…when there will be no more gross rotten filthy demolition debris to sweep up and tote to a dumpster. But that was not this day.
Friday ended with the second side of the house (almost) fully wrapped in Typar — remember this was the side, unlike the first side they tackled, with multiple intersecting surfaces, four windows, a chimney that had to come down, ant, mouse, wasp, and bat infestations, and a cantilevered staircase that had to be shored up and its roofline rebuilt.
(In case you are wondering, two of the window openings are covered with the house-wrap, until the windows themselves are reinstalled.)
Then Saturday morning dawned with much writing of lists, but our fine ambitions were interrupted (not thwarted) by the discovery of ripe raspberries on the land. We had suspected there would be — and we know there are tons of blackberries coming, not yet ripe — but we almost missed them!
So today, in-between work tasks, we went farther afield with real serious containers, and came back with close to a quart of berries:
They are so tasty and good!
As for work tasks — we:
- Cleaned the main floor, especially one corner to receive the bathroom appliances which have been stowed on the porch; moved the tub, sink, and toilet
- took down 1/3 of the porch ceiling plywood, and the insulation behind it
- Took down the remaining plywood on the far stairway wall. The insulation there actually looks fine, so I did not pull it out. A first for this house!
- Pulled down more vinyl siding on the inside porch wall, and removed one of two windows
- Consolidated other construction items and tools on the main floor and off the porch, working our way toward getting the porch completely gutted
- Trudged around moving demolition and construction debris from one part of the yard to another; organizing scrap lumber; multiple trips to the dumpster
- Made two wheelbaroow hauls of Land trash, one from the wooded area right by the camper, and one from the back area
- Bought a tarp and at Jason’s request covered the laminate (LVL) beams which are still waiting in the yard for the upstairs ceiling project. They would not be harmed by rainwater, but they would get heavier, which Jason wanted to avoid.
- Got the back of the house area completely cleaned up of Typar scraps, boards, vinyl siding, and foam board
- Built a wooden frame and mold for the inside of the basement, facing the flue hole through the foundation where the chimney was. Knocked away the last two blocks at the chimney base, cleaned up all the debris. Mixed and poured concrete into the flue hole, troweling it flush on the outside.
- Used the leftover concrete to shore up the mailbox
- Consolidated the two big piles of 1×8 boards so we have full use of the driveway again (for now)
- Did some light tidying upstairs
- Pruned pine branches away from the camper roof, where we have been hearing rodents scampering which freaks out the dogs. We hope not having the boughs directly touching the roof will discourage such antics. Time will tell.
- Continued clearing debris from the first side of the house, but still not done there.
- Continued cleaning soffit vinyl of squirrel and bat droppings — mostly done.
- Mowed, watered the garden, weeded, and cleared the driveway of scrap wood from Jason’s table saw
- Cleaned the bathroom which is almost ready to finish the subfloor, shim out the studs, and install the tub/shower enclosure.
We also took walks, with and without Homer; went grocery shopping; and we may have found a kitchen cabinet set at a consignment shop in Unity, that could be the foundation for the rest of our kitchen plan.