Had fun last night. Had a rehersal for our church's drama ministry last night. Our current production, which I am in, is a small skit called "Must I Be Grateful." There are 3 of us in the cast and we are doing it Readers Theatre this Sunday. The only bad part is getting up at 6:45 AM to get to the 8:15 church service. I'm not even alive at 6:45.
I thought times like that only existed in the kind of stories intended to scare small children into obedience...
I got some more wall pulled apart. So far I've ripped out about 200lb of drywall and broken it into pieces so it could be bagged up. Now I've got five bags of scraps ready to put out with the garbage over the next few weeks. Tomorrow's job is the grim one. I've got to pull down some lath and plaster walls and ceilings and hope the mess doesn't spread too far and wide. My makeshift floor holds up really well but has gaps around it, and a couple of feet of gap at the end at the top of the stairs. I'll see if I can figure a way to cover at least most of the gaps before I start the wrecking. Before I really get into it I need to take some measurements of the joist and stud spacings because this will also involve pulling down a load of cellulose insulation. Once the insulation is out I'll have a big space that will need to be insulated as soon as possible, and I would rather not find out then that standard width fiberglass won't fit into the spaces.
Get some plastic tarps/drop cloths. Put one on the floor to cover the floor and tape the others around as walls. That will keep the mess controlled. Mahe sure to tape the seams
It's a little trickier than that, because there are so many places the dust can get through where walls and floors are incomplete. I filled most of the gap in the floor with boards (also useful for walking on) and hung the ragged remains of a dust sheet over the end. It mostly held up. Given how much mess phase 1 created (pulling down the plaster) I was pleased with how little of it got into the downstairs part. I stopped before phase 2 - pulling down the laths and cellulose - because after that I need to put fiberglass in before calling it quits for the day. That will probably have to wait until Monday now. At least with cellulose insulation it's horribly dusty but settles reasonably quickly. I also need to repair my separator. The hose attachment that mounts through the lid has worked loose, which means the suction is compromised. I need to clean all the dust out and re-seal it. Best to wait until after I'm done with the dusty work to attempt that one....
Having also taken down the wall between what was once a bedroom and the stairs I'm rather liking the look of how the room might be if we did away with the stairs completely. It would turn it from a modest single bedroom into a nice sized room. It's just a question of how much storage I can sensibly get in there. It's a second staircase so we could get rid of it, but if we keep it then at least we have the option to divide the house again and use part of it as a rental or holiday let or something.
Today's job is phase 2 of "operation hideous mess". This is the bit where I pull down the laths and cause copious quantities of cellulose insulation to descend upon me and everything within about 20 feet of me. Thankfully I have a friend who burns scrap wood in his workshop, and who is very happy to take away a pile of 100-year-old scrap laths. Otherwise I'd be standing outside in the cold burning them myself just to get rid of them. Yesterday I had a quick scurry around the house putting fiberglass in places as a temporary measure because it turned out I'd left a few gaps I had overlooked, and there were a few nasty drafts that were cooling the part of the house we're using. Once I fixed those up we could feel the difference within less than half an hour. So I might salvage a strip of fiberglass from an area where it's not doing anything useful and put something a bit more semi-permanent in place. It will be better than a few scraps gently propped in a space.
Phase 2 of "apocalyptic mess" is done and dusted (see what I did there?) Seriously, all the laths are down, nearly 200 gallons of cellulose bagged up, a big pile of laths stacked ready for my friend to take away and burn, and lots of nice fresh fiberglass fitted into the ceiling spaces. I also put some fiberglass into the space to insulate between the stairwell to the attic and the room. It feels a lot warmer in there already, our living space also feels warmer. There's still some final cleanup that needs to be done once I can get my shop vac and separator up there. Some of that involves gathering up scraps of wallpaper from the floor, and there's still some cellulose floating around that needs to be sucked up. Along the way I also liberated some wall studs that may go back into place, or I may get some new 2x4s to use instead. Some of the old wood I've been recovering looks really nice. I really want to get a wood turning lathe and see if I can make something fun with it. So if anyone is stuck for ideas what to get me for Christmas....
Went for a run this morning. Didn't plan anything special, just a loop around my local route before going to friends for Thanksgiving. When my watch buzzed at me to tell me I was two miles in my average speed was much higher than I had expected so I wondered whether I could sustain it. When I crossed the 5k line I wasn't very close to my PB but was looking good to set a new PB over 10k if I extended the run a little. So I set myself a benchmark and figured if I crossed a certain point by a certain time I was going to extend and see what happened - that trigger would indicate I was in with a good chance of taking a big enough chunk from my PB to make it worthwhile. By the time I hit the trigger I figured that if I extended I might not only shave a chunk off my PB but also hit a long standing target that I have never managed to attain yet. So I pushed harder, lost a few seconds going up the hills and then hit the final stretch going down a nice steady decline for most of the last half a mile or so. And I not only took a big chunk off my PB but also broke the target I've been hoping to attain for months. And then I went and stuffed myself with turkey and trimmings. I hope my system can cope with the shift from one to the other.
This afternoon I might take the chance to look over my (relatively) newly installed insulation with my freshly recharged thermal camera to make sure I don't have any nasty surprises lurking. It feels a lot warmer than it did before I put in the insulation but even a small air gap can cost a lot of heat. Since heating oil is up 70% from last year I want to save as much of it as I can.
We had a little excitement at church today. At about 8 AM, as they were getting ready for the 8:15 service, smoke was seen coming out from under the sanctuary building. There was also noise coming from one of the AC units. Thev fire department was called. When I arrived for Sunday School I found the church surrounded by fire trucks and police. Fortunately they were able to quickly move everything into the Family Life Center, which is a separate building, and everything went on with a minimum of problems. No idea yet what happened.
Yesterday turned into a lazy day instead. It was a bit of a busy weekend and I ended up having a nap in my recliner instead of doing any of the useful things I had hoped to do. Today I got an update from a client confirming the latest beta software I gave them meets their needs so I need to get that converted to release status and sent out to them. That won't take me long.
I don't understand the use of the word "Sometimes".... Oh, I get it. Like, 2 minutes after a nap, I guess I don't need a nap THEN...
The soundproofing material arrived. Now I have 1300lb of it in the garage and 300lb of it indoors. Carrying 4-foot rolls of vinyl that weigh 100lb each is interesting. Words other than "interesting" may be suitable substitutions. I haven't yet decided how I'm going to get 1300lb of material indoors. Whichever way I go there are combinations of steps and/or tight corners. Some of it needs to go upstairs. That part should be interesting. Against, words other than "interesting" may be substituted as required.
Hauling it around. Now I have 500lb of vinyl in a downstairs room, another 500lb of vinyl in an upstairs room and 600lb of it still in the garage. Good job I'm not one of those weirdos or something....
Nailing FedEx, is what I'm doing. "Package delivered at 13:26" -- nope. Incidentally, DHL delivered a package at 13:22. Signature falsified. The unforgivable sin? Working for FedEx (I used to work for FedEx).