Stucco removal, starts again...

I've been working on the side of the house for about 16 hours total. It's pretty thick in places, and not really easy to remove. My arms are sore from working on it yesterday. You can see a yellow bucket over the electric meter, since it's glass, it needs protection. will need more protection, when we're further up. The electric wires complicate things too on this side. I'm thinking we need scaffolding to finish off this side. I borrowed some wooded scaffolding from some neighbours, it will need to be reconfigured. Or we could just rent metal scaffolding. You can't see it in the photo, but we uncovered a vent that was for a California Cooler in the kitchen. It still has the original screen on it, they just stuccoed right over it. I would like to get both sides finished this summer, I don't know if that's going to happen though, it's a lot of stucco. It would be nice to get it all off, then only need one bin to get rid of it all. I've been using a pry bar and a roofing shovel to get it off, and of course, wire cutters to cut the mesh. Now how to figure out how to build that scaffolding safely.

Stucco Removal 2008

Here's the house with the stone work on the front, and most of it's stucco. This was about 2 years ago when we started removing the stucco.





Here's a similar angle now, well in the summer, there's over 30cm of snow on the ground now. This year we're going the tackle the sides, the back is already done. We need to rent scaffolding to do the top, I think I'll start the bottom with just the ladder though. Hopefully we'll get new windows this year as well, at least for the front. Another summer without windows that open in the living room, not the best. I need to finish the draintile on the front, so we can finish the fence too. It's kind of pointless having a partially fenced in front yard. We want to turn most of our driveway in to vegetable garden, we need to get the stucco off, and the garage finished first. The garage will be our next big project. It has a wood floor, and it's sinking towards the back. It's really close to the property line, so I don't think the city would let us rebuild in the same place, so we'll have to restore the existing garage.
We've almost been in the house for 5 years now, we've done a lot of work, we still have a long ways to go though. I think 2009 will be another good year.

Oh what a feeling, when there's stucco on the ceiling.

Well it's kind of the opposite actually, I don't know who in their right mind would stucco a ceiling. I thought it would be easier to remove, I thought with gravity, it would just fall down. I guess they used extra nails or something, it took me a whole day to remove this ceiling section.




Here`s a picture with most of it off, I did eventually get it off. It rained when I was taking it off, so it was good to be working under cover anyways. I put the light up again temporarily, that was the best light we could afford when we were redoing the wiring, we`ll be getting a new one, as soon as we can afford it. There are a couple holes on the ceiling where the original light used to be, they should be easy enough to fill. The ceiling is douglas fir bevel board, that needs to be stripped. We`re going to strip and stain the supports, and paint the ceiling.



I finished this small section on the back today as well, with garage and the stairs in the way, it was a little difficult to remove. I was careful, but I dented the handrail a little bit. We got a bin the other day, and it`s just over half full, there`s a little bit left on the driveway, then we`ll be done with stucco for this year. I started prepping the siding for the front, I`m using a wood preservative, and back priming it. Hopefully I`ll get the siding up tomorrow.

Stubborn Stucco

Well after 4 days work, the stucco is off 95% of the front of the house. I didn't have enough energy to finish it yesterday. Today the weather turned, so I didn't get to do any work outside, it was the first significant rain in over 4 weeks. Yesterday was a really hard day, and my muscles are still aching, some parts were more difficult than others, taking stucco off from a ladder isn't fun. Scaffolding is necessary for next year's part of the project, working on the gable sections. There used to be a planter under the bedroom window as well, so we'll be building those as well, I might just build the corbels then do the planters this winter. I have quite a bit of cedar left over from other projects, so I'll be using cedar. I think getting the stucco off is about half of the project. I have to take out all the shingles with the holes from when insulation was blown in. Quite a few nails came out as we were removing the stucco, there's still a lot there though. I got the material for the watertable last night, so hopefully I can do that tomorrow morning. I need some dry weather so I can prime the siding for the bottom left side. I could do it in the garage, it would be tight, since it's really full with scrap wood right now. Looks like we're going to have a busy summer finishing off the front, now that it's been exposed. And there's still the stucco on the ceiling of the porch and two small walls.

stucco removal and rot repair

I got some plywood last night to repair the sheathing on the front of the house. The sheathing was repaired before, I'd say maybe 10 to 15 years ago, only they redid the stone the same way, which just let the water in to the wall again. I was going to replace the whole front, but decided later to just replace what was rotten. I can use the other sheet to redo the back porch. So after removing the rest of the stone, I removed the rotten wood, and patched in new. The stone on the concrete was harder to remove, there's still some motar stuck to the concrete. I used the sledgehammer to remove some of it, I have to chisel the rest off.



After that was done, I started removing some of the stucco. I started using the roofing shovel as well, to remove it, it takes it off in larger chunks. I took off this section in just over an hour. The upper part is going to be more difficult, I'm going to use the step ladder for the lower section, and get as much as I can from the front porch. The shingles aren't as nice as the ones on the back, but they're not too bad. So once the stucco is off this side, we can start prepping the siding. I'm going to sand it, put a coat of preservative on it, and prime all 6 sides. Hopefully we'll get the front all repaired, and painted by the end of the summer.

Watch Out For Falling Rock!

We started taking the stone off the front of the house today. This side has been redone before, some of the studs and the sheathing was replaced. They did a better job than the other side, which still have cedar siding underneath. This took less than 10 minutes to take off, just using my brick hammer, my masonry chisel, and my prybar. Water has been leaking behind the stone, there's no flashing between the stucco and the stone. We're going to be replacing it with cedar clapboard.



An action shot of the stone coming off. Some of it came off in surprisingly large chunks.



The prybar in action.



Here's a picture of some of the rot. I knew it was rotten, not that rotten though. I could break it with my bear hands. I used the sledgehammer to take off the bottom stones that were on the foundation. I dug underneath them, then hit them straight down. I bought 2 sheets of plywood to replace the sheathing, so I'll take off the rest of the stone tomorrow, then put on new sheathing and tar paper. I'm going to wait to put on the siding, until all of the stucco is off. It's not prepped yet anyways, I have to coat it with wood preservative, and prime it on all sides. I have to do the water table as well, so I'll have to go get some more 2x8's and flashing.

Stucco Removal Machine back in action

I got back to removing the stucco on the back of the house on Saturday. It was raining pretty much all day, so I worked on the section at the back porch. It's probably only a 5'x7' section of wall, but it took me about 6 hours, including pulling all the nails and cleaning up. I got a bigger more sturdy pry bar, made by Fat Max, it's 24" but it's really beefy, and it doesn't dent the siding if you're careful. When prying a bad spot, I'll pry against a scrap of plywood. The cedar shingles are in good condition underneath, I'll just be replacing the top row where insulation was blown in. I've been using spray foam to fill the holes, I'll wait until I have more holes before I fill though, since I think there's only 4 or 5 holes on this wall. So there's only the one wall on the nook to finish the north side of the house. It might be a little difficult to do with the ladder, I can do some of it from the deck. If it's too difficult, I'll wait until we can get some scaffolding to do that part. It'll be easier to pull off the stucco, fix all the nail holes and paint, when it's done from scaffolding. We're thinking next year for the scaffolding, to do the gables of the house, since they're about 30' at the peak. Then we can do the soffits and fascia boards at the same time.

I need to redo the floor here as well. I'm going to pull off the plywood, and maybe the subfloor as well (1x8 fir). I'm thinking of using concealed nail roll roofing, it's not as good as torch-on or epdm, but it's easier to find and put on. There will be a floating cedar deck on top. This porch only gets wet when we have driving rain, and we don't get that too often. Snow melting could be a problem too, we don't get much of that either, and as long as I shovel it off. Since the roof deck will be covered, and doesn't get any sun, I think it'll last a long time. The room under it is only storage, although we do want to keep it dry too. Now we have to figure out how to get the stone off the front. That's going to be a hard job.

Under the Deck

We continued work on the back of the house, specifically, under the deck. There was one corner that still needed the stucco removed. For some reason, it was more brittle, in didn't come off in sheets. I removed the old water table, the part at the bottom of the house that diverts water away from the foundation. Instead of flashing, the house originally had a piece of wood sticking out. That was removed, when the stucco was applied. I've been using pressure treated 2x8" with metal flashing, so I just continued that section. We moved the dryer vent as well, it used to go under the stairs, but the stairs are there no more, so now it goes straight out (well it still has to go up). The top of the 2x8" has a 15 degree bevel, I just used the circular saw this time, a lot easier than the table saw, with wet heavy pressure treated lumber.
The other job was to secure the deck to the house. The deck is self supported (it doesn't depend on the house to hold it up), we planned it that way, because our house is settling at the back, and they didn't use footings on the foundation. We secured it to the house just for lateral support. The house doesn't have a 2x8" on the end of the joists, just sheathing, so I toe nailed (actually screwed) blocking between the joists. Then I used carriage bolts to attach the deck. The holes were difficult to drill, with all the wiring and plumbing in the way. It was a struggle, probably why I hadn't done it until now. There's a space between the deck and the house, so I used a 2x4 block to fill the space, wrapped with house wrap, to make it more water tight. There's a fairly large overhang on the house, so not a lot of water gets in there, unless it's blown in.
We were planning on doing the electrical for under the deck as well. I bought the stuff, but we ran out of time. I bought all the stuff. I've never worked with the plastic conduit before, so it's new to me. We're in need of light under there, so hopefully, we'll get that done soon. I'm not sure whether to put in an outdoor switch. Probably would be better for over the bbq.

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.

Stucco Removal Machine Returns

We've been chipping away at it again. With the deck structure and part of the stairs in place, we can access the main floor. I screwed a piece of plywood to the deck structure, and started ripping more off. We want to do it before we put on the new cedar decking, since cedar is soft, and the stucco would ruin the decking, even if we were really careful.

About half of the stucco is off this back section, enough to start the decking on the one side. Then we'll move the plywood down, and remove the rest.

We also took off the aluminum trim. There's still a plastic piece on the bottom though. It came off pretty easily.

Here's a shot of the landing a few days back.

And here's a shot of the stairs, looking down toward the landing. We have a lot of work to do on the bottom. The yard is sloped, so we have to build a small retaining wall at the bottom. I poured the footing yesterday, and I need to set up the formwork next. I have a bunch of small forms that I've used on other projects, that I can adapt to make a small retaining wall, then pour a small slab for the stairs to sit on. I started placing the posts tonight, and we'll start laying the decking tomorrow. We're using a hidden deck fastening system, so we still have to put those on first. They're metal channels that allow you to attach the decking from below. They're similiar to these ones. Although, I found out the ones I got can't be directly connected to ACQ lumber. I'm putting strips of tarpaper behind them, so they're not directly touching the toxic lumber. Looks like at least a week to go until we get the decking and handrails together. Hopefully we get enough dry weather in the next couple weeks, so we can stain the deck this year. We've had a really wet summer.

and the stucco continues

derek is sitting beside me, too exhausted to blog. and it's no wonder when he's spent his time off working on the house. the best part was today when we got our first look at the shingles. here's a quick video of how he's taking the stucco off. (there's no sound) although he's telling me that it's not really how he's taking it off, it's just right there so we can place the deck properly. when he really takes the stucco off, he'll start at the top and just peel it away...