As part of the smoke-removal process, we’re wiping all surfaces (including walls, doors, closets, ceilings, shelves, weird nooks & crannies) with a TSP solution to break up the smoke accumulation and prep the walls for painting. This entails mixing a 5 gallon bucket of TSP solution and warm water, brushing it onto all surfaces, then taking a sponge mop with clean water to mop up after the brush. It seems to be working pretty well – the sponge water is filthy (gag) and the dingy visibe smoke is subsiding.

There are fun, exciting parts of home renovation (like removing the carpet and picking out finishes) that are very satisfying and you have a tangible transformation to show for your time & effort. TSPing the walls isn’t one of those. It’s taken about 2.5 days with 2 to 3 people working on surfaces. And it’s not ergonomically friendly, and I’m old. Before I turn into Complainypants, I will say that we are 95% done with this part and super excited to move on.

Our dumpster got delivered on Tuesday (yay!) and now we can get serious about demolion!