October 28, 2004

The weather did not help me with the project today. It has been foggy and drizzling all day but I wanted ot work so I had to look for something to do. I thought about working on the roof sheathing but realized that the wet wood and steep pitch did not go together, so I decided to work on the old finish room floor removal. The picture below shows how wet it is inside the shop with the door wide open and the roof open as well.

The floor was not difficult to remove, I had not taken the time over the years to screw it down. It was tacked in place but the nails pulled easily. I wasn't sure why they pulled so easily untile I got most of the floor removed. Soft and rotted wood was the reason.

It isn't often that I take detailed pictures of a project I am tearing apart, but thought this floor system needed to be recorded. This floor was built over the top of a cracked and broken cement slab that was the original shop approach. It slanted away from the shop and this required some fancy work to make a level floor inside. I used a series of footer pieces on the floor and then over laid them in the opposite direction with 2 X 3 pieces. I inserted styrofoam insulation between each piece and covered the whole thing with black plastic. When I got half way into the room I discovered that the footer pieces were totally rotted out and the 2 X 3 pieces were very soft although not rotted. The picture below shows the mess created by the rotted wood falling apart. I also found millions of beetles that hid out here for the winter. I did get all of the floor removed but did not spend a great deal of time cleaning up the mess. There was no sense hauling the wood to the fire pile to set out in the rain.

Current Project Page

Main Page

Next Page