lets review my management skillz...

so my dad thought he should point out that he makes the 50 minute drive up to landenberg, works for free, brings a vast quantity of tools, AND he brings dunkin donuts coffee for the two of us...he called it pathetic...i called it good management skillz...

so on the 3rd, we decided to finish off the laundry room and workshop area. i guess the old guy who built the place got tired of all the toggle bolts because this section of the basement came down much easier...

here are a few snapshots from the day...


dad also came back sunday morning to pick up some more scrap wood and haul it down to his burn pile...but when he showed he talked me into finishing up the workshop area and getting the rest of the ceiling down...hes a slave driver, but i guess i cant complain about free labor...

after sunday, we had 460lbs to the dump, 4 pickup truck loads to the burn pile, and 2 piles are still outside our house...the amount of material that is coming out of this basement is mind blowing...

now, i just have to clean the moldy/dirty walls and get them ready for paint...mom and dad volunteered to come up saturday and paint (i have training for work all day so i wont even be there)...work on the house is getting done even when i am not there...like i said earlier...good management skillz...

its like the work never ends...

so i decided i needed to show what the layout of the basement looks like so i can start describing what rooms we are working in...i think this is to perfect scale...

new years day...dz and i didnt party on the new years eve, so we didnt have a hang-over to use as excuse to get out of work...

ok, note that the room on the right is called "the scary room"...its not really that scary, but dz calls it that anyway. for some reason it has a dirt/stone floor, but its the room with the water heater, well, and main circuit panel...but its really dark in there...no lights work. the TR6 gets parked right in the middle...all the previous work we have done has been in the "plumbing wall" room and the laundry room.

for new years day we tackled the laundry room...the ceiling and wall framing had to come down...
here is a little series of dz swingin the hammer...she likes the demolition project...



i knew it was bound to happen eventually...we started finding random stuff in the walls...here are few of the treasures we discovered...

i think we are approaching the 50% mark for demo...i wonder what other weird stuff we are going to find.

i think we need a sidewalk...

we didnt waste any time after xmas to get started with more work on the house. after a few weeks of living in the house, we started to wear a path in the grass between the driveway and front door, and it was starting to get muddy...we needed a sidewalk. and we still have to remove everything from the partially finished basement...here are a few snap shots from the progress of the day.

dz and my mom took on the task of making the sidewalk, and my dad and i went back to work ripping out the basement.

heres my mom inspecting the placement of the slab stone sidewalk...we still cant figure out how the old owners got from the house to the driveway without messing up any of the grass...weird.

heres another view...these are the stairs leading from the driveway up to the yard...

once dad and i took out the first piece of paneling...we didnt like what we saw...i would say that its not normal to see triangular shapes in the plywood wall...this wasnt going to be a good day.

this is my favorite piece of plywood...i cant believe the guy took the time to measure and cut this little triangle...why would someone do this?!?

apparently the walls were named after me...

so many triangles...i am really starting to not like the old guy that built this house...

ok, enough of that mess...we eventually managed to take down all the jig-saw puzzle plywood and panelling. after that we were just left with framing and more cement nails and toggle bolts...which are not only a pain in the ass to take out under good conditions, but we had to deal with nice rusty and moldy ones...good times.

this is the finished product of that day...dz and i tackled those cabinets the next week...

so back to the sidewalk...it took dz the whole day to get all these stones nice and level, the finished layout looked awesome...no more tracking mud in the house!!!

demolition part duex

so after i finished removing the paneling from the wall saturday night (finished around 830pm...working late is the downside of sleeping till noon), my dad and i tackled the framing on sunday morning.

we thought it was going to be an easy job...bust up some framing, throw it in the truck, haul it away. well...it was not that easy...the framing was hooked to horizontal running 2x4's...which were bolted thru the cinder block wall via toggle bolts...the vertical framing was also reinforced with some choicely placed 2x6's...this wall was not coming down without a fight.

my first mistake came when i broke the one and only metal cutting sawzaw blade.


unfortunately, this is the wall that contains the plumbing and electricity...so we had to navigate around that mess. once we had a clear view of the ceiling we found a rather disturbing site on the septic line...

yes...that is duct tape...

...time to call the plumber...

anyway, aside from the insane plumbing, after a few hours of slinging crowbars and hammers, we managed to get the wall down. all in all, i think it took 3 hours or so just for that 12 foot section of wall...its going to be a long winter.

next up, patching the holes in the cinder block, cleaning, painting...washer and dryer time!

oh, and heres a random pic of our TR6...we cant really drive it right now, the headlights dont work...i cant figure out whats wrong with the headlights, i used a little 'voltage detecting' pen and determined that the light switch is good...so that means i have to trace the lighting wires around to find the loose connection...good times.


it also occured to me that i should post a picture of the actual house...maybe i will do that the next time i have daylight...its dark when i leave in the morning, and dark when i get home.

the first project!

today i started stage one of "basement demolition"...we need some room to fix some plumbing and make way for the new washer and dryer. so armed with a crowbar and hammer, i went to work.

the basement is partially finished, so the walls are framed out and covered with wood paneling...the ceiling?...i think its drywall. either way, its all got to go.

before...

after...

i especially like the duct tape holding the shop-vac hose together...you stay classy 162.

ok, i know it doesnt look like i did very much, but i assure you, it was hard work. i removed all the paneling from the wall and managed not to electrocute myself or cut any of the water lines. the next step will be to figure out what circuit breakers control those electrical outlets, after that, i can take down the framing and get that wall ready for the new washer/dryer...

heres a snapshot of me not electricuting myself...

paparazzi!!!

no demolition is complete without some quality time with the sawzaw...