I know you are going to think I'm doing something stupidly dangerous....

Asbestos is not as dangerous as people hype it up to be. Normally people get nasty diseases from it from being exposed to it for long periods of time (plus I was wearing an inhaler).

That being said, don't freak out when I say that I started taking up the asbestos tiles from the kitchen floor. Despite the fact they were very old, they were still very solid. I know now why people used them. I could get under some of the tiles easier than others. But that glue they use is a bitch to get up. I quit after pitifully scraping a 5 x 5 foot square.

After some investigating online I found a couple things. They sell products to dissolve the glue. I think this will help greatly in tile removal and getting that black goo that is left on the floor. And, people recommend just covering them in they are in good condition. So, the revised plan is try the glue remover to get them up (its called mastic remover, remember that) and if all else fails just cover it.

Anyway, I wish I'd had a camera when I went over today. Sam had a lot of the insulation up. Its really moving along. Pretty soon we'll have walls and shit :D There is a minor problem though. The wall where we planned on having the bathroom closet has a light switch in the middle of it (and now insulation). So we think we're going to have the put the closet door going into the hall instead of the rooms.

I got most of the board down Sam needed us to remove. I left the two at the tippy top because I need a saw to cut them where the wall ends. So today was much less productive than planned.

Some Long Awaited Work

What a morning. We got up early to go get the insulation for the entire house. Sam is going to start on installing that his week. Oh yeah....

Yay! The electricians are done (for now). They need to finish putting up the switches and crap after the dry wall is back up.

Anyway, I was shocked that Tony rolled out not one, but two of those huge Home Depot flat-bed-of-carts full of insulation. I guess I should have figured it would be that much. But man was it big. I could have built a fort out of it (if only we'd had the camera :( ). I also got some gardening tools and grass seed to start to fix the whacked-out yard. I can't wait to start planting stuff.

We unloaded the insulation at the house and Sam went home. He said we need to knock out some of the boards on the back wall, that part that used to be the outside wall, to make the sheet rock lay right. But it doesn't look that hard and we have time. It was so hot and he didn't want to mess with insulation in the heat (understandable IMO). Tony came back and we finally, finally, finally got that damn bathroom sink out. And I got the rest of the nails out of the kitchen ceiling. Success!

I really want to get the floor tiles done this week but I don't know if I'll have time. It must get done before the sheet rock is put up. I hope it won't be as hot as it was today the rest of the week because I have to wear a full body suit and mask.

Flood

Last weekend I was sick, really, really sick. So the plans to get the rest of the work done (which has been going on for a few weeks now) didn't happen again. *grumble*

Saturday Tony and Sam went to get more wood. Everyone wanted Sam to start on the insulation (Sam included) but he couldn't because the electricity still isn't done. He fixed up the frame around the chimney and told Tony that the roof near he chimney and the window with the funky wood underneath were leaking. There are plans to fix that.

Sunday we went over quickly to get things out of the way for the electric guys to work Monday. Its a good thing we stopped over because sometime during the weekend someone moved the fridge and put a hole in the water line for the ice maker on the fridge. There was a lake in the kitchen leaking down to the basement. We clamped the hose and spent more time cleaning up the mess. Whether there is any lasting damage to the floor I don't know yet. I'm hoping not.

So, with any luck, I'll be able to do something this weekend with the little stuff I need to finish up.

A Good Surprise

I know Sam wanted to start putting up the insulation soon (probably this weekend) so I wanted to get a head start of a few things that must get done before that's started. I wanted to get all of the dry wall out of the gutters around the floor and I wanted to spray down the walls with bleach water, just in case there is any mold growing there. I was pleasantly surprised when I got there. The remainder of the closet in the hall and the doorways for the bedroom and the kitchen had been taken down (by Sam on Monday or Tuesday). Plus the basement door was gone too. Yay! Three things off the list and I didn't even have to lift a finger. My opinion of Sam is improving.

Update on thing other people have been doing: the electricians are steadily working towards power. There are boxes on the walls where outlets will be and boxes in the rafters where lights will be. Hopefully power should be back soon. Sam has put in the basement door, taken out some of the bad wood, replaced it and reinforced the living room ceiling. He also took apart parts of the bathtub/shower and took down the dry wall there. Its all starting to come along.

Tony's mom and I did some work. She cleaned those weird gutter spaces around the walls and I sprayed down the walls with bleach water to kill any sneaky hiding nold that might be in the walls. I hate the smell of bleach. Its like death by clean. Ick. We didn't work long but I felt so satisfied with the work that had been done it didn't matter.

I'm feeling a little better than I am the other day. Guess I was just feeling a little down and stressed. It gets us all sometimes. I need to get done up to number 7 on the list below this weekend. If I have time I also need to get the tiles up. I need to get that done before the walls go up for sure.

Tired

Today I went over to the house with Tony's mom to (you guessed it) pull more nails out of the walls. Friggin' exciting I know. I checked out the bedrooms and living room for any stragglers. Apparently I missed some because later Tony mentioned some left in the living room ceiling that I completely missed.

So I started on the bathroom. Most of the walls are done, except for the wall with the sink vanity (which Tony's mom wouldn't let me move by myself) so i went for the ceiling. And it was a bitch. Because whoever put up the bathroom ceiling used screws instead of nails. So in the time it took me to get the screws out of the ceiling Tony's mom got a large part of the kitchen ceiling and a few walls done.

But I really wasn't in such a great mood today. It was cold and gloomy. All of the stupid little things that need to get done start to overwhelm you. It was different when I had someone else to lean on. We supported each other. But now it feels like all my burden. I know its not fair of me to think this way since I told Tony that I would take care of everything. But I guess its still sad and kind of lonely when a project goes from something we started to something I will be working on.

List of Stuff That Needs to be Done:

1. Make sure all nails are out of kitchen walls
2. Take out door to the basement
3. Take out hall archway
4. Take out remaining pieces of doorways between kitchen/hall and bedroom/hall
5. Take out bathroom vanity and wall behind
6. Take out drywall around tub
7. Clean the gutter space between outside walls and floor (it goes right down to the basement)
8. Patch all holes in the wood floors
9. Remove kitchen and hall tiles and vinyl floor in bedrooms and ex-pantry
10. Sand, stain and varnish hard wood
11. Clean everything with a shop vacuum to get up grit
12. Start cleaning the hell out of that house

All Clear

We met with the carpenter today. I was very nervous going in, thinking crazy thoughts like we wouldn't be able to fix the house up after we've done all this work already. It didn't put me in a more optimistic mood that one of the two guys we scheduled to look at the house cancelled at the last second. It seemed like the bad luck streak was continuing. Good thing we had a backup.

The guy looked at the house and saw no problem with it. The stud beams would support. The only thing he said really was we would need to do is to provide extra support to the ceiling above the living room since it was an open floor plan and there wouldn't be any walls to help keep it up. And we can't store stuff up there, which we weren't planing on doing anyway.

We are still going to put sills on the bottom for good measure. But everything else is good. Mike will be starting back up work either Thursday or Friday. So this weekend I want to get everything ready to be dry walled.

Update on the Studs

I must have been a little confused talking to Tony earlier (I was on the bus using my cell phone). The wall situation can probably be fixed, not easily but we don't need an expert either. All we have to do really is cut boards and line the tops and bottoms of the walls between the studs with them. That will help the weak walls. Tedious, I know, but better than paying thousands of dollars. The ceiling joints, well we still have to talk to a pro about them. Most likely we will have to reinforce those with cross-way boards. We'll know next week.

Bad News Comes in Three's.... or Multiples of Three

This week is just going horrible. I think I need a drink.

More good news. Last night I found out one of Mike's crew was in a motorcycle accident. He walked away (or was taken away to the hospital) pretty lucky to say he was just in a motorcycle accident: no broken bones, no paralysis. Just... what did Tony call it... road burn. Kind of like rug burn, but speeding down a fucking road. So, he'll be okay, but not okay enough to work.

Today Tony got another call from Mike. Let me see if I understood and can explain this right. So, if you open up a wall there are studs in the wall holding the sheet rock on. Usually, by modern construction standards, these studs are a foot and a half apart and 6 inches deep. The ceiling has similar studs, but they aren't connected on the back, just around the edge at the top. This may not be new to some people. Since the house was built in the 1920's these standards weren't made yet. So the studs are actually 2 feet apart and.... some number less than 6 inches deep. So the house isn't as structurally sound as a modern house. Mike pointed this out today since he'll need to drill holes through the studs for the wires. He is most concerned about the studs in the ceiling. Now, the house hasn't fallen down yet. So this could be nothing. Or, worse case scenario, we have to replace all the ceiling studs, or maybe all the studs. I don't know. We won't know until next week when the carpenter comes.

I'm thinking, at this point, we can just kiss the cathedral ceiling goodbye. Its becoming more trouble than its worth. Right now I just want a ceiling and walls and electricity with no more fucking problems.