Gene-gineering
Posted on April 1, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Gene-gineering
Today marked the beginning of the construction phase of the project. There is still some targeted demo to be done, but the fast-and-furious major-demolition crew has left the scene and now Sawfish Bob’s crew is on the ground. One of their first projects was to get rid of the old powder room floor that was on the Burger King–addition side of the house.
Tackling the powder room floor
It took longer than anticipated due to the mind-boggling construction tactics employed by the home’s former owner, Gene. I’m not going to say that he’s crazy, but he tried to level the floor in the old house by pouring over a ton of Portland cement on the floor, then gluing plywood over that. Also, he used duct tape as drawer handles in the kitchen for over 20 years. (Someday, when I have a lot of spare time, I’ll fill you in on all of the various and absurd details.)
Anyway, we now use the term Gene-gineering to refer to any kludge-y form of construction. Here’s an example from the powder room floor:
Frustration parfait
Here you see Gene-ius at work: layers of plywood, terrazzo, cement, epoxy, wire mesh—fastened to the Spancrete with giant bolts. This section weighs about 400 pounds. While the crew was trying to remove a larger piece, the forklift nearly pitched forward.
It was like he was building a bomb shelter. With a window.
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