After the success of removing the shelving unit on the side of the house, I decided a little more demo was in order. Not wanting to go too far or take away too much, I just started doing a little exploring. First was the front porch ceiling. When I bought the house, there was obvious water damage on the boards.
I had a pretty good idea of what it might look like under there, but wanted to actually look. I figured it would also make it easier for contractors who came to give me a real idea of how it will need to be fixed. The tongue and grove boards were already warped and came down pretty easily.
It's pretty much what I expected. Lots of water damage, and a small hole through all the roof layers. A tiny skylight if you will. Possibly install by PO? He did seem to have an affinity for inconveniently placed skylights.
After the porch, I went into the bathroom and started to explore. I started by pulling off a few of the tiles from the shelf that the owner had installed. I thought it likely that I would find moisture. Based on the fact that the tile appeared to be applied directly to the drywall (not ok for the shower), there is a moisture spot at the base of the wall in the adjoining room, and the shelf is directly across from where the shower head was, I felt my hypothesis had merit. Sure enough I was right.
Yay! What do I win? Oh, nothing? Just the chance to have to repair more damage? Damn. The wood and drywall (I was right about that too) were still saturated with water. Keeping in mind that I have owned the house for several months, I don't know how long it has been vacant, and the shower plumbing is currently non-functional, that moisture has been there for a long time.
Because demo is addictive, I kept going, moving up and down the wall from the shelf
and poking around the plumbing side of the tub (the hole on the back side was there when I bought the house).
After plugging the tub drain, the tub itself became a pretty good storage spot for demo tile and drywall.
That was all from the small section of wall. Now I just have to do all the rest. And figure out were to stop. This much is certain: if I plan on doing this demo myself, I'm going to need a dumpster or will be throwing out pieces of my bathroom for the next year.
