The problem with cleaning

debodun said:
Not hurt, but it knocked the wind out of my sails for a minute. Reflex is to reach out with arms to break the fall. I always worry I'll break a bone or dislocate or sprain a joint.
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Yup, although that’s a worry I don’t have. My protective reactions are gone so I just fall 🙁.
 

I called the junk removal man that helped me a few years ago getting rid of the back porch overhang that blew down. I asked if he took paint cans. He said yes, but his fee is $5 a gallon and it has to be solidified.

The area trash company holds a "town clean-up day" twice a year, but they don't take ANY paint during the cleanup - no hazardous waste either (even latex paint, painted wood, electronics, batteries, gas cans, car oil, pesticide containers - anything toxic, corrosive or ignitable) even yard and garden waste. Ummm....what's left?
 

You wouldn't believe what was in that galvanized tub. A birch log about 15 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, a rusty metallic cylinder that looked like a fuel tank to an old camp stove, small wooden planks, a rubber hose to who knows what and an old Christmas tree lightbulb. I have no idea why these were saved.

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debodun said:
You wouldn't believe what was in that galvanized tub. A birch log about 15 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, a rusty metallic cylinder that looked like a fuel tank to an old camp stove, small wooden planks, a rubber hose to who knows what and an old Christmas tree lightbulb. I have no idea why these were saved.

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Are those pipes wrapped in asbestos? Have you thought about renting out your home to a movie maker that makes scary movies? Or one that needs a home to destroy for a movie?
 
debodun said:
I called the junk removal man that helped me a few years ago getting rid of the back porch overhang that blew down. I asked if he took paint cans. He said yes, but his fee is $5 a gallon and it has to be solidified.

The area trash company holds a "town clean-up day" twice a year, but they don't take ANY paint during the cleanup - no hazardous waste either (even latex paint, painted wood, electronics, batteries, gas cans, car oil, pesticide containers - anything toxic, corrosive or ignitable) even yard and garden waste. Ummm....what's left?
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Try this link.

Select the material that you need to get rid of, punch in your zip code and a radius.

https://search.earth911.com/?what=C...&longitude=&country=&province=&city=&sponsor=
 
Worked on this table for a while this morning. Everything removed except for what looks like a rolled up Persian style rug. There's a big pile of disintegrated cardboard on the floor behind the furnace which looks like a job for a cooler day. Also two old fuel oil tank gauges. I don't know why whoever took them out didn't take them away. I wear a mask when working in the cellar. Don't want to inhale any more dust and mold than I have to which I likely stir up moving things around.

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debodun said:
Worked on this table for a while this morning. Everything removed except for what looks like a rolled up Persian style rug. There's a big pile of disintegrated cardboard on the floor behind the furnace which looks like a job for a cooler day. Also two old fuel oil tank gauges. I don't know why whoever took them out didn't take them away. I wear a mask when working in the cellar. Don't want to inhale any more dust and mold than I have to which I likely stir up moving things around.

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You couldn’t pay me to go down there 😂
 
The guy I talked with the other day that does junk removal said that is only what he does - just a removal service. He doesn't actually do clean-outs. The homeowner has to have what they need removed to be outside of the house in a pile and he will come and pick it up.
 
Every time I clean it turns into one room resembling the aftermath of a tornado while I get side tracked & start digging around looking for other things that go with something I've located or something I remember having but don't remember where I put it. And then I start rearranging the room & it turns one little room that should take a few min to clean into a 4 hr venture.
 
I found two boxes of badly rusted and outdated plumbing and electrical accessories. They've been in a damp cellar for decades. I went through them and threw 90% of it out - things like items that were so rusty I couldn't tell what they were, electric sockets for non-grounded circuits and fuses (I have a circuit breaker now). I did save some things like a toilet flapper and faucet seating wrench that were still in the packing. I did find a few interesting things - a spool of copper wire, a little plumbob and a roller tool that says HYDE-300 on the handle.

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debodun said:
I found two boxes of badly rusted and outdated plumbing and electrical accessories. They've been in a damp cellar for decades. I went through them and threw 90% of it out - things like items that were so rusty I couldn't tell what they were, electric sockets for non-grounded circuits and fuses (I have a circuit breaker now). I did save some things like a toilet flapper and faucet seating wrench that were still in the packing. I did find a few interesting things - a spool of copper wire, a little plumbob and a roller tool that says HYDE-300 on the handle.

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2 of those 3 can be useful.

Use the copper wire to hang the plumb bob from the ceiling in a room you use most. Long enough to get a good reading on whether or not your homes foundation has begun to crumble along with the exterior brick. If your as you call it your disaster is leaning now any additional leaning could be noted so you could get out before total collapse trapping you inside.
 
I am happy I had the forethought to wear a mask when cleaning in the cellar. It turned from light blue to a powdery gray. I shudder to think of all the mold spore bearing dust I could have inhaled by not wearing it.
 


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