Bob was over at the house all day yesterday, and when we got home… we was working in the basement. But we found, upstairs, that he had taken out all the old gas lines that were in the floor, running between the master bedroom and the adjoining room.
Ultimately, I went downstairs and stole the string lights from the basement. Then, I slowly installed the old set while slowly removing the one I had just put in. Two times the fun.
Mostly a cleanup day today. I spent a lot of time taking out nails from the wall studs I removed. A kind of slow process that was slower and more labor intensive than I expected.
The process involved a lot of repetition. First, I’d remove a section of floorboards. Then I’d go and remove all of the nails. Then I’d take all the wood over to the office, and sweep up any of the debris/nails. Then I’d use the shop vac to clear out the dust/debris in each space I had just opened up
The first few rows cleared out. One challenge: with the floor gone, there were some big nails left in the joists – every six inches or so. Once I ripped up a length, I’d have to go back with a hammer and pry out all of the nails. In a few instances, the heads snapped off (being super old and brittle as they are), and required a pair of channel locks to finish the job.
With me on a kind of staycation between jobs, it’s a good chance for me to really put in some hours on the house and get some work done. Stealing an hour or two after we get home from work is nice, but this week and next… I’m able to put in a solid run of hours.
Though I didn’t get around to actual demo, I did spend a good few hours just clearing and cleaning and prepping. It doesn’t quite ever feel the same as actual demo work, but it was still work. And all I really have to show for it is a room that’s cleaner, and with some better luck… will become dirty soon.
Today, Liz and I spent most of the day working on the house. We did a lot of prep work, winterizing some problematic windows… and did a good bit of demo to boot.
Spent a large part of the day today, filling up another Bagster full of debris. Not sure why I decided to keep track of how many of these guys we’ve used, but… I guess this is officially #6.
Bob was over tonight, talking with us about plans for the upstairs bedrooms. He went up into the attic to investigate the roofline. It’s been a long while since anyone’s been up there.
As a frame of reference, we did a lot of demo over the weekend – getting most of the plaster and debris out. But we had a lot of lathe still to clear.
Some days, it’s nice to know that your one and only job is to break stuff.
In preparation for some work we’ll be doing in the basement, Liz started to work on opening up the transoms on the second floor. While they’re not over every door, we have them over three doors.
The condensate line goes down through the house, and then runs alongside the North wall of the house in the basement. And best as I can tell… somewhere along that stretch, it got exposed to a draft got cold enough to freeze up. It’s the only explanation I have.
With a new (temporary) furnace going on the second floor, it was time to take down the tarp I had put up a long while ago to keep Liz’s sewing room a little warmer.