It’s hard to imagine the pantry as a place to store food after the nasty things we discovered today. We gutted the walls down to the studs, which was definitely the most disgusting job we have done so far.  The window must have had some leaking issues, as well as the roof, so we had a bit of a mold and mildew problem.  

 

We first installed a new door and window (mostly work done my Ryan and my Dad).  They also moved a huge chunk of concrete from in front of the door which we then buried.  The concrete was sloped toward the house and causing a lot of rot, so it had to go.  Just more work that is buried that will never be seen again (or will cause quite a bit of questioning when someone does find it).

 

Then we dealt with tearing down the drywall and insulation that was full of mold, bees nests, lots of animal sign, and a couple animals themselves that must have had a very pleasant smell at some point.  When we got to the mouse skeletons I politely left ran out of the room and let Ryan deal with it.

We wanted to wait until it was cooler out because of the clothing and masks we would be wearing, but didn’t really think past that.  We ended up working in the evening and having to tear down the ceiling in the dark.  I do not recommend that to anyone…ever.  Although it may be better if you don’t know what is falling from the ceiling in a room like this.

 

 

A new door and window make all the difference!  I don’t have a daylight photo, but this will give you an idea:

 

Can you see that light at the end of the tunnel? That tiny little speck of white? Yeah, me neither… but we are one step closer!