And he wonders why he hurts!

On Friday, Dale came home and said that he was tired and couldn't figure out why.  His next sentence was, "I broke the crow bar today".  Geeze, I wonder why he hurts!!!!!

Building-front #2 was completed on Saturday with the help of our good friend, Al.  What would've taken three days for Dale to build was completed in one day.

I started removing plaster from the alley building on the stairway wall.  This is the building where we changed the first store-front.  I had to quit at noon to go home and take a nap.  Al and Dale were using the big ladder so I wasn't able to finish (not that I was even physically capable!).

My goal was to get the gold removed, but I just ran out of steam.

Trash was removed and now another pile begins.  

Remember... this is where all the ceiling tile were piled up!

This is the first wall that I removed the plaster.  The wood is finally drying out on the left side from the leaky sink upstairs.

The ceiling tile and grid have all been removed.  The ceiling looks different on the right and left sides because there is ceiling stripping on the right where the extra ceiling was fastened.  The white walls are peg-board that will hopefully be removed in the next couple of weeks.  

This picture was taken with my back against the wall of the building front we just changed.  I don't think I have this shot in previous pictures.  

The wood panels on the bottom of the windows will be removed.  They're there only to keep people from easily accessing the building through the plastic.

Amazing Progress!

I'm leaving town more often!  Major progress in 3 days!

Ok... so I'm frustrated... I can't get these pictures to move around so I'm just going to post them.  I'm back home and would rather spend time talking to my hubby than trying to figure out the blog.

Enjoy!



Another building front removed with the help from our good friends at J&J Glass!

If I had a hammer...

Spent 9 hours hammering the plaster off the stairway wall.  The good new is that instead of the lathe we were expecting, it's more of a tongue-and-groove material.  As you can see, this will now require removing the plaster from the grooves with a screwdriver.  That'll have to wait...  I'm so tired.

The left side of the picture is the stairway wall that I'm working on.  The ladders are in front of the brick wall where Dale is working.  As you can see, he has completed one section!

Halfway there!  See the darker wood on the left?  That is wet wood.  And how did it get wet?  Well, remember the kitchen I cleaned a few weeks ago?  All that water I sent down the sink ended up on this wall.  :(

You can see by the  lighting that it is night time.  We completed the entire wall except the small section behind the green ladder.  For some reason, this section was very difficult to remove.  At 6:30 p.m., we called it quits for the night.

Screwdriver work for another day!

This is in the same building as the new store-front.  Out of eight bathrooms in the building, this is now our only functioning bathroom.   Well.... you have to pour a bucket of water down the toilet to flush it.

The enclosure is ready for glass and a new door!  This may be revealed to everyone by the end of the week!

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!