Monday, September 21, 2009

September Update

The summer is almost over. It's been an interesting one, filled with numerous trips to the transfer station (sounds much nicer than dump, doesn't it?). I continue to be amazed that it took us an entire summer to empty the cabin. It's not entirely empty, there is some furniture and a smallish collection of boxes. "Smallish" is a relative term - but believe me - this is smallish! I want to restate that I am a packrat. Yes, I am. Yet this cabin has cured me. I never dreamed I would be so toss-happy. My grandmother would be horrified and I remain a bit surprised myself. It has been a loosely organized tossing - some items being immediately tossed while others kept for awhile before being classified as needing-to-be-tossed.
Michele likes Gary's new tool kit!
I am happy to report that we've moved into Phase Two: cleaning and ripping. Our many thanks to fellow family members for all the labor day weekend help. They claim they didn't do much. We feel much differently about that! Any and all help is extremely appreciated!! I know they wanted to do more - ripping and tearing and helping us get squared away before winter comes. However, the dreaded M word became a reality. M=money, or lack thereof.....
Mom & Bruce removing the old, smelly ceiling tiles in the loft
Jon & Bruce removing more ceiling tiles - they're all gone now! (the tiles, that is...)
Yet, with a leaking roof, cracked windows and rotten siding - we felt the need to borrow money to get the little cabin secured before winter. Now we have remodeling money and our help has gone home. Let nobody ever accuse me of good timing. The roof is to be professionally installed within the next two weeks. Then siding and windows. Even with this on the horizon, we felt the need to make some emergency repairs - some of which can be kept as permanent repairs.
Gary undoing some wiring before we begin ripping - right wall
Left wall - before rippping
Yes - our little beach cabin lost some of its charm this past weekend. Oh, I can still foresee many great beach weekends with family and friends - these outings will be made much richer knowing we busted our butts to make it all happen.
This is why we were ripping.....
I was reminded this weekend how much I dislike carpentry. With sewing and knitting there is ease. Not so with plywood, floor underlayment, and hardi-board. But the large gaping holes in the floor/walls needed to go. I'm not excited about having another Willard siting and I'm thinking Gary isn't, either.
All the yukky stuff is gone...but now we must work fast before night falls!
But we're now relieved we made these repairs - the house smells even better now - sort of like a lumberyard. The moldy, rotten floor underlayment was smelly!
Ripping up that floor was NOT fun - and it took the Fein tool, the sawzall, and the skill saw! New wood looks (and smells!) nice!! Look, ma! No holes!
The last item we had to complete? The HUGE hole in the floor where the mover fell through when packing up grandma's things. I remember her being sooooo indignant when he damaged her floor! Sheesh! And finally (and we do mean FINALLY!) ALL DONE! Ok, except for leveling the floor surface and recovering it with something....Gary's leaning towards Pergo - and I'm unsure about that.
(ignore the plastic leaf bag nailed to the left window - it's a temporary location for garbage collection) Did I mention we are extremely happy this is behind us?????

1 comment:

  1. That sound you hear is thundering applause! WOW, you two really did big stuff on that wall and floor! Am sure it's not down to Willard's standards now! Good on you!

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