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Demolition, Part II

2006.02.08

I took a couple days off work, and today I continued tearing down moldy drywall.  I brought in the sledges from the garage, and after a few good whacks from inside the corner closet, I had busted through one of the the tongue-and-groove joints, so I could start pulling the boards down.

Then I started pulling drywall off the west exterior wall of the corner closet.  You think the mold looks bad on the outside of the drywall, then you see the inside.  And, oh joy, more wood paneling, which really makes it more difficult to remove the drywall.

I continued along the west wall of the back room, cutting and then prying off the bottom foot or two, depending on how high the mold seemed to go.  I had better luck with the reciprocating saw today, though it still liked to chatter out of control and sputter down the wall in an arc.  It does take some skill to run one of these things, I guess, but I’m still unimpressed with the performance.  I sprayed the pieces of drywall with bleach as I went along, and stacked them up on some plastic I put down.

In the middle of the west wall is a wood post, underneath the main beam that runs down the middle of the house and supports the floor and walls above.  After I got the drywall and paneling off at the bottom, I could see that the post had been painted white at some point.  But down at the floor, it’s almost black.  I was afraid to touch it with the hammer or something, for fear it would crumble.  I’m not sure if that post is really necessary… the beam should be resting on the concrete wall, and anyway there’s another post about three feet away in the middle of the room.

I continued along the west wall, and then turned the corner.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled some drywall off, and saw that there was insulation behind it.  Probably the only insulated wall in the entire house, and it’s in the basement, on the south side.  Who were these clowns that worked on this house?  Well, at least I didn’t have to deal with the wood paneling on that wall.

I moved along the south wall, and paused to flip the breaker for the wall heater before getting too close to it with the reciprocating saw.  You would assume that the wiring ran straight down from the top of the wall but…  I stopped short of the wall heater, hopefully reaching the extent of the mold growth, at least based on what I can see from the outside and what I’ve removed.

I still have more to do.  The wall that separates the corner closet from the hot water heater closet is also moldy.  And ultimately, I think I need to pull all the drywall off any walls with paneling underneath, so I can get that wood down as well.