Drainage

We got some of the drainage pipes in the ground today.

My boots got a little muddy.

All Decked Out

Today we removed the wood deck between the garage and the house. It was over a concrete pad that doesn't properly drain water away from the house's foundation.

All done! (I know it looks like Tom was doing all the work, but I was busy carrying the wood around back of the house and stacking it up.) We're saving the treated lumber for future projects. Maybe a chicken coop?

Below are before and after photos of the walk between the house and the garage. Look at all the ice on the deck! Lots of progress has also been made in digging out around the foundation so that drain can be laid down with some gravel.

It was 19 degrees when we finished working today, but prying up and hauling wood keeps you pretty warm!

Next up: removing the concrete patio and sidewalk!

Down in the Dirt

For more than a week now we've been addressing moisture issues in the house: preparing the crawl space for a vapor barrier (smoothing out the piles of dirt, removing old pipes and rubble) and digging around the foundation to improve the drainage around the house. Neither of these are much fun -- Tom had a few choice words for whoever invented the crawl space. When I imagined a doing a remodel, I never figured there'd be so much digging!

(We dug out the awful cotoneasters at the front corners of the house!)

Week Ten: Pulling Nails

We're trying to reuse as much lumber as we can, so we've been cleaning up every board, stick, and 2x4. That means pulling nails. Lots and lots of long, rusty nails. Hundreds of them. Some day soon we will be hammering nails instead of pulling them!

Week Nine: Tore Up from the Floor Up

Before:

After:

His and her respirators!

Cleaning out the Crawl Space

One of us ventured into the crawl space today to clean out some of the accumulated debris and junk in there. The only treasures unearthed were three old tablecloths, which might be nice if the musty crawl space smell comes out in the laundry.

Someone else smashed up the old bathtub.

And someone else helped fill up the dumpster.

Happy New Year!

Week Seven: Extreme Mess and Dumpster Delivery

We've filled bags and bags with drywall, debris, and tile, and have started to quickly fill a dumpster. 

Mess-o-potamia!

The main bathroom and the utility room are in an extreme state of deconstruction, and there is a rather scary hole in the floor between the two rooms. Some DIY plumbing over the many years has caused a lot of rot in the subfloor, and it all needs to come out.

Before:

After:

The hole in the floor where a very DIY shower stall once was. Water has damaged the floor joists.

We're going to be spending a lot of time in the crawl space ... beer will be needed!

We did get to relax in front of the fire -- our first fireside meal of bread, cheese, sausage, and beer. If we really use our imagination, we can almost picture everything being finished one day!