With either method, plans prepared by the architect are of prime importance.  One set of his blue prints is thoroughly annotated with numbers and colored marks.  This becomes the working key, the solution to the rebuilding puzzle.  Also, the plans serve as the basis for rearrangement of rooms, shifting of partitions, and the introduction of plumbing, heating, and electricity.  Invariably an old house has one or more tucked-up rooms that under present-day conditions can wisely be eliminated and the space added to adjoining ones.

A favorite arrangement with old New England farmhouses was the parlor bedroom, located, as the name indicates, on the ground floor and connected by a doorway with that room of ceremony and funerals.  Although it was often little larger than a double bed, it was the master bedroom of the period.  Our ideas have changed and such a room can wisely be eliminated.  Again, there is the problem of space for baths and closets.  The former were, of course, unknown and the latter woefully few when the house was young.  Thus, with the bedroom floor, architect and owner have before them a problem demanding skillful contriving to devise locations for these two essentials.

When dismembering starts, the man doing it and the building contractor, unless by a happy circumstance he is one and the same person, must work together closely.  The first thing is to remove doors, window sash, and as much of the interior trim as possible, along with all the hardware.  Numbered and marked, these are stored in some dry shed or barn.  If feasible, they can best be left at the old site until the reconstruction has progressed far enough so that they may be put in place when delivered.  All fireplaces are now examined carefully to determine the exact angles of sides and backs.  The individual stones must also be numbered and keyed.  Paint is applied, that will not rub off as the stones are removed.

Now everything is ready for the dramatic tearing apart.  With flaking, the roof and walls are marked off in great squares related to the timber framework beneath.  Then it is only a matter of sharp saws, muscle, and patience before the house has been reduced to panels, loaded on trucks, and started toward the new location.

The task is not as simple with dismembering but it, too, starts at the ridge pole and gradually works to the foundation.  While one crew is clearing away the roofing, another is taking off the exterior siding.  If this happens to be the original wide clapboards, great care is exercised so they may be used again.  This may or may not be true of the boarding underneath.  Even old builders were wont to use second-hand lumber where it wouldn’t show.  On the other hand, where the exterior is shingled the side walls underneath are often of wide soft wood plank which take the place of both weather boarding and supporting studs.  They are, of course, numbered and removed to be used again.  Shingles, whether roof or side wall, cannot be saved as they are invariably too weatherbeaten.  Lath and plaster are likewise destroyed in the dismembering but they are small loss as they are usually in bad order.