Cleaning House

Weren't There Stairs There?

I mean its a hallway now but I thought there were stairs there

Must have gotten confused, I see where there stairs are

Not sure the bottom ones are serving their function though

The window had an identity crisis, and is now... a door.

The original

Sometimes the sequel is better than the original

Hopefully my new best friend (fingers crossed)

The weekend of work consisted of getting things ready for the new mechanical fixtures.  So all the old gas lines were cut back to the meter,  the new furnace was put into place on a treated wood pad, one last dumpster was ordered for the last of the plaster, lath, wood scraps, shot windows, and general debris that have accumulated.  Once the floors are cleared of everything the next move is to clean out all the plaster dust, fiberglass dust, and of course saw dust.  It will be clean, framed and ready for the ductwork and plumbing.  I am also hoping it lessens the frustration of how cluttered all the rooms have become.  As it stands now there are no pipes, duct, wires, or fixtures of any kind left in the house.  With that said there were also a few runs the the scrap yard.  For the statistics people out there the following quantities were pulled out of the place:  Insulated copper wire: 103lbs, #2 copper pipe, 95lbs, cast iron 650 lbs, yellow brass couplings 38 lbs, steel piping #140, Aluminum #26.

Progress without the flashy photos

The past month has had quite a few small victories against the house project.  Well not new victories really but complete finishes on old ones.  The new stairs have been framed in and have false treads on them (which means the old stairs will be cut out in the near future), Amber completed nailing in the rest of the sub-floor on the upstairs level,  I tore out all the old mechanical things left in the house (all the wire, ductwork, the water heater, furnace, etc) and am in the process of scrapping the metals.  There are only two rooms left that need subflooring, the low windows have been secured with sub-trim, a window in the wall has become a doorway, a wall was moved to create a laundry room and best of all there is next to no framing left to do.  This is not to say that there aren't miles left to go, but things are starting to get into order.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend there will be some highlights with new photos to show some of what has happened.
I am about ready to start putting in the mechanicals of the house I.E., furnace, duct, electrical, plumbing, gas..., and have a new philosophy on the project.  I have finally gotten fed up with tripping over salvaged lumber which may come in handy some day and playing at being Sisyphus by moving things out of my way one day to have them back in my way the next.  If there is material in my way that will not be used in the foreseeable future then it will be removed from the house, or sold on craigslist, and the space it occupied will be vacuumed.   
Trying to get things jump started I have had a number of mechanical contractors walk through the project and am working through the estimates.  With the exception of one two thousand dollars higher than the others, they are all within a few hundred dollars.  Unfortunately, they are about four thousand more dollars than I am willing to spend...So I get to hit up my old thermo books and just do it myself.  This shouldn't be too difficult, its just going to take about a month longer that I had wanted the process to take.  However,  I have priced it out and can complete the whole thing for about $2500 (it would be $4000 but there is a $1500 credit).  This not only gives me the know-how to repair the system if it ever breaks, but also saves me about $5000.  So that looks like it is the next beast to conquer.  After which comes plumbing, electrical (which I will have a contractor design and install).  More updates to come soon!