February: Clearing Roofs

It just wouldn't be February if we didn't have to clear at least one roof. This was very, very dense--when the big icicle came down, it struck the vinyl siding and cracked it. More work!

Cutting Back

We finally tore down the kitchen ceiling--which turned out to be two ceilings, one over the other. We also solved the mystery of how they supported the beam that replaced the load-bearing wall dividing the kitchen. They used a heavy iron bracket to lag-bolt the whole bag of tricks to the next joist over--the one carried by the wall supported by the joist in the cellar with one end severed to make room for the vent stack, and the other cut through to accommodate the chimney. With the plaster all gone, everything started to look a bit cheerier. By the way, that huge spike I removed by hand--it supported nothing.

Destruction

We created a plastic wall around the destruction site--tremendously optimistic! It started well enough, but gradually the plaster worked its way into everything.

We had to remove not one but two ceilings. I thought that they had just patched the old plaster up and smoothed on a coat of that dreadful "swirl and spike" spackling compound, but no, they strapped over it and nailed up Gyproc first. Down they came, two full ceilings.

After a period of careful sorting and trucking wheelbarrows about, I started dumping it straight out the front door....


Even had the beam been properly supported, it could not have done anything much for the upper floor. This view shows the gap--about five inches--between the beam and the joists. This means that the support has derived entirely from the 24 foot joists spanning the walls of the house.

No wonder it was a bit bouncy!