After 110 years it's going to be holey

Today Dad and I plugged small holes, large holes, and everything in between. The school is holey.It seems each time we think we are getting the building ready for insulation, we come across another obstacle.  On the north side of the school the wood worms have eaten thousands of tiny holes in the support beam, the base of the studs, and the wall structure. When we uncovered the outside layer of metal siding we found old metal siding underneath which was used to cover rotten wood. We removed that layer of metal siding and found a three foot by two foot hole. The wood simply turned to dust and fell off leaving the hole. Before the hole could be repaired Dad had to scrape off about one to two inches of rotten wood from the outside of the support beam. Luckily the support beam is an eight inch by eight inch beam, so there was still good support to the north side of the building. In the above picture a new weather treated band board is screwed to the support beam.

This is the view from the inside of the building. While Dad is repairing the hole from the outside, I am screwing in more wire mesh on the walls and the base between the studs. Depending on the size of the hole, each hole must be covered with wire mesh or filled with steel wool. Here you can still see the outside light coming in at the base of the floor.

When the school was built, the builders left a one inch gap around the perimeter of the wood floor, making it open to the craw space below. This made the school open to all sorts of creatures that make holes in wood. Our next step is to cover the wire mesh at the base of the stud with plaster. As you can see a board is in place to act a barrier for the plaster.

These holes have been repaired. Thank goodness, I am exhausted. Talk to you tomorrow.