Glue and glue remover...

At the end of day 3 I didn't get quite as much done as I'd hoped but I had my adventures nonetheless. I started the day off by making the cut outs in the drywall for the fan and lights and putting the last of the screws in. That went fairly smoothly - except for the part where the pilot bit for my cut out tool broke off and I sliced through the drywall with the same gay abandon as John Belushi's samurai in a delicatessen. But with a new pilot bit all was well and the ceiling is up and cut out. And no, that charming light is not staying - just temporary lighting:

Next step was to get the glue residue off the subfloor. Glue residue you say? But didn't you have tile? Yes. And the morons that laid it put it down with carpet glue. Yeah I said carpet glue. 'Cause I guess soft carpet that comes in rolls and hard tile that comes in pieces are so similar they mixed it up. Could happen. If you're an idiot.

I did a lot of research and found a product called Super Stripper (insert your own dirty joke here) that was effective but didn't result in the lining of your lungs being liquefied either. And it worked great, lifted 90% of the glue up. So effective in fact it started to dissolve the glue that held the layers of the plywood subfloor together. Needless to say with the potential of having sections of my subfloor dissolve a panicked well thought out plan was needed. I have to say though, all I could think of was the scene in "Alien" when a drop of the acid blood starts eating it's way through the decks of the Nostromo. Surely it wasn't going to do that to the subfloor? Right?

Using at first drywall trowels, and then moving up to full scale war with a shovel, I started scrapping up the toxic goo and then frantically moping with water (water neutralizes it). The whole time I'm sliding around like I'm in a room full of banana skins or the snot from 173 six year olds, whichever visual is most least upsetting to you. Finally I got things under control only to suddenly wonder what a stripper of that power is doing to the soles of my shoes. Freaking out Calmly I got out the bathroom careful not to step on the hall floor, or the stairs or anything else. And I certainly didn't nearly melt part of the carpet. Certainly not. Nope. Not a bit.

Checking my shoes I discovered a mix of hardening carpet glue and enough hair from my Huskies so that it looked like I was wearing shoes by Hobbit. Being concerned that the Middle Earth look was on it's way out, I spent some time with a wire brush and slot screwdriver until my shoes are suitable for inside wear again. The floor has not dissolved, and most of the glue is gone. A little sanding tomorrow morning and the floor will be ready for tile. Which would be great if I was tiling tomorrow - but I'm not. No, tomorrow is plumbing. When I'll entertain all the little children with tales of the Great Soaker Tub and the Evil Corroded Pipes!! But have no fear!! "L" Grade Copper, Lead-less Solder and Flux will save the day!! You know I could be wrong, but I think there are still some fumes coming from that stripper (again, insert your own dirty joke here)...