Post #3

Just after we closed on the house, before we knew we were going to gutting the place, I called to have the water turned on.  Since the house had been abandoned for over a year we knew there would be some yucky things happening when we turned on the water.   

I hadn't really expected it to be this yucky. I sound disgusted but I laughed pretty hard when it was over.  I should have known right then that we were in for an adventure Of Mice and Mold proportions.

And that concludes Post #3.  Go on with your bad selves.

Post #2

We finally closed on the house at the beginning of October and it was time to tackle the mold.  I called on a few companies who specialize in mold so I could get an idea of what we were dealing with and get some quotes.  One guy showed up without a ladder.  One guy said there was no mold in my attic.  One company spent 3.5 hours touching every corner of the house from attic to crawl space.  Guess which company I went with.

Viking Restoration DKI impressed me with their knowledge.  The quote was 33 pages long and had pictures of the mold in all of the areas it was found.  They discovered rot along with the mold and a whole lot of rodent damage.  The rodent damage I expected because the entire kitchen was covered – brace yourself and if you are faint of stomach just skip to the next paragraph – in rodent feces and urine stains.

I did a lot of research on how to get rid of the rodent feces and urine stains that covered the kitchen (um, oops, sorry if you jumped paragraphs).  I was prepared to tackle that job if needed but I’ll save that for another time.

The guys at Viking - Tony the owner, Rory, the amazing Dana, and the always cheery and singing Ken - came through in a big way.  They didn't just find the mold.  They found why it was growing and detailed the ways we could keep it at bay in the future.  We agreed that phase one would be remediating the mold and phase two would be fixing the rot and the areas that were allowing the mold to grow.  It was great to know that not only do they clean up the mold, they fix the problem (as you will hear about in the future with their radio ads.  I know because I’m a mom and can see into the future.).  This was so reassuring to this Balcony family.

So phase one began.  The ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms came down.

The lower cabinets in the kitchen - and all of that special debris from the rodents - are gone.

This is just a picture of the retro range hood that was unfortunately busted.

Our oil tank just hovers, floating in air connected to the intake tube.  It's the kind of oil tank you'd find at Hogwarts but isn't allowed in Muggle homes.

The code officer would have loved this gem.  Mix and match electrical in a rusted box.  I double dog dare you to touch that!  Actually, Kenny had to touch it often and he's still around to tell the tale.

This is more retro than the range hood.

The downstairs laundry room was dismantled.

The moldy refrigerator was tossed into the dumpster.

Things were happening and it looked like it would be under two months to get us into our new-to-us Maine home.

Then it was decided that the floors had to come up in order to properly remediate the mold in the crawl space.  Um, ok, I guess?  And that is when the house of Mice and Mold began it’s slow unraveling into a gutted shell of a building.  The things we found…the laughs we had (what else can you do in a situation like this.  It’s either laugh or laugh until you pee your pants.  I stopped short of peeing because that can be messy)…the horrors we saw…

And that concludes post #2.  Go on with your bad selves.

Post #1 - The Beginning

Welcome to the first post narrating our family adventure - the BIG MOVE to Maine.  Here's the set up - we had been dreaming of relocating from Worcester to Maine for several years.  The timing was always wrong but then, instantly, we added water and BAM, the timing was right.  The house of our dreams that we really liked with the barn we've always wanted for the recording studio was available and we snatched it up for a song.  Well, more like a pint (not of beer, silly.  In this case it's just a general measure.  Stop thinking about beer.)  It was a short sale so we were happy it only took 6 months to secure the deal (snicker, snort, happy its was only...bwaahaaahaahaahaa).

The pint turned into a quart when we discovered the mold was extensive enough to require some gutting.  The quart turned into a gallon when the house had to have all walls, ceilings and floors removed (except for the living room).  And now, at the time of writing, the gallon has gone beyond a peck as we have learned there is rot and shot sills and missing beams.

This blog is our chance to chronicle the removal of mice and mold.  The discovery of artifacts from the 1800s.  The thoughts going through our heads when we found floors over floors over floors.  We did not expect to be in this situation but now that we are we're going to make the best of it and share it all with you.

Here's who we are:

Balcony Guy, the man of the house who moves big things and rides bikes and fixes and builds and commutes to the office one day a week.  He also does laundry.  And makes some killer pizza.

Balcony Gal.  I have nothing more to say about me at this time.

Balcony Princess turned 8 after we moved.  She's not a princess like she was when she was little and I started writing a blog.  She's now a book loving, rock star dreaming, world peace wanting kind of kid.  She's looking forward to posting here as well.

Balcony Baby is no longer a baby.  She's 6 going on 16.  She has huge ideas about things like mirrors and everything that would make her happy.  And she makes us laugh all the time.

The names come from the days when we had Celtics season tickets in the balcony.  I may rework them a bit but for now they stick.

Now for the pictures of the house we bought.  These represent what it looked like when we took possession.

The New House and Barn

Downstairs laundry room

The Man Can.  Just a toilet in a room.

And this concludes Post #1.  Go on with your bad selves.