Today's task was to get the nails pulled out of the concrete, and fill in the divots.
Today's challenge
The Divot
Basically, nails pounded into concrete are a lot stronger than the wood they`re holding, so when you pull off the wood, the nails get left behind. Also, they`re quite rusty from sitting in concrete that's below grade, so they just really don`t want to come out. The result is that the concrete that the nail's sitting in gets pulled out with the nail. For contrast, check out an exterior wall after the nails were removed versus an interior concrete wall:
Exterior wall
Interior wall
Of course, there were a bunch of nails that simply had the head pop off, so I couldn't do much with them except pound them in. I'm not crazy about having rusty metal sitting inside concrete, but what can you do? At least the sparks from the odd hammer strike were cool.
Lesley followed behind me as I pulled nails and cleaned the walls of mould and efflorescence, and generally made them squeaky clean. Did you know that efflorescence turns blue when mixed with bleach? She also filled in the divots with parging mix.
Always replace your divots
Remember that outlet encased in concrete? I also tackled that little problem today. After an hour, a lot of pounding and concrete dust, and a litany of curses, the outlet finally came out.
WHY?!?
Victory!
The wires were actually green with oxidization. And don't forget - this outlet was live. I had a lamp plugged into it. *shudder*
Today was the last day for the dumpster as it gets picked up tomorrow. Feeling good about getting all that crap out of there, and will be happy to get our driveway back, and not have squeeze by an 18" gap on my rollerblades to get to and from work. We didn't quite fill the dumpster, but we came pretty close.
Bye bye dumpster
There's still a bit of parging left to do and the stud walls to take down before the weekend arrives. Feeling confident that we'll be able to get that done in the coming days.
Cleaning up for the day
Beer time.
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3 comments:
Can't wait to see the blue studs go up. Are you waterproofing first? What kind of insulation? Steve Maxwell, who writes in my Canadian Home Workshop magazine, says rigid foam is the easiest to use in a basement. I'm really getting into this :-)
Mom
xox
Not waterproofing. There will be an air gap to allow for evaporation. Planning on using batt insulation and vapour barrier as it's less expensive than rigid board.
You guys DEFINE weekend warriors ... what a job! Lesley - you're tougher than I am, girl (double eww on that mouse poo). And I'm a little envious of the trip to the Glebe Garage sale. Good luck!
Sooz
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