Weekend update

Most of my work on my house has been focused on one particular wall in one particular room. Last weekend I spend 6.5 hours scraping crap mortar out from between the bricks. This weekend I put new mortar in that scraped area. Once that was dry I scraped out what I hope will be the last. I'll fill that in next weekend.

Let me tell you a bit about this wall. It's brick. But there are three board about an inch thick that run horizontally and are embedded in the wall. I'm really not sure what the thinking was. But I'm leaving the brick below the bottom board alone. Largely because there's a vent coming out of the brick and lots of really hard concrete around it. The vent was covered in plaster. This indicates that there was a forced air system that predates the radiators. And that different concrete was used around the vent than was used in the brick. So it's going to be easier to just put some decorative paneling over the vent and brick. And it gets me out of scraping that area out.

About chest height there are three rectangles cut out of the brick. Or, rather, bricks were built around something that's now gone. They look like pockets for joists. I may find matching pockets if I took the plaster off the far wall (HELLZ NO!). But the placement is weird for that. I'm considering putting some boards in there and using them to support a shelf.

Above the old ceiling is some brick that was never plastered over. Nobody was supposed to see it so they never knocked off the mortar that squished out between bricks. But I'm planning to raise the ceiling to just under the roof once some 6" of insulation is sprayed up there. I don't want to scrape that area if I can help it. I've got this sandpaper flapper thing that goes on a drill. I'll be using it to clean up the bricks I've repointed and make them prettier. I'll take it to the mortar that's squished out, too. Grind it down level with the brick. If it looks alright I'll go ahead and seal it. If not... another couple of weeks of scraping and mortaring.

With luck, the weekend after that I can frame up the front wall. Then the insulation guys come in. Then wiring, sheetrock, carpet removal, floor restoration (I say that like I have any idea what that involves), a door, and a bed. Doesn't sound like much if I say it fast.