Time for an Update on Our Crockett Project

It’s been a few weeks since I wrote about progress on our Crockett project, so it’s time to update you all on what we’ve done and where we’re at with it.

Continuing from where I left off last time ….

Let’s see.

We demolished the old shed.

The bad news:  about 50% of the old wood was not salvageable.  Damn those termites!

The good news: we were able to sell most of the siding.

The guys removed the walls, siding,  roof and roof rafters (in roughly that same order) from the back of the house.

At this stage of every home salvage project, the wood comes off the houses so fast that it’s very difficult to keep up with the de-nailing process.  We normally need 2-3 people de-nailing for every one person removing wood.

After we de-nail it, any lumber with ragged edges goes into a pile for cutting.

That day we had quite a large pile!

We also gently removed the heavy Art Deco style porch posts — all six of them.  We have them available for sale now.   (Please do contact me if you’re interested in them.)

They’re being stored in one of barns right now.

 

Each day, the house began to look a whole lot different.

The guys then started the whole process all over again:  removing the roof decking and siding from the front of the house.

During this process, one of the guys freed this small piece of wood.  It was heavy and old, but other than that, nothing seemed extra special about it ….

… that is, until I turned it over.

Written in faint pencil, the words on the back of that nondescript piece of wood dated the house.  This is what we could decipher:

“This casing was done on a _______ job

By F. M. Burks Feb 20th 1931

House was built 36 years ago next month

and I changed the roof now for the first time.

Paymt on this ______ ________ ________ $3.50″

Neat huh.

We gave this piece of wood to the prior owners’ granddaughter who still lives in the area.

After we all oohed and aahed about that find, the roof rafters came down.

This is definitely a two-man job.  Each guys pries the wood loose on either side, then they help the rafters fall to the floor.

Meanwhile, Aaron and I were de-nailing as fast as we could!

Oh, during all this, I had to snap a quick photo of my sexy husband.

I HAD to.

Yeah, baby!

OK, now, back to the update.

One morning, John started scraping up the wet (and heavy) particle board floor.   All of it went directly into the trash trailer.

During the roof rafter removal process, Mark and John also pried the gable end so that if swung down.

Then they disconnected it completely and gentled lowered it to the floor ….

… then manhandled the 300 pound triangular piece outside.

When the guys were about halfway done removing the roof rafters, the house became very shaky (and we were not surprised).

For safety reasons, the guys pulled the rest of the house down, using a steel cable and John’s trusty 3/4 ton pickup.

Turns out that the roof rafters were more sturdy than the wall studs.

Jonathan, John’s teenage son, also got in on the action.  It was a school vacation day and he and his dad like to hang out together.

Jonathan wanted to pull down the last remaining wall.

Of course, all of us, including his VERY protective dad, made sure there he was not in any danger of getting hurt.

We knew he could do it.  He has earned his Karate Black Belt after all.

At the end of last week, all that remains is the front porch, the floor, and everything that lies beneath.

And, of course, a ton of boards still left to de-nail.