Stripped

Mold remediation happened.

I present to you our stripped house with minimal snarkiness.  Because we're despondent.

Might need to replace those studs.

Hard to see, but there was mold underneath the butchered header.

There was no insulation.  On the bright side, you can see the ... bright side from our new vents!

Duct tape isn't always the right tape for the job!

That's a hole in our closet.  There is nothing there on the outside.

Our garage roof line in pencil!

The outside sheathing is a curious mix of foiled polyiso and plywood.  There seems to be no rhyme or reasoning behind the choices and areas they were applied.

Now for the other part of stripped... our wires :/  If only I had space for a thousand sad faces, I would put them all here to convey the extent of our spiraling despair.

Boom, right in the kisser!

Ain't nobody got time for sheathing.

Make yourself at home, little mouse!

Just a little bit of charring, not a lot!  And fusing, not a lot!

I've decided that the house is cursed JUST ENOUGH that we have to rebuild everything ourselves and pay for everything ourselves, but not cursed ENOUGH that it's burnt down or fallen down and the insurance would pay for a brand new house.

Oh house on Dequindre with the asbestos siding and outhouse in the backyard, you're looking mighty fine in my daydreams.

We ran Cat 6 and coax through the first floor.

We also caulked the windows with Great Stuff.  Funny thing about Great Stuff, it takes more than the salesperson at Home Depot thinks.  A lot more.  It also messes up the gun when left in there without a pressurized acetone cleaner.  

But at least I got a cool gun shot!

And this.  Nothing is more satisfying than OVERDOING IT TO THE MAX.  At least we're adding to the house instead of stripping.  Kinda.

To sum up Milly, I quote a friend: "I wouldn't know all the wrongs that hide underneath stuffs!"
We're going to need an electrician.

Task: Run Wires and Caulk Windows
Saturday: 9.3 hours of despair.  Utter despair!  Won't someone think of the children?
Total: 9.3 hours
Total to Date: 110.55 hours

Together We Deere

We slacked last week.  Slacked a lot!  It felt good.  Then this weekend happened.  We feel tired again.  Pictures are minimal.

Taking apart a house generates a lot of trash.  We ordered a 30 cubic yard dumpster.

It was filled after only 4 hours of slave drafted volunteer bribed labor from family and friends.  Our garage is now clear!  Kinda... all the appliances and kitchen cabinets are in there until we get a new 30 cubic yard dumpster!

We pulled down the drywall from all exterior walls to remove the vapor barrier (since it's better building policy not to have a Class III Vapor barrier if you use the air conditioner frequently).

It's so bare!

There were surprises waiting for us!

Mouse droppings!

Mold!

Ahhhhhhh!!  More mold!!!!

MOLDDDDDD!!!!!

Phew, just a mouse again.

Oh gosh, mold!  At least they built the window correctly?  Yay for building correctly!

Or not...Just hang out there Mr. Outlet, we'll catch you if you fall!

Mold remediation is costing us a pretty penny.  We cried a little.  And then spent more money on a John Deere 300!

1. We borrowed a truck.  
2. Rented a trailer.  
3. Hauled the tractor to our house.  
4. Unstrapped.  
5. Ran out of gas.  
6. Restrapped.  
7. Drove to gas station.  
8. Filled her up.  
9. Drove back to house.  
10. Pushed her up the bump to the garage.  
11. SUCCESS!   
12. Returned trailer
13. Returned truck.  

It only took us boatloads of cash and 6 hours!

We also stopped in the cold to take pictures of the critter tracks.  That's a lot of critters!

Task: Drywall Removal and Dumpster!
Saturday: 6 hours drywall removal
Sunday: 16 hours dumpster filler-upper and drywall removal
Monday: Tractor shopping!   Woohoo!
Total: 22 hours
Total To Date: 94.25 hours

Duality

Working on Milly has some high points and some low, really low points!

Low: Live wire behind the refrigerator!  We capped it quickly.

High: Ooh, pretty tree!

Low: Questionable wiring to to the dishwasher through two cabinets and from a hole in the wall!

High: Frozen stream in a Winter Wonderland!

Low: Mouse droppings under the dishwasher........There are not enough dots for this.

High: Ooh, six horses!
Low: Not ours, but a neighbor's.

The lows are all inside and the highs are all outside!   That's why we're demolishing the inside?  Yay for kitchen destruction and for father-in-law help!

Removing the counter

Still removing the counter

Come on guys, counter is still up.

Well that's different.

How is that counter still up? It defies physics!

Good job guys.  Finally.  But good job!

More, more!

All clear!  But similar to everything else in this blog, not quite!  We'll get there!

I'll end this post with a picture of our superman demolition techniques.

Task: Kitchen and Bathrooms
Saturday: 2 hours cleanup
Sunday:  6.75 hours cleanup, kitchen demo, bathroom demo (adding in dad's hours too as a duo)
Total: 8.75 hours
Total To Date: 72.25 hours