And the Sheetrock Came Tumbling Down

It's time for another update from the wonderful world of the Kugler remodel.

We got a lot done yesterday, but of course still have quite a bit more to do in the way of tearing out. Our dumpster is probably about 2/3 full now.

All the wood paneling that was in the living room, upstairs hallway, family room, guest bedroom, and office is off the walls and out in the dumpster. It's what we found under the wood paneling that was the most interesting (or revolting, depending on one's perspective).

In one word: mold. More in some places than others. Under the windows in the living room there are panels of sheetrock with quite a bit of mold on it, and will have to come out. The wall between the family and guest bedroom downstairs had enough mold on it (on both sides) that the entire wall (save the studs) has already been torn out.

The worst mold infestiation, by far, has been the office. In general, the reason the mold has been so bad was simple physics and biology: 1) the previous owners vented their dryer into the house for 13 years, 2) wood paneling on sheet rock creates a very tight airspace; once the moisture in there, there is no airflow to remove the moisture or dry it out, and 3) mold likes paper, period. In the office, this problem was exacerbated for two reasons. First, the wood paneling was installed over wallpaper which covered the sheet rock. Second, the office shares a wall with the downstairs bathroom. It appears that one end of the wall in the bathroom was broken through from the office side (apparently for tub installation) and never repaired, so there was no effective vapor barrier between the bathroom and the office wall. Combined with the wall paper, what we had was, effectively, about as ideal a mold incubator as you could get. The wall paper in that corner of the room was so molded that it looked and felt like parchment paper. Pretty gross.

In other news, the kitchen floor is out, and it looks like a minimal amount of repair will be needed on the subfloor (pending inspection by qualified personnel, of course).

We will be doing more work on May 5th, and would welcome any help. There is plenty to do. Carpet tack strips to tear up; padding on the stairs; more moldy (or otherwise needs-to-be-replaced) sheetrock to tear out; tear out fake "bricks" in the kitchen; probably tear out the tub in the downstairs bathoom; removing linoleum in the laundry room, bathroom, and downstairs hallway and office. And just general cleanup. Bring tools, and a respirator if you have one. We'll provide particle masks if you don't.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend a good, honest, plumber, forward his or her name our way. We need one of those due to a few compromised pipes.