Then there were none

The kitchen chimney was the last big dirty project in House #1. We've still got a LOT of dust and piles of plaster in the corners, but the dirty work is almost finished.   Every day we work I'm running the shop vac to pick up more piles.  We are really close to being done with the dirty dirty dirty work.

 

Before



 
After

 
Hello down there.

 
Walt Kowalski has been patching the holes in the floor where there were once registers and chimneys.  Don't step backwards without looking first. You could end up in the basement real quick.

 

This was messier than the other chimney.  This chimney was in better physical condition, so it took a little more effort with the sledge hammer to remove.  It was also still full of coal dust.  Black, filthy coal dust, which is now covering everything.  But that's nothing a broom, sweeper, and some soap and water won't fix. At least the coal dirt was contained to the basement.   (Yes, Grammy I wore a good dust mask.)

 

 
Walt Kowalski and I shoveled all of this out the backdoor into the yard.  We'll deal with it another time.  

Take a peak in the mirror...it's a toilet! We removed an old one from the corner of the basement and salvaged this one from the upstairs bathroom.  It has been sitting on the front porch ever since.  Classy.  Although, that did make seating for three on the front porch. 

We finally got it in place this week.  The water isn't connected, but we have water in the other room in the basement and bucket to transport the water to the toilet.  This, along with the lighting upstairs, means we can work longer in the evenings and on the weekends. It's a girl thing.  Really, it's the small things in life.   

Finally, the last photo for today just makes me chuckle.  Walt Kowalski has a stand for the circular saw at home in the shed, but we keep forgetting to bring it.   We were using the saw on the floor and kneeling, but that gets a little rough on your knees.  Here is Walt Kowalski's ingenuity:

One piece of ply wood + one garbage can = table for the saw.  It shakes a little when you turn on the saw, but it is much easier on the back and knees.  The stand is on the "Bring to House#1" list for Saturday.