Guess Age Of Wall I’m Removing?
 

Removing some interior curtain walls.

From pics can you guess when walls were put in?

Studs look old growth, could be salvage, but they all look like this. Wallboard labels maybe a clue? Wallboard is fastened with nails. Definitely not built in 20”23” but maybe boards from Nov 23rd?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1761504349.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1761504362.jpg
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1761504386.jpg

Paper on the header, no idea why.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1761504472.jpg

I'm not even sure what I'm looking at

Maybe sept 23, 2011?

Maybe that is wallpaper from a few times ago and they just slapped it right on the header

I don't know the age, but that is a nicely quartered grain! Tight grain and has to be a lot older than the sheetrock! Wow! ;)

Yeah, that's a nice stick. I'm guessing it was done long ago, I wouldn't use lumber like that for framing these days

If you find some “technical literature” I’d look at the publication date for clue.

One clue to the age of the lumber might be it's dimensions. If it's original to the house, it will be from an age that a 2x4 was bigger then they are today. It looks old, from an old growth forest, not what we raise today. Probably harder than the hammers of Hell, too.

The sheetrock is from the US Gypsum company. They patented sheetrock around 1920, although that looks to be much later and not original to the house. Any UL or brand stamps on the back of it?

The wallpaper indicates to me the house had been extensively remodeled at least once, long before you got there.

May be worth an asbestos test of the drywall and joint compound, or just assume it's a possibility and take the usual precautions.

That's some good looking fir. I had a 1914 Portland house with that stuff. So tough after 90 years you needed to drill a starter hole for a nail. Serious.

I’m using a respirator, dust control, and cleaning up. There’s no “upside” to doing an asbestos test . . .

It’s interesting that it’s fireproof drywall. I wonder what the reason is for that?

My brother worked on a crew modernizing and updating an Antebellum mansion in Alabama. Back in the days when it was built, they used mahogany to frame the house, as it is termite proof. It is so hard termites just find something else to eat.

They modify some of the roof structure to fit in a central AC system, and new wiring and plumbing. My brother said he put his steel blade skill saw on a beam, and it just ruined the blade and made just a small cut on the edge of the mahogany. They had to use concrete saws to cut the stuff.

He kept a few pieces of the scrap, and you can't dent the wood at all with a fingernail.

From my reading, they called all of it “fireproof” back when “sheetrock” was first being marketed. Marketing.

1930's

If you're even touching AB without a license you are looking at potential trouble as long as you own that building and beyond. The only way out is that "it was never there." And that means meticulous clean up with a HEPA vac. You don't even want to think about disposing it either. Just carrying it outside will contaminate the outside environs AFA the constable is concerned. All AB is double bagged inside the working envelope and your hazmat suit is bagged inside the entry chamber before you step outside.

Extreme? Of course. Is there any potential for long term harm? Only if you are really careless. Will a lawyer find evidence should a situation occur? You can bet your life on that. I went through all this BS as a CA state licensed contractor. Even our Greg Park, the floor man, had to do this. Especially since he dealt with floors. But even plumbers have to take the test just to know when to throw in the towel. This is an excerpt from CA license law:

• All new applicants for a license must complete an open-book examination to become aware of asbestos risks, even if they don't plan to perform asbestos abatement work. This exam is separate from the certification exam and does not certify a contractor to perform abatement work.

This is your guideline: "...asbestos having an asbestos fiber content of more than 0.1% and 100 square feet or more of surface area of asbestos-containing material."
That's floors, walls and ceilings, and 10 x 10 is not that big.

CA has tried to enforce lead abatement in a similar manner but as far as I can see the lead issue is still the wild, wild west AFA as enforcement. Public works projects are scrutinized, but residential is largely overlooked. They had us running scared 20 years ago when the proposals first came out. We were supposed to all obtain a federal license. Federal, get that? Not even AB requires that.

It all went into the dump, figuratively and literally, when a certain President took office. However, the AB thing got traction many years before. Steve McQueen's death greatly added to the awareness and subsequent rules. I say added since AB was all but eliminated in manufactured products in '77. McQueen died in 1980 but his illness was known beforehand. There have been some shifts since in the AB policy in manufacturing, but OSHA was formed and began AB regs in 1970.

I had no idea that is how McQueen died.

Me either.

I'm skeered to type this ...

That's some nice wood ya got there John :D!

Well, the garbage service wouldn’t give me a dropbox without an asbestos test, so I had a piece of the sheetrock tested and it is negative.

From the code on the sheetrock, I am speculating the sheetrock was made in 1931. That seems consistent with the wood quality and the printed illustrations on the paper.

I’m taking down the other wall this week and maybe there will be more clues.

Ugh, the other wall has a bunch of electrical and I’m too tired to figure it out, so wrapping up for today. I need to move some of these circuits, abandon others.

The lumber in this wall wasn’t as nice. Some good wood, others they used crap. All looks old. Sheetrock has the same code printed as what I showed before - makes sense, would be from the same batch.

The stairs have been changed. The original stairs came down from the landing in a straight run. They turned them 90 degrees when they built the partition walls. The original stairs are still under there, minus the treads which they probably pulled off and reused. I’ll return the stairs to their original configuration, it will work better for the cafe - not great, I wish there weren’t stairs there, but better.

Trying to get this wall torn out so I can get a better sense of the space and plan it out. Then my architect will come in, measure, draw up plans, and I’ll take those to permit.

After this wall, I have to gut the bathroom and kitchen. Meanwhile we’re clearing a whole bunch of crap from the property - vegetation, four huge fake plastic trees (?), a whole bunch of scrap lumber. I’m gonna need a second dropbox.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1762039205.jpg

Back to the original stair configuration.