Siding Removal Started

I spent several hours yesterday vacuuming the whole house from one end to the other because the air quality, after pulling down the ceiling with the mineral wool and fibreglass insulation, was toxic.

I had been wearing a mask, but anyone else that came in the place complained and started coughing right away. I anticipate getting some much needed help from my father-in-law, and did not want him to be in harms way. Now I can work inside without a mask which is a lot more comfortable for me as well. I also finished clearing out the remaining lumber I have salvaged to date.

I then finally started to take off the siding.  My plan to cut the siding and ship-lap off the outside of the stud did not work out.  The first obstacle was the total disintegration of the flush cut adapter I had bought for my saw in just 5 minutes.  So I had to fall back on a friends saw that is much older and has a much slower rpm.  But then there was nails I could not reach with the saw and even with all the nails cut off, there was still at least a 1″ nail stub holding the siding to the ship-lap. This just resulted in cracked or broken siding.

I then graduated to using the flush cut saw on the outside instead.  I gently pried the top edge away from the ship-lap (which is the very thin edge of the siding) and cutoff all the top nails. This then let me pry up the bottom edge which is much thicker and could handle the prying.  I am hoping I can get at least 75% of the siding off in this manner without cracking.  I was able to get two small walls off in about 1.5 hours. (I will upload a vid soon)

I then switched it up and started ‘digging’ the hole for the grounding plate I will need for the temp power service.  Of course as soon as I put the shovel in the ground, I hit rocks.  I dare anyone to come to this yard and try to find a spot they can bury a shovel in the ground without hitting a rock.

So I could see that either I was going to need a very wide hole or use a different approach.  They were doing a tank repair at a local gas station using a vac truck and I thought why not.  So I lugged out the shop vac and had a 2ft deep hole in about an hour.

Today I will either build some scaffold to take off the back gable siding or start on a shorter side wall. By Monday AM, I hope to be ready to start taking off the roof.  The shingle recycling place I was going to use is currently off line, but  EcoWaste landfill in Richmond off 6rd and Triangle (I grew up less than 2 miles from here) takes in the shingles and stockpiles them until they have enough to shred.  The shredded product ends up in various products including road asphalt.

Thanks for visiting.