Friday, April 24, 2009

House- Day 5: YUCK

We came home to our 'town house' for dinner tonight.  We're grilling some of our grassfed t-bone steaks and having a bottle of wine.   V and I have been working all day and didn't even bother to bring the kids out to the acreage.  We had J14 pick up the boys from their after school program on her way home.
I came downstairs after my shower wearing a sundress.  The conversation that ensued was something like this:
V:  You're dressed up, what's the occasion?
Me:  I'm clean.
V: Yes, you are, but what's the occasion?
Me:  Because I'm clean!!!
You can tell by this that I had been in desperate need of a shower when we got home.  Today was the day of 'dirty work'.  V actually had it much worse than I.  He tackled dismantling the dark room which is ground zero of rodent infestation.  The darkroom was essentially a closet that was lined with black plastic.  The mice had gotten up on top of the plastic in the ceiling.  There was enough mouse doo up there that it was running down the back of the plastic and pooling on the floor.  V got kitted up to do battle:
Yes, that's a surgical scrub gown
For the guy who can handle anything, even he said he had a hard time not vomiting while he ripped down the plastic.
Then we both got down to dirty work removing the rotted fascia and soffit from part of the roof, installing venting and reconstructing.
Before
During
There were several sections where birds have been getting in.  The space in the center has already been partially cleared but the nesting material went back probably 3 or more feet.  It all got pulled out with a hoe.  Sorry Mama Robin, those eggs won't hatch.  It was filthy work and we both had to wear masks while ripping down rotten boards and clearing nests.  But behold:
Nearly finished!! 
It just needs the trim molding put back on but we're going to try to finish that tomorrow.  We're forecast for possible thunderstorms tomorrow.  I hope they miss us, we have too much to do.  I go back to work on Monday and that will leave V doing most of the work himself.

10 comments:

  1. Congrats on that major hurdle cleared! Ground zero cleared is huge!

    You guys are amazing!

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  2. I feel for V...having to deal with all that mouse poo. I would smell it for days I'm afraid. I would scrub my skin until it fell off...lol I hope it doesn't rain so you can get more done. Do you have all the mouse poo out? or is it in every wall? How in the devil can you get it all? Hope you enjoyed your wine. You deserved it for sure!...debbie

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  3. Ugg, mouse poop! We lived in an apartment in THE CITY like that--the urine stank horribly! We finally got back rent for it when they started burrowing in the landlord's section of the house!

    Looks like things are moving forward! Yay for being clean :)

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  4. Oh my, what a huge project. Poor V dealing with the mouse droppings. Being clean is a feeling that can't be beat on those days. You both really are putting so much work into this and seeing results so quickly, congrats!

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  5. Ugh, I definitely feel for V! That sounds like hideous work! But things *are* coming along so nicely and looking so good, congrats!

    Feel free to send the thunderstorms to Michigan since they interfere with your plans...I am working all weekend long and wouldn't mind a little wet outside....that might mean I'd end up helping 200 people a day instead of the 250 to 300 I get on nice weather weekend days...

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  6. Ugh - GROSS! But at least it is done - WHOO HOOO. Have a great weekend
    Kris

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  7. Someday you'll look back on all this and have a good laugh. Someday!

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  8. Ewwwww! Congrats on getting that taken care of, though.

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  9. WOW! How exciting to be getting this stuff done and to have the before and after pics.
    Nice job!
    It looks like lots of hard work, but very gratifying as well.

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