting. Rodents. A lot of them.

As walls and ceilings were opened, our crew discovered extensive evidence of rodent activity hidden inside the structure. Droppings and nesting material had accumulated in concealed areas, and many dead rodents were found inside the walls and cavities as demolition continued. It wasn't exactly the surprise anyone hopes to find during a remodel.

Demolition Tells the Story

This is one of the reasons remodeling an existing building is so different from building something new. Before demolition, a contractor can inspect accessible areas, take measurements and evaluate visible conditions. But we can't see through drywall. Once finishes start coming off, the building begins to tell us its history.

Sometimes we find surprisingly good craftsmanship from decades ago. Other times... we find an entire rodent graveyard.

And rodents aren't the only surprise that can be hiding back there. Existing buildings can conceal water damage, deteriorated framing, old wiring, abandoned plumbing, previous repairs, missing insulation and plenty of other conditions that weren't visible when the project was originally estimated.

What Happens When We Find Something Unexpected?

The answer isn't to cover it back up and keep going. Unexpected conditions need to be documented and evaluated before reconstruction continues. That's why photos like these are an important part of our project documentation. They show what was actually discovered once the structure was opened and help everyone involved understand why the scope of a renovation sometimes changes.

In this case, there was certainly no question that the demolition had uncovered a condition that needed attention.

The Part of Remodeling You Don't See on HGTV

Before-and-after pictures are fun. The finished project is what everyone wants to see. But there's a whole lot that happens between before and after.

Sometimes it's beautiful new framing. Sometimes it's solving a structural problem. And sometimes it's standing in the middle of a demolished room thinking: "Well... we definitely didn't expect to find THAT in the walls."

That's existing-building construction. After decades of working on homes and commercial buildings throughout the Spokane area, Camco Construction knows that you can't predict every condition hiding behind a finished surface. What you can do is know how to respond when you find it.

Because you really never know what's inside your walls.