Bracing, Subfloor, Mold and a Moisture Barrier

So, we were here (with regular floor joists):



Then came the bracing:

And now!!...Subfloor (view from the front door):

Wednesday night was the first time I could actually step foot into the house without having to balance on a joist. Ohhh did it feel good, and solid, and steady.  Big thanks to Charlie Logsdon for spending all day with Lee getting this down.  Since the house is old, nothing is "perfect" or square about the measurements.  They have to spend extra time and effort making special cuts and adjustments to basically everything that goes down. 

On a separate note, before we could get to this stage, I tackled my own project - abating the mold that was on the old floor joists (we left a few old ones in there that were still in good shape). 

By using Sporicidin and a Round Up Sprayer:

Here's an example of what I was doing:

Before (notice the white mold):

Mid-Spray:

After being scrubbed:

It was like magic!  If you left the spray on for about a minute, all the mold basically pulled itself off of the wood and scrubbed right off fairly easily. 

This isn't all though, there was one last project before that subfloor could be laid - the moisture barrier.  Below is a picture of what it looked like in the process of being rolled out under the house:

Lee was slightly dirty when he got home after crawling around under the house most of the afternoon.  It was very worth it though because that was the last step that needed to be done under the house, no more "up and down" for him, whew.

Due to all of our small projects we have going on, I wanted to make them feel like the small accomplishments that they were.  Maybe it's just the way my mind works, but I love nothing more than a good list (and the feeling of scratching things off as they are completed!!)  I decided to try this on Lee at the end of a good work day to see if he would enjoy the feeling of sweet success as the sharpie slid right over the task:

He humored me, but I don't think he gets as much enjoyment out of it as I do - it was worth a shot!