When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But more mold.  Of course.

After I came out of the closet, I remembered that a dumpster is being delivered next Friday, to haul away all of the debris that I have been creating these past few months.  I also realized that the half bath/laundry room was still intact.  Time to remedy that oversight!

Hmmmm.  Why did they build out so far around the drain stack?  What’s in here anyway?

Gosh, looks like there’s mold in here!

What’s inside the wall between the bathroom and the stairwell?  Some really gnarly mold!

Continuing demolition down that wall and into the back corner.  Pulled out the washing machine, emptied out behind it, then moved the dryer out so I could get back there.

What did I find back there?  More mold!

Time to take out the vanity, which was three separate units with a shared top.  When I took out the vanity top, what was behind the backsplash?

When I pulled out the cabinets, what did I see?

I forgot to get pictures, but the inside of the wall of the garage is covered with mold too.  It looks like someone actually sheetrocked over the existing sheetrock at some point.  I think I will need to take out that wall too, but I need to save that for another day.

There was a big mirror glued to the wall above the vanity.  That’s another seven years’ bad luck.

And here is the finished bath.  Or unfinished.  Tile is still on the floor.  I left the framing that the light switches are attached to, and the framing at the rear that has the supply lines and drains for the washer..  I left enough ceiling to support the lights.  The toilet is still functional, and the washer and dryer are back in order.

I also sprayed the whole room with Aftershock.  And under the stairs.  I suspect the mold was long-dead, but now I know for sure that it is no more.

Can’t find s…. squat

Seriously.  Under the best of conditions I do a great absent minded professor – where did I put ________?  I know that somewhere in the garage is my framing nail gun.  Exactly where remains a mystery.  Because the garage not only contains everything that was intended to be stored in the garage, it also contains the contents of the basement!

I was able to shift a mess of boxes and find the kids snow pants last weekend.  In the middle of a 12′ x 12′ x 6′ mass of boxes.  On the bottom.  Anyway, I used up all of my finding mojo on the snowpants, as the location of the nail gun remains a mystery.

I had to go old-school, with my trusty 30 oz framing hammer.  This was great 30 years ago, when I worked construction to get through school.  I also had one forearm that was noticeably larger than the other from swinging that thing.  Today, I pound keyboards rather than nails to make a living, and my forearm let me know all about that change.

Anyway, I wanted to open up the space under the steps for storage.  I look at this space and it say “store your rockets here.”

First, I wanted to support the steps.  So I cut out one of the 2×4’s, and built a brace

With the brace in place, I cut away the second 2×4.  Height was measured to fit a 2×6 header.  I then nailed in the two cripples.  I wonder if there is a new name for cripples in the day of political correctness – vertically challenged 2×4’s?

Finally, I nailed the header in place.  I’m going to have to shim when I put up the drywall, as the left-hand side sits back 1/2″, but the right-hand side only sits back 1/4″.

Then I crawled under the stairs to see what I could see.  Believe it or not, I found mold.  What a shock!

Chicken AlfredOops

Tonight, for no particular reason, I got a craving for chicken and pasta with Alfredo sauce.  I viewed the available recipe choices at Allrecipes.com, and selected the one that looked best (recipe).

Of course, I don’t keep whipping cream on hand.  Just not part of my everyday wants and needs.  So, I consult the Joy of Cooking for an appropriate substitution.  1/3 c butter + 3/4 cup milk = 1 cup heavy cream.

Great.  Start melting the extra butter.  Get out the milk.  Ok, get out the Parmesan chee…  That container looks pretty empty.  Yep, that’s really all that is left in the house.  Now, I can substitute Parmesan for Romano.  I can substitute butter and milk for heavy cream.  I have no idea what to substitute for Parmesan cheese.

So, I turned off the melting butter, continued sauteing the chicken, opened a jar of red sauce, and had Chicken Parmesan.

What do I do with a leftover stick of melted butter?

Second estimate

The second estimate has been obtained.  $11,600 – $12,995 depending on the length of warranty.  This estimate was nice because he actually explained the basis of the pricing.  X$ per square for the new roof.  Y$ per square per layer to remove the five layers of shingles.  Z$ per square to redeck the roof.

Still trying to decide on the value of the 25 year GAF warranty.  Not sure if it’s a really good thing to have, or just a slick marketing ploy.  The idea of having something tangible that I could sign over to a new homeowner if I sell the house is nice.  The big question is whether they would really replace the roof if it wears out in less than 25 years.  More research is called for.