Dumpster cleaning
This week the focus is on getting a dumpster and getting the bagged up trash out of the house.
This is after 1 pass of cleaning.
First up is another pass through the house to do some more bagging of garbage and some spot cleaning. The kitchen was left in a rough state and I need to get the stove cleaned because I can't stand looking at the amount of caked on food and grease. I start moving all the trash down from the 2nd and 3rd floors leaving just the furniture I want to remove. That will need to wait until my brother arrives the next day since it's too large for a one person carry.
Later in the day, I visit with contractors from the Keating group to discuss issues found under the house during the inspection. The inspection turned up insect damage and a few other foundation issues. I had the contractor come by to do a quick look and he gave me a ballpark estimate, but this follow up is more detailed and I'm onsite so they can show me the issues. They head under the main house and show me where a lot of floor joists have been destroyed from insect damage. More worrisome is that the damage has gone up into the balloon framed studs. Balloon framing is the old style technique of building houses that flourished from the mid 1800s to the 1930s. Basically it means that the studs run the height of the house, up into the 2nd story (and sometimes 3rd). This style is different than the modern platform style where the studs only extend the height of that floor. If the damage has extended into the studs, it is unclear as to how we can fix the issue because the stud is an integral part of the house where in platform framing, swapping out a stud is a bit easier. The news doesn't get better with a lot of moisture under the house, but I guess that's to be expected in a barrier island house. We look at the cottage and that is missing a beam but that doesn't appear to be as bad as the insect damage.
It's interesting to see the history lesson of how the foundation was modified through the years. The earliest parts have the foundation supported using tree trunks. Then as those wood trunks rot, they get replaced by bricks. Then the most modern replacements are cinder blocks. Under the crawlspace you see this hodgepodge of work showing the age of the house.
After smashing the boxspring, I don't even want to think about what stain that is on those old sheets.
The next day the dumpster arrives and we get to work carrying out the trash. Since there's so many beds in the property, we start with getting those out since they take up the most space. We hit the cottage which has 3 beds and every single box spring is cracked and broken. We try to get the box springs down the stairs, but no luck. The cottage is old and the stairs are small and not up to modern standards. I have no idea how these box springs got up here and possibly were hoisted in through the windows and left here for years. Since they are already cracked we decide to smash them up and bring them down in pieces.
After the beds we keep carrying out bags of trash and worn out furniture. Smashing things up where possible to save space. Once we get the 2nd floor pretty much cleaned up, we then start ripping out the heavily worn and stained carpet. As we rip up the carpet in the bedrooms, we see the expected wood floors, but then as we peel back more carpet, we see a cool design of what appears to be an oilcloth or linoleum rug. I saw remnants of these in the closest and on the stairs landing going to the 3rd floor, but here are the complete rugs. We look under the rugs and see some old papers. 1 dated to 1947 and another 1960. Hard to say how old the linoleum rugs are and while they are really cool, I'm not sure how we'll work around them. I'm afraid to move them because they may crack or tear.
After the carpets are off and the dumpster almost full, we throw out a few more odds and ends to top off the dumpster and then pack up for the day. Still lots of stuff in the house, but maybe not as bad so rather than getting a dumpster, I'll see if I can give the remaining furniture to a thrift store or away on Craigslist.
Yep, that's a condom wrapper and a needle under this bed.
