Constructive Destruction: A Parable

Once upon a time a happy little water heater lived under some stairs. It was especially happy when the occasional spider or mouse would stop by to visit. But between visits it would get very, very sad. Naturally, even spiders don't like overly needy friends so they visited less and less. One day, when it hadn't had any visitors for ever so long, it began to cry. For many months it cried until the press board below it had become soaked and the 2x10 sub floor started rotting. Eventually the 4x8 beam below began rotting too. Finally the little water heater could handle it no longer and ceased to function. After that the needy little water tank got the attention it craved, although it resulted in a trip to the dump where it could rust in peace.

Some years later a happy little family moved into the house and found that the rotted floor was still there, and without the guilt-tripping water heater to make the area uninhabitable, the spiders and mice had returned in abundance. There were even rumors of an occasional snake visiting, although those reports are considered exaggerated. The rotted floor remained until a few weeks ago when I, your humble blogger, decided I needed a new power tool. Of course, you can't just go buy a new power tool, you have to have a project that requires the power tool you want. Well, I wanted a reciprocating saw. Various projects over the years would have been made easier with one but didn't require one quite as much as the removal of some partially rotted floor boards. Anyway, here's the hole while I was still removing the rotten wood. Keep in mind that all of this is under the stairs so the "ceiling" is only about 3 feet above the floor. Not really the ideal working conditions (especially when the boys wanted to come help) but I got a new saw out the deal. Few things are better for feeling like a man than using a reciprocating saw to cut chunks of wood out of the support beams of your house. I'd post some after pictures but we just put some carpet over it so there's not much to see. Suffice to say that I replaced the rotten wood with some 2x6 boards that were left over from the deck project in the summer. Then I used some expanding foam to seal most of the cracks, put down an insulated vapor barrier and put the carpet on top of it. Voila! New storage area for only the cost of a saw and some boards.