- Dan Schumacher
All Jacked Up
UVA's big win wasn't the only thing to get all jacked up about. It was my first experience using a concrete saw and concrete demolition hammer (jack hammer).
You can see the dust on the floor in the top right corner of the photograph. I used the shop vac to clean the area around the saw cuts. The photo doesn't accurately portray the mess that was created EVERYWHERE by all the of the dust. I do mean everywhere. I thought I had plugged all the holes in the floor between the basement and main level. I was wrong. When I went upstairs for lunch there was a thick haze in the air and the HVAC filter I had just replaced was whistling like crazy. We found dust in the cabinets, the drawers, and covering all of our furniture and clothes. It kind of reminded me of my days in Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. We would wake up in the morning covered with a fine dust similar to talcum powder.
Using the jack hammer was definitely a lot more fun than using the concrete saw. It took a little while to figure out how much to break up at a time but once I got the hang of it the process went pretty smoothly.
Carrying the concrete debris up the stairs reminded me of the good old days of hauling the plaster out of the basement. The concrete is a lot more dense than the plaster so I couldn't carry as much per trip.
Once I got all the concrete out of the way I had to dig and expose the existing pipes. After the cutting, hammering, and hauling this was the easy part.
And this is why I need the help of a plumber. I wouldn't know how to connect this mess. We all know which way the stuff flows so you better get it right.
Trish and I signed up for Ironman 70.3 Coeur d'Alene which will take place on June 30th. We are in the heart of the training and seems to be consuming much of our time, especially on the weekends. The poor dogs. We haven't taken them on a hike in two weeks. I feel very blessed that I am able to take time off of work to renovate the house and train for the triathlon. Between the hammering, and hauling, and lifting, and swimming, and biking, and running I have managed to lose 24 pounds. In addition to the manual labor and training I have been trying to maintain a healthy diet and it has really paid off. I haven't felt this good both physically and mentally in a long time.
