More ceiling demolition

Will i NEVER be done with ceiling demolition? i got the rest of the bathroom ceiling down and almost half of the kitchen. i was going to stay and finish the rest of the kitchen.....but it just got hot and i wasn't feelin' it. i was wearing a long sleeved shirt to keep the insulation particles off of my arms and i couldn't face another day of it. my husband actually came down, too and worked with me for a few hours. he pulled the 1x4s off this kitchen ceiling for me.

 He also unscrewed dozens of screws that were in the ceiling rafters in this room (the future studio). .. and pulled nails that i couldn't get because they were too close to the screws.

Although he is smiling here....it was a tough job. holding that drill over your head and getting up and down from that ladder.

This ceiling is now all clean...no nails, screws, slats or plaster. got to fix 2 split rafters in this room.

We did get the electricity all run and it is finished. i'm sure Rick is glad to be done with that project. i am going to order some windows next and when he installs those we will also lower the bathroom ceiling about a foot.

The next time i go down there ..... i swear i am not coming home until the rest of those ceilings are all down. i just have the bedroom and half the kitchen to finish. i am sick of ceiling demolition.

I want to do some pretty work. hopefully soon.  everything that would be FUN to do....has to wait till

Later

Demolition Days at the Duck

There was some serious demolition going on at the Duck the last few days. .... ceilings coming down.

And ..... drum roll, please......the GOOD thing is.....my electricity is now all run and i am wired up. i just need to call the electric company to come back out and put my meter back in and hook me up to the pole. Rick spent days sitting on the milk crate....wiring in all the little boxes. the tedious part of the job.

On Tuesday...while Rick was wiring up....i worked on taking down some ceiling in the dining room. i got just a few feet of slats down. tough, nasty, dirty work.

On Wednesday i worked on the living room ceiling. pulling down slats again and insulation. i just got a corner of it done. i was up on the ladder and found piles of insulation up in that corner that was just left up there. about 6 long strips. i guess when they were finished with the job they just left the excess piled up there.

I saw the teenage boy that lives next door - Amos-  and asked him if he wanted to work....and he agreed. this ceiling demolition is for the young...LOL.  so, he came over after school on Thursday and within an hour....had the ceiling in the back room down. give a boy a hammer and he has fun. LOL

Then he moved to the office and got that ceiling down, too. i just need to go up and clean up the edges a bit and take out the nails.

Here is my office ceiling...all on the floor. it takes a lot of bags to pick up all that crap.

Then his mom, Tammy, came over...i guess to check on Amos and make sure i wasn't treating him bad. hahahaha    she said she wasn't doing anything and she could help, too. so i gave her a hammer and she took out the rest of the living room ceiling that i started. she is little but she is fearless and tough.

Here's my living room ceiling....on the floor.

Tammy said she was off work Friday and would come out and help me some more. gee....i like neighbors willing to help you work. so, Friday she took out the dining room ceiling....and then cleaned off all the nails from the rafters in two rooms. it was a long, dirty 6 hour day for her.

She helped me bag up all the insulation and plaster and cart it out to the garage. there are about 60 bags there....awaiting the next dumpster.

And i have learned to bundle the slats up instead of just throwing them in a pile. it is much easer to get them into the dumpster when it is time. so i bundled up all these slats and piled them neatly in a corner of the garage.

On Saturday i took a break for the morning and my sis and i went to the Salvation Army thrift store to see if there was anything interesting there. i scored this tv cabinet for $50. it is in great shape.

I am going to replace that back with another piece of wood without holes in it. there won't be a tv in here....probably quilts or something. 

All in all....it was a great few days of demolition. i'll be down again this weekend for more fun. i have 2 more ceilings to take down...the bedroom and the kitchen. then i believe the major demolition is completed and i can start rebuilding and prettying up. new insulation...drywall....lights...ceiling fans.....fun stuff.

Although i do need some pipes for plumbing, too. i belive that should be next.

So much to do...so little money. hahahahaha      but it will all get done...sooner or

Later

Ceiling demolition

I spent the weekend away from the studio. i went to my sisters and we hung out on Thursday and went to thrift shops and JoAnns and played. Friday we went to Centralia and did more thrift shops and went to buy her hot water heater. we won't even talk about us getting that monster into the house...it weighed 132 pounds...there were 5 steps....it was a BIG box....enough said. 

Saturday i made it over to the Duck. on the agenda was taking out more ceilings. i had hoped for 2 of them. in the back room of the studio one wall had some plywood over it but it wasn't done properly...so i took that out first. i will replace that wall....the correct way. those studs there have to come out, too. they are 2x6s and need to be 2x4s so the plywood on the other side sits in properly.

Then i tackled the ceiling of this back room for the studio. there were 9 2x4s on the ceiling....see those 'white' lines...that's where they were. i thought this would be hard because they were 2x4s and very long...about 16 feet. but once i got an end started...and put my large crow bar in there....they pretty much just popped off and fell on the floor. a couple hours and they were all off. the room was really too small to drag the scaffolding in there...so i just used the ladder. i carted all the boards out to the garage and tried to take down the plaster. but it was up there really well. this was a later addition so the plaster is not old and falling down. i just left it up there for another time.

So after looking around...i saw that the bathroom had 1 board up there that needed to come down. see that all white strip...that is where the 1x4 was attached. it came down pretty easily. the end broke off but i got it all down. i'll probably take that plaster down the next time i go. i hate cleaning up plaster mess. it is so heavy.

Then i looked at the office area. it was the smallest space. i managed to get 2 boards down and part of a third...you can see the end hanging up there. try as i might....i could not get these off that ceiling. i could get the pry bar in there...but it just wouldn't pop off. i finally figured out the problem was that the 1x4s are too flexible...they just bend or break. the 2x4s came off so easily in the first room because those boards are rigid and that helped me to get them down. so i got frustrated here and gave up on this room, too. do you see a pattern here? LOL

Not wanting to admit defeat....i tried the dining room ceiling. the plaster here is falling off in bits and pieces. i managed to get 2 boards off here. and i cleared the plaster off that section as well....since it was falling on me anyway. and i even took out 2 sections of lathe boards. the brown still showing up there is the insulation...that will be a very messy job to get that out. it is all old and disintigrating and DUSTY.

By this point i was getting tired and it was 3pm...so i called it a day. it was rather frustrating that i didn't get more done....but i was trying to be careful and not get hurt...pulling a muscle or anything. so even though i didn't get a lot done....it was progress after all.

I am still waiting to get the contractor back out there to finish hooking up the electric. he is tied up on other larger jobs and i don't get out there often enough. hopefully in the next month i can take a few more days and stay out there and try to get the electric work finished up and more ceiling demolition.

As much as i would like to work on it every week...it will have to wait till

Later

Happy Anniversary to the Duck

One year ago today i signed the paperwork and got the keys to the Duck. much has happened since then. First off, my sister and I immediately went over and tore down the ugly fence...

And we hauled out all the trash that was stuck in a cubby hole.

Over the next 12 months.....I and several workers took plaster and slats off all the walls...down to the studs; tore out many, many layers of paneling, linoleum, tile, and wallpaper. took down decrepit ceiling fans and lots of ugly ceiling tiles. Demolition is 99% finished. there is still about 4 square feet of plaster to come down from a hall wall. and about 3 square feet to come down on a corner kitchen wall....at the top.

The furnace and duct work was hauled out of the basement....along with the hot water heater. both were old and rusty.

All the wiring was pulled out...they still had screw in fuses in this house. and all plumbing was removed.

On July 10 the first dumpster was filled. there will be a second dumpster about March. the garage is full of 'stuff' ready to fill it.

The Duck so far has gotten 6 new windows (16 more to go); and, 4 new doors (4 more to go).

And she has a new bathroom that makes it about twice the size that it was. I moved the wall on one side out about 30" and another wall out another 30"....took over a small hall area. and a new floor was laid.

And a few months ago the ugly bushes in front of the house were removed. and a yard maintenance guy hired to keep the grass cut.

I also managed to pay extra on the mortgage and it is half paid off now. i believe in another 2 years it will be free and clear.

All in all...a good year.

Plans for 2012 include:

wiring....in February/March. 
insulation....spring
windows....summer
doors....fall

throughout the year....finish up the little knitpicky things yet to be done:
..like the bajillion staples to come off the 1x4s on the ceilings that held the ugly ceiling tiles.
..scrape the wood siding on front and back enclosed porches
..paint the doors and outside trim
..do a bit more yardwork

OK...enough....i'm making myself tired. you get the idea.

Happy Anniversary Duck

May we have a grand 2012

Later

The Duck has a new Face!

The Duck has a new smiling face now.....much better than that raggedy, snaggle tooth face that it did have.

It needs a bit of caulk and paint.....but we are getting there.

You know old houses....things aren't square or plumb or previous owners 'upgraded' or 'improved' stuff till it all was just a mess. these two guys worked all day Saturday for 2 doors.

I wound up with a large opening after they tore out all the crap and started from scratch.

It took a bit more than they bargained for but it is pretty and i feel more secure. here is the back door that opens into the future dining room.

And on Sunday they came back and got the garage door installed.

It still needs a piece of flashing at the top. not sure what i will do with the ugly on the siding around the door. first i guess i'll see if it washes off. if not, perhaps i could just paint over it. i plan on painting it all anyway. this garage had an old hollow inside door on it. i believe I could have kicked it in. now it is a secure steel door that functions properly and looks good.

They also got 2 of the bedroom windows installed, too. pictures just don't come out well when you are trying to get a pic towards the light. but the windows go up....and stay up....without a stick to hold them up. LOL  and there are SCREENS....woopee!!   and they are on the side where i have neighbors so i hope they like them, too. hahahahahaha

So, half of my doors and windows are installed. i still have 1 door and 4 windows to go for this round. but the guys have regular day jobs during the week, so the remainder will be finished the next time i get down there....probably 2 or 3 weeks. i am so excited that we got this far.

I am going to a couple of book sales next weekend with my sister so i may go on down there and do a bit of caulking and painting and clean up a bit more.

I pulled hundreds and hundreds of nails again when i was there. and brought home a truck load of wood slats to throw in the burn pile. i am giving some consideration to getting a small dumpster again to get rid of all of the debris.....instead of hauling it home a truckload at a time. but...i am going to have even more trash.

Yesterday while looking at the front entryway.....it used to be the outside of the house before they closed it in. under the paneling there is now red shingles....that old stuff from the 50s that everyone had on their house. (look at the second pic where the guys are)  i pulled some of it off and found wooden siding under it. i am going to clear the rest of that off in the entryway and leave the wood siding exposed....will probably paint it later. i like it much better.

Also, in putting in the front door.....we discovered MORE carpet under the plywood that is on the floor. so that has to come up, too. i just keep pulling up more and more crap. i'll probably end up with about 100 square feet MORE of house by the time i am through. LOL   several inches at a time. So far, off that front porch area i have pulled up...carpet...carpet pad....and now plywood...and MORE carpet.  it seems to be deck boards under that.

Oh...i learned something saturday, too. you know that piece of rubbery stuff that is the insulation strip on a door......it is what the door closes onto. whenever i paint a door....i always try to keep the paint off of that part....it never works....so i wind up painting it, too. then the paint just flakes off of it and looks bad. well......you can pull that part out......paint the door.....and then stick it back. who knew......not me....thanks, Tom, for the tip.    never too old to learn.

What did you learn today?

Major Progress at the Duck!

5 days at the Duck and things were happening....

I got into town on Friday with my sister....called my friend that is helping me with demolition....and he unloaded the truck for us and got my sister's mattress, springs and bed frame upstairs at the Beast. and carried up some other furniture that we couldn't get up there. God bless men with muscles.

Then i got my barn wood unloaded from my truck and got my grass cut at the Duck. .... same men with muscles. Just a couple hours work....but so needed.

Saturday we headed to Greenville, Illinois, for a book sale. both my sis and I came away with more books. i don't know when i shall have time to read all that i have now.

Saturday they delivered my hot pink dumpster.

16 feet long....8 feet wide.....6 feet tall.  and we filled every square inch of it.

Sunday morning at 6am it looked like this:

And then 4 hours later at 10am.....it looked like this.

And this is the man responsible for that.

I just cannot say enough good things about Josh. he brought a buddy and his stepson and got the wheelbarrow brigade rolling and the dumpster was filled in no time flat. He is the hardest working individual i have ever met. Give him a couple cigarette breaks and keep him supplied with Mountain Dew and he works like a demon. I'm not giving him up.....got to keep the 'to-do' list growing.

These are horrid pictures that were taken practically in the dark.....but the garage is empty of the mountain of plaster and the mountain of trash......Yay!!

Just a bit of plywood against the wall that Josh will take home and use.

The doghouse is gone from the corner. i tried and tried to move it and thought it must be made of really heavy wood.......it was nailed to the fence. sheesh!!    went into the dumpster.

Monday and Tuesday were very hot....100 degrees or better. All slats are now cleared out of the house....baseboards are all pulled up....kitchen floor (with 4 layers of linoleum and a plywood base) is gone....pantry walls and ceiling are removed. ... tile floor in laundry area is removed.   we worked like crazy.

That kitchen floor was a pure bitch the first day....just kept tearing into small pieces. but after learning of a trick to use a pitchfork to pull it up....the second half went very quickly. i'm going to have to replace that floor, though....so i can put down some ceramic tiles.

I got electric turned on in the garage finally and discovered that the a/c unit in the window of the office works. so we pulled some lumber out of there and made ourselves a break room. LOL   can hardly beat sitting in an air conditioned room for your cigarette break rather than on the back steps. throw in a cold bottle of water and it's almost heaven.

I got an estimate from the insulation people to install the blown in closed cell wet foam insulation and it wasn't as high as i thought it would be. for some reason the ceilings cost much more than the walls. so i have a little while to decide how i want to go with the insulation. i believe i will leave the insulation that i currently have in the ceilings....it seems to be adequate....and just blow in the exterior walls.

I did get 4 doors and 6 windows ordered. i need a carpenter to do a bit of repair on doorways and window casings but in a couple weeks i will have a new front door, back door, garage walk-in door, and door from the garage to the house. ..... and windows in 4 rooms. ....  all at a very reasonable price. i am pretty excited about that.

And i talked Josh into coming home with me to help hubby with his 'to-do' list of things that hadn't move OFF the list in a couple years.

All in all....a VERY productive few days. now i feel a nap coming on.

Later

Open floor plan

I had one wall taken out by my workers the other day. now i have to have a carpenter take a look and see if i can take out the other wall that i want out. and move a third wall. we are making progress.

They totally got everything out of the bathroom.  whoever had remodeled the bath some time back had used 1/2 plywood on the walls and ceiling. if that wasn't bad enough...there were nails every 2 inches going down every stud. who does that? there were about 60 nails in a 4 foot square of plywood. talk about overkill.

There's the bathroom...all gutted.  under the bathtub was a hole right on down to the basement.

The floor is basically all rotted out and will need to be replaced. the bathtub was the old fashioned cast iron type. it was set in there tight between the walls. they had to take off the knobs and faucet, disconnect the drain and pull out the back wall before they could muscle it out of there. and it took all 3 of them to get it out. that was one heavy tub.

Once they had the tub out and into the yard...i was teasing the young boy....telling him it sure would make a good fish pond and would he like to dig me a hole so i could drop it into the ground. without blinking an eye he says....."i could dig the hole...but it would be a lot of work". LOL  bless his heart.

Most all of the plaster and slats are gone except for a couple areas. the office area

3 rooms to the back

3 rooms to the front

Dining room to kitchen...it still needs some work. the cooler is in the laundry room. i am going to leave the laundry room alone. it is another part of the newer addition and has 1/2 plywood on the walls. it is going to be covered with corrugated tin anyway...so i just need to clean the walls and it will be ok.

Living room...air conditioner gone from the middle window. little bit under the windows still to do.

All in all....a fine job accomplished in a couple days. i got my mower back and all put together so i will make a day trip down there in a few days to cut the grass. i had my push mower converted to an electric start so i wouldn't have to pull the cord. i'll try it for a bit and see if i survive without a riding mower....i've been spoiled with my rider at the farm. but i only have a quarter acre there so should be able to keep it up. i can do it in parts and just do a bit every day or so. i plan on putting in lots of flowers and such so that will cut down on a lot of grass cutting.

It is getting exciting to see it coming together.

Before and After

Thought i would show you some of the outside progress on the Duck. there's not a LOT...but i think enough to get a start and possibly make the neighbors happier. LOL

This was a bush of some sort growing outside the bedroom window...along with vines coming into the house and a pile of weeds and crap.

This is what that corner looks like now. i still need to pull the roots out of there and rake up some. bet you didn't know the gas meter was in there...did you?

And the front was pretty rough....paper covering the doors and windows.....shrubs all overgrown over the steps....poor mailman....generally looking ghetto-like.

Now the paper covering windows and door are gone. i painted the inside of the door with white paint....from the outside it looks like there is just a white shade drawn....a little neater.

And i trimmed off the side of that shrub that was all over the steps. the mailman had to hate crawling all over that thing. eventually all those shrubs will be gone.

And near to the street was this other large bush-like plant growing. i didn't like it at all.

Now it is just down to a few trunks that will come out....maybe next trip. there were sticker bushes in there.....and some kind of vines....and some flowers....and a whole rotten trunk full of ants that i'm thinking was the original tree from years ago.

In the side yard was a raised garden type thing with boards around it....full of weeds and who knows what. you can see it there in the very left of the picture....that taller pile of weeds. LOL

The boards are now gone...along with the weeds. i found a tomato cage in there....a nice flower pot....and 2 little hand diggers.  the dirt there is about 6 inches higher than the yard. not sure if i will just spread that out or put a flower bed there. i'm thinking i want to put a water pond on that side....closer to the bedroom window.

I did do a bit of work inside. i opened up part of the wall between the bedroom and the studio. i still have to pick up all the plaster on the floor in there before i can take the rest of the slats off and get rid of the blown in insulation behind it. and the next trip i have to get on the ladder and take down the slats at the top.

And i took off more slats in the living room. and spent some time sweeping up the floors and putting all the debris in the middle of the room.

You can see that i painted these windows white also. it is easier with paint than with paper. it still prevents nosy nellies from seeing in but allows me to open windows easier and not have to keep replacing paper that falls off.

So, although i just spent one day and it didn't SEEM like i accomplished a lot....in fact, i actually did.

I really need some electric connection so i can plug in a fan or 2...it is getting warm in there.

Be back out in a couple weeks.....after my head injury feels better.