Stage one: tub successfully taped off, a chore that I proved entirely incompetent at doing. All nice and pretty.
Stage Two: I knew there were some wires back here, and exposed the junction box when I demolished the wall on the left. “Huh,” I said. “The fuck’s that doing there?” I had thought it was two different wires going to two different places, but no– a live wire runs down to the junction box, then swings back up dead and loops around through the drywall (and through what used to be the bulkhead) only to dangle uselessly behind the wall. There apparently used to be a power switch on the wall behind the bathtub (which is our entryway) but they removed it when they wallpapered. Still not sure where the other (live) wire heads off to.
Finding what you think is a live wire behind a wall while you’re hammering away is fun, by the way. Nice moment or two of soul-shattering OH SHIT I’M GONNA DIE terror. It’s like cardio!
Not much left but details at this point– cleaning up around nails and pulling the back and right parts of the old bulkhead, which are above the top of this picture, but I need to be on a stepladder to do that and I need to clean out the tub before I get on the stepladder. Taking a break for lunch and to clear drywall dust out of my lungs before I clean everything up.
(Random note: my iPad fits perfectly inside a gallon-size ziplock bag, which lets me listen to music without getting shit all over my iPad. Whee!)
So… yeah. I suppose we actually have to rebuild this now.