Tiny Old House vs Asbestos Siding, Day 4

Today was hard. It rained. We were in no mood to work; grumpy, irritable, cantankerous. Here's today's work:



ALL the asbestos is gone except THIS:

"This" is few panels under and around our electrical box. The City is coming out sometime this week to disconnect our service so we can safely remove and reattach it. They came out this morning to do this for us, but couldn't figure out how it was attached with the siding up. They asked us to call them when we had the siding down.

In answer to a few queries in the comments, we don't yet know what we will do with the house yet. Our dream is to salvage the brick; if we can do it ourselves AND it will cost the same or less than siding or stucco, we will DEFINITELY do it. Otherwise, we will likely paint it. A travesty... but there is a lot of damage. We're crossing our fingers here!

The Patio Ghost (The Great Siding Tear-Down Continues)

We removed the siding from the front of the house today:


We noticed two curious pairs of white lines running down the house vertically, a few feet from the door on each side:


Here's a close up:


We puzzled over them for a while before we realized that they are the "ghosts" of the original porch! The house next to us (which is identical in almost every way) has a porch that is exactly that size, covering just the front door. It also has two turned columns in the front, and two "half" columns against the house in exactly those spots. The current porch on our house must not be original to the house; I am guessing it was poured and roofed at the same time as the house was clad in siding.

A Little Math Problem (and an Update)

Found this written on the back of a shingle:

Who says you don't need math in the "real" world?

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Here's the daily update:


It is VERY hard to get the nails out of the 2x4's without damaging the brick behind. The nails are masonry nails (threaded) and so they grip the brick. If you try to pull them straight out, they pull the brick out with it, leaving a huge chunk.

We discovered that "unscrewing" them from the wall was the best option, using our vise-grips and a LOT of elbow grease. First, you must "free" the head of the nail... an old chisel worked well to chip away the wood around the nail head. Then, grip the nail in the tip of the vise grips, as tight as you can get. Slowly twist and pull the nail straight out. This only leaves a small hole.

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Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional! Don't take my word on anything related to asbestos. Do NOT attempt to remove asbestos siding without consulting with the proper state licensing/permit agency. Do NOT attempt it without the proper safety precautions. And PLEASE do your research!

Inch by Inch, Row by Row...

Going to get this siding off!

We started on this side:


Inch by inch...


Row by row...

the asbestos siding came off from the top.

As a short person, I started on the bottom with the steel siding:


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Discoveries!
Here you can see how long the far right window is "supposed" to be:

Going to have to get a replacement in the original size!

We discovered that the original trim around the soffits was green:

This is one of the colors we have been debating for the trim if we can salvage the brick... I think it is confirmed!

Someone named Murray lived in our house:

Must find time to dig through the historical records at the library to confirm.

Finally... something SCARY. This is the corner of the wall:

SCARY. We have no idea if it is salvageable or not... or even if it is structurally sound. We took a risk taking the siding off... hopefully we didn't open a bigger can of worms. I suppose it is better for us to find and fix it than to live in ignorance.

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HOW?
How did we take the siding off? I thought you might ask. First, we donned special protective gear...

being a petite person, I had to try on several respirators to find one that would actually seal around my face. Most of them went past my eyelids when properly tightened!

Once we were fully geared up, we soaked the wall with water and dish-soap using a garden sprayer. We used nail snips to remove the heads off of the nails, allowing us to pull the shingles off intact with little to no breakage. We sprayed down the backs of the shingles and deposited them carefully in a heavy plastic bag. This is all that is required in my state... yours might be different.

It is very difficult to get the wood strips off of the brick without dislodging chunks of weaker brick... luckily most nails were in mortar. There are quite a few gouges that need patched, now...

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Here is what we accomplished today:


Back in the saddle tomorrow, and all this week... we will be trying to decide the best course of action as we uncover more and more. Do we salvage? Do we patch and paint? Do we just stucco over it? Tough decisions... but at least the ugly siding is gone!

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Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional. This is in no way a condonement of DIY asbestos containment or removal. Do NOT attempt to remove asbestos siding without consulting with the proper state licensing/permit agency. Do NOT attempt it without the proper safety precautions. And PLEASE do your research!

Wanton Waste and TV Home Improvement

No progress on the bathroom today; I am holed up in a hotel room on a business trip. We don't have TV at home, and I so am watching HGTV. I am watching people smash toilets, attack cabinets with sledgehammers, and otherwise destroy or trash perfectly usable items. It kind of makes me sick.

What have I seen destroyed in 1 hour of home improvement and decorating shows?

• A Yellow Toilet. Now, I know that yellow toilets are not the most popular decorating choice... but did they have to smash it? Surely someone could use it... even as a garden planter.
• A Blue Recliner. Perfectly usable, not stained. Admittedly very comfortable. Its only sin? Lack of fashion. Sentenced to the trashcan (instead of a local thrift store or freecycle). Hopefully someone rescued it.
• A HUGE Bathroom Mirror. Sure, small framed mirrors are the mainstay of modern decorating. Sure a big full wall mirror is outdated. However, it is so USEFUL. You could cut it down into smaller mirrors and frame those... or you could find a home for it with someone who needs a big mirror, like a musician, music school, or dancer. Why did you need to smash it with a sledgehammer?
• A Full Kitchen of 50's Wooden Cabinets. Again, again. Someone could use them, even if just as garage cabinets. I know I could! And, I'm sure there are lots of you LOOKING for a matching cabinet or two for your 50's ranch restoration. No need to smash them.

Too bad they are not showcasing positive deconstruction techniques. Too bad they are promoting destruction instead.

Scraping, Scraping, Scraping Along!

We have taken a break from door hanging and utter failure, as it takes two to move that door. We won't be in the house at the same time together until Monday. Look for an update on Tuesday on that.

Today I worked on another part of the bathroom: the walls.

Here is the lovely textured and badly patched walls*:


Using THESE...

...a safety mask and a scraper (with a very sharp blade) that I got from Habitat for $1 (yeah Habitat), I started to scrape off most of the texture.

Scrape, scrape, scrape.

It's very messy and dusty work*. I lined the edges of my walls with newspapers to catch the droppings.

Here is how far I got today:


A closer look:


2 more walls to go, and then onto sanding, mudding, and repainting.

Maybe if I pretend it's normal to not have a door on a bathroom, I can avoid dealing with the utter failure, too. Think it will work?

* Note... this is new drywall installed 4 years ago with only two layers of new paint on it (plus the nasty texture). If I was doing this to one of the much older walls in my house (which I will likely do if this turns out well), I would use a ventilator to avoid breathing in lead dust from the lead paint.

Removing a Door Jamb

I removed the old and ugly door jamb from the bathroom yesterday. We are putting a HEAVY mahogany door with embedded mirror up, and we didn't think the MDF/particle board jambs would hold up to the 50 or 60 lbs of weight.

First, I pried off the trim. Though it is ugly, we want to put it back on temporarily until we replace all of the trim.



The best tool for this job of preserving the trim was a paint scraper (otherwise known as "most useful tool ever").



Then, I got to use my new Makita 18V Cordless drill to take the hinges and such off! It worked beautifully. I love that drill.

I don't have a reciprocating saw to cut the nails holding the jamb to the studs, so I was forced to pry VERY carefully with my hammer. Doing this, I discovered ANOTHER reason we should replace it. The jamb was held up and together with only 5 nails!

Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. While the nails were easily found and removed, the CAULK and GLUE that the POs had used to attach the trim to the backside were NOT so easily removed. Enter my paint scraper (most useful tool ever). After 30 minutes of scraping and prying, I finally freed the jamb from the wall and the trim.



Stunning, isn't it!

How to install a door jamb tomorrow. I have guests coming on Sunday, and they need a door to the only bathroom.