Fun in the sun. Well, not much of it actually in the sun but suffering the sun's effects, which felt brutal today.
First of all, clearing stuff out of Room A to make space. Then running the shop vac to clear the crud up off the floor. Once that was done I had a space to bring three cast iron radiators, weighing a total of probably 7-800lbs, from the adjacent room (room B) so they were out of the way. Then I set up a stand with some wooden offcuts, and moved a pile of insulation panels out of B and into A. That meant I could pull down the rest of the ceiling tiles in B and stack them out of the way, and also pull down the last few wooden slats across the ceiling that the tiles were attached to. They were right by an exterior door so I took them straight out onto the porch. These are lengths of 3/4" cedar 12' long so it's worth keeping them. I'm not sure why whoever installed it used cedar, but I'll reuse it for something, even if only for picture frames. My 36" wrecking bar was hugely useful here because it meant I could just stand on the floor and pry things off the ceiling, rather than having to constantly move back and forth on the ladder.
Once all the strips of cedar were out on the porch I set about pulling the staples out and then had the interesting task of getting them through the house and into the basement. That was an interesting process, trying to figure out the best route so that they would actually fit. I had hoped to lie them down in one of the rooms in the basement but they were too long.
Next up I need to put a dust sheet across the doorway between rooms A and B so I can pull down the rest of the ceiling. The next stage is a lattice of 2x4s that I have no idea why anyone would have put there. All it does is set the ceiling about 6" lower than the original ceiling, and of course it stops me from getting at anything above it. I'm not sure how best to get it down because of how it's nailed in place. Once that is down I get to pull down another lath-and-plaster ceiling. It's a lot of fun working in this heat with a respirator on, but probably more fun than it is to breathe that much plaster dust. At least with this room there's an external door so I can come and go through that door rather than tramping everything through the house.
And then, once all that is done, I can finish fixing up the wall, fit the rest of my insulation panels to the whole area, and put up some drywall. With any luck I'll have the radiators back on before it gets cold. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun trying to position a lump of cast iron that weighs in the region of 200lb with enough precision to connect it to the existing pipework.
I would really like to get the cast iron pipework in the basement replaced with PEX before I refill that heating loop, simply because it means I can do everything in one hit rather than having to drain the whole thing again, but at the moment I'm expecting to probably have to revisit that next summer. I'll talk to my heating man when he comes to service the furnace and help me disconnect another couple of radiators that I need gone.
Tonight's task is less sweaty. I get to sit at my desk and write some code on the computer. That will be a welcome change.