Reno Day 16/17

More photos than anything else to describe the past 2 days:

Behind the pine panelling, more painted cardboard. This is NOT Tentest - it is truly 2 layers of painted cardboard with tar paper behind it. All moldy and mildew-y, quite disgusting in fact.

An exciting view of what's behind - tar paper - and gives you a idea of just how many nails were used to fasten this stuff.

Once the cardboard is removed, we move on to destroying the wooden boards that make up the inside. We had hoped to recuperate this wood, but it is too old and brittle, and splinters like the dickens. The sawdust comes from the attic where it was used as insulation. Time, the great equalizer, has ensured that the sawdust has settled down into the walls and every crack of the drying wood, and when we tear the tar paper down, this is what sails down down on us. Lucky us.
There's a lot of rot in this room. Maybe because it is the North-West corner, that corner of the house most battered by wind, rain and snow? At any rate, it also seems the nails used here were of the industrial kind, because we needed a lot of muscle-power to remove everything.

Here Eric is doing a number on the angled part of the ceiling. The amount of dust is prohibitive. Even with face masks, it becomes a bit overwhelming at times. My new best friend is the Shop Vac, a saving grace if there ever was one. It was also mild outside, the temperature even hovered above zero for a bit, so we were able to open the window and breath some fresh air. A welcome change.

During the destruction, given the prohibitive amount of sawdust and bit and pieces of paper, tar paper, splinters, nails, and what not, I hit the "reset" button and vacuum the entire space. The Sears Craftsman vacuum pictured above is like a member of the family. We can wholly endorse this vacuum as being a reliable work-horse, an item no renovator should be without. I could probably turn the thing on, leave the room, and come back and find everything clean, it is that powerful. It gobbles everything in its path. The only downside - it is VERY loud - hence the hearing protectors hanging on the handle. This should be sold as a set.

Every so often, you find something that makes you go, "Huh?":

And this is one of those things! An old pine branch, stuffed between the walls. Our only guess is a squirrel brought it in to make a nest.

So that's it in a nutshell. Today Eric will start to rebuild the outside wall with 2x6's, and hopefully be able to motivate one large beam into place. There are 3 to put up in this room, so he has his work cut out for himself. I will start to cut the wood we tore down into wood stove-friendly lengths, and act as gofer as the need arises.

Onward we plow!