Don't slow him down!

"It's amazing how many things get in the way that slow me down!"  Dale Graunke, 1/10/14, 5:30 p.m.

You know when you're running late for something and you're still trying to get everything ready so you can get out the door?  That would be the pace of Dale Graunke -- all day -- every day.

Last night we talked about what would be accomplished in the coming days and Dale said it was time to get the place cleaned up.  Okaaaayy.  So he had our friend, Mike Barfknecht, bring in a special dumpster to load up all the plaster we've been removing.  So yes, we now have two huge dumpsters in the back of the building (too dark to take a picture and I forgot to do it earlier in the day).

Clean floor!  Also notice the plywood covering the opening to the other building.  That was put there so when the plaster was shoveled into the wheelbarrow and the dust was floating around, it wouldn't go into the other side.

Remember the wood structure at the back of the building?  It's coming down!  The furnace was moved back so it's on top of what was once a bathroom.  There's no plumbing in there anymore so I guess you can call it a closet now.  Also check out the dark areas in the floor - that's where tile has been removed.

More floor cleaned up.

The phone didn't take such a great pic... and I'm sure it was the phone.  Anyway... check out the tarps that were hung between the two buildings. This was to keep the dust out.  Is anybody questioning this?  Check out the floor in the lower lefthand corner of this picture.  Looks like dust to me!  So what's a little more dust!  It's Dale's world, so whatever makes him happy....

These stairs came from the structure in the middle building that he's tearing down in the first picture.  Another recycling opportunity!  These will now become the temporary stairs to the basement in "Deann's" building (that's the space closest to Delano Floral) because those stairs are leaning so badly that I don't really care to go up and down them.  See picture below.

I don't like these stairs, which is why you don't have a better picture of them.

The area where the tile have been removed is the same area where there was MAJOR rippling going on in the floor.  Look!!! No ripples!  Boy, that Dale is one talented guy!

Dale is determined to get this structure out of there.  That's where the stairs came from.

I was drinking a beer during this picture segment and watching the scenery. :)

Going at it with a maul.  Keep in mind, this is after 10 hours of work -- and he's still going!

This is a close-up of the floor.  As you can see, once the tile is removed, there's another layer, which I think is called sub-flooring.  I have a really bad feeling about this one.... I think that's my next job.  Remember, I get to do everything close to the ground. Yikes.

So the structure is down...  My beer is finished.... and Dale will remove the rest of the plaster and load up the wheelbarrow with the plaster on the floor (approximately 3 loads according to him).  

So now he's home after a 12 1/2 hour day.  I was out of town this week and he got so much done that I think we're going to have "date-weekend"!

Recycling Day

Remember all the pipes in the middle of the floor last week? Well, Dale loaded up the pickup and off we went to the recycling yard in Waverly.  1500 lbs. recycled today!

I only have a picture of the yard because I thought the guys working there would NOT appreciate me taking pictures of them unloading the steel in the freezing temps.  So I sat in the cab with the heated seats.

Dumpster's almost full!  Should be full by the end of the week!

Dale finished this wall last week.  We had a miscommunication and I didn't know that's what he was up to when he was supposed to be home for date-night!

Since we have running water in only one of the buildings, and the weather has been the coldest in 20 years,  Dale's been keeping an eye on the temperature in the basement to make sure the pipes don't freeze.  The thermometer got down to 38 degrees.  Too close for comfort.  So the trap door in the floor was opened (I didn't even know it was there!) and the big fan is pumping warm air into the basement.

He just couldn't resist.  Had to start peeling back the tile to expose the wood floor.  I don't know why he had to start there - that's where we had to remove everything from the basement!

Then he had to go see how the floor would come up on the other side.

And checking on the ease of removing tile in the middle of the floor.

BEFORE:  Shelf thing almost gone.

AFTER:  Oh so clean!

BEFORE:  There a green wall and that white shelf thing off to the right.

AFTER:  Now it's all gone!