A lot of demolition has been completed on the basement. We even have an official dumpster for debris. Some of the things that have been removed can be recycled or re-used, so that’s not in the dumpster.

David has plans to sell the scrap metal, etc. It may not bring much, but at least it can get used by someone else, and that’s important.

Remember our issues with getting the mail delivered to the site? It took a bit of doing, but Mandi and Lee finally fought the Postal Service and won the right to have mail delivered to The Hermit Haus. That’s a real prerequisite to moving the office there!

All we have to do now is get the mail slot installed, and that’s on David’s list for today.

The other major accomplishment on this project this week is that we’ve re-keyed all the locks. That’s important, because we are very familiar with the fact that church keys wander off in all directions, so you never know exactly who has one. Now just our team has access to the building (but really, criminals, if you want demolition debris, it’s all yours). I believe the team also replaced a door that was in bad shape, too.

What to Do with the Ceiling

Now that the fake ceiling is down, we can see why they put up a fake ceiling. There are all sorts of interesting holes caused by the retrofitted central air conditioning system. (More photos are at the end of this post.)

And there sure is some interesting wiring. We have a theory that a church member may have done the work at cost, but without attention to standard practices or building codes (if there were any at the time). A new lighting system will really make the place look better, though.

We can see that we’ll have to do something about the columns (not remove them; they are holding the place up). That should be easy. And Kim has suggested we may not have to completely drywall all the walls, but could texture over the paneling.

Looking inside the little office/former Sunday School rooms, though, it’s easy to see where the windows used to be. I’ll want to get rid of the paneling in those rooms, and add some insulation, I hope. I’m just so full of hope.

Lee is going to call in our favorite architect to look at the place and give us a plan for the downstairs and the upstairs bathrooms we want to create. Now THAT will be exciting. I love the work he did to remodel the Bobcat Lair house. This building will be a fun challenge for him.

Future Plans?

We keep looking at the house across the street from the vacant church lot. We keep thinking it would be a great bed and breakfast to go with the event center. Thinking. Heck, we even know someone who’s helped run a B&B before!