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Remodel Project Update
3
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| Demolition, Part 2 |
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| September 5, 2002
This week we had to say "goodbye" to our old house that we had been
renting back from the new owners (click to view).
It was a sad farewell, but the job ahead of us kept us focused. We
moved into a trailer near the new house and geared up for a major
construction project. |
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About this time, God sent an encouraging angel to help us. Felix
had helped the former tenants move out, and wanted to learn more about
construction. He offered to help us for free if I would show him how
a house is put together.
Felix has a huge heart that is only matched by his tremendous
strength. He wanted the hard, dirty jobs, and said he wasn't afraid
of work. He wasn't kidding either, as his first feat was to tear
down the concrete brick wainscot that surrounded the house, a humongous
job.
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| The reason for the wainscot became obvious. Years of
rain dripping from the roof and splashing up on the plaster of the house
had rotted out the sills and floor joists. Undoubtedly during the
40's a previous owner noticed that the plaster kept deteriorating, and
added the brick to protect it. All it did was trap the moisture in
the wall, giving the termites a nice damp place to feast. None of
this was on the termite report, as it covers only things that can be seen. |
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| The results of this was tons of concrete bricks that has to
be loaded into a dumpster. Again, Felix (assisted by my nephew)
spent a sweltering day loading the dumpster. It barely fit, and I
gladly paid the overweight charge from the dumpster hauling company. |
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| In order to abandon the house plumbing, we had to install
the new water main to the house and yard. I broke down and rented a
Ditch Witch for this. I'm glad I did, as I hit hundreds of roots
that would have made digging miserable. |
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| As the walls come down, the 1920's plumbing gets
exposed. Cast-iron drains caulked with lead joints, galvanized
threaded steel pipe for the vents, clay pipe for the water-heater flue,
galvanized pipe for the water lines and black iron pipe for the gas
lines. Plumbing was a realm for the highly-skilled and strong (everything's
heavy) back then. I had to use a hoist to lower the sections of the
4" cast iron stack shown here to the ground as I broke them off. |
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| Once the major plaster is torn off, there's tons of portions
that have to be done with hammer and crowbar. |
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| The old knob and tube wiring had to be stripped from the
ceiling joists, as they were to be re-used to double up the rafters. |
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| The last room to be stripped of plaster. Our neighbor
volunteered to do this one sweltering evening. |
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| The kitchen floor was ceramic tile mortared down on
1/4" masonite nailed to the subfloor, and hours of chipping failed to
loosen it. I finally cut the whole floor into 4' wide by 8' long
sections, which Felix lifted above his head (tile and all) and threw over
the top of the 8' high dumpster. The ends of all the floor joists had rot
and termite damage.
Wm. Bonnet Construction came with their Bobcat and tore up the slab for
the family addition and a bunch of home-made sidewalks, mower strips, etc.
and hauled off two dumptruck loads of concrete.
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| Sept. 15, 2003
Six weeks into the project. About this point the neighborhood is
convinced that we're tearing the place completely down. Can't say I
blame them, but now we get to start building something again! |
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