Is No the Way to Go...?

I love the farm.  I love the location, I love the sunsets (haven't seen a sunrise yet, but I'm sure they are splendid, too), I love the animals, I love the storms, I love the view, I love the quiet, I love the space, I love the stars.

But I'm not sure I can keep it.  It's 100% a financially-driven decision.  But with that said, that is a VERY important and necessary part of the equation.  The more I deconstruct this home, the more I realize just how much it's going to take to put it back together.  And I want to do it RIGHT.  Today's thoughts were mired in, "Do I have to sell this place I love"?

I showed up just before 8:30 this morning.  I figured the workers would be there, but they were not.  I went right to work.  I wanted to let them know that I am in this WITH THEM.  That there is a TON of work that needs to be done...that needs to be done right...that needs to be done aggressively.  It's nasty, old-fashioned, hard labor.  It's not fun.  It's WORK.

I started immediately tearing down the kitchen ceiling plaster.  It was in rough shape, but even then, it wasn't coming down as fast as expected.  But I just kept swinging the hammer.  Lots of dust.  Lots of dirty dust.  Lots of black dust.  Lots of unknown dust.

It's a dirty job.

This kind of dirty.

The crew finally showed up at 9:00 A.M.  I was surprised to only see three workers, as I was promised four by the owner last night.  But the new guy was EAGER to work, and he went at it.  He went at it hard, so much so that the seasoned guy said, "You only have that energy because this is your first day.  This is Day Three for us."  But he was a worker, and I loved it.  He looked to be of Mexican decent, and he talked to himself (and us) quite a bit, and it almost appeared like he had Tourette's, but I didn't care.  He worked!

The kitchen ceiling is ready for demo!

Lots of surprises above the ceiling.  Mostly old insulation.

The three of us started going at the kitchen ceiling.  It was coming down, slowly but surely.  One guy was using a prybar to break apart the ceiling.  An extra step if you ask me.  I just banged away with the hammer.  I swear I worked my way all around the kitchen ceiling to him with me doing 80% to his 20%.  But at least he was here.  I hoped my swiftness would pass on to him ("Hey, buddy, here is a better way.").  But he never followed suit.

The job was DIRTY.

The insulation was nailed to the top of the ceiling joists, so it just hung down.

But we worked.

I was COVERED in black dust.  It was thick.  But I was right alongside the workers, helping them with this big project.  The effort was not lost on them.  Later today, one said, "We appreciate you helping us like this.  So many just bark orders.  It's nice to see an owner get involved."

The mess that fell from the attic.

The boards appeared to be in good shape.

Well, I am not here to bark orders.  I am here to get a house demoed.  And if I can provide motivation and inspiration for this dirty job, then I am happy to do it.  Let's work TOGETHER!!!

It's a messy job!

The insulation from the attic.

But it IS work.  I took a break after the kitchen, and I was just covered in dust.

The kitchen ceiling joists look to be in good shape.

The lath from the kitchen ceiling.

I had a contractor show up with his HVAC guy to give me a better bid on the entire project.  I walked him through the whole house so that he could get an idea as to what to do.  He unfortunately told me that the Carrier unit both inside and outside is not sized properly for the house.  The good news is that it's from 2013.  The bad news is that it was only sized for the bottom half where the family lived.  Literally half of this house was just wasted space.  Sigh.

He said he would recommend running all new ductwork with a completely new properly-sized unit.  He even asked if I would like to go all-electric, something I had never considered before.  "That way you can get rid of the propane tanks outside."  That nearly has me sold right there!  What eye-sores!  Of course, I've heard that all-electric is a bad idea expense-wise, but I currently have that in my current home.  It's a geo-thermal unit.

Hmm, something to ponder.

I asked him if it would be possible or wise to put a unit upstairs only for the upstairs and keep the old unit (thinking about cost).  He said it's possible but that he recommends one unit for the entire home.  He would make it a dual-zone unit with opening and closing baffles.  And he would also like the current chimney space that runs from the basement out the top of the roof for his return and supply ducts.  I plan to remove that wasted chimney anyway.  It's crumbling, is not used, and serves no purpose.  It's in the demo contract to be removed, but I am more than confident that that won't happen.  The crew is struggling to get walls down in a timely fashion!

And then something incredibly weird happened.  One of workers came up to me and asked if I had seen the third (new) worker.  I said last I saw him he was filling up the wheelbarrow.  He said he couldn't find him.  Hmm, interesting.  I told him I would look around the property (there's really nowhere to go otherwise) and let him know.

So I checked the machine shed.  Nope.  I checked the barn.  Nope.  Hmm.  I even checked the hay pasture.  The last thing I need is for a worker to pass out on the job!  Nope.  The other two workers were pretty ticked.  I heard him on the phone with his boss, saying, "The guy is gone!  We don't know where he is!"  My driveway is 1000 feet long, and there is literally nowhere to go, so he couldn't have gone that way.  Or else we would have seen him.

Well, wouldn't you know it, I received a phone call from the remodeling contractor a few minutes after he left.  "I found your guy.  He is two miles down the road walking towards Chatham."  Oh, my goodness.  He DID walk off!  I mean, literally, this brand-new worker WALKED OFF THE JOB!!!  In every sense of the word!  When I told the remaining two workers this, they ripped him apart, saying, "The idiot doesn't even know where he is going.  He should have turned back home towards Rochester."  Needless to say, the atmosphere was not cordial.

We were only an hour and 15 minutes into the day, and the third worker was gone.  So my promised four workers was down to two.  I am REALLY having a difficult time with this demo contractor.  He has nothing but false words.  No integrity.

We continued to work.  Two more workers showed up after noon, which I was thankful for.  I was working in my mask, and I heard one ask away from me, "Who is that"?  When he was told I was the owner, he was shocked.  Again, guys, let's work TOGETHER!!!  It's a tough job, and the owner is eager to help!!!

The good news is the kitchen is mostly done.  The ceiling is down.  That was nasty work.  The attic was full of old ductwork, dust, old insulation, and whatever other items you could imagine.  It was DIRTY work.  When you pulled the ceiling down, you received a face full of dirt and dust.  But it was down.

The two new workers made quick work of clearing out the floor, though, and that was good.

We were making progress!  At one point, we had five hands clearing out one room!  Man, what quick work it makes!

After the kitchen, we worked on the bedroom walls downstairs.  Just knocking plaster off.

The pink room being demoed.

One pink room wall is complete!

And then the inevitable happened.  The guys filled the dumpster up with the debris from the kitchen and called it a day.  The time was 3:04 P.M.  The guys showed up an hour late due to having to pick up the worker who walked off the job, too.  I can't get these guys to stay on the job for the life of me!

I am having a VERY difficult time with this demo contractor.  I was promised four workers in the morning.  Three showed up an hour late.  One walked off just over an hour later.  Two more showed up a couple of hours later and stayed for two hours.  All left early.

AGHHHHH!!!  This job will never get done at this rate.

I would later be told they left because the dumpster was full.  Ok, so how about we keep on demoing for the empty dumpster tomorrow?  I just don't get their mindset.

The dumpster is full.

The view of the kitchen after today.  Still a ton of work left.

The view of the half-bath after today.  Still a ton of work left.

I worked on my own upstairs, knocking down the plaster walls of the upstairs and stair hallway.  It's frustrating to know that I am doing the very job that I am paying somebody else to do, but I also know that this job will NEVER get done if I don't jump in and do it.  Where is the integrity?

I knocked down the stairs plaster.

I knocked down the upstairs hallway plaster.

Because the day was still young, I also knocked down all of the lath in the rooms where the plaster had been removed.  This creates quite a mess, but it instantly shows you a finished wall!!!  I just kept ripping off the lath.  Someone has to do it.

I knocked down all of the lath where the plaster had been removed upstairs.

The upstairs hallway.  Working by myself.

The Master Bedroom upstairs.

The lath comes down.

So happy to see good sheathing behind the upstairs wood.

The kitchen ceiling rafters appear to be in good shape.  It's neat to see how the home was built.  90% of the roof structure under the shingles was replaced.  And I learned that this part of the home was actually an addition.  It makes total and complete sense now since I found exterior sheathing boards weeks ago when I first started the demo.  But I was actually able to see the original lap siding of the back of the house today.  That's just neat.

The kitchen is actually pretty big!  Notice all of the new wood.

Looking down the stairs.

It's a messy job!

Of course, this addition was added before the lithograph in 1873, so it was built sometime between 1866 and 1873.  The lap siding is in excellent shape, though.  It makes me eager to see the siding underneath the rest of the house on the exterior!

So it's another day of forward progress, but it's another day of frustration, too.  I just can't understand how a crew doesn't work a full day.  This job could be completed in the 7-10 days he quoted me at IF THE WORKERS PUT IN A FULL DAY!!!

Sigh.  I am just super frustrated with this crew.

But we move forward...slowly...

At least someone is enjoying the day.

Looks like fun to me.