Sledgehammer

It didn't take a crane or a bomb to get the coal burning furnace out of the cellar. But almost. A friend of mine told me to use a sledgehammer to try to break apart the cast iron inner section. Using the neighbors' 6# sledgehammer I started hitting the furnace as hard as I could. After about five minutes I realized that it just wasn't going to work. The sledgehammer wasn't heavy enough to get the job done. So off to Lowe's I went in search of the ultimate sledgehammer. I ended up buying a 10# contractors grade sledgehammer, the heaviest model they had. Back at the house I once again tried to break apart the furnace. This time it worked. After several hours of work and a lot of sweat I had the furnace broken down into pieces light enough to carry or roll out of the cellar. I now have close to a thousand pounds (guesstimate) of cast iron ready to be sold to the local scrap metal yard.

Here are some before, during, and after pictures:

Weekend Update: Dumpster Edition

The dumpster was delivered on Friday. It took them two attempts. The first truck they sent couldn't make the sharp turn required to get to the back of of house. They sent a second truck that was able to make the turn.



Saturday was spent loading the dumpster with the plaster, wood, junk from the yard, and all of the demolition waste that has been piling up since the beginning of June.

Sunday was spent clearing out the majority of the duct work and other junk from the cellar and crawl space. The only things left are an old water heater and part of an automated coal burning furnace that probably weighs fifty tons. The outside sheet metal has been removed but the cast iron inner part still remains. Hopefully it won't take a crane or a bomb to get it out.

Comments

The comments for the last several months' postings have been deleted. Someone posted a short anonymous comment along with a link to a gambling, mortgage, or other SPAM website on each individual posting. The only way to get rid of them was to delete the comments section for those postings.

From now on all comments will have to be approved before they're posted to the Blog. We'll only deny or block comments that have unwanted links or other trash. Comments about me never working, using a hand trowel instead of a shovel, or other jabs at us will be allowed.

I hope you enjoy reading the Blog and keep your comments coming.

Hot & Humid

It was very hot and humid this past weekend. The heat index was well over 100 degrees. So...what did I do? I decided to dig up a fence post. It needed to be removed to widen the entrance to our back lot to allow a dumpster to be dropped off. The pile of scrap wood, plaster, and other demolition junk has gotten pretty large and needs to be removed. The ancient duct work and other heating system stuff in the crawl space also needs to be removed. It took me over an hour using a pick axe and shovel to get the post out of the ground. I sweat so much my clothes were dripping wet. I spent another hour or so clearing some tree limbs out of the way. I'm so glad I don't have to earn a living doing manual labor.

Things We Have Learned About Paint Stripping

1. Paint stripping, quite frankly, completely sucks.
2. Wallpaper removal is unpleasant, but not nearly as bad as paint removal.
3. Tree chipping is hard, but not as hard as paint removal.
4. The former tenants created foul odors, but nothing as noxious as chemical strippers.
5. Poo left from a squatting (literally and figuratively) raccoon is gross, but paint stripping is worse.
6. The "sky is falling" warnings about lead and asbestos are scary, but not nearly as frightening as the "you could have brain damage or go blind if you use this product" warnings on the chemical stripper labels.
7. Old houses have more paint on them than the Glidden store has in stock.
8. The infrared stripper gets pretty hot, so it hurts if you happen to accidentally touch it to bare skin.
9. Old paint is tenacious. It's even more difficult to remove than tenants.
10. The end result will make it worthwhile.


Other than "enjoying" paint removal, we have been working on some demolition in the kitchen. The plaster isn't in the best shape and has a lot of peeling paint. Since one wall will be torn up to install plumbing for one of the upstairs bathrooms and other walls will hold cabinets, we are going to just take down the plaster and use drywall.

If you think our house looks bad.....

If you think our house looks bad.....take a look at this couple's project in New Jersey. We particularly like their "Open Letter to Rich People".

Independence Day

Its been a busy week. As you probably expected, we celebrated the 4th of July by working on our little piece of history. We got to enjoy some fireworks thanks to the new shopping center just up the road from us. They put on a pretty nice show. Of course, a few local morons and idiots felt the need to set off illegal fireworks in the middle of our neighborhood and risk loss of their digits, eyesight, etc.

One of our favorite sporting events has also begun...the Tour de France. We'll spend most evenings over the next couple of weeks watching it on OLN and listening to their genius commentator call it the Two ur deeeee Frantz.

The infrared paint stripper arrived last week and has been put to use on several occasions. This contraption works wonders on paint. If the paint is newer and holds enough moisture, it will scrape off like icing from a cake. The older, drier paint puts up more of a fight, but still comes off fairly easily (as compared to using a chemical stripper). Its hard to strip paint from crevices and rounded trim with the infrared device. We'll probably have to use a chemical stripper on these. Either way, it's a slow and tedious process.


The wall in the pictures above is bead board in the kitchen. The exposed wood isn't particularly attractive, so the board will have to be repainted. There was too much old paint on the wood to paint over. The removal of the old paint should also help with the stench reduction process.