Old stuff

Corroded bathroom vent pipes, old wallpaper rolls, beaded silk hat, 1961 Oregon Journal newspapers, and electrical work circa 1927.

Not pictured, but found: 

small old cameo necklace pendant, jello box from the '60's, pocket watch, old penny, and a crumpled newspaper page from 1931.

We Are Tired.

The first rule of demolition: mark the walls your taking out. So, I don't know if this is a rule, but Leah is really good at marking walls. "Yes" means take the wall out and "no" means keep it. Is this confusing to you too? 

Today we knocked out the wall separating the kitchen from the living room and cleared out the linen closet from the bathroom. Who needs storage when you only have 720 sq ft of living space. 

Asbestos and black mold converged to form a dense cloud of dust during the demolition. We decided to roll the the dice this weekend and forget the respirators. Who wants to wear a darth vader mask for 6 hours straight, while snot and sweat, and nervous itching cause you to scream for relief. Not me. I'd rather breath deep the mistakes of past generations and like my grandfather, trust that at the end of the day everything is gonna be fine. I was raised a calvinist and if I'm predestined to die from lung cancer there's not much I can do about that.  ~ Ryan 

***DISCLAIMER:
Apparently the magnitude of this house project, extensive amounts of dust particles, and a stiff gin and tonic have gone to Ryan's head.   Mom, don't worry, face masks were worn at all times.  ("Yes"- clearly means, bust out this wall, to the person yielding the sledge hammer. "No"-don't bust down said wall.) ~ Leah 

ASBESTOS ?

Totally.

Hidden Heater!

We found this old pressure heater boarded up in the side of the kitchen. We disconnected a couple of pipes and carried it out to the station wagon. Not sure how much it weighs, but we're taking it over to the scrap yard to see if we can get some dollar bills for this beast. Now were struggling to figure out what to do with the extra space...panic room? 

North Portland Tool Library rocks!! It's way better than the run of the mill library where there are books, newspapers, magazines, and if your lucky internet access. No, the tool library has chop saws, cement floats, lawn mowers, extension cords, rakes, fruit pickers, chainsaws, chisels, sledge hammers, tile cutters....you name it, they got. You don't even need a library card to check it out...just a piece of mail from your current address. Forget books. I'm checking out a table saw. 

Actually we started with one lawn mower, an extension tree branch cutter, one circular saw and a sledge hammer. Apparently, we were lucky to get the sledge hammer, a very popular item at the tool library. 

Work Party!

We filled the dumpster Saturday with some incredible help. Tshombe single handedly demolished the basement and carried a bath tub on his back. (literally)  Sam was super busy Saturday. He helped to pick out a door from the Rebuilding Center, organized the hinges, screws, and door knobs, dumped the bag of hinges, screws, and door knobs on the floor and then re-organized them. He banged things with a screw driver, raced around the back yard, and managed to still have time to throw some things in the trash. Grant and Katie were a huge help removing the kitchen floor and hanging a new garage door. You guys are awesome! 

THANK YOU!! 

Demolition!

Toilet

Last week we removed the toilet from the house and placed it in the front yard. It needed to go and we were happy to see it exit the house. But we didn't have a plan for going to the bathroom. 

We discovered that the library, Lowes, and Fred Meyer were all good options with in 5 minutes. But Saturday something truly amazing happened....a bathroom [pictured here] magically showed up across the street! 

Yes! 

Leah's Virtual Home Tour

First Step

Our first step was to immediately head to Lowes and test out a new toilet. This trip is subsequently followed by 1, 2 or 3 Lowes runs a day, every day. 

New shop vac? 
Check!

Kitchen Assessment

From the old cupbards, to the missing oven, the awful flooring, to the leaky sink and bad countertops...we need a new kitchen! Please don't forget the gross fridge, broken windows, bad lighting, and broken electrical outlets. But, this old walpaper I found under the chipping lead paint is pretty neat. 

KEYS!!!

What do you do after you've been waiting for almost 2 weeks to get the keys due to the installation of this new electrical box?

Continue down the basement stairs, look around while being careful not to touch the nasty shower and start kicking some walls in with your flip flops. CHEERS!