The Worst of It Is Past

The worst of the moldy attic insulation demolition is over.

At least, in my opinion.  I have heard it said that taking down batt insulation, moldy or otherwise, is a nasty job, and I may well end up glad to pay somebody else to do it.  But to someone who has sanded down the treads of two flights of stairs with all the concomitant dust, removing the insulation will be a project worth tackling.  Besides, there will be the reward of seeing the sheathing exposed and the old batts removed.

No, the worst part, which is done, is the prep work.  I hate prep work.  And so, the dropcloths are down in the study.  And the flattened packing boxes are out of the far end of the attic crawl space and piled onto the study detritus and boxes of books and Christmas decorations amassed in the guest bedroom.

In the process, I've discovered a lone knob-and-tube circuit at the farthest point of the knee wall.  I think it serves the outlet that, well, that this computer is plugged into.  The insulation appears to be good yet, but of course, it has no ground wire.  Not good for electronics.  But I won't get excited about it until I've had the current tester to it and have verified that it indeed is live, and where exactly it goes.

And nothing can be done about it (if anything does have to be done about it with any immediacy) before the bad insulation is removed.  And that will be done tomorrow, maybe, or at any rate the first day this coming week when I'm not called in to teach.