mandcremodel: It smells a lot better

One of our less serious but yucky problems is the smell in the house. It's a combination of filth, mold, rot, and no circulation. As time goes by and we make progress on these things, it smells better every day. It's a small, but nice reward.

I started today by meeting the plumbers first thing. I had a quick meeting with the head guy to discuss some concerns and they were off and running. They are mainly working on the heater, and spent the early part of the day in the attic laying ducts and later cutting holes for hot air registers. They are definitely making progress! The plumber who runs the company is on vacation this week, but he left another licensed plumber in charge who is really good. I felt very comfortable with him. This afternoon, the plumber's nephew who works for the company stopped by just to check in and make sure I had no concerns while the main guy was on vacation. He left me his cell phone number. I was very impressed! I must at least look like I know what I'm doing because he thought I was the "general" or general contractor.

I'm pleased with the plumber. I think it pays to be really thorough in selecting contractors. They've been prompt, available, clean and professional. One of the helpers even attacked a linoleum floor I was ripping up while the supervisor was out and he didn't have anything to do. Wow.

I did manage to get the whole nasty kitchen floor up today (with assistance from the plumber's helper). Like the other demolition I've done, I got faster over time. Now that the floor is out, you can really see how bad the water damage is. Part of the wooden subfloor in the laundry area (under a pervasive leak) was basically compost. It was really not even wood any more but crumbly, soft, powdery soil. Wow. I'm looking forward to getting a framer and drywaller in to get rid of the damaged parts and put in brand new stuff.

Here is my start at removing the kitchen floor: