Phase 0: Demolition

Every build log has to start somewhere. Ours starts with a wrecking crew.

This project exists because of my dad. What he left me is becoming something I think he would have loved to walk through: our first brand-new home, built from the ground up, on our terms. I want to document as much of it as I can. Not just the house going up, but the network going in. The framing and the fiber. This site is that record.

But before anything could go up, the old house had to come down.

Demolition Day

Watching a house come down is faster than you expect. Decades of somebody’s life, gone in an afternoon. The crew rolled in, the equipment did its work, and by the end of the day there was nothing left but a clear lot and a lot of possibility.

Starting From Zero

For most people a demolition is an ending. For this project it is the best possible beginning, because a bare lot means nothing is constrained by what came before. No fishing cable through finished walls. No compromising on access point placement because of where the coax happened to be in 1987. No settling. Every network run in this house will be planned before the drywall goes up: structured cabling home-running to a real rack, conduit where it counts, PoE for cameras and access points, and drops in places we chose on purpose. That plan is the heart of this log, and it starts here, on an empty lot.

What Comes Next

Next up: site prep and foundation. And while the concrete cures, I will be drawing up the network plan so the low-voltage rough-in is ready the moment there are studs to staple to. Phase 1 soon.

Thanks, Dad. This one is for you.