Cleaning done?

No, not really done, but getting pretty close to cleaning done. When we hit anything with high pressure air now, there is very little dust generated. We're cleaning the downstairs with a Swiffer at this point. Will probably switch to something else for a couple days to let dust settle, then another day cleaning, then work 2 more days, then clean 1 day, etc.

Sincere thanks to Curt for flying out to help for the long holiday weekend - very much appreciated (and to Lisa for letting him). Thanks to Andy for spending the afternoon of his day-off vacuuming and air-washing my house - also very much appreciated. And last but not least, to David, to continuing to hang.

Couple of mile-posts hit this weekend - over 600 hours logged (total). David will pass me in labor hours by mid-week.

Besides cleaning, spent some quality time planning the next phases. We're flying. Tomorrow, cleaning the family room and picking up a whole house fan that Geoff has offered - setting up some real ventilation while other work is being done. If anyone local has a high-velocity fan not in use that I can borrow for a couple weeks, please let me know. Copper stub-outs and necessary tools purchased online - picking up tomorrow, and maybe trying (want plenty of time in case of... disaster).

Here is a preliminary list of "to-do" before sealing the walls back up. We'll be tackling these, and probably a few I forgot, between now and July 1 - in sort of an order of priority...

- Stub out all plumbing
- Inspect power wiring
- Patch drain pipe in kitchen
- Patch drain pipe in laundry room
- Replace PEX couplings
- Replace shower plumbing (copper)
- Replace thermostat wires
- Replace doorbell wiring
- Replace smoke detector wiring
- Further inspect and replace speaker wire if necessary
- Further inspect alarm system wires and replace if necessary
- Frame in-wall safe
- Frame new pantry
- Move refrigerator water line and power
- Install new lighting in family room (need built-in design)
- Move lighting in living room, dining room
- Install new metal wire shields for electrical (if necessary)
- Install speaker mount in master bedroom (existing wires)
- Install speaker mounts in dining room; new cables
- Install ceiling fan mount in Will's room
- New outlet in upstairs foyer
- New outlet in family room for air purifier
- New outlet in master bedroon for air purifier
- Wire surveillance camera
- Frame TV nook
- Install new entertainment system wire hides/wall plates (conduit?)
- Seal windows with expanding foam
- Clean or replace ventilation ducting and A/C Freon tubing
- Remove outlet and switches (cap wire)
- Install insulation

2 Sledgehammers are better than 1...

First, thanks to all the help today: Dave, Curt, Mike, Andy, and Jason. It was great having a busy house - made tons of progress on the cleaning front. Carpets out, padding staples down, downstairs largely de-dusted, master shower out, subfloor out.

Tomorrow, a little more cleaning, setting up some ventilation, and moving on to electrical. Probably a big planning/shopping day; will be a little strange in that regard - feels like we're moving out of the demo phase into a re-construction phase. I'm left feeling a little unprepared, but know it isn't really true.

Wanted to jot down a few ironies that we've observed:

1) The A/C broke down the day we removed the last piece of Chinese Drywall from the house (Thanks Mike/Heather for the window unit - working well)

2) My insulation advertises that it is "Formaldehyde Free"; my drywall is not

3) We went thought great pains to protect the hardwood with plastic and carpet - no damage! But when we removed the plastic, the painter's tape pulled up the finish...

Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum

As Mel Brooks (well, Colonel Sanders) once said: "Commence Operation... Vacu-Suck" (from Spaceballs).

Leaf blower to remove the rest of the blown insulation, then snow shovel onto tarp, then dump. Pulled more nails. Had three shop-vacs going all day, countless trips to the dumpster to empty them. Used high-pressure air (70 psi worked well on the blow gun) to clean out the tight spaces. Thanks to David, Curt, and Mike for the help today. Upstairs is looking pretty good.

The big news of the day isn't the progress, but that the inevitable finally happened. Holiday weekend, of course... AIR CONDITIONER FAILURE. You'd think I'd be used to it by now... but since we have 2 units, we can usually find relief somewhere in the house - but not today. 88 now in the attic, and equally hot and muggy downstairs. Called two servicers for emergency repair, neither could make it - one will be by tomorrow between 9 and noon. We'll try to hold out until then - if it isn't something simple, then I'll buy a window unit to handle this small room for a few months, and we'll just plan to replace the system in the Fall (or next Spring). Shudder. Hopefully, it was some minor damage due to the dust, and not another evaporator; it was an unusual failure - no compressor function. I couldn't find the fuse inside the unit - I know where it is on the downstairs unit...

Up tomorrow - master shower demo, vacuuming downstairs. Ventilation set-up if we get our hands on a fan big enough. Hopefully A/C repair - have been happy with a mild Spring so far, but don't want to push my luck.

Do anything with duct tape

465 pieces of Chinese drywall on the wall, 465 pieces of Chinese drywall, take one down, throw it around, 464 pieces of Chinese drywall on the wall...

All drywall off the wall. Outside possibility that there is still some under the master tub - need to crawl under there tomorrow to verify - but none anywhere else. All ceilings down, all walls, all hard places.

The blown insulation was ridiculous. We had it piled up in the foyer, no joke, 5 feet tall, wall to wall. I created a blower from the foyer into the dumpster with a leaf blower, 20ft of dryer duct, and 1 ton of duct tape. Worked like a champ for a while, but the insulation was full of drywall, nails, PVC pipe, and other hidden treasures, so eventually all of the impeller blades on the leaf blower broke and the system died... We got it "all" in eventually... one snow-shovel full at a time. We are on our third dumpster. Should be plenty.

Curt arrived from Chicago to help for the weekend - great to have three again - seems to be a magic number for dramatic progress in a day. Looking forward to a productive weekend.

Tomorrow is de-dust day. Getting the rest of the blown insulation still up in the rafters, air-washing, and shop-vac-ing. Probably get the carpeting out - we'll see how clean we can get it - if worth the risk to keep through new drywall installation - it is a nice barrier for the hardwood floors.

Big weekend ahead

Second floor ceilings came down today. Master bedroom and hallway ceiling all that remain. Bathtub walls out. Lots of blown insulation everywhere - getting it into the dumpster will be a pain. Picked up the air compressor to enable air washing this weekend.

Tomorrow - finish ceilings, pull out third floor stairwell drywall - all drywall finally out. Picking up Curt at the airport at noon (flying in from Chicago for the weekend). New dumpster coming in the afternoon. Cleaning to begin - hope to get carpet out, stub out plumbing, start on electrical replacement (maybe), frame out new pantry... big plans. We'll see how far we really get.

PS - I have a nasty sinus infection from all this dust; the fact that it is toxic probably is not totally relevant, but not helpful either.

Let it snow...

Sorry I didn't write last night - Jen and I went to a SNAME meeting, and I stayed with Jen and the kids; home late. David worked all night - he's a machine.

Since I last wrote... most of the nails pulled, the remainder of the insulation removed, some small boards (closets, laundry room) in the ceiling on the second floor removed. And yes, the blown insulation snowed down. 12 inches accumulated in my closet... A big thanks to Geoff and Craig who adventured to remove the boards in the second story foyer - David said I didn't pay him enough to do that. The dumpster is about full again - looks like 3 loads as I feared.

We had a small plumbing leak in the kids bathroom the past few days which has turned in to a fairly large leak - resulted in some plumbing shopping I wasn't planning; have some plumbing repair to finish when this post is finished. Also picked out the air compressor I want, but we checked another store for prices, and didn't get back to Sears in time to buy it before they closed. Tomorrow or Friday. We'll need the compressor to do the cleaning this weekend - a high pressure "air wash" was the ServePro plan (that I can't afford) that we'll try to replicate.

Tomorrow, we'll finally finish the ceilings, maybe finish the third floor stairwell, and get into cleaning full bore. Planning to take off work on Friday and get into a big weekend - lots planned - shopping Friday, planning, then plumbing, electrical, cleaning, framing the new pantry, and lots of paperwork.

I updated the schedule (or will in about 5 minutes) - we're about a week ahead of the original schedule. I didn't move the move-in date - but moved up all the work in front of it.

Dude, this place is trashed!

Nails removed most of the morning; dumpster replaced in early afternoon. Remaining (removed) walls thrown into dumpster. Insulation downstairs removed and disposed. About 50% of upstairs insulation.

Ceiling removal started; it does go fast - as advertised. In fact, we finished the downstairs today. It is definitely a 2-man job though, and that may be pushing it. A couple of injuries to report - I lost some skin on my calf to falling ceiling; David stabbed in the stomach by a screw protruding from falling ceiling. Equal blood shed. The ceiling boards numbered from 334 to 375 - I think two were domestic - the rest CD.

David broke the 100 hour mark. The project has logged 438 hours so far.

Now that the insulation is gone - had a good look at the electrical - some discolored wires - some only yellow, but some look scorched. Will cut in later; also plan to have county inspector look at the electrical and give an opinion - figure he's as impartial as they come.

Now that the ceiling is gone, had a good look at the plumbing connections. The connections actually appear to be brass, not pure copper, and the look remarkably... OK. There is a retaining band outside the PEX, and that is copper, and corroded, but the potable water doesn't contact that band... considering using some copper wool and attempting to clean rather than replace. We'll see.

On tap tomorrow during the day: rest of the insulation upstairs, the tub walls (see yesterday's), some stairwell ceilings, and nails; maybe start some cleaning downstairs. No ceilings solo for David - too heavy and dangerous. I have a commitment after work tomorrow, so likely only paperwork for me tomorrow night. I'm encouraging David to take some time to see Robin Hood er something. We'll be pushing it later this week and weekend to get cleaning done, maybe even to electrical and plumbing.