Regretting Paying the City $20,000...

Okay, everyone. This is an eyesore, we know. Do we make a mistake paying the township $20,000 to save this house? >> [laughter] >> Been staring at this thing for so long, and it's time to go. This deck is rotten. It's so soft. It's so unsafe. You could go right through it. >> It's been 1 year since we took possession of our 65-acre abandoned property. Home to a cordwood house, an old garage, more overgrowth than we knew what to do with, and everything left behind. But as we explored and cleared, we started finding clues, and those clues revealed something we never expected. This wasn't just an abandoned property. It was once a Russian survival camp. We found a memorial, a tactical shooting arena, photographs of people holding guns on our land, and so much more frozen in time. We've wanted to make this property ours, but it's not that simple with our township. $20,000. That's what we paid just to save it, to change what the city called it on paper. And right now, looking at it, I'm starting to wonder if we paid 20 grand for a mistake. >> So, we are going to finally tear this deck off the house and free the house from the deck. [laughter] >> Yeah, because every time it rained or it snows, the deck is going this way. So, should we just show them what it looks like in that room? >> to inspect it. There's a lot we have to Yeah, there is so much going on >> This deck has created a lot of problems for the house. That's why you build decks the right way. >> So, this part is hardly hanging on, as you can see. They just used framing nails, which is a no-go. They're very small, and this is what happens. They did use a hanger here, though. So, I guess halfway there. The deck is just sitting on the firewood. So, this side's going to be pretty easy to remove. We can It will just It's already detached. >> So, yeah, we can pull it. >> Yeah, and not worry about pulling the house. >> Yeah, but we need to make sure the other side we can do. >> a problem here. The ground slopes right into the foundation. >> Yeah. >> And believe it or not, on the inside of that door is not the house. It's actually an outside room outside of the actual foundation. >> With a really gross freezer. >> Oh, no. At least it's frozen. >> Oh my god. >> Oh, hello. So, yeah, this isn't the house, but I think they wanted it to be part of the house. The house foundation actually stops over here. This is like a separate foundation. Block walls on the left, right, and then here, and then they used the house foundation there. So, I hope our rim joist is okay. So, yeah, the water has been just flowing in here, as you can see. We have a nice 5% slope. Whee. And there's the freezer. We It was a power sale, so we bought it from the government. They want to make the most for their money, so they have They were paying the power bill, but then we started paying the power bill. And we're still paying the power bill for that freezer. >> [laughter] >> This [clears throat] room doesn't look bad. Like you >> What? >> No, I think in the camera it doesn't perceive >> Look at the ground. >> Like it Okay, yeah, some insulation. The smell of this room, like I actually I don't think we should be in here. Like it's that bad. You can see this. This is moldy insulation. There's water right there. Also, did you notice that they probably were like either like doing some sort of butchering in here or like storing of different types of meat? >> Oh, wow. Yeah, sirloin, round steak. >> The water is pouring onto the deck, onto this metal roof, and then flowing right into the house. >> Yeah. >> Right into the roof of that room. >> Crazy. >> Right to our rim joist, probably. I'm all for people getting crafty, being creative, but not when it comes to house building like this. >> [laughter] >> This is brutal. So, yeah, it does have a block so like this is still sitting. I mean, it's not sitting the grace greatest. This is just a little 2x4 wall here. So, I think if we go under here. >> Oh, yeah, these sides were screwed in. Weird. >> Well, this If you think about it, this deck is really small and probably was the only deck. And then they tried to marry another deck to it and failed. >> This is a really nice front door, so I don't want it to get demoed in the demo. Supervisor is on your tail. Supervisor. Do you think she's actually supervising or do you think she just wants to go in the meat room? I see your nose going. >> The real question is who gets to do the honors? I think we should flip a coin. I think that would be the only fair way. >> Yeah, we'll flip a piece of tile. >> The rough side is me, the shiny side is you. Ready? >> Mhm. >> And if it breaks, the bigger piece is what we go with. >> Shiny side. >> That's you. >> Yeah. >> We're probably going >> Do it. >> [music] [music] >> The deck is going for a walk. >> [music] >> What an operator. I know a lot of you will say you should just burn it, but the only thing is there's so many nails and different things in there that then you got to pick up a billion nails. You might as well just eat the cost and put it in the bin, in my opinion. Now that I can safely walk under here, what I think what happened was they wanted like a nice basement entrance here cuz that's where the basement is. So, they put these stones, but instead of digging down to meet the level or still have the grade flowing away from the house, they just stacked them on top or even added more material and now it's running into the house. So, we're going to have to scrape back all of this and then if we do want this to be just an open-air deck, it's a little bit more challenging than I thought right now because this part is level right here and we don't want obviously rain can go down a deck, right? There's holes in it. So, we'd have to pour a pad in here with a grade sloping away from the house that's going to line up to the slope out here. So, when Krista comes back, we'll have that discussion. But, we'll also just keep going with demoing cuz the more you demo, the more information you have. How's that pile, Izzy? Pretty much gone? She says you still have more to do. Izzy, Izzy, we know. So, something I noticed was look at the sono tubes they poured. Isn't that funny? >> That can't be true. >> There's another one. I'm pretty >> Oh my gosh. >> Your footer should definitely be at the bottom so it doesn't heave. >> down. But, you know what's even funnier is this is a tall deck. >> Look at that one. That's their biggest tube yet. I don't know if you can even see it. It kind of blends in with the logs. But, this the footer is supposed to be at the bottom. >> You know, I can't picture it though with the new deck and I can't wait. >> I know. >> [gasps] >> It's going to look good. >> Yeah, eventually. >> Perfect. >> [music] [music] >> There is so much good firewood here. It's surprisingly dry for how much water there was underneath this place. [music] And soon I can't help but picture as I'm stacking it, me sitting by the fire with my logs [music] stacked so perfectly under a dry space, looking at my deck. Before we know it, the back of this house is going to be turned around and it's going [music] to be a nice place to be. >> [music] [music] >> Homemade dump trailer ain't dumping. I was actually just down there and our neighbors are doing some stuff and I was driving the excavator and there's like the dump truck going and the tractor going. I was like, "What is going on?" And then we got a dozer to still get running. It's crazy. We used to live in a van. >> With our build day over, I thought it was the perfect time to talk to you all about something that we've been opening up a lot about recently, and that is our health. Both of my parents have had one died from a heart attack and one is still here, but is living with heart disease. What happened is that I wasn't focusing on whole body health. I was only focusing on heart health, which then caused me to get pretty sick. This is why I'm very excited to talk about today's sponsor, Nourish. I've been seeing a registered dietitian on Nourish for quite some time now, and we talked about honestly everything, my family history with heart disease, diabetes, as well as my own blood test, which you can do online with Nourish, and how I had high lipoprotein A, high cholesterol, the bad kind. I did have also some high good kinds, but then I was also missing a lot of other things as I was just focusing on heart health. So, I'm very thankful for my registered dietitian because they're helping me balance how much animal protein to have, but also how much plant protein to have because we want to protect my heart still, but we want to make sure that all the other things in my body are getting the right nutrients they need to thrive. So, Nourish matches you with a real registered dietitian. It's a one-on-one Zoom call, kind of like talking to a friend at home on your couch. You're probably wondering how much does this all cost? Well, actually 94% of Nourish clients pay zero out of pocket as they work with hundreds of insurance companies across all 50 states. And with Nourish guarantee, your appointment will never cost more than the initial estimate. So, if you've been trying to figure out something with your health, whether that's hormones, gut health, heart health like me, sign up with Nourish today. And with your first appointment always covered, the link is in the description or the pinned comment. That is nourish.com/fanwatch. Okay, see y'all for the build day tomorrow, pack. Yesterday was such a productive day. Look at the space. So clear. Now, for today, we're going to try to do all of the sunroom windows, as well as the deck that's attached over on the left or right. Your right, my left. So, these they were using as the retaining wall on the sides. These are old train track things. I don't know what I don't know they're called. What? >> Toad. >> Oh. We have a toad. Hi, bud. Don't let your dogs lick toads. And then, I wanted to show you all. This is exactly why the deck came off. Not only did they use small nails, but also the ledger board right here is completely rotted. And that's why all of that stuff we have to buy now for waterproofing, flashing, is a is a is a thing. >> Y'all, look at this. Behind all this foam, you can see how rotted out it's powder. The wood's powder. >> Yeah, so obviously the deck detached. >> Yeah. >> The back board's rotten, too, so I'm not too worried about uh just tearing it off with the excavator to be quite honest. >> it a tap and see what happens. >> Near you. >> Okay. YEAH. IMMEDIATELY DETACHED. IT WASN'T ever attached. It's like really honestly holding on by those little posts that aren't even in the ground. >> Yeah, I'm just going to give it a little up now and I think we should be clear. >> [music] [music] >> Had a little traffic jam there. We're all free and clear. And now WE CAN ACCESS THE BINS. >> [music] >> I DON'T EVEN THINK WE'RE GOING TO NEED TOOLS, IT'S SO ROTTEN. OH, WOW. THIS WOULD BE SUCH A COOL ROOM IF IT WAS LIKE BUILT RIGHT. Like look at that view, it's so nice. Look at this everyone. Like that's the outside. All right, we're out. Yeah, we're out. >> Huh? >> We're out? All right, window by window. >> [music] [music] >> I know a lot of you pretty pretty well and I feel like so many of you are sitting at home right now saying, >> [clears throat] >> "Girls, that'd make a great greenhouse." Well, you and I are on the same page, my friend. This is going to be the most amazing greenhouse because it's going to be easy to frame because every window is the same size. Not only do you get a recycled window, but every single one is going to be the same. Oh my god, this one's so heavy. Yeah. We're not going to Oh, yeah, we are. I got it. Never mind. Now we go hot dog. Here away goes down. Oh god, it's I'm driving. It [laughter] ain't moving. >> Can't confirm. >> Saw this short video the other day >> Oh my god. >> and said You never hate the old owner more than when you're doing a reno. >> Facts. >> Ain't that the truth? >> But honestly, >> it's fun. >> Close your eyes. You're on your deck. >> I [bell] know. >> is grilling. >> The pond >> You're in the trees. The shade from this beautiful tree. The birds are going. Ready? >> Okay, anyways, let's go back to my videos. >> It's going to be blissful. >> You disassociating so hard right now. >> [laughter] >> Go back to shaking the window. >> [music] >> You'd think we cleaned our windows, but really, >> they're all gone. Now, we got to figure out how to get the roof off. >> Yeah, so idea for us would be to take the reciprocating saw and cut the seam and see how it's connected to the house. If it's just a couple nails and screws, no problemo. If there's anything bigger, like really holding it on there, >> I've been kind of getting ahead of myself and going into the side walls, not going to lie. Right here. And well, I'll show you. >> It doesn't look too serious. And then, you can see it's like already coming out. >> that roof's making sounds. >> This is what I'm saying. >> So, let's get it gone. >> They probably just used decking screws, like they used framing nails for their deck. But, you can never be too careful. Just in case they went into the wall, we don't want to screw up the walls. >> Like this house really does have so much potential. Just get rid of that, keep the good. It's going to be good. >> Well, it's my crystal. >> Yes. Get rid of the good. Keep the >> No, I didn't >> Get rid of the bad. Keep the good. And it's going to be good. >> [laughter] >> It's cute. Get rid of that thing. Let's go in the excavator. So, there's kind of a metal rail that sits on the house. That is connected to the house. And then this goes inside of it. If that makes sense. So, we're just going to try to pull it both. And then maybe we'll go from the middle and we'll just be nice smooth AND SAILING. OKAY, NOW STOP. PERFECT. THE LOGS AND THEY THEY NAILED it into the logs. There's a lot of loose logs in this house. It's a cordwood. So, we're going to have to do some THINGS ANYWAY. PERFECT. WOW, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH more light in the house. If we still have a HOUSE AFTER THIS. PERFECT. THAT'S WHAT I MEANT by a rail that that thing was sitting inside. I'm not too worried about that one log coming out up there because if you look at these all of these are a little loose. And I bought a book on cordwood homes. And it tells you how to fix those. So, we're going to have to do that before the winter or we're going to have a lot of heat loss. Look at ah, maggots. Or is that rice? What is this? Our neighbor just told us this is actually ant larvae. Coming to you. Oh my god. Out of all that, we only lost one load out of our house. And we've actually always wanted to know if they built this cordwood right. So, you're supposed to do Well, now we know how big the logs are. Okay. Here's my book. By Richard. He is like the inventor of the cordwood, I think, or at least how to do the cordwood properly, I should say. And I was reading this the other day cuz we want to bring this back, and I want to be warm this winter, so I got to make sure. So, the engineering department did a test and found that 1.47 R value per inch of cordwood wall. So, therefore, a 16-in cordwood wall has an R value of R24. And in Canada, you only need R20. So, that means we have more. So, I think this might be 12 in or I Looks like 16, to be honest. >> That does look like 12 in. >> to take a measuring tape to it while I have it out. And that's That's a lot of good information, as well as you have your cordwood in here, your wood, but then in the middle, you have insulation. And I was always wondering if they had that. And right there is confirmation that they do. There's actually insulation in the middle, so it's like this, mortar, mortar, insulation. >> This is huge news because we've always wondered if the cord was cordwood was built correctly. We did one time have a consultation with Richard himself on the phone. Or was that on email? Email. And we spoke with him about this house specifically and how everything is laid out, the type of logs, the color of them, the the corners where everything joins, the height, the foundation. And he seemed to think it was in great condition. >> However, every other tree we brought out here has literally, obviously, said no. But, that's because if you're not educated in a subject, you probably don't know the correct answers. And this book has it all, and it's like actually tested, so I think that's pretty cool. Uh the only problem is is that your logs there's a lot of maintenance on here. It's just like wood siding, you have to like revamp it. But with these is they get loose as I showed you over there. So. But don't worry, you go to this book. This is exactly this whole thing is how to make your wood in your walls not loose. And we will do that. Thanks, Victor. Place your bets. 12? Uh no, honestly it doesn't. Give it like 12 or 14 I'd say. But I'd be surprised if it's 16, but it could be. You never know, you never know. It's probably 16. It's literally 12 on the dot. We're good. Cuz that would mean that we have 17.6 for R value, which is lower than what you need here. Which is lock. Um But it'll be fine. But it's a second house. And that's why. We'll figure it out for the next three years. You might be wondering, why don't you just put insulation on the exterior of the interior walls? And to be honest, you can't exactly do that because these logs need to breathe. And if they don't breathe, well, you guys you know what happens? They rot. And you don't want that. However, there's a Facebook page with a bunch of people who have these houses or have bought these houses or built these houses, and everyone's trying new things now. So one person has actually said that closed cell spray foam, you strap the outside and then you spray, and their house is still running strong. And I think that's just the nature of spray foam and how it acts. So, pretty cool. I also just realized how funny it sounds. And my slow me talking about winter when it's 44° C today. I'm sweating hard to tell. Oh my god. Oh! We might have got really lucky. Oh my god. So right here we can see there's no board left, right? Like that is just completely rotted. And as we go down it gets a little better. And by a little better I mean it's still really really Let's use a great word. It is We keep coming. We keep coming. We keep coming. And then all of a sudden the rot stops right right there. You can see that's nice wood there. And why that's so important and we're so lucky we caught it right here is because your ledger board of your deck then connects to your rim joist of your house. Your rim joist is what's like holding everything up on your foundation walls. If your deck is rotting your house, that means your house could fall down because it's rotting. So I don't want to say we're in the clear yet of our rim joist here. We might have to jack up the wall, pull that out, and put a new one in. However, this is a really good sign. Like really good sign. I'm jumping around cuz I need to see on this side. So we already have a house wrap, which is LOOK AT THIS. ALREADY this board I wouldn't say is good, but it looks better. Pretty dry by the house. No, no, no. It's 10 times better. This piece of plastic They make fancy ones, too, like the blueskin and all that, which is what I recommend. So just anything that's sticky and adhesive. And you need to still do this. I just can't believe people try to cheap out on this stuff. You can't cheap out on this stuff. It costs you more money in the long run. You won't even believe what they did here. Hey, our board isn't long enough. Let's just put plywood. Pardon? The drama. Sometimes I'm really annoyed about code, [laughter] and other times I'm like, there's code for a reason. This is truly some kind of work. Every part of this extension or whatever the heck they had going here in the deck is just a mess. Like, I've never truly seen anything worse. It is just built so wrong with the right materials. It's very interesting. We've done some renos in our life, and I've never done a seen a reno this bad. All of the other situations, it was like the building had been built to a certain stage and then left, whereas it's like this they tried to finish but did it so wrong. You know what I mean? Which makes more problems. Ants are such fascinating creatures. They work so hard, and they can lift so much. It's so cool to watch them move around and carry all this stuff. Cool. The ledger board does look good. >> Mhm, looks good. >> I also don't think they used pressure-treated wood because well, they thought they were going to like they thought it was an indoor space, but it just ended up like being abandoned. And like, the outdoors came inside. >> [music] [music] >> Nice. Good morning, everyone. Today's goal, you know what's funny? I forgot yesterday's goal. But, all I know is I'm proud of all the work we got done yesterday. So, today's goal, not that I'm going to remember by the end of the day, is to hopefully get all of this done so all we do is see the cinder blocks and that way we have a better idea of what type of deck or patio to build up here. Crystal's removing the plywood. I'm going to start on the insulation. It should be so much fun. Here goes nothing. Oh my god, soaking wet. May I have a mask? Wow. Lot of acorns in here. So as we're taking on the insulation here, there's the ledger board that's attached to the house, but I don't see any way it's attached to the house other than one toenail right here, but if you look along this board, there's no other nails. >> We're going to risk it for the biscuit or risk it for the one pull throw it in the bucket. >> So they're going to go really good or really bad? EASY DOES IT WITH YOUR THUMBS. PERFECT. OH, YEAH. THAT WAS A nice piece of the subfloor. Yes. Wow, this is way faster. My kind of demo. Good job. I feel like a mom with a camera right now. I'm just holding it not even looking what I'm filming. Praising Crystal. PERFECT. >> YEAH, YOU'RE DOING GREAT. Holy smokes. Go ahead. Look at that. That was awesome. >> How was it? Good job. >> It's gone. So, we can confirm it was not connected to the house. I want to see if you can grab your interior your walls. >> They fall right off. >> And how they had it connected is they just connected it. So, we have the block wall. We have the rotten base plate. But then, they framed interior walls in here. And they attached the deck obviously to here, but also to here on that side. So, the deck wasn't attached wasn't attached with the ledger board. It was just sitting on here and sitting on there. Okay, Chris. >> The whole wall comes down. >> No, you're kidding. >> NO. >> CHRIS. OH GOD. OH, it's not strong enough. These are some massive blocks. I've never laid blocks this big. HOLY TWO IN ONE. THAT WAS STRAIGHT UP SURGICAL. Very enjoyable. The rest we got to do by hand. >> Should I just pick up the freezer and go put it in the bin? >> Yeah. It's um Let me unplug it. Oh, isn't that lucky? So long, everyone. So long. >> Smell you later. WE DON'T WANT >> NO. IF THE FREEZER BREAKS, this could be even worse. >> Robin! You got TO CURL YOUR BUCKET IN, TOO. >> OKAY, YOU GOT IT. GOOD JOB. IT'S GONE. Now we got to call the wing guy. >> See [clears throat] a lot of clean up in our future here. >> [music] [music] >> Well, it's looking less and less like a demo site and more and more like a potential deck build site. >> Build site. >> Can you believe like 1 minute ago there was a broken deck, a solarium, solarium. >> That's a good idea. >> There was all of these crazy things going on behind us and now we have a brick wall. >> Good work. You did it. >> We have to take down all that foam still. >> Future under deck. >> Yeah. >> This was that rotten room where the freezer was, believe it or not. >> was right here. >> Wow, it's come away. See, it also smells a lot better. >> Problemo number one, we have a not level floor. In fact, it's so unlevel that that is higher than >> It leans towards the house. >> The water would probably gather right here. >> It goes like this. It's like a U. >> a a bowl. >> Yep. Okay. Which is kind of good because there is like that spot's higher than this spot. We could also make like a lip over there. >> We think most of the water would flow here. >> By eye. We could take our transit out and we could figure it out to a T, but I think [snorts] we can tell to an eye. My question is is we have a couple low spots. Obviously, the water is going to gather there. Am I able to just throw self-leveler or something on low spots? >> Jasmine had a brilliant idea that we cut the concrete and we make a drain >> So, I was thinking >> and get the water out. >> a 5-ft drain right here. Cuz this is where the pad flows into. Then, so we'll cut this open with a nice saw. >> And the water goes away? >> No, not yet. Not at all. The water would just collect and go. Then, we need an outlet pipe. So, the outlet pipe, we're going to connect that to the drain. And then, we're going to cut this whole concrete pad like 4 in wide, maybe 5 for better >> pipe width. >> Yes. Run the pipe all the way out there. So, that's my idea. >> So, all of the water that comes from the sky in the form of rain or snow or whatever and comes through the deck will then gather here in the drain, go out the pipe, out away from the foundation and the house and drain. >> So, let's go get those bolts out. >> [music] [music] >> BYE-BYE. OH, ANTS! THIS IS WHERE THEY'RE BRINGING THEM. Is that a nest? >> [music] [music] >> All right. That's tomorrow's project. Good morning from your two faves, PJ and Clementine. >> What about Josh and Crystal? >> I think this area needs to get cleaned up so that way when we build the deck, it will be like, "Wow." Wood shed for wood for the winter. >> [music] >> A house ain't a home without a garden, in my opinion. >> [music] >> It's like a spaghetti noodle. >> [music] >> Pad is pretty well level. Geotextile's going out so we get no weeds. Well, less weeds. And then, we'll put the beds on top. Maybe even a pea gravel will get here today. Honestly, a lot of days I want to get my trucking license and a truck that's road worthy. Cuz then I can just go pick up everything I need every day. Future garden. It's official. This is where the vegetable garden will be. Got to bring in some pebbles, obviously lots of dirt, lots of seeds, lots of work to do, but we've begun. Cedar beds look good against the alpine trees. This is what it's looking like around here. Just accumulated lots of junk and random supplies that we found around property here. Obviously like these papers, that door. Do want to keep them all, and so it's time to put everything away and make this yard look nice again. Dining room table, wood shed to the back. Let me get this. Together. It's heavy. Okay, you always think you're the Hulk. Yes, you can lift it, but when you have to walk like 50 Oh, now you're just going to do it to prove me wrong. Bravo. It's new home. Look, Evan. Little by little it's looking better, and honestly so much of this is here simply because winter just came so hard and so fast. >> I saw this trick on the internet. That works like a charm. Nice, Jess. That looks good. >> So much faster. Also, if we added like some metal beams on the side, it would stay more straight. >> Yeah, that's sick. >> [music] [music] >> It's so nice and clean. >> I'm so proud. A lot of hard work. Can you admire the tree even more now? >> Yes. >> It looks amazing. I can't even believe how wild this place got. It was a little out of control. But it's looking already so much better, and this is really just the beginning. And hopefully look for some advice through all of you on how we should handle it. Now, the water's actually just puddling here, which is way better. >> It's still not great. >> We do want to fix it still. So >> So if you can all help us with an idea about how we can get the water from in there >> out here >> to out here. Oh, maybe we could do something to fill up something for the garden beds. >> To keep it nice and dry. >> And after all that rain, I checked inside, and yeah, it's wet. Okay, chow pack. Thanks for watching. We'll see you all next Sunday, 9:30 EST. >> See you Sunday.