What's Big-Foot been up to?

[Big-Foot]

Well - It's not automotive related...

I've not had a ton of time lately for the forums - and my Blog here will tell you why.

The good news is that I truly believe that we've found the reason why I got sick and have been getting progressively sicker over the last 5 years.

http://www.gt-forty.com/GT-Forty/Blog/Blog.html

[Hoosier]

Interesting...Was your "wondow" a coal shute and your "crypt" a coal storage area?

[slaga]

Weren't you working on a electric motorcycle? How did the work out?

[Big-Foot]

Interesting...Was your "wondow" a coal shute and your "crypt" a coal storage area?

You know - it might have been a coal chute - no telling.. The house is old enough though... The bad part is that there was no header above the hole so the two remaining course of blocks were sagging and had cracked. The upstairs (main floor) was sagging and the walls were cracking...

Weren't you working on a electric motorcycle? How did the work out?

Ummm... Yeah - that's worked out about as well as my GT40 build has... I've been just a tad bit pre-occupied...

[Dan Babb]

Was it something in the house making you sick?

Hope you're doing better.

[VeniceCobra]

Good job man. I went there almost done
Good luck

[Cobra Cory]

Mold.......Bad. Very, very bad. Glad your feeling better though. BTW...nice to see someone else with a small house. Like mine. I thought I was the only one around here. My whole house would fit in, most of the guys on this sites, garages. LOL!

[Jeff Kleiner]

Holy moly Randy!
Very ambitious, although undeniably necessary, project. Well done.
A sick house combined with an out of whack immune system ultimately took my dear friend and mentor from us 10 years ago this month so I am very sensitive to the seriousness of a situation like yours.
So glad to hear that you are seeing health improvements and I hope that continues!

Cheers,
Jeff

[Big-Foot]

Thanks Jeff / Guys... I'm updating the Blog as fast as I can given my work schedule..

We go through final inspection today - but after that I need to finish the remodel of the bathroom and finish tuck-pointing walls on the North side of the basement that were not impacted by the Mold / Fungus infestation from the plumbing leak..

We've had untold numbers of Insurance Adjusters, contractors, inspectors, Osha, EPA, you name the organization and I think they were involved...

Going on living in the house (and my working my ofiice job remotely) was necessary as we could not afford to move.. Actually from the couple of days worth of demolition forward, the air quality improved dramatically... We had also bought a rather expensive air purification system with HEPA filters to trap mold spores..

There were some very very rough times also.. I'd get sick to my stomach and start to __well - I think you can figure it out__ And then I'd just have to get right back to it.. We simply don't have the money put away to have the foundation professionally addressed - so I learned how to repair crumbling 94 year old Limestone Cement block and tuck-point with a much stronger mortar that I made from a cocktail of Hydraulic Cement and Vinyl Cement.. It's so tough that you can barely chip it with a large hammer..
The General Contractor said that it would cost between 20 and 30k for them to repair the foundation and even then, there would be no guarantees about leakage...

Feeling healthier and stronger every day!

[Cobra Cory]

Are you doing any type of HEPA air filtration or air scrubing while working in the basement? Just wondering. Mold can be spread arouond the house by the heating system. I'm sure you know that. It is one thing I would do if I had mold in my house. Which we did when I moved in. Heck my basement had 22,000 gallons of water in it from a busted pipe that leaked all winter, just before we bought the place. The insurance company had to gut the whole basement and install all new insulation, spray the joists with mold killer etc. I put an air cleaner in the basement and let it run for weeks after we moved in. Better now though....

[LuckyWinner]

Wow what a bummer....thought this thread was about actual Big-Foot sightings. In all serousness I do wish all the best for you and your family, that stuffs nothing to mess with.

[Big-Foot]

Are you doing any type of HEPA air filtration or air scrubing while working in the basement? Just wondering. Mold can be spread arouond the house by the heating system. I'm sure you know that. It is one thing I would do if I had mold in my house. Which we did when I moved in. Heck my basement had 22,000 gallons of water in it from a busted pipe that leaked all winter, just before we bought the place. The insurance company had to gut the whole basement and install all new insulation, spray the joists with mold killer etc. I put an air cleaner in the basement and let it run for weeks after we moved in. Better now though....

Yep - Got the HEPA Filtration system and use the HD electrostatic furnace filters..
During demolition the heat was turned off so as to not circulate that crap any further than absolutely unavoidable..
We've also removed 90% of the carpeting from the house now.
Also - when I was personally doing work exposing the mold and fungus, I was wearing a Charcoal / HEPA filter mask..

When the demolition was done they hosed (and I mean hosed) everything in the basement down with an antibacterial liquid that killed all the mold spores (or so I was told).. All I know is that everythig was dripping wet when they were done..

The Ducts are all going to be opened up and cleaned this coming Monday by an outfit that is EPA Certified and does it for hospitals.. The part I'm concerned about now is the A-Coil for the Central AC and if they can get that clean as well..

---

I'm still likely to uncover some mold when I renovate the laundry area as there is one masonite wall covering the foundation. I'm planning on getting the wife and dogs out of the house when I open that up and I'll spray the crap out of it with a 50/50 solution of bleach and water - then bail myself out of there for a few hours while it airs out...

[Don Wright]

Take care and good luck with the renovation - looks daunting.

dawjr

[Mark Reid]

Randy, I just spent the last 1 1/2 hours reading this horrible saga! Thank God you discovered the problem and had the drive to get it done. It looks fantastic and you should be very proud!

My only complaint is that on February 14, there was no mention of you taking your lovely bride Dar out to celebrate Valentines Day! After all the crap you've been through, you two deserved it more than anyone.

[Big-Foot]

Thanks Mark...

Dar and I celebrated by staying home and just enjoying each other's company ((After I finished moving a couple tons of snow one shovel at a time))...
Actually - I was too pooped to do anything... We're on target for a night out this weekend though.

Now to finish moving all that snow once again since we got close to 20" here over the last 36 hours and the drifts are anywhere from 2 to 6' tall... Moan....

I'm such a baby...

[4wheelfun]

What an impressive amount of work you have done! It was really good to see someone trying to do a job right, not just a quick, easy way out. And how nice that you have preserved an older house for many future years. Just wondering - since you showed the role the dogs played in the renovation work but not your wife, was that because she was out working on the GT-40 project??