After tearing up the kids room carpet, we began working on more roof removal and upper level floor joists. We rolled back the green tarps and got to work.
After adding more floor joists it was time to put up the trusses again and button up the house.
This time we put 2 layers of tarp down. First the green and then a gigantic white 50′ x 50′ tarp. Hopefully that will keep the rain out. I’ll have photos of our ‘tented’ house soon.
I previously described one ceiling step-through that was traumatic in the immediate time frame, but there was another that was less immediately problematic but more destructive a bit later. As you will remember, showers were forecast for Saturday after we put on the tarp. We got the tarp up and thought we were set. We went to see one of Toby’s performances in the Living Christmas Tree. It poured while we were gone. When we had returned from Toby’s show, we came home to a soaking wet kids room. Examination of the problem showed that one of the holes that we had diligently taped up had thoroughly leaked. It also was at the bottom of a ‘valley’ in the tarp, between the trusses. So all the water that collected on that section of tarp funnelled right to the hole, and it drained down onto the ceiling drywall. Now that might not have been *so* bad except that the hole in the tarp was nearly directly above the spot where the ceiling had been stepped through in the kid’s room. If the ceiling had been intact, the water might have spread out over a larger area, and been absorbed by the ceiling drywall, maybe. Maybe not. As it was, the plywood that I had attached to the inside ceiling to keep out the attic insulation served to direct the water into the center of the kids room, away from Lucy’s crib (small blessing). The kids slept in the office that night and the next and the next and the next… There was no standing water, the water had soaked into the carpet and the padding. Over the next few days, we worked on sopping up the water with our little hand steam vac, towels, and we even rented a full size steam cleaner thinking that we could suck up the water. In about 3 days the carpet dried to the point where it was nearly dry to the touch. But the room stank. It reeked to high heaven. I made the decision that the carpet had to come up. I cut out a 10′ x 9′ section of the carpet and pad. Although the carpet was mostly dry to the touch, the pad was still soaked. I was able to wring water out of the pad. Once the underfloor was cleaned and dried (I used vinegar), the smell went away completely within the hour. So now the oak floors are exposed in the kids room.
There were showers forecasted for Saturday afternoon, so we took some time to cover up to protect our now roof-less house. We built some temporary trusses to give some slope to the 2 40′ x 30′ green tarps we were using.
One of the tarps had some holes cut in it to go around the existing vent pipes. We worked to tape up the holes with Gorilla tape. At the end of the afternoon, it looked pretty good.
December was a busy month for us. Toby had her Christmas show (The Living Christmas Tree) and so after work I had the kids for the nights that she was gone. She really enjoyed performing for many enthusiastic audiences. As for the project, we continued to remove the existing roof and layout floor joists. We had a couple of step-throughs (through the ceiling drywall) as we worked up in the former attic. Toby had a comically bad hour one afternoon. (This being 3 weeks later I can write about it.) We were removing a large section of roof and the corner dropped down on the drywall. Unfortunately, Toby was helping Lucy on the toilet right below where the drywall came down. About one square foot of drywall, in 3 or 4 pieces came raining down around Toby and Lucy. The scariest part was the attic insulation. We have blown-in insulation in the attic, and when the ceiling broke, the insulation just poured down on the girls. Toby screamed and when I came down she was crying. She sobbed and sobbed. I spoke comforting words as I have been trained to do. After a while, she recovered enough to help me cover the ceiling with a piece of plywood. The floor was covered with 4 inches of insultation and as Toby moved to hold up the plywood, she stepped on a nail sticking up from the drywall that had fallen. Toby hopped on one foot, crying again, trying to see the damage done by the nail. I lowered the plywood and moved to place it on the floor so I could help Toby. As I swung the plywood down to the floor, I hit Toby in the head with the corner of the wood.
When we were having pre-breakfast bed cuddles (mostly to keep warm these days), I told Max that when we go to Oregon for Christmas, we’ll go sledding. BUT we will leave sister Lucy with her Gran, because I know she’ll get fussy in the cold very quickly. He said with tears, “I don’t want to go if she doesn’t go!!” (amazing when the care for her comes out – but I’m sure he’ll change his mind about the sledding. 🙂 In the kitchen during breakfast Max said, “When you and Dad are close to heaven, then Baby and I will have babies!” I said, “Yes, you will marry someone and Lucy will marry someone and you will have your own babies.” He said, “But I want to marry Lucy!” I said, “Buddy, you can’t marry your sister. Dad and I aren’t brother and sister. We have different moms and dads, remember?” He seemed very confused by this. Last month we watched the wonderful animated movie about Moses “Prince of Egypt.” Max REALLY liked it so we picked up from the library – “Joseph – King of Dreams.” It’s also by Dreamworks, with similiar animation and songs. He is liking this one very much as well – and said yesterday with glee, “I can’t WAIT to see more movies about the Bible!” He’s been having some trouble with the presents under the Christmas tree. One of them rattles, just like a box of Legos would. This is VERY hard for him, and daily he tells me that he is sad, or frustrated, etc to have to wait. We’ve prayed together often about this, to ask God to help him be patient, and to focus on other things. This morning he was having a hard moment again. Then he said, “But sometimes I decide to change my mind, and think about the Bible and not the present box.” Amen!