Asbestos I can remember...

Had the building checked for asbestos today. None in the building, BUT the slate shingles on the rickety old shed out back are. Dang! That's $1k for disposal. I was tempted to just accidentally have them disappear, but no, asbestos can truly cause problems, and I don't want that on my conscience.

The basement, however, is getting cleaned quite nicely. The "dirt" floor I thought was there was simply 100 years of dirt covering a tile floor. Quite lovely. Tomorrow we'll get the rest of it cleaned out and then work will halt for about two weeks as I journey to Kenya. I'll post a summary of my travel journal here when I get back. I doubt I'll have a chance to post before then.

A Great Start!

Okay... back to the original topic. It's ours. We have closed on the building and have started the prep work. Today, we got officially approved for zoning as a live-above business. Yesterday, I became a legal contractor and have gotten started on all the legal and physical challenges of restoring a 126 year old building. We have also had a historical researcher come and look at things. He was quite excited by it all, but very disappointed that it had been cleaned out before he got there.

We had a "closing party" last Saturday that went quite well. There was no electricity service, so I hooked up my generator to power lights and fans (and music, of course). This morning I gave a tour to some folks who missed the party but who have an old building of their own in town. We need to get a support group going, I think. Life is exciting!

This Friday, I leave to go to Kenya for two weeks. That rather slows down the work on the place, but well worth it. My wife's nephew is in the Peace Corps there in Msumbweni. His mother, her husband, and I will travel there together. More on that after I get back.