Eye Wash

September 1, 2010

You know those eye wash machines that they had in high school chemistry class? We could really use one of those at the house. Nothing like mis-judging how high the ceiling was, ramming the ladder you are carrying into said ceiling, and having huge chunks of plaster fall in your eye. The first thing Alok asked was "were you wearing your safety goggles?" First, I wouldn't have plaster in my eye if I was wearing my safety goggles. Second, I didn't think that I need to wear safety goggles to carry a ladder. Apparently, I was wrong. No worries though, no eye patch is needed.

So today, we mainly worked on scraping off the rest of the wallpaper in the upstairs hallway. Our goal was to finish it before we left today. We did not achieve that goal. We are using steamers and have tried everything, but this little hallway just has some crazy stuff on it. The oil-based paint they used to paint over the 4 layers of wallpaper is virtually impenetrable (we've tried chemicals, scoring it, steamers, etc). This is where we started:














This is where we finished about 5.5 hours later:



The area above the door here definitely contained a window









We are almost finished. While Alok and I worked on this, my mom worked on cleaning a bit:



We were excited about the fact that we were almost done with wallpaper removal (for the rooms we need done prior to move in), but then we remembered the little heater that is attached to the wall that no one can seem to remove. Here is Alok trying to figure it out:





No luck. Hopefully tomorrow.

Craig and Jim also continued ripping up the closets, seen here:







They also removed the moldy framing/wood from around the window that had the massive air conditioner. Here it is now:




If you look closely here, you can see straight into the apartment closet:


Remember, if you are in the apartment closet, you can see straight into the yellow bedroom closet upstairs.



Apartment closet


Apartment closet into yellow bedroom


Apartment closet into the window that had the massive air conditioner

I think we know why all 3 areas were moldy, being that they are all connected.

Craig and Jim also set up shop in the master bedroom and worked on pulling out more of the rotted window (the one that had the mold around it) and re-framing it:






The other highlight of the day is that it appears that Peters finished the gutters. Here they are:


The goal for the long weekend (mine starts tomorrow) is to finish the wallpaper, figure out how to take off the weird little radiator thing, clean-up, and start mudding/repairing the walls. We are also meeting with the plumber tomorrow so he can figure out which walls he is going to have to rip up to replace our lovely corroding pipes.

We also need to start working on fixing this bathroom (the one in the apartment). This needs to be finished prior to move in. Here is the bathroom now (removal has already started):

Original light fixtures.... what to do with them when we remove the vanity?


Lovely faux subway tile


current shower


medicine cabinet


Sink- it will actually be nice if redoe

t


The mold is growing back. Our toilet and sink are leaking






We plan on keeping the light fixtures around the vanity, the sink (needs to be redone though), bathtub, and radiator. The toilet, walls, and vanity will be gone. Any ideas? Also, any suggestions on what to do about that window in the middle of the shower?

Lastly, as I mentioned before, we figured out that a window used to exist over the front door. The framing is still there. Vicki D. had a good suggestion: That we get a stained glass window with our house number on it. Anyone know places that make stained glass windows?

Jessica