We tried. We really tried. Part 2

Once again Kathy and I were getting ready to paint some walls and we just could not do it. We had to gut the walls.  This is the mudroom with the new storm door installed. Carlton and Chris did a great job with it. The only problem is that the surrounding walls and ceiling were really too horrible to keep even temporarily.

The tiny mudroom was lined with thin paneling overlying who knows what. Yes, you can see me in the reflection of the door with my iPhone as the camera.

So once again we are "forced" gut a room that was not intended to be gutted. The problem with this room is that 2 walls have asbestos siding underneath. I had to be very careful pulling nails. I was in full hazmat gear when I gutted that room - respirator, suit, gloves, safety glasses.

This is the outer wall of the mudroom after pulling off the panels. No asbestos here, but what is the hazard down in the corner?

A giant hornet's nest in the wall. 

There were no live hornets probably because of the termite treatment done before I bought the house. Thank goodness for that.

After I got all the wood panels off, I pulled nails. I did not remove the asbestos siding. I've read that it is best to leave it alone and just cover it up. Then I wet the debris on the floor so whatever asbestos fibers that were released would not become airborne. I didn't use a vacuum to get them up for the same reason. I swept the wet debris into a garbage bag and tied it up.

After all the nails were gone, I painted the asbestos siding with primer with disposable foam brushes to encapsulate whatever surface asbestos fibers were there. That way when Carlton and Chris put up some drywall or whatever in the room, their exposure will be limited.

You can see the asbestos siding below the beadboard ceiling I uncovered. The ceiling was one of  the cool things we've found. 

The other area Kathy and I felt compelled to gut was the hallway, basically a small rectangle in the middle of the tiny house. We did find kind of a cool piece of wallpaper in the hallway. 

Looks like some kind of old toile wallpaper. I think it would have been pretty cool in its time.

The frustrating thing for the people helping us with the house (Carlton, Chris, Martin, Don and Buck)  is that they had already installed 2 wall sconces, the thermostat, and moved the return air vent to the hallway wall from the floor when we made the decision to gut the walls. The guys have been very kind about the changes. 

Now I am determined NOT to gut the kitchen even though it has no insulation and desparately needs gutting. I think I will be able to reign in my impulses for a number of reasons:

1. I am running out of money

2. My brother is a cabinet-maker and he is nowhere near ready to make the cabinets. 

3. We need to get Adam and Kathy into their own home. 

4. No money plays a big part. 

Still working on the floors. I'll do a separate post about the challenges of refinishing the floors. 

I'll leave you with a picture of the little house. I think it is going to look incredible when we finish. 

I'm smiling behind the mask.