Today's topic...Water Damage. We've stated it before, it's throughout the building. However, we're finally at a point where we are digging in and repairing, rather than just discovering more of it. I'll raise a mug of coffee to that!
A couple of weeks have passed since our last update, and we've steadily been able to commit about two days per week to renovating the building. Progress can officially be seen from the outside, which is always nice, and the interior second story is now at a point where we can strip it down to the stud framing, floor joists, and rafters to rebuild it into what the second story that it will become.
We removed somewhere around 12,000 pounds from the second story apartment, and we haven't even begun the structural demo. In other words, there's a lot more to remove. That was just "stuff" from tenants past. So much stuff. If you drove by on a work day(Tuesday and Friday), you may have seen things getting thrown from the balcony(to be removed soon), groups from Steady work lending a helping hand, and hopefully the lack of debris and odor from the alleyway has been noticed. It's coming along!
Inside the apartment, we found more hazardous framing, water damage, and sub floor literally gone with simple carpets rolled over the floor joists. Not just one spot, but many. In other areas, subfloor has given out under our feet as we are moving boxes, furniture, and tools. It's a wreck. If you have reached out prior asking for us to salvage a specific part of the apartment, the unfortunate truth is that we cannot. We wish we could.
Our roof project is complete! Copper metal roofing, new vinyl soffit, and new 2x6 fascia with aluminum flashing all wrapped up to create some nice new roof lines. We couldn't be happier with the results. This building is over 150 years old with essentially zero straight lines to work from, which made this an interesting project, and James hit it out of the park. You'll see throughout pictures that the roof and fascia was in horrible condition, many years have passed since a new roof should have been put on. Unfortunately, water damage inside the building can be seen nearly everywhere at this point.
The rotted steel cover and framing for the old keg delivery access is gone! To make the project happen, we spent a Friday and got the following done:
Wrapped up the block wall
Flashing
Removing the steel cover and it's contents
Filling the hole in the sidewalk with about 8 ton of fill
Compacted it
Layed rebar
Mixed around 1,800 pounds of concrete to make it a continuous sidewalk
The access is no longer a safety concern, the cones are off the sidewalk, and water will no longer be able to infiltrate the building from this point. That's a win!
There is more good news....we're prepping for siding! Trevor and Chris peeled some of the rotted masonite siding to reveal the old barnwood siding. First of all, masonite siding...harbors moisture, brittle when wet, bugs love it...it's bad stuff. Back on track... we also cut the plywood decking on the second-story porch to create a gap between the deck and the building to allow water runoff. There's many issues with the stairs(structural, zoning, etc.), but the immediate issue is no flashing between the ledger board the building. Water runs off the deck, collects at the building, and runs directly through the wall, which has destroyed the first story drywall and probably framing. We'll get to that later, but check out the pictures. This gap is a temporary bandaid to prevent further damage. The entire stair structure is coming down as soon as we are ready.
We also removed the old/outdated/broken/noisy kitchen exhaust fan so we can install a new one when it arrives. While the tools and ladders were out, Trevor framed an old window cavity, insulated, and sheathed it so the new siding has a solid, even surface to adhere to. You'll notice in pictures that the old window cavity was never finished on the outside, creating once again...water damage. Even though it's not pretty yet, we feel it's looking better already!
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Thank you supporting our efforts to build up our community through stellar coffee!
Trevor Leach
Co-owner/roaster/man with the tools