I'm in a daze of exhaustion today, not unlike jet lag. Yesterday I spent 4 1/2 hours on a lead-based paint and asbestos inspection of an old farm house we want to tear down. I didn't have anything to eat or drink for that whole time because it wasn't the kind of environment you'd want to.

This house was built in 1909 and well-built. It has lath and plaster walls, hardwood floors, and all the old windows work so it must be sitting straight on the foundation. There is pretty woodwork and pocket doors between the dining room and parlor, and hardwood floors throughout that have never had carpet installed on them.





The four bedrooms are along one side of the house, connected by walk-through closets so you can go from the far bedroom to the bathroom (in one of the closets) without going through the living/dining/kitchen to get to the other door to the bathroom.

This is looking through all those doors.



That's the upside. The downside is that there is no central heat, no electric outlets in the bedrooms (imagine!) and one tiny bathroom made out of an old closet for the whole 2000 foot four bedroom house. The plumbing needs replaced, the electric needs replaced, the bathroom needs replaced and the kitchen needs to be re-done.

And the yard has junk piles all around, plus there is a bunch of stuff to be cleaned out of the house.



A couple of years ago one of the tenants told me the pipes had leaked into the basement and soaked 'Delorise's garbage' that was down there, rats moved in, and behind them came snakes. You can imagine how I dreaded having to go into that basement, but had no choice yesterday. It wasn't bad at all; no bags of garbage, no rats, no snakes. There was junk, but it wasn't packed in, just ranged around the edges, and not anything overwhelming. What a nice surprise.

The preliminary results of yesterday's testing is that the entire outside of the house is painted with lead-based paint and covered with asbestos siding.



To tear the house down the siding will have to removed with full precautions, and then the lead painted debris will have to be treated as hazardous waste along with the asbestos waste. In about 10 days when I get the lab results I'll know if the interior plaster walls have asbestos mixed into the plaster and will have to also be treated as hazardous.

Once we get all the results and the bids for what it will cost to tear the place down we can figure out if it would be better to try to sell the place as a fixer upper. Everyone who looks at the place says it's a shame to tear it down, but whether anyone would be willing to do what it takes to make it livable is another question.