Memorial Day Weekend

Back so soon?  Why yes!  We bypassed a Memorial weekend trip away to the beach to stay home and work on the house.  What a sacrifice, I know!!  :D  Jk, there were other things holding us back as well, which made the decision to stay easier--a visit from my brother Ian, and a friends wedding.

We (when I say we, I mean "I") are learning we have to be committed to this project.  Dad and our timeline help motivate us to stay on task.

We came to the house, as per usual, on Friday afternoon, working about 5 hours.  We were gearing up for a scorcher of a weekend.  Humidity was high, so we packed lots of water.  It was good we didn't have to do too much unshaded work.  I worked predominantly that day on cleaning up the perimeter of the main space.  The crawl space needed to be vacuumed since we created so much debris and mess taking out the stairwell.  It's a good thing we had a wet/dry vac...we had to empty it out a couple of times.  I also vacuumed out the crevices along the walls where most of the plaster and debris would fall.  Eventually we will be closing up the walls again, and we don't want to leave cobwebs in there if we can help it!  Gabe and Dad worked on removing all the pieces of the stairs remaining.

There were some small pieces of heart pine under all of it, so we kept them, and I took the nails out of those boards.  Once that was done, they removed some of the ledger board that was rotting on either side.

Here Gabe is working on removing few remaining rotten floor joists:

Then Gabe filled in the top of the stone rubble foundation with a flat mortar base for the new ledger board to sit on top of.

Here I am doing the cleaning duty I do best...

With all the debris clean up and how hot it was, we really needed a shower, bad!

The next day, Saturday, we didn't make it out to the house, since Gabe helped a couple friends move and then we went to a wedding later that day.  My bro Ian was home for the weekend and wanted to help out, so he and Dad went out to the house for a couple of hours.  They were able to nail in some joist hangers for the joists that were hung last weekend and remove the rest of the bricks off of the porch.

We came out to Mom & Dad's on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a good meal for Ian's birthday at a nearby vineyard with stunning views.  We were in vacation mode when we came out earlier that day, so Gabe forgot his tool bag that he brings from home every weekend (for security sake), so we were a little bit handicapped the next day when we went out to the house to work.

Day 32, Monday was really hot, and there was only a slight breeze.  They had ripped some 2 X 8 pressure treated boards down with the table saw at Mom & Dad's before we left, to use as the ledger board.  On site, Gabe first sawed down the studs so the ledger board would fit under them.

Then, Gabe and Dad placed it on top of the smooth surfaces Gabe created previously with the concrete.

They spent a little bit longer than expected getting it level and getting it to fit under the studs.  The board had to be trimmed out in certain spots, so it was about an hour going back and forth trying to get it to fit.

While they were doing this, I was securing joist hangers:

Action shot!

Once they got the ledger board in place, Gabe let me use the nail gun.  It was heavy!  Here is a short video detailing the experience:

It was the supported by two more boards, side by side, nailed into place.

The last joist in the main area, that had previously been hidden under the stairs was finally supported like the others with a 2 X 10 and leveled and blocked to the ledger board, as seen below:

Gabe works to secure the two areas together, even though it is under the one wall and really awkward to get to:

Since we didn't have all the tools we needed, we called it a day earlier than usual.

Gabe's last tasks of the day were to attach the remaining joists to the porch section (future kitchen area), two on the south end and one on the north.  Here he is finishing up the one on the north end:

Here is an interior shot looking east, down to the bare bones!!  Doesn't it look good??!? (it kinda looks like a robot face...hehe)

The board below on the diagonal is the one that will hold up the addition when we remove the rotten sections from it next time:

There was a little bit more cleaning up to do.  Mom stopped by with a large box fan since it was so hot, but we were winding down at that point.  She helped us organize the place and I cleaned up the debris down below and we called it a day.

                                                                                         Cleaning up shop!                                     All clean!!!

Final weekends of Demo

These past two weekends have been dedicated to finishing the demo.  This included many things, like removing more rotten flooring, a ceiling fan, and porch to name a few.  I was able to spend all of last weekend with Gabe working on the house, but last Saturday I had a school project jeopardize my time, so I don't have pictures of the house with all the floors removed yet!

The weekend previous on Friday, we finished removing the flooring in the kitchen that we had started earlier.  The new dumpster had arrived (thanks to Mark!) the previous day and was ready for filling.  There was only one spot in front of the doorway to the main living space that wasn't rotted out!  We actually counted 6 layers of linoleum and 2 layers of wood and subfloor that have been there since 1956.   Gabe also opened up the wall in-between the kitchen/DR and living room:

                                                                                        Gabe removing boards                         OPEN!!!          

While we were removing flooring, I made it my business to make sure that I sifted through the layer of newspaper to capture readable and interesting tidbits.  The coin I had found from 1904 last weekend was, on closer/cleaner inspection, from 1962.  Too bad, I was way off!  The oldest coin we have found so far is from 1945.  Gabe also found a classic glass "Royal Crown" (R.C.) soda bottle from 1936 under the kitchen floor!  That was an interesting find.

Gabe also removed the fan from the DR space; here is a silly video of him taking it down:

Gabe taking out subfloor

Here is a floor cross section.  Pretty rotten, eh?

Gabe ended up taking out the floor joists, as they were rotten too.  Narsty.

The next day, Saturday, we commenced by breaking down the porch area outside since we were looking at a forecast of rain/snow for later.  It was probably a cute little spot at one time, but now it is in terrible shape with windows broken and rotten floor boards.  Too bad!

Before pic with me and my mom

And "after" with a view from the north side:

A few pics of the process:

I'm not just the camera person!

This was a cold day--below freezing, so it was nice to have Mom & Dad's RV to reheat and eat lunch in, in from the cold.  :D

In the afternoon, Gabe worked on preparing the kitchen floor (or lack thereof) for cleaning by removing floor joists, removing electrical wire and covering the crawl space hole with plastic.  

He also removed the wall partition from the upstairs that was separating the two small rooms.  It looks so different!

                                                                     Before                       After partition was removed-see
                                                                                                                                                          the line of demarkation

Notice the dividing wall boards stacked in the right corner

While Gabe was doing all of that, I was a busy bee removing like a thousand drywall nails from the ceiling joists.....my arms were sore after that!

As a part of this chore, I also removed some more debris from the same part of the wall under the stairs where we found a love letter from 1918.  I was very careful to sift through it in case I found anymore artifacts.  And I did!!  There were more letters, post marked 1911 and unknown because they were a little bit more chewed through than the first.  I haven't taken the time to really analyze them yet.  I also found a small 8 X 8 clipping from a newspaper from 1909!!!!  Wowzers!  It was very dirty and crumbled up, but I was able to take it home and get it semi flat in-between pages in a large book.

This past weekend I only spent a couple of hours on site as I was busy with my school project with equals limited pictures.  Gabe has yet to seem the least bit interested in documenting, so it has been my employ! 

We brought the truck this weekend since we had to get plywood to lay down on the joists since we were taking up flooring.  Most of our time on Friday afternoon was spent clearing out the kitchen crawl space to make room for some gravel to be laid next weekend.  We got all of the joists removed, holes filled in and the grade raked smooth.

                                                                 Remember??                                 Flooring's out!!

Note the stone foundation on the right!

Then I tackled the stack of 2 X 4's upstairs that needed nails taken out.  After a while this is backbreaking work, I tell ya!  Gabe was worked on fitting some 2 X 8's around the perimeter of the kitchen to support the studs where rotten floorboards/joists were taken out.  He got one of the two sides done.  

Our last project for the evening included taking the flooring out of the bathroom.  The floor was already rotten in some spots so it wasn't that hard.  The photo isn't very good since we didn't have much light.

Our goal for this weekend is to have all flooring removed before next weekend.  We have some eager and gracious friends coming to help us put a vapor barrier and gravel down in the crawl space.   

Gabe was out by himself for most of the day on Saturday until Dad came out and braved the cold to help remove the main room flooring.  This was the oldest part of the existing structure and I was very curious to see what was beneath the flooring.  Oh well.  As Gabe reassured me, "It will be there next weekend".  So, sorry folks, you will have to be patient with me as we wait for pictures of the floor-less room! Our plan is to keep any floor boards that are in decent shape and use them to create a wainscoting in the dining area (and possibly the powder room) with them.

Thus completes Day 10 of Demo!

Day 4: Saturday Adventures

We are on Day 4, and it's Saturday, January 14th.  After a coffee run, and getting a slightly later start, we make it on site.  I forgot to mention yesterday's nice, neighborly visit from a lady across the street regarding whether she could add something to our dumpster.  Pretty much right when we got to the site this morning, another neighbor was there to greet us, along with his mother, regarding disposing of the decrepit appliances hanging out on our porch.  We had a lovely conversation, were clued in on some patchy pieces of history about the place, and were very glad to know that the appliances were going to be sold for scrap metal instead of us having to transport them to the dump.

Our task/goal for today was to get the whole upstairs gutted: lofty, maybe.  Our first task of the day was to figure out how to get all the debris down the stairs without having to take loads down.  There are a couple problems with this: 1) the stairs are rickety and might not be super safe for heavy loads, 2) it's not a straight shot, and 3) the front door is at the bottom swings into the way, so conclusion, entirely impractical.  Gabe had an idea.  There is a sizable hole in the floor upstairs, we think because it was where a stove used to vent, but we aren't sure, because it is very weird.

Exhibit A:

So, my resourceful husband crafted this shoot out of plastic and reclaimed wood that had been used to keep the windows boarded up:

Boy, was it nice to have!  Our system worked pretty well for everything but lathe, because the nails on the little strips of wood chewed up and clogged the plastic.

The room that we worked with upstairs was a very small room.  But it was bright, and TEAL! so anyone who knows me knows I was happy about it.  Gabe started working on taking out the small closet in the back corner of the room.  This room had an extra layer of drywall over all surfaces of plaster, and as we later come to find out: lathe on the ceiling too, which we didn't expect.  I started work on removing drywall/plaster from the north and west walls.

Big pieces of drywall were coming off:

I was proud of myself. :)

I will also note that there was a spot where there was no plaster under the drywall under the window, probably from water damage, where just drywall covered it and had some rot or mildew underneath: yuck!!!

The lathe underneath basically fell off

The plaster upstairs was a whole different animal from the plaster downstairs.  It was exceptionally brittle and dry.  Here is a short video to demonstrate:

It was sooo dusty, our sprayer came in extremely handy.  And, I can't forget my crowbar of choice: the Wonder bar, which I might add, lives up to it's name.

Gabe starts on the ceiling again and I start on removing the plaster from the brick chimney....again.

I don't think I could make it through the day without noticing some of the beautiful colors we uncovered:

Aaannnnd, some of the not so beautiful colors:

With all the dust created from the plaster being dumped down a chute down below and all the big pieces of drywall and wood trim we needed to hand carry down the stairs, we didn't make as much progress as we had wanted to.  I actually started feeling light-headed about halfway through the day, realizing that we had left our food at home.  I made a call home to see if mom would make a lunch run for us.  She did; we ate lunch around 2:30, in the RV that Mom & Dad were letting us borrow.  It was very nice to have when nature calls, as well as when we need to wash our hands before meals.  :D  

The room: beginning to look a whole lot different

Now that all the plaster was removed, we could move on to lathe.  It was at this point that it got very monotonous for me, with all the repetitive movements of prying and muscling the stuff off.  Here is a tip: leverage is better than braun, when removing lathe (this could apply to other areas of life too, hee hee).  It got especially hard to remove in the corners, where it would break off in sharp pieces since the rest was buried somehow.

We didn't have any music playing, and with respirators and noisy work ensuing, we discussed little.  I got absorbed in silly thoughts--how I felt like Darth Vader with my respirator.  I just wanted to be done!  It was getting dark in the room, and without all the brightly colored drywall around us, all we had to work with was the dramatic beams of light illuminated by billows of dust from the setting sun.  At least we were on the second floor.  I got JJ Heller's "Back Home" song stuck in my head.  Maybe I'll post the lyrics later.

I enjoyed seeing the bright light coming up through the cracks in the wall and looking down the chute:

Removing the lathe from the ceiling was Gabe's job, while I finished with the walls and removed little lathe nail silhouettes from studs where I could with whatever light was left.  We were almost done, so lugging the industrial halogen up the stairs didn't seem quite worth it.  It was interesting to get a view of the roof through the ceiling going down.  Gabe plowed through many a squirrels nest....but with no squirrels to be found.

And, by the end of the day, after sweeping and residual clean up, (without the spray bottle, as we ran out of water) this was the kind of dust we were dealing with:

Can you make out the stairway?

Thank God for respirators!!!!!

One more weekend with the dumpster.  It's getting mighty full.  I do hope it's not too much trouble next weekend.  We have one more upstairs room to clear, as well as the stairwell.  We will probably be able to fit this in the dumpster and leave floors and roofing for another dumpster full.  Fun fun!

Ok, I'm signing off.  I must add that these blog posts probably won't be happening as frequently since I am starting a new semester of my Master's in Interior Design today!