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A few things and house work
Jul. 15th, 2022 07:55 pmI completed all the side job rush plans that were due this morning.
F and I had dinner at her mom's place on Thursday night which was very nice. It was also an opportunity to get tools. F's dad passed in the middle of covid (not of covid, something else) and thus, the many things in the barn and garage that he accumulated have only been slightly cleared out. I'm welcome to come back and get anything else I wanted so that's cool. I did feel weird poking through someone else's garage and it was awkward to occasionally pull something out that F had a memory about, but that's how it goes I guess. We took home: a ladder, chainsaw, chainsaw kit, a wide array of shovels, wedges, a chain, axes, saws, a reciprocaiting saw, clamps, post pounder, some work lights, wood rasps. Some other family members will be coming up mid august to do a full cleanout of the barn which is FULL of stuff and I'm planning to go haul things out and claim useful things.
F and I got the last (all but one) sheets of particle board removed on tuesday and we hauled them over in two trips to the transfer station since we finally got that all set up. We also packed up all the recycling and trash that had accumulated in the house and went over. It's quite nice disposal area. Recycling 1-7 goes into two big containers, blue trash bags go into the compactor, construction and demolition which we pay $10 per 100 pounds goes into a dumpster that we can back up to. It's not really $10 per 100 pounds. For the three loads I've taken so far, I've paid $20 each time. For a truck bed full of particle board stacked full. I don't mind, they clearly just need to charge something.
Since the particle board is done, this morning I started working on the living room stairs that go up to the second floor. The stairs were built partially over the carpet which is only the start of the silliness. The stairs had one small step, then a second step that was a 5x4 foot platform which extends through a doorway as a landing, then the stairs turn and go the rest of the way up. The small step and 5x4 platform were what I worked on, I won't do anything with the rest of the flight since it's in decent shape and not built over carpet. I do need to put one reinforcing 2x4 under one corner but that's to make me feel better as the stairs seem fine.
The 5x4 platform contained Evil Narnia, which was accessible through the closet next to it. I started the stair removal by pulling the tops boards off of the small stair. Turns out one of those boards was just not even attached in any way. It was just a 2x4 sitting there, held in place by the big board which was nailed down. These people love their three inch nails. Discovered that the small stair was entirely built over the carpet including the bracing 2x4s. What the heck. That's fine though, I had a crowbar.
Started taking apart the 5x4 platform. The thing is, all the not-weight bearing walls/ closets/doors are made of tongue and groove planking. All of them. Our kitchen cabinets are tongue and groove that was put together, (hopefully) glued, cut to size then painted. Closet doors, tongue and groove. The one wall in the living room is all tongue and groove finishing. Which is fine. Unless you are taking apart a 5x4 platform made of thicker tongue and groove that they've nailed into place three, three inch nails angled into every board.
And they framed the closet wall over the platform, so it became a part of the load bearing wall sandwiched between two 2x4s which were the rest of the framing. What the fuck! They didn't cut the platform planks, they just built over them. I can't.
Since I was slightly smarter than them, I applied the lovely reciprocating saw to the situation and just fucking cut the platform planks. That's a problem for me later. I removed 3/4 of the platform, so it is now only one step wide. Thus Evil Narnia is defeated. I also discovered some kind of huge lantern battery, a shotgun shell and another bullet. This is bullet number 5 I've found in the mouse nests, F and I decided that we have mouse assassins living in the walls.
I got the carpet and padding up, then the last particle board which was also under the small stair and loaded those into my truck. The carpet under the stairs and the particle board smelled incredibly strongly of pee. Really gross. Took that all and some other stuff over to the transfer station.
Then I sat around and figured out how I was going to make the steps work. Probably should have done that slightly sooner but putting bracing in was the plan. I ended up making a very small frame under the support joists with 2x4s and lopped them off with the reciprocating saw and a hand saw. I need to neaten them up I think, but should work for now. There was some excess wood too, most of which is going to the burn pile because removing everything cracked a lot of it and it was all rough cut lumber from who knows when. Full of nails but we have a fire pit to catch those.
Put another support under the closet wall in case things got weird in there and then cleaned up. Looks a lot different now. Didn't get around to building a new small step because I ran out of dried 2x4s and the local lumber place doesn't dry 2x4s. I'd rather not use rough cut that gets wet for indoor projects. So F has to do one big step for now, I feel a little bad but as always, things are more complicated. I'm going to measure in the morning and then pick up lumber on my way to the farmers market tomorrow. Small step will be completed tomorrow, I'm not 100% sure I will enclose the steps fully for a bit, I'll put risers on but there's a lot of space around it. Also need to figure out a mount for the outlet that is currently just hanging out.
Start of day
End of day
F and I had dinner at her mom's place on Thursday night which was very nice. It was also an opportunity to get tools. F's dad passed in the middle of covid (not of covid, something else) and thus, the many things in the barn and garage that he accumulated have only been slightly cleared out. I'm welcome to come back and get anything else I wanted so that's cool. I did feel weird poking through someone else's garage and it was awkward to occasionally pull something out that F had a memory about, but that's how it goes I guess. We took home: a ladder, chainsaw, chainsaw kit, a wide array of shovels, wedges, a chain, axes, saws, a reciprocaiting saw, clamps, post pounder, some work lights, wood rasps. Some other family members will be coming up mid august to do a full cleanout of the barn which is FULL of stuff and I'm planning to go haul things out and claim useful things.
F and I got the last (all but one) sheets of particle board removed on tuesday and we hauled them over in two trips to the transfer station since we finally got that all set up. We also packed up all the recycling and trash that had accumulated in the house and went over. It's quite nice disposal area. Recycling 1-7 goes into two big containers, blue trash bags go into the compactor, construction and demolition which we pay $10 per 100 pounds goes into a dumpster that we can back up to. It's not really $10 per 100 pounds. For the three loads I've taken so far, I've paid $20 each time. For a truck bed full of particle board stacked full. I don't mind, they clearly just need to charge something.
Since the particle board is done, this morning I started working on the living room stairs that go up to the second floor. The stairs were built partially over the carpet which is only the start of the silliness. The stairs had one small step, then a second step that was a 5x4 foot platform which extends through a doorway as a landing, then the stairs turn and go the rest of the way up. The small step and 5x4 platform were what I worked on, I won't do anything with the rest of the flight since it's in decent shape and not built over carpet. I do need to put one reinforcing 2x4 under one corner but that's to make me feel better as the stairs seem fine.
The 5x4 platform contained Evil Narnia, which was accessible through the closet next to it. I started the stair removal by pulling the tops boards off of the small stair. Turns out one of those boards was just not even attached in any way. It was just a 2x4 sitting there, held in place by the big board which was nailed down. These people love their three inch nails. Discovered that the small stair was entirely built over the carpet including the bracing 2x4s. What the heck. That's fine though, I had a crowbar.
Started taking apart the 5x4 platform. The thing is, all the not-weight bearing walls/ closets/doors are made of tongue and groove planking. All of them. Our kitchen cabinets are tongue and groove that was put together, (hopefully) glued, cut to size then painted. Closet doors, tongue and groove. The one wall in the living room is all tongue and groove finishing. Which is fine. Unless you are taking apart a 5x4 platform made of thicker tongue and groove that they've nailed into place three, three inch nails angled into every board.
And they framed the closet wall over the platform, so it became a part of the load bearing wall sandwiched between two 2x4s which were the rest of the framing. What the fuck! They didn't cut the platform planks, they just built over them. I can't.
Since I was slightly smarter than them, I applied the lovely reciprocating saw to the situation and just fucking cut the platform planks. That's a problem for me later. I removed 3/4 of the platform, so it is now only one step wide. Thus Evil Narnia is defeated. I also discovered some kind of huge lantern battery, a shotgun shell and another bullet. This is bullet number 5 I've found in the mouse nests, F and I decided that we have mouse assassins living in the walls.
I got the carpet and padding up, then the last particle board which was also under the small stair and loaded those into my truck. The carpet under the stairs and the particle board smelled incredibly strongly of pee. Really gross. Took that all and some other stuff over to the transfer station.
Then I sat around and figured out how I was going to make the steps work. Probably should have done that slightly sooner but putting bracing in was the plan. I ended up making a very small frame under the support joists with 2x4s and lopped them off with the reciprocating saw and a hand saw. I need to neaten them up I think, but should work for now. There was some excess wood too, most of which is going to the burn pile because removing everything cracked a lot of it and it was all rough cut lumber from who knows when. Full of nails but we have a fire pit to catch those.
Put another support under the closet wall in case things got weird in there and then cleaned up. Looks a lot different now. Didn't get around to building a new small step because I ran out of dried 2x4s and the local lumber place doesn't dry 2x4s. I'd rather not use rough cut that gets wet for indoor projects. So F has to do one big step for now, I feel a little bad but as always, things are more complicated. I'm going to measure in the morning and then pick up lumber on my way to the farmers market tomorrow. Small step will be completed tomorrow, I'm not 100% sure I will enclose the steps fully for a bit, I'll put risers on but there's a lot of space around it. Also need to figure out a mount for the outlet that is currently just hanging out.
Start of day
End of day
