The Wall

Here's the progression of the front of the store.  I'd love to show you "after" pictures, but it's after 6 p.m. and Dale is still there.   So here's what has happened since Friday.

Some upper wood-beam thing had to come down.  Not sure why, but I think it was to make way for the new framing for the store front.

Then there's this granite front on the bottom of the store front.  I've never heard Dale get concerned about anything, but he had us clean everything up in case he had to make a run for it when it started coming down.

Instead of dropping the wall, he decided to take a maul to it.

This is what his front side looks like! :)

This is what 3"-thick granite looks like!

Here's the wall from the inside.

And now the wall is gone!

More than just a photographer

I really do more than just take pictures of Dale working!  I bring him food, water and beer!  But seriously, I work too.  Here's some of the things I accomplished this weekend.

It's a beautiful day outside and I'm in the basement.  Notice the ceiling tile.  It stinks and it's moldy so it needs to come down.

Knocked it all down by pulling down a couple of rows at a time and then moving the ladder.  Up and down the ladder... over and over again.

Then came the clean-up.  Looks pretty good - eh!  Clean ceiling and clean floor!  Do you know how many times I had to bend over or squat to pick up all those tile!

I don't recommend eating a Turkey sandwich with a really garlicky aioli sauce on it when you have to wear a respirator!  I think I got high off the garlic fumes!  Coffee breath is just as bad.  Okay... maybe sharing too much.

Check out all the tile!  No wonder every muscle in my body hurts!  By the way, the big smile is because I had just enjoyed a beer break with Dale while sitting in the sun!

Vestibules

We're uncovering the original vestibules of each building.  There was a 30 minute discussion this morning on how Dale was going to tackle the first one.  That's why we love this project so much - there's so much analysis that has to go into each thing we tackle!

This was yesterday.  Notice that the ceiling is completely white in the middle

The squares that have been cut into the concrete were also part of the morning discussion.  This will make for easier removal of what used to be the entrance.

Notice some of the white trim has been removed.  This is the original vestibule.

Another shot of the ceiling, but also notice all the granite piled up against the barrier.  That all came from the bottom of the front of the building.

Look up!  There's another vestibule in the building next to Delano Floral.

And you can barely see the original vestibule above the door.

Now the floor has been cut to accommodate the new/original vestibule walls.

All the tin has been removed from the ceiling where the vestibule will go. This picture looks really strange because the sky is appearing white so it looks like two pictures - it's really not!

Dale hard at work today.

Making sure everything is level for the new framework.

So...  where the long, narrow white plaster is used to be a window.  We know that from old pics.  Still deciding if Dale is up to tackling this one!

Everybody needs a "Dale".  He's so handy!  And pretty good looking, too! :)

Protective Gear

The right protective gear is essential when performing demo work!

Pulling down ceiling tile in the basement.

Taking a maul to the 3" granite wall.

Protecting the coffee!

A Graunke Friday Night

The front of the building has been removed... or at least the top half!

That would be the night sky in the background

More brick...

I did the pillar... and it took me twice the time that it took Dale to do the wall.  Ugh..  I should stick to taking pictures - much easier.

Today's find - Brick!

We've uncovered brick!  We knew there was brick under the plaster, but didn't know if it could be easily removed.  Dale tried it today and it comes right off.  Unfortunately, we found this out at 6PM tonight and had to call it a day.  It took maybe 30 seconds to expose the brick by this large window and yes, that used to be a window at one time and it's only the bottom half in the picture!

Another test on another wall!

More brick!

I understand that different rooms may have different wall and ceiling colors, but for the life of me, I can't figure out this area!!!

What were they smoking?!?!?!?

I hope whoever comes in here can keep this cool wood wall.

"Lynn, could you quit taking pictures and come move the scaffolding so I can get this last block off the wall!"

 Another great day!

Yesterday's Find - Another ceiling!!!

After working on the building all afternoon, I really wanted to get new pictures posted, but was just too tired. Dale worked my butt off today!  We decided to remove the suspended ceiling in one building, which then led to the second building.  I moved over 300 tile from the scaffolding to the back door.  This is the nice, neat pile I made (Dale taught me well)!  The tile grids were 21 x 11 in each building, but some were already missing.

While removing all of this ceiling tile, yesterday's find was another ceiling!!  The fiber ceiling was nailed to wood strips that were nailed to the metal ceiling tiles.  About half of the building was covered making for unexpected work.  It was worth it though and now we just need to get the metal framing down.

The way our process worked was Dale would remove the tile and either pile them on the scaffolding or through them on the floor if they were broken and then I had the lovely job of cleaning up after him!  We'd get a section done and then I'd unlock the wheels and move Dale and the scaffolding over to the next area.  I'm not so sure I got the easy job!

Once the tile were down, the rooms looked huge!

Major progress made today!

3rd Layer of Cleaning - Day 1

As many of you know, we had to say goodbye to my father-in-law this past week.  He had 89 years on this earth and is now with his wife and son.

It was good to be back in the building.  I really love this place and find by the end of the day, I just can't wipe the smile off my face.

The front kitchen has always been my favorite, so it was time to tackle the cleaning in that room.  As you can see from the picture below, it will be beautiful once we get the floors restored.  This floor was previously swept and then vacuumed.  I still can't believe the amount of dirt that is embedded in the wood flooring.  The water in the bucket turns black after the going over the first six-foot section.  That faucet doesn't work, which is why I brought over a 5-gallon bucket of hot water with me, but I can empty the dirty water into the sink.  Or maybe that wasn't a good idea.  Now I find out the sink is plugged.  Off to another apartment to get the plunger.  Well I was able to "force" the water down the drain with the plunger, but I wouldn't say the issue was resolved.

The rest of the kitchen was quickly mopped just to get a half layer of dirt up.  I'm growing bored with this project.  It's just so hard when I only have one sink that barely has water in it.  It makes for a lot of trips for clean water.

After stepping outside for a break (and to head to Three Crows for another cup of coffee), I discovered that it is a beautiful day outside!  Change of plans on cleaning.  I'm moving onto windows so I can enjoy the sunshine.  All the double-hung windows have storm windows, which means there are eight sides to clean.  Ugh.  Dale has to maneuver the windows around so I can clean them.

These windows are in the back alley kitchen where we always enter the building.  We're starting there since that's what we look through the most.

I cleaned the bottom section first on the inside.  Smokers (and probably a lot of them) lived in this apartment.  The window was cleaned using the scrubby part of the sponge.  Then a sham-wow was used to wipe off the soapy mess, followed by the paper towel in the picture below.

Smoke residue on the paper towel after cleaning the window.

See the brown spots?  That would be the nicotine-ladened water dripping from the window. Ick.  In addition, Lime-Away had to be used on the outside of the windows to remove the years of calcium buildup.

The transformation is amazing!  Before and after pictures.

And look how pretty from the outside!

Now it time for a break from the windows, so heading back inside to work on floors.  

Cleaning the floor in the front alley apartment.

Before and after pics of the front alley kitchen. 

So I'm feeling brave (even though I tore a hole in my rubber gloves and decided to hit the bathroom in the front alley building.  Again, Lime-Away did a pretty good job... too bad I ran out.  Need to get more and continue working on this mess.

 The enclosure is complete, and hopefully Dale will have time to begin working on the new storefront this week.

So all in all, a really great relaxing Sunday!