Mr. Bearman is here.
Yes, it is his name.
He has been busy annoying the cats with his Amazing Array of Alarming Noises.
The sheet rock in the kitchen ceiling and bathroom ceiling had decided to start letting go, and was developing an occasional drip, with matching droop, and even an actual looming crack hanging down over the refrigerator.
Mr. Bearman has managed to make big piles of trash like this:
Then there is this:
What is this stuff on your porch, I hear you ask through the miraculous innerwebs?
These are various heavy wood and pipe things some idiot was too lazy to cart out of here when the kitchen ceiling was last worked on in about 1975.
He just stashed it all directly on top of the ceiling sheet rock when he finished, and sealed up the job.
Which is why a small leak in a drain behind a wall upstairs started bringing down the ceiling in this spot — it had huge hunks of piping dragging it down.
Which is why I now have big holes here:
and here:
Which means my kitchen looks like this:
Could be worse.
It is all sheet rock and paint, not joists.
So we are at the low end on costs, and only looking at a few days of plaster dust.
Though, dang, I now get to paint next week.
Apparently there was a slow leak in a drain pipe up in a wall upstairs.
We had spent months and months trying to figure out what was getting things wet.
With much blaming of certain people's lack of meticulous tucking in of shower curtains.
(Not me.)
Well, shower curtains in fact do leak, and there is a certain amount of squishiness up there, under the hideous vinyl flooring.
It will not make the bathtub fall into the kitchen, which I was starting to think about worrying about.
(As in, "Should I be worrying about the soft feeling under this vinyl floor, and the water coming into the kitchen downstairs? Or maybe I can ignore it some more.")
So the floor up there will perhaps make for nastiness when we someday decide the upstairs bathroom should be less frightening to small children and visitors, but it isn't going to do a full-scale Fall of the House of Usher on us.
Lauowolf's Blog 
Posted by Jamie on February 3, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I'm sorry about the leak and the damage but holy crap..I LOVE your porch railing, it's gorgeous!Don't you love when the previous owners couldn't manage to do the job right (why even bother?) and you have to clean up the mess? What idiot leaves stuff in the ceiling? I left a note in a wall (with the very romantic idea that someone will find it in a hundred years time) but I'd never leave lumber in the ceiling.
Posted by SweetMisery on February 3, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Yeah on the porch. Victorian sorta. Sorry about the plaster work. Dust yuck. Get a mask. Serious. Glad no one was hit. Yikes.
Posted by Teho on February 3, 2009 at 6:04 pm
What idiot leaves stuff in the ceiling? At a guess, some cheap/lazy contractor.
Posted by Waterbaby on February 3, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Plaster dust is, in my experience and humble opion, THE hardest post-construction cleanup. It gets *everywhere.* Have fun cleaning that up. Not.
Posted by lauowolf on February 3, 2009 at 9:10 pm
May have been hippie anarchist rent striker become rooming house owner.Or one of his labor for rent bartering buddies, cos I think they were the last ones up there.
Posted by lauowolf on February 3, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Shudders…..Any hints?Sigh.Once I get rid of it, then I get to paint.
Posted by Waterbaby on February 3, 2009 at 10:07 pm
As you might remember, I worked in high-end properties, including in spaces totally gutted with wires hanging from the ceiling, old plumbing exposed through knocked-out walls, the whole shebang. So the layers of plaster dust I dealt with were thick and over every microinch and surface, which is probably what you're facing. That said, for your situation, I'd approach first with the vacuum cleaner's upholstery attachment. (not the round brush, the one that looks like an elongated nozzle.) followed by a dry rag very lightly sprayed with Pledge (in the white can, it's superior). Followed by a damp rag. You might need to do each step repeatedly — again, depending on the extent of the talcum-powder dust and level of noncleanliness you'll tolerate. Dust mops are helpful for the walls.
Posted by Waterbaby on February 3, 2009 at 10:17 pm
whoops, should've read: over every microinch and surface *in the apartment*, which is probably *not* what you're facing
Posted by Waterbaby on February 3, 2009 at 10:19 pm
ack! not apartment. in the residence! i need to step away from the computer. just step away.
Posted by lauowolf on February 3, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Snerk.Actually the house had an incarnation as a duplex.So it sorta is an apartment.And Bearman is doing the bulk clean-up as he goes along, and trying to contain the worst of the mess inside a plastic curtain system.But a certain amount of dust is, I think, just fated.Dust mop for walls, Pledge, wet wipe and repeat.I can do that…(Kitchen isn't too bad, but the bathroom floor is a bit unhappy just now…)Sigh, maybe that's me.
Posted by Waterbaby on February 3, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Not just Pledge. Pledge in the white can. Which is available at home supply stores and others as well. It's used at facilities where dust control is important, like hospitals and computer rooms. It grabs the dust better than regular Pledge (or any other dust spray I've used). The plastic sheets help control the dust to a point but do NOT eliminate. Air movement happens. People walk. You'd be surprised how much dust travels on those two phenomena alone.
Posted by Kzinti on February 3, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Nothing makes you feel more alive than tearing crap apart. Man!!! What a rush just typing that! But, cleanup. Yeah. Bummer on that. That part of the job is teh suk. Slow and careful is the cleanup motto. Do it once and do it right.
Posted by lauowolf on February 3, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Oh, I would not be surprised at all.(And he did say so too: not that this would prevent it, only lessen somewhat.)So Pledge in the white can it will be, even if it takes a bit of hunting.I am already official Annoyed at the dust.
Posted by Waterbaby on February 4, 2009 at 1:38 am
The local Horrid Depot (aka Home Depot) carries the white Pledge but am sure other places have it as well. If not, then don't sweat it, regular Pledge will do. Dunno whether you have wood floors; if you do, a little white Pledge on a dust mop is also excellent, gives a clean and nice but not overpowering shine to a floor.
Posted by notjustanotherpumpkin on February 4, 2009 at 10:31 am
WOW!!!Big mess. Close call!I hope it gets fixed up soon……and what a GORGEOUS house.