We started removing plaster in the den today. We tossed all the
plaster down into the garage through the hole you can see behind the
knee wall in the first picture. Also note that the taller knee walls
were just framed with 2x2s and the bottom ends were just toenailed
into the subfloor with no bottom plate at all.
Here are some more electrical surprises. First, another box stuffed
with paper and joint compound. This one was also still being used as
a junction box with live wires until we started the demo.
Here is a wire that was run just behind the rafter and covered with
joint compound. The second picture is a view just around the corner
from the first, where you can see the nice splice that was just buried
in the wall. And yes, these wires were live.
By the morning of the second day, the dust had settled and things were
lookin a little better.
Here's a shot of the
splice.
Nice job, wrapping that ground wire around like that.
More studs just toenailed into the subfloor. Hmm.
Here's a shot of the 2x4s used to frame the ceiling. Some are spliced
together so we will be replacing them, probably with something a little
larger.
Yet another electrical box stuffed with paper and joint compound. And
yes, this one was also still live before we started the demo.
Here's the view back toward the wall of the main part of the house
where you can see some evidence of water damage.
Some damage done by the roofers. I'll put the missing piece back in
and support it with a 2x4.
Apparently there was a gas heater in this room.
I guess this wire originally fed the attic space, but now I think that
is all on a subpanel fed by a big wire that runs from the basement to
the attic on the outside of the house. So I guess this is abandoned
up there somewhere.
Here is the pile of plaster in the garage and the nearly empty
dumpster (we had moved some of the brick and insulation into it at
this point). Oddly, I don't have a picture of the full dumpster to
show how much space we used. We almost filled it to the top and I'm
sure it was quite heavy.
All clean again.
