Waiting….

Last post, we had just found out that my PSA levels were up and my doctor was sending me to a Urologist for further diagnosis. My doctor was quite adamant that I was to do this ASAP, postponing our departure for California and she will arrange an appointment for me with a doc close by. This kinda sets one on edge until that appointment rolls around. So, let’s make the best of it and get more demolition done at the house – keeping busy is a good way to take your mind off your problems and we were busy.

On Nov 30th, Terri, Mark, Ali, Barb & I arrived at the house early morning to make as much damage as we could. We removed screws, drywall off the kitchen/bathroom walls and started lifting the old tiles from the kitchen floor, bathroom completely demolished, tub, vanity and toilet out, kitchen cabinets out and all plumbing cut down to the main shut off. Now the nasty work of cutting out the old rotten bathroom floor – oopss, hit the water pipe and we had to scurry around to find the shut off that should be before the water meter – got it now no more water! But at least we got the floor out…..

We make another run to the dump with both trucks and got rid off all the garbage from these 2 rooms. Now some serious inspection of the floor joists that were under the bathroom floor – what joists? The last builder did not build standard floors joists and subfloor. All of that has to come out and proper floor joists installed on a new beam – the old one appears to be a single 2X8 sitting on cement blocks that have shifted and not helping to support. Leaning over the floor and peering forward upside down, the rest of the house seems to be build to standard but that all remains to be seen when we expose that area. We have not had any real surprises yet that we have not expected.

For safety and to keep critters out, we temporarily screwed down 3 new sheets of plywood in the bathroom area. This is as far as we can take it until we remove the blown in insulation and take the ceilings down – we want to see the full skeleton on the house so we can make accurate design drawings for the town inspectors. This was a full days work, we are exhausted but satisfied. This is much more than we expected to have done before we headed south so the universe is looking after us. Speaking of which, if we had left on Nov 25th when we had planned, we would have been smack in the middle of the winter storm Dion that hit the USA mid west.

 

On Dec 2nd, Barb & I went back for the second last trip to clean up, pack up our tools, clean out the rain gutters (which had not been cleaned in a few years) and install a mail slot instead of using the curb side mail box. It appears that the ‘pet door’ that Barb designed worked great and we covered that basement access with wood. There were muddy paw prints on the ‘pet door’ so we knew that whatever was living under the house kept trying to get back in.

 

 

On our idle days when not at the house, Barb has kept busy sewing even though her sewing centre has been put away, she still managed to start and complete a few festive projects. I am emptying waste tanks, filling the fresh water tank, washing the truck and generally puttering around. I’m also doing lots of surfing to research various building ideas for roof trusses for cathedral ceilings, beam sizing and floor joist sizing, HVAC etc. Whew, I am exhausted so I better slow down!

Until next time, we hope all is good where you are – it’s getting cold here and we’re still waiting for additional blood results….