Day 8 zillion of our captivity

August 16, 2010

After taking 5 days off for a conference in Columbia, our anniversary, and a brief hospital stay (no worries, everyone is fine), we were back to work on the house today. First, thanks to my parents who worked on the house while we were gone. My mom said that she was there for 18 hours, mainly washing walls. WOO HOO!!

Unfortunately, the wall washing was not completed. This has to be the most boring job ever. Here is where it was when we started:



I would post after pictures, but you can't tell a difference. You can see above that all of the wallpaper came off of the plaster board by the windows they had covered. Woo hoo! The good news is that with the exception of the wallpaper behind the radiators (monkey wrench, anyone?) the downstairs walls are washed.

OK, I lied. Here are some after pictures:


My mom washing away


Alok working on peeling the upstairs wallpaper. We are peeling in the hallway, so we can rip up the carpet there too, but will then stop on the 2nd floor.

The bad news is that.... guess what.... there is more mold. AHHHHH! Alok started to dismantle the massive vanity in the small apartment bathroom and pulled up the carpet (yes, more bathroom carpet). The underneath of it was full of mold. So, our "mold free" apartment with a moldy closet, now has a moldy bathroom. And possible mold under the carpet. So, the area that we were going to live in and leave the carpet, now has to have the carpet removed. Double AHHH! Oh, and in case you forgot, that is the area where we piled all of our stuff that we moved.


Apartment bathroom before

Mold on the bathroom floor


Alok pulling up moldy carpet


Carpet coming up/vanity coming out


My mom panicking when she saw the new mold.

Oh, we also went "mold spotting" and found this small area over the window seat in the front:



And saw some more likely water damage above that molded out window on the landing:

Water damage? Upper right hand corner. You can't see it too well here. My guess is, OF COURSE!!


Alok checking out possible water damage


We tried to borrow a ladder so that Alok could see the water damage, but it was a comedy of errors trying to get it in and it was too tall for the area. Instead, we just damaged the walls a bit (ha! Like we could).

Doesn't fit


Can I get some help here?

Anyone have tall, but not too tall ladder/ truck to transport in that we can borrow ;-)

Anyone want to buy a house? Just kidding..... kind of ;-)

Good news is that the roofers have made progress. The garage roof is done:


And here is where they are at on the house:

Finished the northwest side


Still working on the southeast side


No more boxes for the Japanese maples, but they have a bag on them


Area in progress. Almost to the mold room; This window is in the attic


East side of the house


North side of the house. Previously a circus of ladders. Now finished.

Almost done. The only part not done is above the mold room. We are hoping we can get rid of that this week. Fingers crossed.

Oh, we also discovered another window that they covered! This one is in the laundry room and is now covered by wood paneling. Now, of course, Alok wants to uncover this. It is a cute little window, but the thought of that just makes my head hurt. Here it is:



Oh, and BTW, what is up with the faux brick thing here:

That's about it for now. Oh, and here's Alex looking thrilled as usual.



Jessica