Beautiful morning! The kids and I left early to pick up some safety supplies – masks, safety glasses, ear defenders… With enormous gratitude for donors to Nick’s fundraiser for helping to pay for all of that and so much more.
Louis joined us today and after we were through, he said, “that was much more enjoyable than I expected”. That makes my heart really happy. He’s a big, strong guy. Really capable. And he generally prefers quiet, artistic pursuits or studying statistics. But today, he was that one that went up on the Little House roof to unscrew panels. And he loved it.
We managed to get the first panel off and have a look at what was under it. Insulation panels over the original roof. And that? Was covered in… something. The piece he broke off looked like plaster of Paris painted with some kind of metallic grey substance. Really thick. The roof is layers and layers and layers. Ouff.
So now we’re going to try to work out how to get to the bolts holding the original roof sheathing on to the frame. They are well covered in that silver goop. Maybe a whack with a hammer will crack the stuff off so that we can unbolt it? I was really happy to see a nice, strong metal ridge up there. I assume that it runs the length of the house and holds all of the flimsy roof ‘joists’ together.
With each small step of demolition, I’m happy that I changed my plan early on to just completely demolish and build new on the frame. The particle board floors are far worse than we realised. And? It is sandwiched in between the floor joists and the bottom plate of the walls. Ugh. So it’s all got to come down. If any damp gets into that space between the joists and the bottom plate, it compromises the wall entirely.
We’ll save everything that is salvageable and use it for other projects like chicken coops and such. I hate waste. All of the windows are being saved as well. They won’t be re-used for the Little House, but we can use them for cold frames!
Update on Nick: he slept well last night and that is a HUGE thing. I heard that, in addition to filing criminal assault charges on his behalf, another report has been made to the Disabled Persons’ Protection Commission. I don’t know whom it was filed against at this time, or if there were multiple filings. I am well pleased about that, though. I’m going to see him this evening with a home-cooked meal. And he has a gift for me – he was allowed to create a flower arrangement at work in the facility’s greenhouse today. <3
Thanks for all of your love and prayers for me, for him, for all of us. It has been a wicked year, but we’re actually rolling with it alright. That’s the prayers, y’all. Best stuff in the world.
I’m going to be writing blessings, scripture passages, poetry, and quotes on the various framing members as I go along on the rebuild. Please comment below if you’d like to suggest one. They can be from any source, any faith tradition, any ethnic origin. I want him surrounded by all of those good things for as long as he is in the house.