A long while ago, when we got new plumbing for the house, we had a lot of exposed pipes in the basement. There was a small cleanout that we had marked (with the blue tube, in the photo above). But over time, we lost track of it. And eventually, it got forgotten and covered over, when we refilled the pit.
The list grew from when I first took that photo (above). But I think we have a solid set of goals, and an aggressive timeline. We grouped our list, tackled the tough task of figuring out the best order… and a lot seems to hinge on the basement getting completed (with epoxy). The basement is kind of the gate to everything that follows.
When I asked her if she knew which tree was being serviced, she pointed to the Mulberry tree! And as soon as I was able, I sent an email with the news to our neighbors Bernie and Carol Jean.
Today, Liz and I went into the office to try to keep the cold at bay. Our original plan was to put insulation in the walls, but given how cold the room was… we decided to tackle specific areas where we felt leaks/drafts coming in (despite our best efforts).
We both have some vacation time coming up, towards the end of the month. And thanks to Liz’s planning, we have a good amount of work scheduled on the house. Here’s to a solid November, and to the start of what we hope will be a solid December.
Spent a lot of the day just cleaning up the office area. I worked a ton, but it feels like there’s little to show for it. First, I hauled about 14 bags of demo/debris down to the porch. Then, I shop vacced the walls for a few hours, trying to clear away any remaining plaster, lath, and dirty insulation. Looking over some of the older photos from earlier this week, I’m wondering “Did I even do anything today?”
I picked up where she left off, and mostly dealt with the demo that arched upwards at an angle. Given the position of it all, there was no good way to really do the demo without being directly underneath everything. And so I took a bath in debris and dirty insulation. No avoiding it. Just tons of crap coming down on my head. Totally gross.
After work today, Liz and I suited up to spend some time in the office – doing more demo. We had a lot of lath to remove, and a lot of ancillary plaster to get rid of. Surprisingly, we filled a lot of additional trash bags.
The Bagster process took about a solid two hours, getting everything moved from the porch (and upstairs) out to the driveway. After that, I switched gears and began working on clearing the joists in the office (along the north wall).
In the course of our demo, we discovered: another window! This room really has all sorts of hidden surprises.
The fireplace in the office had a really loose mantel. After moving it to one side, we discovered a treasure trove of lost/forgotten things that had slipped away from view. Some items were from 20 years ago, some were more than 50 years old.
It’s hard now to say that, given how tired I feel as I write this. But Liz always reminds me that we feel much more invigorated after a full, productive day of house work. As tiring as it is, the work does instill a great sense of accomplishment, after a good work day.
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.
With a lot of demo work done over the last few weeks, today Liz and I worked on adding insulation to the guest room wall. Though it’s a little counter-intuitive to open up the walls with the cold outside, we’re sealing up cracks with Great Stuff and adding a layer of much-needed insulation.
Well, it’s not an official extreme ironing photo, but it’s as close as we’ll get.