Teamwork

So...as of Monday, most of the downstairs had been de-plastered, but was still on the floor. I had my second dumpster delivered, and proceeded to fill it up. Plaster sure is heavy stuff! Patrick has helped out a couple of days, and I have been very proud of him. He may not get as much done as a bigger person, but he sure has a lot of heart, and definitely doesn't complain any more than the average member of a construction crew. Yesterday, I hired on four people from the neighborhood. They have all been out of work, scraping to get by. I can't afford to pay much, but they still are greatful and working hard. I'm learning more about the neighborhood from them, which is always a good thing. Learning who the people are that one does not want to associate with, and those who can be trusted. One thing about the ghetto, people keep their eyes open to what is going on around them. We have been talking about starting up a neighborhood watch, and donating time to work on peoples houses, people who can't do/afford it themselves. Talking about all of us cleaning up the trash in the alleys too, stuff like that. It does seem like most of the people want a better environment. Brother/sisterhood in the neighborhood seems fairly strong, as I expected, and I am very happy to have the opportunity to help people and enrich the community. God willing, I can continue for quite a while.

Did I mention sheetrock?

If only someone had convinced all the crackheads in the neighborhood that sheetrock were worth money, I'd be in 7th heaven! I have a 30 yard dumpster, full of sheetrock, and there is still more on the floor inside the house. It has been very interesting peeling off the layers though, and finding out how the house was originally. We are going to make only small changes, just to kind of tighten up the look, and make it work better for our family. But other than those small changes, I am putting the house back to the way it was when built in 1920. Here is a photo of the kitchen, (past, and future, but not present) where the sink is going.

And here is a photo of the dining room windows, notice the weird divided light pattern I've been telling you all about? Crazy huh! The light streams in very nicely, no?

sheetrock, hold the nails please

Every surface of this house has sheetrock, covering the lath and plaster. Most of the sheets have only about 12 screws or so holding them on. In one room, I started pulling one sheet down, and 4 others came down with it. Its a hell of a note when the taping is stronger than the fasteners! Spent the day sick today, but am getting back to it tomorrow. The dumpster shows up tomorrow, and I'll be filling it quickly. Now that most of the sheetrock is down, I'll finally get the opportunity to rip out the lath, reorganize the floor plan, and put it back together. Before I put it back together though, I need to rip the roof, repair/framing, and re-roof. I was hoping that we could wait on it, but there are some pretty bad leaks, one of them caved in a bathroom ceiling. We were wanting to save up and put a metal roof on, but that might not be in the cards either. Oh well, as Gustav Stickley's motto reads, "Als ik kan"...to the best of my abilities.

Finally closed!!!

This morning, we finally got to sign. Started tearing sheetrock down, will continue gutting tomorrow, and until it is devoid of wall surfaces. Here is a photo of the outside of the house.

Hurry up and wait

We have moved to Knoxville, TN! We got here on the 1st of February. We were supposed to close on our house on the 25th of January, but had to sign an extension until the 5th February because the bank that holds the deed couldn't stop dragging their feet. I was all excited to start ripping into the house, and found out that they still haven't gotten the deed returned to the title company, and we had to turn in another extension. All of our stuff is in a storage unit, and we are staying with our friends Marc and Delacey. It is a bit of a full house, but I think that it is going to work fine. I feel anxious, angry, and useless right now. I was hoping to just get to work on our house, but I may break down and take in some work just to keep from going insane. I am not used to having nothing to do.