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!

Deja Vu - 2 months later

Started the day off fairly easy as you can see below.  Not feeling very ambitious today so grabbed a screwdriver (not the drink!) and with coffee in hand, started chipping the plaster away from the grooves in the wood.

I thought it was going to be a day of taking plaster off the wall with my very-own-brand-new respirator!  But NOOOOO, it's 40+ degrees and sunny outside and we're heading to the basement AGAIN!!!

I just looked back on an older post from October 27th, titled "More than just a Photographer".  It was 2 months ago that I was in this exact basement cleaning it up.  And now Dale made a mess again.  He's tearing down all the stuff I couldn't (or didn't feel like).  The next couple of pictures may not appear that bad to the untrained Dale-helper, but I'm here to tell you... it was HELL today!  My first clue that it would be a tough day was seeing those two sawhorses in the middle of the room.  That meant Dale wasn't done yet.

Yep... That green wall came down, those strips of wood on the ceiling (95 feet of them) all came down, too.  And as you know, I'm not the tallest girl in town, which means I get to bend over and pick everything up.  Then, up the 12 stairs, around the corner, out the door and into the dumpster I go.  Over and over and over again.

I was standing in the same place for the picture below as the one above, only I turned to my right.  The stairs would be off to the left.  In front of me is a wall of pegboard and some weird two-foot box built along the wall.  And of course, it also needs to come out!  As quick as I was able to carry garbage out, Dale was tearing into more.  In case you were wondering, pegboard is really heavy.

That would be a sump-pump in the middle of the floor with a nifty jury-rigged (and yes, that's the correct spelling.  I looked it up) hose making it's way outside.  I'm sure it'll be used this March when the floods come because it won't warm up enough for any of our snow to melt so we'll have some "moisture" in the basement.

More useless wood stripping to come down off the ceiling (and for Lynn to clean up).

 Oh look...  why use the sawhorses when you can save time and get down on the floor to cut wood into little pieces!!!!

Are those knee-pads he has on?!?!?!  Hey!!!!  Oh wait....  shhhh.....  don't say anything or I might get those for Valentine's Day! 

Now you see it... Now you don't!

The pipes on the ceiling came down!  It looks so clean!

BEFORE - look far right at pipes on ceiling and running down the wall.

AFTER - Pipes are history and in a pile on the floor!

A gift from a friend

 What a way to start off the day!  Our neighbor, Deann, of Delano Floral gave us this beautiful Poinsettia plant and gift of goodies!  We live in the BEST town EVER!  I just love everyone here!

The next picture is the space under the stairs.  What's interesting is that the left side was completely clean and the right side had a bunch of scrap material thrown in there.

Before

After Dale cleaned out the rubbish.

Found this really cool shelf under those stairs!  Yep... it's a keeper!

This picture was taken while standing at the front of the building.  The post in front is a support beam between Deanne's building  and the center building.  From this angle, you can see all three spaces.  The alley building is through the openings on the right.

Dale is know for making nice piles of trash so they're manageable once he ready to get everything into the dumpster.  I don't know what he'd do without that wheelbarrow!

Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of material is hauled out to the dumpster.  But it is not just thrown in there willy-nilly. No siree.  It's stacked up once again!!!  Only an anal German can do this!

Another bathroom gone.

Project 1 for the day completed.  Removed the plaster from the stairway wall on the Alley building.  Now onto the other side of the wall.

Now the other side of the wall is also completed.

The pegboard has been removed from the center building and now it's time to remove the plaster to expose the brick.  I did the lower parts and that's where I called it quits for the day.  Dale just arrived home and said he finished everything up to the big chimney.  I think he's referring to the big chimney on the left.  Can't wait to see it tomorrow!

getting pretty hazy in there!

Holidays.... too much going on!

It's been a MONTH since I've been able to work on The Jerome!!!!  We went there last weekend and I captured the following pictures.  While we were there and Dale was busy shoveling snow out in front, I grabbed his hammer and knocked off some plaster (it's an addiction).

So here's where we were at last week.  Dale is sitting here covered in dust and said he's made major progress.  I can't wait to get there to take more pictures.  Christmas shopping will resume on Sunday - I need a day of good, hard physical labor on Saturday!

Before - notice the wall near the "For Lease" sign where the sheet of plywood is leaning.

During - a picture of the innards. 

After - the wall is gone and now the two buildings are becoming one!

Another stairway wall that requires my attention.  More plaster coming down!

Close-up of the stairway wall with a business card that was uncovered.

1937 business card!

Carpet came off one post and now we have one more to go!

This is in the middle building looking towards the back.  See the structure on the right? It's holding up the furnace, which will hopefully be moved within the next few days.  All the pegboard on the wall to the right was removed today (or so I'm told--that's his story and he's sticking to it!).

Again... middle building.  Check out this window!  Once the furnace is moved, Dale is going to take the plywood that is fastened from the outside to let LOTS of natural light in!  I can't wait to see this!  On the floor is the air conditioner that came out of the spot above the door (that used to be a transom window).