Shingle Ripper

On Sunday, I started pulling all the nails that were holding the mesh on for the stucco. We tore the stucco off last summer, while we were building a deck. The wall is cedar shingles, and it's in okay condition. At one point, cellulose insulation was blown in, so there's holes at every stud bay. I need to remove the shingles with the holes, so we're using a shingle ripper. It's kind of like what tow truck drivers use to unlock car doors. You pry up the shingle, and move the ripper around until you find a nail. Once it hooks on a nail, then you hammer it down, and it cuts the nail off. It's a lot more difficult than it sounds, it's hard to get it up high enough, and even harder to find the nails. I got a few out, and wrecked some that I didn't want to wreck. It's better than nothing, and even if you ruin 2 shingles, at least it's possible without removing them all. Now we just have to get some new shingles to replace the ones I've taken out. I hear you can get them pre-primed, so that's what we'll probably get. I'm going to prime all the areas that are exposed at the moment. When I removed the top row of shingles, I got showered in vermiculite, not very pleasant. And it can contain asbestos as well, so not good.
I took out one of the aluminum replacement windows, to see how the wood frames look underneath. The one I checked was about 1/4" out of square, so we'll see if jamb replacements are a possibility. I don't like the replacements that go on top, because they make the openings smaller. So we'll either do jamb replacements, or replace the whole window. We're going to try one first, to see how it goes. The frame still has the pulleys in it, one set is knocked in, so the aluminum slider could fit. The trim itself isn't in the best shape, I think it got banged up when they replaced the windows. The sill is in good shape, and it would seem a waste to have to replace it all. We'll do one, and see how it goes.