On the Inside - Part II

With the house clean, we now can go about ripping things out (and making another mess).  

Job #1: the Bathroom.  

I had agreed to the move the country and to living in a small house while we add on to make it larger.  My only qualification to this agreement was the bathroom.  From day 1, our agreement was that the day Vacating Tenant was out, the one existing bathroom came out as well.  A gut-job was definitely in order.  I had no idea just how badly it was in order until we really got in there and started tearing out fixtures.

I had largely left the bathroom alone when I did my big cleaning.  It was just clean enough to use in case of emergency.  My in-laws’ ranch is only a mile and a half away, so most bathroom needs could be taken care of there with just a little planning.  (Of course, the guys just go outside and find a tree.)  We started with the vanity, which was actually in decent condition.  It just didn’t fit with my design plan.  It will get saved in storage for a future project—probably the barndominium I envision sitting across from the main house that will include among other things horse stalls, laundry facilities and a full apartment for long-term guests.  What we didn’t know was that this seemingly fine bathroom vanity had years of Q-tips hiding behind it—crusted and stuck to the wall.  I thought that was gross enough.

Then, there was the shower surround.

Once the bacteria-laden Q-tips were sucked into the shop vac, my husband, a pull-bar, a sledge and a saws-all got started on the shower surround.  His first discovery: trails of roach poo all around the top of the surround.  Seriously?!  In the handful of months Vacating Tenant occupied this home, surely he had taken a shower.  Had he really not ever run so much as a dust mop along the top of the surround?  Evidently not.  After removing the shower surround and pulling out the tub portion, we found something else he had never noticed. 

An actual rat’s nest. 

Previous Owner (or someone) had done some remodeling to the original bathroom at some point.  Yay, them.  When running plumbing to the tub/shower, they had failed to imagine that rats and/or squirrels could climb right in through their gaping hole around the pipes.  Thus, some furry critters had made a quaint home complete with fiberglass insulation and grass bedding and a plentiful food store of pecans.  The pictures don’t line up with my memory of the first glimpse of the nest.  I remember it much deeper and more imposing, but the picture was taken immediately upon my discovery so we will go with it.

My husband can deal with many things and various vermin—rats and rat-related mess not included.  Father-in-law and a hefty shop vac and some contractor-grade garbage bags stepped in to clean out the nest.  With the rat evidence gone, within a couple of hours the two of them had replaced rotten boards and installed a proper subfloor that would not invite in any unwelcome furry guests.

In all of this, we did make a wonderful discovery.  Shiplap behind every wall in the house!  God bless the 1930s.  Never again will I search for a stud for hanging heavy objects on the walls.  We already have plans to expose several sections, starting with a wall of open-shelving we have planned for the kitchen.