Raining Mouse Poo

Demolition continued today. We got a late start because today was the Great Glebe Garage sale, which can't be missed. The Glebe is an affluent area of Ottawa, and the entire neighbourhood has a yard sale the same day. It's pretty cool. We got there at 7:30am and stayed only until about 9:30am. I dropped Lesley off to meet her friends for brunch, and it was off to Home Depot & Canadian Tire for me. Picked up the work light and shop-vac we needed, both of which were indispensable today.

Our new shop-vac with detachable blower

Let there be light!

Lesley got back from brunch just as I was finishing up lunch, and it was down to the basement for more demolition. Today we tackled the entire back half of the room. Since we have to work around a tv and a couch, the demo has to go one half room at a time.

Taking down the strapping

Under-stairs storage exposed

Today saw a lot of ceiling tiles come down. In certain areas, and especially around the stairs, the tiles were COVERED in mouse droppings. Every tile that came down caused a shower of mouse poo to rain down. But that's not the most disgusting incident of the day. Oh, no. Poor Lesley pulled down one ceiling tile, and a dead mouse came falling down nearly right on top of her. She was pretty grossed out. I disposed of the carcass and figured I'd be pulling down the rest of the tiles myself, but Lesley really hung in there and got right back to pulling down tiles. I am impressed by her resilience in the face of adversity and poo.

We managed to get quite a bit done today in 6 hours of work, though not quite as much as I'd hoped. Still, we should be able to finish the job tomorrow with a full day's work.

Filling the bin

Down the stairs

Looking forward to finishing the other side of the room tomorrow. Demolition is cathartic, but it's also very messy and dusty, and there are nails poking out of everything. Lesley stepped on 3 nails today. Didn't slow her down though - she's tougher than she looks! We've now moved the tv and couch to the demo'd side, and will move the floor tiles over there first thing tomorrow before tearing down panelling.

For now, we sit and enjoy a beer before the Stanley Cup finals begin. Go Hawks.