Introduction continued

Once the garbage was removed and the rooms were basically empty, we started removing wallpaper and ripping out carpeting. The carpet was a nasty shag in several colors and it all felt mildewy and old. On our previous trips to the home for the showings and inspection, we were only able to see small portions of what lie beneath the carpet, so although we could see it was a plank floor, we really had no idea what it was going to look like when we pulled up the carpet.

To our delight, we found wood plank floors varying in width and material, but none-the-less promising. The wood had been painted and felt like it had some heavy wax coat of sort on it. There were places where the boards were loose and the uneven areas had been filled in with what seemed to be plaster, just one of the many strange fixes, we would find. With the carpet and wallpaper out and the windows and doors opened, the old, mildew, mothball smell started to dissipate.
The other smell we had to take care of was one that was discovered in our inspection. Rodents, squirrels, and God only knows what else, had inhabited the attic and taken the insulation down to about an inch. In place of the missing insulation, they deposited their feces. There was no real easy way to tackle the clean up and I decided the best solution, although not simple, was to tear down all of the ceilings on the second floor and hang drywall.

In the sweltering heat of July, I crawled into the attic with a breathing aparatus, goggles, gloves, and boots and headed over to the worst room first. Since the old ceilings were plaster, I had to not only remove the plaster, but the lathe as well. I figured the attic would give me good leverage to knock it down. I sat on the ceiling joists and stomped with my feet until the plaster began to fall. With every kick and every hole, a cloud of soot, feces, insulation, plaster and whatever else would fill the room. I could barely see at times. It must have been 105 degrees in the attic and I could barely breath through my mask. It took several days and a couple helpers to finally knock down the entire ceiling. My father-in-law was following behind me and cleaning each room as I finished. I can't tell you how grateful I am.