Vine Street Building Remodel

The building is done and the Winery is moved in.

2009-10-11T18:09:00.005-05:00

The new Front on the building with new columns and new rollup glass door.

New tasting room and wine making area. Notice the restored stainglass in the back.

Wine Making area.

For more information visit us at www.westwinery.com

Downtown Building On Hold For Winery Opening

2007-12-04T18:36:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! We have put the building renovation on hold because we are currently working on the winery located at the orchard. Please visit www.westwinery.com for more information.

Thanks,
Chris & Jen

Framing Up The Hallway Upstairs

2007-11-06T13:38:00.001-06:00

Well hello again. This time I have moved back up to the upstairs hallway. This is the door I am going to try and attempt to install at the top of the staircase.

It is a vintage door along with a vintage knob and lock.

This is the space where it will go.

I really hope I don't drop it down the stairs! It is rather heavy.

This is the other side of the entrance way. I am framing it up for a back closet area off of our bedroom.

I didn't like the hall way going directly into the bedroom area, so this was my solution.

I am also lowering the ceiling in this area to the top of the doorway you see in the back. I could not think of a need for such a high ceiling in the closet.

This is the framing to lower the ceiling in the entryway. Also no need for such high ceilings here either.

Well come back and checkout our progress in this area. I should have some pictures of the hung door and some more ideas for the flooring in this area.

Later,

Chris & Jen

Still Cleaning The Brick! 10-09-07

2007-11-06T13:18:00.000-06:00

Well it has been sometime since my last post and we have been working on a few different things lately.

Here are a few pictures of the brick cleaning we have done so far.

It is a really slowwwww process.

After I worked around the archway I still have to move back towards the front where Jen started.

Just another picture of around the arch of the freshly cleaned bricks. Only took five hours!

In my next post I will be moving back upstairs for some framing.

Until then.

Chris & Jen

Plumbing Upstairs Part 3 09-08-07

2007-09-17T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well this is how my day began. Kind of looks like I passed out, but that was not the case this time. I was actually fixing the only leak we had in the water lines. There was one other one but we decided to replace the old line coming into the building, so that doesn't really count.
Come to think about it this leak wasn't my fault either.
This was the line that runs out to the outside faucet, which people know they commonly break in the winter months.
To repair the break you have to cut out the broken section and put in a repair coupling or you have to replace the cracked faucet, which luckily was not the case this time.

Here is the cracked 1/2" copper line.
When I fixed this line I tried to make sure there was an upward angle on the pipe so it will drain when the inside valve is shutoff for the winter months.

Really amazing that these types of leaks are cause for some of the worst basement and house flooding.
Always check your outside faucets each season!

Just some of the water that leaked out.
Good thing it really doesn't matter in our building!

Another stupid mistake on my part with the torch.
It is a great feeling when flesh bubbles up from these types of burns.

Picture of Jen's latest work.
I think she is going to be a while longer!

After making sure there were no more leaks in the copper downstairs, it was time to start moving things upstairs which means I have to get on the ladder again 16 feet in the air.

The water lines had to be run across the ceiling in and against the beams.

Luckily there was only four joints to solder in the air.

The first of the connections.
Oh BTW there is no floor beneath me so I had to setup a plywood platform across the floor beams.

So this made it even more stressful!

I decided to invent a drain for this line going upstairs as I really do not want anything to freeze up in the winter.

If we decide that we won't be staying in the apartment I can just turn off this line and then open the red valve to drain all the lines.

This is a picture of the water line coming up from the first floor.
This is where I put in another shutoff for those just in case something goes wrong moments.

From here you can see that I just hooked into the old copper water lines which saved me a lot of time in re-running them to the toilet and the shower.
I just hoped there was no breaks in the line again!

Here is a small victory! You really learn to take everyone you can get.

The shower has water and worked and so I decided to clean it out and think about how I got to this point by the end of the day.

We will leave you with another picture of myself lying on the floor.

I had to check and make sure the shower drain wasn't leaking, which it wasn't, so that is how we ended the day on a positive note.

Until next week!
Chris & Jen

Plumbing The Upstairs Part 2 9-03-07

2007-09-05T10:38:00.000-05:00

Well today is Labor Day and guess what Jen & I are laboring away.

I thought I would start off with a picture of Jen's new project. Jen is in charge of cleaning off all the brick and plaster walls on the first level.

We will check in with her throughout this blog entry to see her progress.

This is the way my day started. Me thinking about how much I do not enjoy plumbing anymore.

I left the shower drain unhooked on Saturday because I just could not take it anymore. So today I started with this. I beleive that I worked on this shower for about 2 hours trying to get the shower trap hooked up to the 3" main.

Here is a picture from the first floor showing the shower trap on the left of the picture.

I was so happy I had to take a picture.

Well here is Jen working on the wall.

Keep on going Jen! Only 4 million more bricks to go.

Back to the upstairs plumbing again.

This is a picture of the backside of the shower area where the trap is located.

The real problem with this was that I could only use one hand to hook up the fittings because the space was so small.

Here is a closer view.

Once the 3" pipe was hooked up under the shower the pipe had to be ran out across the back rafters.

If you click on the picture you will see me down at the very end on the left hanging from a ladder.

Believe me this was a real blast to try and hookup when you are 16 feet in the air.

Finally got the pipe all hooked up and now I am ready to run the 90 and down spout over to the corner connection.

It has to be run down then over because the roof angle prevents any pipe from going all the way over to the final connection in the corner.

But I am out of fittings and all the stores are closed to due to it being Labor Day. So let go back and check on Jen's progress with cleaning the bricks.

Hey making some progress!! Well that is it for this Labor Day. I hope I am not still doing this next Labor Day???

Well we will see everyone next weekend so have a great week.

Chris & Jen

Plumbing The Upstairs Part 1 9-01-07

2007-09-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hello again! Today we started working on the upstairs plumbing (Drain Pipes)

This the backside of the old bathroom which we decided to leave for now. My plan was to redo this but we decided we would like to have a working toilet & shower ASAP instead.

I had to cut out for the 3" drain that will run along the back wall. This seemed simple enough. Yeah right! I keep telling myself you have to remember things very rarely workout easy.

Thanks Jen for capturing the moment of, Oh Great!

This shower hookup will prove to be a real pain by the end of this day.

This is where the vent connects with the 3" drain.
This is also where the kitchen sink drain will be hooked into.

To the right of the picture is the bathroom sink drain and to the left is the toilet drain.
When this bathroom was first built it was plumbed in the first floor ceiling area. Since there was a drop-in ceiling it was never seen.

I wanted to make sure that everything was re-run the original way and this is the corrected way with this later addition bathroom.

Here I am adding the drain for the bathroom sink.

At least I don't have the plumber's crack!

The toilet drain with the upturned 90.
Almost ready for use!

Kitchen, bathroom sink and toilet drains finished.

Picture of Jen goofing around again.
She can't expect me not to put these on the blog.
Maybe someday she will learn.

Well this is the end of our day of plumbing.

Gatorade! I live on this stuff when I am working on this building.

Sorry Gatorade! I forgot to turn the label so I could give you a proper plug.
I really doubt they care about my little blog.

Later,
Chris & Jen

Tearing Out & Repairing The Floor 8-25-07

2007-08-28T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hello again!
For some odd reason this weekend I started working on the first level floor to see what kind of damage was done when the building was leaking.
Let's just say it is better and worse then I thought.
This is a picture of the arch with the bottom removed.
Dad and I discovered that his floor level is about 4 inches higher than mine. I guess this is because I am on the downhill side of the street????
This is after I also removed the old water pipe located along this wall.

After removing the pipe dad & I decided to find out if there was a crawl space in the back of my building like he has in his building. We cut a hole shown here in the backroom floor and didn't find anything.
Oh well! It's not like I don't have enough holes to fix.
(See below)

This is a closeup of the backroom hole we cut.

After the backroom hole cutting we moved around to the front of the back wall to checkout the sewer pipe situation. This will be the main sewer for the the upstairs, so I was glad to find a clean out under this spot in the floor. This is really good news.

Here is what I was talking about earlier.
We decided to rip up the flooring on the West wall to see what might possibly be the problem with the springy floor boards.
Just more good times!

Well this is what we found.
Rotten boards, old fixes from who knows when & another discovery about the building.

This part shown here, we believe was a later addition. The boards were not built into the walls like the others towards the front of the building.
This is also where the apartment ends upstairs and you can see a difference in the brick color and a new brick starting point.

This is what we believe may be the older section.
Click on the photo to see how the boards are built into the brink and where also leveled with bricks coming out of the wall.

A final parting picture of the area.
I am glad we opened up this area as it was still very wet and moldy. This will allow some more air to move under the floor and hopefully dry it out.

This is a picture of what happens when a cast iron pipe is pushed from the ceiling rafters.

This was the original sewer pipe from the upstairs area of the building and I really needed it to come down so I could start running the new sewer pipe.

Don't worry though this was a well thought out plan and the important part is nobody was even close to this when it came down. Just another hole in the floor.

Well I will leave you with another picture of the pipe.
Next weekend is the Labor day weekend so I will have hopefully lots of pictures of the progress or lack there of.

All are welcome to stop by this Saturday and Monday as we will be working both days at the building.

Please stop by some of the other open stores that are already making the downtown area a better place to shop and dine.

I also thought if anyone would like to advertise their downtown business or soon to be business for free on this site just send me an email and I will put up an ad.

Also if you check us out regularly send us an email to let us know that you are checking us out.

Later,
Chris & Jen

Jen & The Little Restroom Of Horror's

2007-08-09T15:18:00.000-05:00

Well here it is!! The last thing to demo on the main floor. The back restroom.

Pretty cozy!! Got the furnace next to it for added restroom warmth.

I really didn't want anything to do with this demo, so I let Jen go to town on it.

Another picture of the crap hole!!

Sorry bad joke!

But you had to know it was coming!

Nice!!!

Real Nice!!

You don't want to know. It smelled so bad that bad isn't the right word!

The other side that shares the wall with the back glass.

I don't think that works anymore. Just guessing???

Almost the end result! It took some time, but now we can make it better.

The back glass. Which we have an idea for.

The pile! Just another load to the dump!

I would like to say if anyone is looking for a toilet, just let me know.

I would sell this one cheap!!

Hey gotta pay for things somehow!!

Till next time, always remember to clean your toilets!

Treasure Hunting (Sort Of ??)

2007-08-09T14:52:00.000-05:00

Today I decided it was time to crawl through a little hole in the wall. It is actually underneath the steps leading up to the second floor. I don't know why I decided today was the day, but I went for it.

This is me as I just gotten in.

This is a picture of the little opening I had to squeeze through to get in.

This was one of the first finds.

A 1926 rolled up newspaper from the Kansas City Star.

Pretty cool!!

Here is a close up of the text.

The second find was this old box.

I have never heard of this brand, so if someone knows something send me an email or make a comment below.

This was the last find. I believe it is a leg off of a mannequin, but I could be wrong???

We also found a Chicago paper that I believe was dated 1925, but I must have not taken a picture of it. I will try and get better shots of the text and post it later for all to see.

Upstairs Demo Part 2 07/07-08/07

2007-08-05T12:44:00.000-05:00

After the back bedroom I had to take apart the scaffolding and move it to the front room.

I then started scraping the ceiling trying to remove all the loose wallpaper and plaster.

By this time it is around 90+ degrees at the ceiling height.

I would have been down to my underwear had it not been for people stopping by to check out the progress. This is no lie!

Still scraping!

Taking a break.

Decided to move to the other side of the divide and remove the last of the plaster on this wall.

Taking a break again.

This was all I could take of the heat so we went home!

Till next time!

Later

Upstairs Demo 07/07-08/07

2007-08-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

Hello again! I know it has been sometime since the last post but we have been very busy lately.

We moved the scaffolding upstairs and started removing the plaster and bad lath hanging from the ceiling in the back bedroom.

This is a picture of me finishing off the dining room wall between the kitchen. I decided to remove it before starting in the back room.

Wanted to open up the doorway somemore between the two rooms.

In the meantime Jen got to work on the upper part of the dining room walls removing the plaster.

This is a picture of the back bedroom after I removed the plaster from the wall between the kitchen.

As you might remember there was a wall that divided this room and I also removed the furnace area also.

Our intent is to recover the wall with drywall and go from there.

We also finally got all the windows to open. This was great because it has gotten very hot upstairs.

This helps to get a nice breeze going through and also move the dust out.

Picture of the ceiling with almost all of the plaster removed.

We are going to also insulate above the remaining lath and then put up drywall here.

This is a look towards the front of the bedroom.

We will also cover the existing plaster on this wall with drywall also.

This is a look towards the back from the dining room area.

Jen working on removing the loose plaster and wall paper.

Most of her day was spent shoveling and bagging the plaster from the ceiling.

This is her pile she made it is about a half a ton.

Grandpa West stops by for a brief pose and

inspection.

Stripping The Paint Off The Stain Glass Wall

2007-07-02T13:31:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone!
Just thought I would start out with a picture of Jen & I just after I about lost an eye to a broom handle.
This was the freakiest (If that is a word?) thing that has happened to me in a while.
I was cleaning up the floor with a broom and I got to close to the edge of one of the many holes in the floor and I fell through and the broom handle went up into my eye socket and split my eye lid open. Man did that hurt!! I would like to say a little something about safety in the work place but I really don't know how I could have prevented this from happening.
I am thank full that I didn't lose my eye and if you ever need to put yourself back together again super glue does wonders!!

This past weekend we decided to take a break from the demo and shoveling. Thank God because when I stopped to think about it we have shoveled and bagged about 12 tons of crap with just shovels & a wheelbarrow. At least I don't have to workout on the weekends!!
Still trying to be positive here!!
Anyways these are a couple of pictures of the floor drying out.

And another
Just a few places that are still wet in the front area.

This is about the middle of the building looking back to the back where most of the roof damage was. It is still somewhat wet in the middle and edges.

This is a picture of the stairs leading up to the office and upstairs.

We also removed the last of the carpeting around the stairs last weekend.
Then worked on removing the paneling and plaster to expose the wall.

We are going to re cover the wall with sheet rock once it all is removed from the upper section.

I also removed the paneling around the base of the window area.

I will be removing this platform in the near future.

A picture of the front of the building with all the paneling removed.

This picture is not about about me bending over, but a shameless plug for the stripper we used to remove the paint from the glass.
We ran out of the trial paint on stuff, so I sent Jen out to buy some more at Jepson's and I was like "this stuff isn't going to work". It was like a spray on remover that came with a spray bottle but no funnel to fill it. So as I tried to carefully pour it into the little opening in the sprayer I kept thinking its not going to work.

Well I was wrong again!! This stuff is awesome!
It is called Lighting Strip. You spray it on and it bubbles up the paint in seconds. The best result came after a couple of minutes of wait time. Thanks to Jepson's for the great lead on this stuff.

Here is a picture of the wall before I put some lights behind it.
We didn't get to finish the very top glass, but what we did uncover was awesome!!

There is about 80% of the original stain glass is still unbroken.

Click on the pictures to see them bigger and closer.

I can't wait to start replacing the broken ones.
This will be a very impressive showcase when you walk in and look to the back of the building.

From the front of the building.

Just Awesome!

This coming weekend we will be moving back upstairs to start tearing down the old rotten ceiling areas.

Until next weekend!!

Chris & Jen

Back To Work On The Lower Level

2007-06-25T08:38:00.001-05:00

We started back on the lower half again after finishing up on the roof.

The main job was to remove all of the ceiling.
Before the roof I had started removing the three layers and got about half of it done.

This week I brought up a friend who wanted to help. Justin Fessler! The demo man!!

The demo man Justin got it all done.
A big thanks goes out to him for the help.
See I really don't like getting up fifteen foot in the air, so this was a really big help.

We also removed the plumbing pipes and a couple more window weights.

Justin and I taking a break.
This was about mid morning.
We're a little dirty already.

Justin posing for the camera.

Justin did find an old masonary tool.
It was a solid wood scraper used to lay brick.
It was found in the ceiling next to the wall.

Mom and Dad Fessler stopping by to take a look.
They didn't want to go in after seeing Justin's arms that are black by this time.

This is late afternoon.

The fruits of our labor. 3.6 tons of crap!

Don't you love the truck?

Thanks to Charlie Stow for letting us use it.

Getting gas in the beast.

Notice the invented tailgate.

Plywood and straps!!

Gotta do what works and is cheap.

The Lower Roof Replacement

2007-06-05T10:32:00.000-05:00

With the top half done we started on the lower half of the building. I thought it would be easier, but I was wrong again!
This is a picture of it before the tear down.
The new white sheets were added when we first bought the building. We just wanted to stop the bleeding and get us through the rest of the winter. It was a smart move since we had several ice & snow storms this year.

Here Wade and I are cleaning off the roof.

The very bottom had just two layers of roofing so it went pretty well.
We decided to move down there and let Crazy Paul deal with the upper section since I fell through up to my groin area.
Left couple of nice bruises.

Picture looking back at the mess that almost killed me.

This is the lower section it was really good compared to the upper section.

It is also all T&G. It looked like it use to be a covered dock and then they at some time sealed it up.

This is after we removed the bad beams and decking.

The underneath side.

The stain glass & brick wall use to be the back wall and beyond that is where I believe they had the covered dock which is sealed up now.

This was a typical beam. There was some major rot on about 5 beams. So they were replaced or scabbed onto.

Since the beams are level underneath they had to be built up to allow for a pitch in the roof decking.

This is what we are doing in this picture.

My dad the funny man!!

Actually he really did fall through.

Here is his bad leg.

Still doesn't look as bad as mine knee!!
I am sure he will appreciate the attention now that I have posted this picture.
He should think before he sends me pictures.

The decking all nailed down and looking good.

The lower half completed.

This looking towards the back of the building.

The second half of the lower half completed.

Looking back towards the front of the building.

Jen and I choose to go with the rolled roofing.

It was the most cost effective at this time since it has a fifteen year warranty. We will see!

But at least it looks good for now.

Later

The Upper First Half Roof Replacement Part 2

2007-06-05T10:21:00.001-05:00

Day 3
Still adding more new wood to the decking.
At least we are doing it the right way.

All the decking has been replaced and the next step is to start rolling felt.

Crazy Paul and Wade rolling the felt.

Notice the metal patches on the seams.

Different Angle

Here are the completed pictures of the upper half of the roof. This is looking towards the front of the building.

Looking from my dad's building to the east.

Looking towards the back of the building.

The Upper First Half Roof Replacement Part 1

2007-06-04T15:48:00.000-05:00

Lets take a look at the roof prior to removal of the 8 layers of roofing.

Oh I forgot that there is also a layer of half rotted tin underneath the 8 layers or roofing materials.

This is the upper half of the part we are working on cleaned off. It only took about 3 hours to get half of it done.

This is where the kiddy pool use to be.
We had to cut it out and drop it onto the floor below. There was no other choice it was to dangerous to work around or on.

This is where they had tried to fix an old skylight and they didn't really do a very good job.

I am just about toast this is about 6p.m. and we where just getting the new nailers put on.

The guy working on the nailers is Paul Reed.
We will call him "Crazy Paul".

This guy will do anything and he does it right!
You will see what I mean later.

We had to add 7 or 8 2x8 to this section because the old 2x10's where badly rotted on the top sides. Thank god we had a nail gun!

This is a the brick wall where the 2x12's will fit into. The other side will be nailed on the opposite side of the nailers. The old 2x10's will be sandwiched between the two.

The hole looking down into the second floor dining room.

This is after inserting the new 2x12's.
Crazy Paul is making sure we are halfway level on that side.
Take notice of Crazy Paul and what he is standing on.

The guy in the foreground is my youngest brother Wade.

Us taking a break before we start nailing.

This really took some time to get this part done, but it is really starting to look good.

Me picking up the mess.

Crazy Paul picking a nail out of his boot. Sitting above an open 15 foot drop.

This was the end of the first day and everything was really not going as fast as I thought it would.

This is the start of the second day.
Crazy Paul had already started putting on the decking above. This the the view from the dining room below.

Another view of the 2x12's going into the wall grooves.

Crazy Paul admiring his work.

Good Job Crazy Paul. Really is starting to look like a roof.

We had to fix other areas where the boards where weak, so Crazy Paul cut them out and patched them in.

I had the job of going back over and checking for nails and applying metal patches over the holes and seams that were to wide to leave open.

Crazy Paul Checking my work.
As you can see we are not even half done with the upper roof.

There was a lot of rotten deck boards to replace and we also had to add more nailers in some places.

Still Tearing Down the Ceiling 5-5-07

2007-06-04T13:52:00.000-05:00

Well today we went upstairs to check on the water catchers and look what we found.

I would say that we have a little leak in the roof.
Well we thought that we would just dip out the containers and dump the water into the shower drain.

Well!!! See the next picture.

This is the pipe that leads from the shower upstairs.

After we heard a loud bang and wssshhh we ran downstairs to find the pipe had broke from the weight of the water.
Two sections were missing and water was running all over the floor.
Great idea on dumping it down the shower.

Well after we dumped the rest of the water off the back roof we headed down to start on the ceiling again.

Everything was as we left it from the almost death by falling beam experience. Last weekend.

My dad did find us some replacement beams for the ones that were rotten.

They were old cut lumber. Full 2x14x24. I believe there were eight of them.

You can see them laying on the floor.

This was a really good find as we are trying to replace things with period fixes and replacements.

There I am working in the air again.

Most of the ceiling has been removed except for both outer sides. This is because I went down the middle and cleared everything to the sides. I have cleared all the junk from the sides now and will begin working on those after the roof is done.

I believe we loaded another 3 tons on the dump truck again. I will share pictures of that another day.

Later

Tearing Down The Original Ceiling 4-28-07

2007-06-04T11:41:00.000-05:00

Today we started working from the back to the front on the original ceiling.

This is going to be a huge job!!
There is a layer of tiles, plaster, lath and runners for the tiles to hang from.

I started removing the tiles first to see what was underneath them.

Mold, rotten wood, water.

This is looking towards the front of the building from where I started.

Got a long ways to go.

This is what I am dealing with.

I am some fifteen feet in the air and using a crowbar to pull this crap down.

Still going!

Here is the far back right corner that has been exposed.

The main supports look OK but the roof decking is not.
The roof deck is about four foot above these main supports. The mains are there for stucture with an additional frame built above it.

Me in the backroom trying to open the door.

This is the back wall of stain glass.
I just thought I would take a picture of the whole thing.
This is going to look great cleaned off.

Well this is were I almost died again.
You can see that a beam is missing.
Well that is because I was pulling down the lath and the beam broke in the middle and almost hit me in the head.

So that is it for today on the ceiling. I didn't get back up there.
I like to stop when I am ahead or at least still have a head!
Sorry for the bad joke!!

Here is half of the rotten beam that almost hit me.

Weighed about 60 pounds

This is the other half standing against the wall.

These beams are over 23 feet long. They are all old cut lumber. I guess it is OK that it fell now rather than on someone else.

I am going home.

Later

Working On The Plaster Walls 3-17-07

2007-06-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

We started working on removing the plaster from the side walls in the middle of March.

As you can see I also left the duct work hanging in the middle of the room.

I thought someone would like to have it but I was wrong!

Here is a picture of the back wall with the brick exposed.
The stain glass has been painted over on this side.
So if anyone knows how a good way to remove paint email or comment in this section.

Here is the arch again.

I just love it.

This is the brick from the front of the arch to the front of the building.

Birds eye view of the progress

After a clean up session. We wheelbarrowed out a whole dump truck load of plaster.

At least you can see the floor now and all the holes we are going to have to repair or replace.

Back to front view of the cleaned up area.

Another back to front view.
Also in the picture is our very first wheelbarrow purchase. So exciting!!

The left side of the buildings floor.
This view is looking towards the front.

The right side looking towards the front.

This is the ceiling view looking towards the front of the building.

This is also the start of ripping down the original ceiling.

Just another mess to clean up!

Great Discoveries!! 2-17-07

2007-06-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

This is far back wall of the building.

After the drop-in was removed we discovered that the was a glass wall up by the ceiling extending down behind the old changing rooms.

This is a picture of the back left side wall facing towards the back of the building.

Someone knocked out about three of the top glass for the heating & air duct.

After seeing the glass I was very interested to see what was behind the changing rooms so I started tearing them down.

More glass!!!

We then took a break from the glass and went to work on the back corner where we found this!

It was a 10 foot high arch doorway between my dad's building and ours.

After looking at the glass some more my dad said "That looks like it could be stain glass"

Well sure enough it was!

I went to the back side and pulled off the coverings and found this.

Some of the glass has been replaced but a majority of it was there.

So cool!!

More pictures of the glass wall.

Notice the three blue punted square glass.
The other side has the same pattern.

Here is the archway after taking the plaster off of it and the wall.

We decided to remove most of the plaster on the side walls to expose the brick underneath.

This is a picture looking back towards the back of the building. As you can see we finally took the piles out and start another one.

We also started to remove the plywood from the floor so it could start drying out.

Downstairs Drop-In Ceiling Removal 2-03-07

2007-06-04T08:41:00.000-05:00

This is a picture looking towards the back of the building.

After I finally got the wall of death down the drop-in ceiling grid started to fall from the back to the front. This is a picture of the first half torn off.

This is the picture with all of it removed.
It took a little over two hours to tear down.

After this mess I have decided I hate drop-in ceilings. Once removed we measured the floor to ceiling height to be almost 16 foot tall.

Notice the ever growing pile in the middle.

A picture of the pile looking towards the front.

And another picture of the pile.

It gets bigger trust me! I also will extend from the very front all the way to the back.
This really worked out well since we then could work on the side walls.

The Big Mess!! Downstairs Demo 1/27/07

2007-06-01T15:06:00.000-05:00

The Big Mess taken from the stairway looking back to the back of the building.

The prior occupants stored all kinds of stuff.

Since the roof was leaking everything got wet and moldy. So everything had to be thrown out.

The famous melted pool table!!

Just had to show what happens to a pool that gets wet.

The room that was leaking very badly.

Everything just kind of melted to the floor.

Good times!! and the memories of shoveling crap!

Just a picture of the front of the building.

The one part that did not get wet.

Picture of the drop-in ceiling.

You can see the original ceiling about 8 feet above it.

Also notice the bucket for catching the leaks!!

Greattt!!

This was the start of the pile.

Just wanted to show you were it started out at.

I will show you later how big it really gets.

The backroom again. It took about 4 hours to shovel all the crap off the floor.

Me Chris working on tearing it down.

That day I was a machine!!

The wall of possible death!!

You will see in a couple of pictures!

Me breaking my back and using the crowbar to hold myself up. I was pretty sore by this time.

Just messing around with some white mold!!

Mmmm Good!! This stuff is probably going to kill me.

Oh Well!

The wall of death again.

As you can see it is falling and taking the whole drop-in ceiling with it.

I like to live on the edge!

Believe it or not this wall was only attached to the drop-in ceiling grid?????

Me living on the edge. Sort of.

Thinking about how I am going to die.

Maybe?????

Actually I am waiting on dad to come look at my mess.

Dad enters

"Good Job Son!! Way to really make a mess."

Chris

"Thanks dad" I try and I also try to do my best"

Dad

"Well I don't know just start jumping and hang from it."

That worked "Thanks Dad"

Sorry about the bad dialog.

But that is pretty much how it went down.

After this I was done for the day!!

I always try to leave on a positive note. That note was I didn't kill or injure myself.

Later

Upstairs Dining Room & Kitchen Demo

2007-06-01T13:19:00.000-05:00

This was the upstairs dining room after the paneling and ceiling were removed.

We like to make big piles in the middle of the floors you will see this when we move to the downstairs demo.
This allows us to keep moving without having to clean up all the time.

This is looking towards the kitchen area.
Where the refrigerator is located was an old cardboard/Ice box. I believe it was a cooled place because it was built with T&G on all the sides and ceiling. All the holes and around the edges were lined with tin to keep out mice and rodents.

This was kind of a weird thing.

This is after the clean up. This ceiling area was the worst area upstairs and that is why you see the tubs to try and catch the water.

If you look right above the light in the picture you can see that I found another window frame like the ones in the hallway and living room area.

We also had to leave the frame work up in the ceiling for because it was holding the roof up.
We will not remove this until we replace the roof.
Didn't really want to take any chances.

This is the Ceiling above the dining room.
Mold and rot!!
Someone sometime tried to fix an old skylight.
Well!!! It didn't work.

This is looking back towards the kitchen area from the living room.

This is the entrance to the bathroom.
Nice!! I always like a bathroom right off the kitchen area.

The good old green refrigerator. I hope it still works that would save me a little bit of money.

This is where the refrigerator use to sit.

We have torn out the ceiling and one side of the old T&G cooling unit.

The kitchen area where the bathroom entrance was.

I believe that I will move the sink over to this area and seal off the door to the bathroom area.

Showing the awesome tall ceilings and brick that was covered up.

The Stairway/Upstairs Hallway Demo

2007-06-01T11:36:00.001-05:00

We removed the drop-in ceiling and then the wood paneling on the walls.

We found that it was tongue & groove on the walls.

This staircase was originally open to the street with no door. So the the wood tongue & groove was perfect.

We plan to repair some places and then sand it off as it has a pattern to it. Very cool find.

View looking down the stairs. Above the T&G is plaster which will need to be repaired or replaced.

At the bottom of the stairs we found some original glass (Prism glass) that was designed by Franklin L. Wright.

This design allows light to be directed to places farther back like this stairway. All are present and not broken.

Very good find!!

This is the upstairs hallway that leads back to the back bedroom. It had a false doorway about midway that I removed to open it back up.

The plaster will need to be fixed in a few places, but all is in good condition.

Upstairs Lower Ceiling Removal

2007-05-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

First we had to remove the sheet rock.

Not a fun job!

But it did pay off.
The original ceilings are around 15 feet high.

Check out what we found.
Original moldings and stain glass above the big windows.

A few of them were broken, but come on it's original 1800's stain glass!

This is looking towards the back of the living room.

Found two tilting glasses above the doors that were covered up by paneling.

Both sides with the sheet rock removed.

First Real Work Day (Main Living Room Upstairs)

2007-05-31T14:10:00.000-05:00

Look what I found already!!

These are the original windows

They are about 9 foot tall.

Very cool!

The windows on the ends are gone :(

but at least the left one has all the whole frame.

The far right one was cut out on the inside part of the frame.

I will tell a story about this later.

Just another pic of our find.

Well at least it isn't the wood panel??

This is on the east wall.

There were shelves and racks along this wall.

After all the panel was removed.

This is looking back towards the dining room and kitchen area.

I really went to town on this wall.

Wood paneling, plaster and lath. I needed more light back there so I removed everything.

I also found a covered up original door way to the right.

The Wonderful Leaking Roof!!

2007-05-31T13:28:00.001-05:00

The first look.

Looking towards the back of the building.

At least it has a roof!!

Notice the patchwork.

But look it has an AC unit.

Trying to keep things positive.

This is the back wall of the upstairs

Look another AC unit for upstairs!!

Positive thinking!!!

Nice crack!! Its only about 1.5 inches wide

This this upper section looking towards the front of the building.

Notice the built in kiddy swimming pool!

Another view of the Kiddy pool.

I would have to say that you might need floatees for that pool.

The very front of the building.

Notice that I don't get within 15 feet of the roofs edge and also part of the roof is missing.

No big deal!! Remeber Positive thinking!!

This is looking down towards the back of the building

Nice view of Macon Huh!!

The Inside Meltdown and First Walk Through Upstairs

2007-05-31T10:08:00.001-05:00

Looking down the stairway from the upstairs area.

Nice wood paneling and lighting!!

Our friend Kelly checking it out.

His wife and him have a building across the street from ours.

They are currently working on their building.

The main living room upstairs.

Again notice the beautiful wood paneling with orange accents.

But wait there might be something hidden.

You will have to check back later to see what we found.

Looking back towards the back of the main living room.

Oh yeah that is my dad.

He owns the building next to ours.

Maybe he will start a blog about his someday.

Looks a little cold!

Keep an eye out I may post some pictures of his building.

The very stylist kitchen sink and stove.

We are going to reuse the sink, which is a Montgomery Ward edition.

Awesome!!

If someone wants the stove email me.

Well this is the dining room!

We are standing in the kitchen looking towards the front of the building.

Kind of dark.

This is where we though most of the leaking was coming from.

We will see!!!

This is the left side of the back bedroom.

Just a little leak here and there!

The other side of the left side bedroom.

This is facing towards the front.

Weird half window

This is the right side of the back bedroom. Looking towards the back of the building.

It has door that leads to the roof. Which will be in the next post.

It is was very cold the day I took this picture.

Camera didn't want to work to well.

Notice the old wallpaper!! 6 Layers thick.

At least it has a furnace and water heater. Maybe??

Love the plumbing!!!

To the left of the picture is the bathroom.

The Inside Meltdown and First Walk Through Downstairs

2007-05-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

I am standing in the front of the store looking back to the back.

There has been a pretty serious leak in the roof for sometime.

Not so bad though!

Try to stay positive, Try to stay positive!!!

Looking towards the front from the middle of the room.

The floor in the back area.

Three layers of carpet, tile, plywood.

All soaked and smelly.

Oh this is going to be a blast!!

The back of the building.

I don't know what the deal is with the noose???

I may need it after seeing what is in store for us.

The only dry room in the building.

This is a right above the front entrance.

The Nice Shiney Outside Of The Building.

2007-05-31T09:02:00.000-05:00

This is the outside of 107 Vine Street.

It has been empty for about 7-8 years.

Doesn't look to bad from the outside. Right!

Here is a little closer picture.

The Happy Beginning

2007-05-31T08:38:00.000-05:00

This was the us in January at the start of the project. See how happy we are!!! We will see a little later how things are going???

I believe this was taken the first weekend of January after we had bought the place.