A short but productive week. That’s the best way to describe it.
It rained half the day on Monday and all day on Tuesday, forcing our crew to shut down work and head home. On Friday, John, our foreman, had to take the day off to prep food and pack for a family reunion that weekend.
Rather than working at the jobsite Friday, Mark and I decided to work on some projects around our home that needed to get done.
I continued cleaning beadboard for my bookshelf project. It must get done so that we can move on to the next thing!
I’m about 75% done now. The cleaned pieces are stacked in our dogtrot, ready for installation.
Mark and Reuben unloaded trailers and stacked wood in our barns and on covered pallets.
It’s truly unbelievable how much wood we have been able to salvage from our Jacksonville project! Probably enough to build 2-3 little homes for sure. We have discovered very little termite and moisture damage, which is so rare with a house this age.
We definitely scored big on salvaging old floor boards. Like I said before, these 5″ boards were installed on the walls as well as the floors. That’s why some of them have itsy bitsy tacks in them. They will have to be removed prior to using them on a floor in the future.
We have also salvaged a ton (literally) of narrow and somewhat thinner tongue and groove boards. We removed these from the ceilings in each room.
Anyway, although we worked only 2.5 days out of 5, we still managed to get some major tasks done. Or mostly done.
We knocked down most of the old fireplace …
… and most of the brick shards and dust filled in the old well.
The rest of the fireplace we’ll knock down next week. Since the well is now full, we’ll haul the debris to a landfill or donate it to someone we wants it to fill in potholes or a creek washout area.
We also salvaged more of the gorgeous walls studs and floor joists.
We spent the day on Thursday concentrating on removing wall and ceiling boards from two of the back rooms still standing. I love the old yellow and green paint.
It sure looks like we’ll be able to finish our project in the next 5-7 days.
The weather is supposed to cooperate. No rain at least. But, my goodness, it sure will be HOT.
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I always look forward to reading your comments… thank you for taking the time to leave one!
love seeing the progress you’ve made and the wonderful materials up close! Some much needed rest coming soon I hope!
Most definitely!
I love the ideas of salvaging some of the brick. Looking forward to the last blog entry on this one then on to the next.
Diane
you make it all seem so easy, but I know its hard work, and I’m proud you are salvaging the past. Can’t wait to see your finished bookcase.
I was looking for dog trot house plans and somehow stumbled onto your website. I love what you are doing! I can’t stand to see old houses torn down and wasted! I’m planning to build in the future and hoping to use all reclaimed materials. My mother and dad were from Rusk/Ponta/New Summerfield area.