May 2005

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1 May 2005 — Garage Demo Cleanup

The rubble in the garage is mostly under control now. The bags have the insulation that I pulled out of the ceiling. The joists are 2x10 but there was only about 3 inches of insulation in the space. Not really enough to do much good.

29 May 2005 — Den Demo

I started removing the built-in cabinets from the den today. This cabinet top is glued up from 3 solid oak boards (5/4 I'd guess) about 12 feet long. I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but it is not going in any dumpster.

Amazing. They stained the outlet and the cover.

Nasty dirty duct cover.

All gone on this end of the room.

Here is the first electrical surprise in this room. This box was used as a junction for old to new wire, stuffed full of newspaper and topped with joint compound. The wires were live, and were part of the scary curcuit that had half the house on it. In the second picture, you can see the newspaper that was in the box.

At the other end of the room we found some old carpet that had been buried under one of the built-in cabinets. I think this was originally an open shelf then when the added doors they decided to just leave the carpet. Seems reasonable, no?

30 May 2005 — Den Demo, Day Two

Some water damage.

Another buried box, still live.

At first I felt a little sad about removing the built-in cabinets. Even though they weren't really my favorite style, they were reasonably well built and mostly solid wood. But once we found the electrical boxes buried in the wall, the moldy mildew behind the cabinets, and other evidence of water damage, I didn't feel so bad. I think these things have to be fixed, not just covered up.

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