photos from this week
Command Central set up in middle room
Foreman Al and the demo crew
Clothes coming out of the vent
and more clothes
and a thong, just for Foreman Al!
what a nice living room (note archway that was filled in)
Erin and Lianne made short work of the front hall
Superman Jordan carrying the appliances down from the second floor
Mr. Refrigerator Head
A house to be proud of
Week 3 - October 17th to 23rd, 2006
This week's visit's at the crack house were lower in number than last week, but no less entertaining.
First of all, Andreas made the acquaintance of roofer Willy. He's from Newfoundland and was working on a house near the one we live in. He heard we needed some work done but the job was too small for the roofing people he works for. He's very, very eager and enthusiastic and natters non-stop but his heart's in the right place. We scheduled him to come over on Sunday afternoon to fix that lovely upstairs bathroom dormer.
Friday night we meant to go over to the ch, but once I got home from work, a Friday night at home with take-out Chinese was just what the doctor ordered. P.S. Fabulous Chinese Food @ Donlands Garden.
I sent out a random email on Friday to a few friends to see if they needed to get out some aggression on the weekend. Not hearing back from anyone, (I don't blame them!) we headed to the crack house about 11am on Saturday.
Saturday October 15th
This time we packed along a small fridge, a microwave and a kettle. The coffee maker was already there! I figured that we'd likely be spending a fair bit of time at the ch, so we need to be prepared. Command Central is now fully set up.
First things first, Andreas had gone to an aluminum place to have some panes of glass replaced in the basement windows, and in the front window. He had picked them up and was now in the process of fitting them all together, so we could at least take down the plywood over the basement windows. I was sorting out Command Central & stocking up on diet pop and snacks. I went down to see how he was doing with the windows only to find him staring at the window & scratching his head. After we both had a good look at the window and the neighbouring windows we figured out that the whole window was put in upside down! So we flipped the 4 sliding panes upside down and magically it worked.
Front window also had it's panes put in and then just as I started to bang on the front room wall, our friends Sarah & Al show up. With Tim Horton's (bless them). This is about noon - they had just got our email and discovered at the same time their own Sat. night plans were cancelled so over they came. Al even brought his hard hat.
As Andreas roto-tilled the stubborn main floor toilet (the slow-flusher), we three made short work of drywall, plaster and lath in about 60% of that main room. Andreas popped in to announce he had found a can lid in the pipes (like from a soup can) and hopefully that's all.
Meanwhile, during the demo, a man walked up onto the porch. This in and of itself is not odd; we have a curious neighbourhood and an open door policy. However, this man stared through the gap in the wall of the main front room (a.k.a. the window) and asked if the house was for sale. Strangely enough, I said that it had been sold, but I did not add 'to me'. Then he asked if it was being renovated, and being an older dude, I figured maybe he wasn't noticing the piles of debris we were standing in the middle of or maybe it was the dust was obscuring his vision...anyway, I said yes, and he asked something like 'take a long time, take 6 months'. I said yes, it'd probably take that long. He sort of harrumphed and shuffled off, saying that he used to live here. (gasp)
I asked how long ago and he said (quite sarcastically I thought) 'six months ago'. I presumed he was one of the evictees.
We broke for lunch (left over Chinese, of course) and then needed to rearrange the contents of that whole room ~ the demo debris was taking over. Then Al took over, directing us on what to pile where, so herewith he will be known as "Foreman Al".
The rest of the day was spent tearing down the front room, and then, low and behold, Foreman Al takes the vent cover off, and finds a few items lurking in the ducting. He grabs a piece of lath, with a nail on the end and starts pulling clothes out from the duct. Foreman Al ends up with a stinky pile of clothes; enough to fill a garbage bag - including a couple of thongs. Lovely. Also sees a needle, of course, but left it in place for now.
With this discovery, Foreman Al is driven to the basement and next thing I know the whole ceiling and most of the drywall has been ripped off in the stolen goods room. (front of the house, in the basement). I was there to witness some of the ceiling, and the approximately four tonnes of newspaper that was stuffed up in there - but not as insulation, just piled in. The earliest is from 1996, so no historical artifacts there. Foreman Al also tapped a vent pipe that sounds like it is full of pennies. That's saved for another day.
Unfortunately, the north wall of the basement was soaked behind the drywall. We suspect it is not serious, only seeping in because of 2 weeks of rain and no proper eavestroughs....however, we shall see. Also the boys found a petrified mouse & just *HAD* to take it upstairs to show the girls!
Erin came by and immediately attacked the hallway, however as it was later in the day, we essentially stopped at that point and all piled over to E's for dinner!
Sunday October 15th 10 am: Erin and I start up and in a couple of hours we've demolished the south wall of the front hall plaster; the ceiling plaster and most of the lath on the ceiling. A good 6-foot chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling in a most satisfying crash!
Erin had to go, by then Andreas had arrived. I asked where the roofer was & Andreas said he called and Willy confirmed he would come by later that day as scheduled. As we were cleaning up some debris from the morning demo, a neighbour came up on the porch to introduce herself...and a little after that another neighbour came by for a tour!
We sorted out the 'garbage room' which is the front room and then a friend of Andreas showed up with 4 kids in tow...three were his and I think either someone was missing a son, or it was a friend. We offered a tour "don't touch anything!" and one of the boys offered some very wise advice.
"I think you need to do some renovations."
Smart kid. After the tour, we went outside & someone hailed Andreas' friend from across the street. He came over to say hello & it turns out he lives down a few houses and knows Andreas' friend. He is also the husband of one of the ladies who popped over earlier. He told us the tale of a chair going through the front window on Christmas Eve last year and the subsequent mattress that was stuffed in place for the remaining winter months. He also said that for a couple of years the house was a rooming house for marginalized people and then became a crack house.
Anyway, just as we are chatting, along comes a 16ft ladder with Willy underneath. He had not been able to get a ride to our place but instead carried the ladder a couple of kms! I shake my head. Willy is a newfie and I suspect fond of his beer. He talks non-stop, calls me Missus and 'Andreas' is 'Boss' but he works hard. Although Willy seemed a bit sketchy to me, Andreas was keen to have him work on the parts of the roof that has holes (bathroom dormer).
Sunday afternoon was spent with me rearranging & sorting out drywall, plaster & lath so we could put as much as possible into the front room. Andreas was running up and down the stairs, co-working with Willy who was out in the rain at the top of the ladder.
We had also asked Andreas' cousin Jordan to come over in the late afternoon to help us move appliances. Jordan is particularly strong & prides himself on his ability to lift and move things.
Just the man we needed. I had pre-arranged for a 'metal pickup' with the City and they scheduled me in for the Tuesday, Oct. 24th. We had 2 fridges, 3 stoves and a dryer left in the house when we bought it, and none in usable condition.
Jordan came over and made very short work of hauling every thing out. He even lifted an entire fridge & wore it as a hat! I left part way through the appliance lifting as I had just about had enough of the ch for the weekend. Willy was still hanging around (I think he wanted a ride home) but eventually all the work was wrapped up and everyone went home.
Monday evening, Andreas went over to the house with his dad to snap a couple of shots of 'appliance row' but that was it for this week!
TOP
The story of how we bought the crack house
Common references in my scrapbook:
Andreas: god love him for putting up with me and my big ideas
Me: the other half of the loony toones who decided to buy the house.
dodgy: means sketchy, bad, worse, 'imagine that' and 'can you believe it?'
ch: crackhouse
front room: main floor a.k.a living room
middle room: main floor a.k.a dining room and Command Central