Another salvage project done

Yes, we are finally done with the Crockett project, and it’s time to tell you about the final chapter.

I have to say that looking at the photos in this post and thinking about everything we did in the past few weeks really does exhaust me.    It also makes me want to pat all of our crew on the back for a job well done.  Me included.

This wasn’t an easy finish up, that’s for sure.

We started the very labor-intensive, exhausting task of removing all the concrete and brick.

We rented a jackhammer for the day, and John went to town.

After that was done, we starting removing the floors and floor joists.

As we suspected, almost all of the old pine floors and floor joists were too rotten to be salvaged.

This was bad news, of course.   We always want to save as much as we can .. but you just can’t fix rotten wood.

On the bright side, it meant we could start cutting out the remaining lumber much faster using a chainsaw (rather than our normal process of removing boards one-by-one.)

We started producing a lot of lumber debris very, very quickly.

We made a quick phone call to the City, and a representative told us we could do a controlled burn after we got a permit.

We were so happy about that and starting stacking lumber into two large burn piles.

We also started the process of hand-loading concrete and brick debris into our client’s trailer using a wheelbarrow and muscle.  Our client wanted to use it to fill in potholes and washout areas at his ranch.

(I love when a plan comes together and two people benefit:  we didn’t have to pay dump fees and he got the “gravel” he needed.)

Not all of the old brick was damaged, and we sold about 500 whole bricks to another guy who is building a patio.

Remember the two wood burn piles?

A few days after speaking with the City representative, we tried to get the permit, and we were told “absolutely not” — burning of building materials was not allowed!

Oh man, I was fighting mad!!!!!!

I knew it meant we had to touch every piece of lumber twice more — load it to the trash trailer and unload it.  (Doing things twice is never a good idea when you’re trying to save time and money!)

I was even tempted to just start the piles ablaze and pay the fine … but my husband talked me out of that.  Granted, it probably would have been an unwise decision.  And it’s not like I grabbed a match, and he had to tackle me.  But I sure did consider it.

Anyway, much as we didn’t want to, we started moving all the lumber from the burn piles to our trash trailer.

We got it done:  two very full loads of lumber in our trash trailer.  We towed both loads home and will have a big bonfire at our place, when it’s not too windy or dry.

Next came the collecting of all the small debris, raking and trash bagging everything up, sweeping for nails using a magnet, etc.  I’m sorry that I don’t have any photos of this, but I was too tired to make the effort to get the camera.

The place sure looked nice and clean when we were done.  We loaded up the carpet and departed yesterday about 6 pm, tired but satisfied.

So, to end this story, I wanted to share one of the BEFORE photos of the house ….

…. and the after.

Yes, it’s totally gone now.  It’s a little sad, I know.

But I’m glad that the tons of good lumber that we were able to salvage will not be burned and will not go to a landfill.

It will be a part of a new home one day.  Probably several.