Started floor tear out or "Hepa is my friend"

          I had a realization. There is no way I'm going to get this place live-able and move in in three weeks. I broke down and hired some laborers to do tear out while I'm at work. Since the house is empty and broke down I don't mind leaving them alone. The pay was $10 per hour.....$12 if they worked hard. They ended up getting everything torn out and loaded onto the dump truck (a surprise from my brother, you ROCK Ben!)by the end of the second day. Well worth the money even with the distinct odor of weed in the house afterwards.
          That black stuff on the floors is tar paper. It had bonded to the floor over the last 80 years and was impossible to scrape off. I rented a floor sander, the drum kind, with lots of heavy grit paper and chewed through it. You've got to be really careful wit the drum sanders because they can gouge the wood really easily,never stop moving.
          I followed up afterwards with a vibrating pad floor sander to smooth everything out. There are still some minor grooves and waves in the floor from the drum sander but I don't think I can sand them out anymore....we'll see.

Lots of dust! Get yourself a Hepa respirator.