Miscellany

Had considerably less time to tackle the project this evening for a bunch or reasons, so we worked on a bunch of little projects.

First up, we put some screen up over our bedroom window. Not properly of course, we haven't nearly the time or resources to do that yet. No, for now we just got the window screen material and stapled it around the edge of the window frame.

Most of the windows in the house are 2 sets of single pane glass that slide back and forth on wooden tracks, so 4 pieces of individual glass, I guess this was an early attempt at double pane windows to get a bit better R value.

Anyways they aren't particularly set up for properly sealed window screens and bugs are very annoying, plus, these won't be the final windows or frames so I don't feel bad shooting a million staples into them. Because of all that, we just did what we did and stapled right to the edge of the window frame.

Initially we intended to do all the old style windows like this, but dramatically overestimated the amount of screen material on a roll and ran short. We got our bedroom window done "properly" and the 3rd bedroom window and small bathroom window scabbed on with the extra. We can do the others later.

Oh, here's a pic of what our windows look like with no screen stapled over:

The window screen is a big quality of life improvement. It gets above 30C in the daytime here but still cools down to about 9C at night, so with the screen up we can finally open our window at night and enjoy some fresh cool mountain air. 

While we were doing QoL improvements, I grabbed a Walmart mini fridge. The house didn't come with a functional fridge and the one we hope to use doesn't fit through the front door assembled so it must be disassembled, brought in, reassembled and tested to even see if it works after the move. Now we can keep some things cold. (Like that Dr Pepper) 

That out of the way, I could no longer ignore the main project at hand. This next part dedicated to wonderful friends, without whom I would have a much more difficult time going through life. 

First hurdle: get that stubborn remaining stud out from the rotted section of the wall. The first two were nowhere near easy, but at least I had something to pry against, this one, the only place I could pry was against the cladding on the outside of the wall. The cladding that the stucco outside is attached to. The stucco that cracks immediately if you pry against it. 

Fantastic. So no prying is out. I could try and fold it over and knock it out.

Many minutes with my 20oz framing hammer later, I had made no measurable progress.

BUT AHA! Many moons ago a very good friend of mine gave me not a two, not a three, not an eight, not even a ten, but a, count em, SIXTEEN pound sledge hammer, which I have taken to calling "The Pursuader" 

The thing is an absolute beast and honestly made unbelievably short work. Folded it over which stared pulling the nails and gave it a few swift whacks which pulled them all out at the same time. *Insert Pascha from the emperor's new groove making ok sign meme here*

Eat shit, final problem stud, I wasn't asking. 

That out of the way, a little cleanup from the mess of assorted bullshit that fell from the wall and ceiling during stud removal.

The bottom plates and floor is surprisingly intact, if out of kilter with one another on account of this being where the addition meets the original house. No rot here! Nonetheless I'll be pulling up some of that bottom plate where the closet opening was to replace with proper stuff if it isn't presentl so.

Now, part 2 of friends really making life better. Another of my excellent friends, a carpenter, suggested when I showed him the project that if there were any spots with some rot that wasn't affecting the structure that I didn't want to get into replacing just yet, I could spray them down with a spray bottle full of bleach to kill anything and leave it intact. The sheathing has the stucco right on it and I'm not looking to put a gaping hole in the side of my house just yet, so that what I did. Opened my freshly screened window and went to town with the bleach and a spray bottle.

On the next installment, I'll be grinding off all the nails poking through the sheathing, giving the wall a good scrub with a stiff bristle brush, and likely one more good spray with the bleach before letting it dry again and giving the area that has rot a nice coat of this stuff:

This is, more or less, the same chemical that's used during the pressure treating process when they pressure treat lumber, but in a can and able to be brushed on. This should stop any further rot dead in its tracks and prevent anything from spreading to the fresh framing. 

Almost ready to actually start rebuilding.

Total renovation cost to date with another load of wood presently at $2210.

Goodnight friends.