Converting an Old Shed

[DonyaQuick]

More panels off. It was really difficult to get some of the panels on the other side free because they were in better shape than I thought, which is kind of a shame...my prying damaged them pretty badly, but I'm not taking any chances after yesterdays' find so the good has to go with the bad. Some small chewed areas but no big mess. Removed it anyway. The wood underneath looks in good shape.

Insulation removal let me find another small gap (which can be fixed by redoing a couple nails in a board) and this surprise.

Miniature wasp nest? It's soft and fibrous, not flaky/brittle like I'm used to from various wasp nests. Anyway, even if I'm wrong about the type of insect it's obviously some sort of bug and not something spooky like termites, so I'm not that bothered about this find.

Another puzzle though: that bottom bit of plywood under the OSB I removed from the other wall yesterday is somehow the only thing between the inside and the outside there. Ground level does not go exactly where I expected. Very confusing geometry in some parts of this thing and one more thing to fix.

EDIT: oh great, that nest thing is a mini bald-faced hornet nest. First time I've ever seen a nest from those. Had to have a massive tree cut down last year that the arborists said had a bald-faced hornet nest in the top, so I know they're in the area, but I never see them. My main antagonists with structures are paper wasps, mud daubers, and European hornets.

 

[DonyaQuick]

All the OSB is out and cleaned up as much mouse mess as possible. Yes, that's a bit of daylight in the corner in the photos before; that's one of the entry points they were using. Also pulled out a ton of regular white styrofoam from the walls - like the crumbly packing material stuff, not the foam you put in a wall. That in itself seems to have been behind a lot of the mouse kingdom; they obviously loved that stuff and they put the little white balls from it everywhere. Before I found those panels, I was really wondering where the incredible volumes of bright white bits was coming from in the mouse mess since the foam is yellow and mostly intact (although very old and degraded as a result). I'm going to have a really hard time getting all the styrofoam balls out of there because they cling and blow around when they aren't clinging. There was far less damage to the proper insulation foam. A lot of the water staining/damage isn't that bad aside from the one corner and it shouldn't be an issue anymore once the roof is repaired.

Meanwhile...

 

[3KillerBs]

Looking good! It's got good bones under the mess.

I'm going to have a really hard time getting all the styrofoam balls out of there because they cling and blow around when they aren't clinging.

Shopvac?

 

[DonyaQuick]

Shopvac?

That's what my husband uses on the house; unfortunately I'm not convinced its HEPA filter in it is doing what it's supposed to, so I don't want to expose it to the shed muck in case it's blowing out some particulates. That shop bac is also a great big whale that I can barely lug around. I've been wanting to get one of those home depot bucket vacs for a while though; maybe this is a good excuse. It wouldn't be as powerful as the one my husband uses, but I feel like I need a dedicated no-house-use vac for situations like this as well as periodically cleaning coop dust accumulations.

 

[DonyaQuick]

One of the things I'm learning here is that styrofoam is some kind of ridiculous mouse magnet regardless of its location. There's currently a pile of insulation waste outside that has the larger pieces of styrofoam in it - mostly on the top where it's not exactly a cozy hiding spot. There's a mouse going at those top styrofoam bits already! Fortunately my biggest cockerel, Mr. Monster, alerted me to that activity this morning. He really wanted to go hunt that mouse down for me, but I don't want him rummaging in the unstable junk pile and getting covered in old rodent muck. I guess will have to put some traps by the known entry points in the shed pending getting the insulation waste cleaned up (there's a LOT...currently debating with my husband whether to fork out extra money for a dumpster or try to bag it up and cart it to the dump ourselves). The entry points will be getting sealed up in the very near future. Going to be doing a hardware store trip for supplies for it today.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Mr. Monster says "let me out, I will fix your snack prob- I mean the mouse problem." Maybe once I get the junk pile cleaned up a bit Mr. Monster.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Bucket vac acquired. Before I can seal gaps I apparently have the annoying task of loosening very densely compacted mouse mess in a number of crevices with a metal pick before the vac has any hope of picking it up (I don't think even my husband's bigger vac would stand much chance; the gunk is really packed in). The gaps aren't necessarily open to the outside; this one below isn't, it's just the horizontal beam is somehow at a very small angle relative to the siding and some other beams, so there are some small internal gaps towards one end.

Before

After

 

[3KillerBs]

Bucket vac acquired. Before I can seal gaps I apparently have the annoying task of loosening very densely compacted mouse mess in a number of crevices with a metal pick before the vac has any hope of picking it up (I don't think even my husband's bigger vac would stand much chance; the gunk is really packed in). The gaps aren't necessarily open to the outside; this one below isn't, it's just the horizontal beam is somehow at a very small angle relative to the siding and some other beams, so there are some small internal gaps towards one end.

Before View attachment 3495475

After
View attachment 3495476

I hope you're wearing gloves and a high quality respirator.

Rodent droppings can carry some serious diseases.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I hope you're wearing gloves and a high quality respirator.

Rodent droppings can carry some serious diseases.

I will be called idiot for this I'm sure, but I will be open about it. I can't use respirators while doing anything physically taxing. To be clear, I'm not some kind of anti-respirator advocate something. The issue is that anything that causes me to have to inhale or exhale with resistance sends me into non-trivial bronchospasms eventually, and it happens quickly if I'm doing some kind of physical activity in the process. For situations that normally call for a respirator, I have to pick being able to breath at all or just accept the risk. If it's small I accept it and try to mitigate it by other means, otherwise I don't do the thing. When I accept the risk, I minimize exposure time, maximize distance, and maximize ventilation and air flow away from me whether it's fumes or rodent mess that's the issue. In this case, that's doing work with doors wide open when it's windy and using long tools where possible so I'm not right up in it. When the shed doors are open, the air flow is pretty strongly from the roof openings downwards and out the doors (one of the reasons I had difficulty controlling the styrofoam bits). I do cover up pretty well and wash both clothes and myself after shed sessions.

The main rodent-related health issues for the area for air exposure from what I read are hantavirus and to a lesser extent lepidospirosis, hantavirus of course being the big scary one that is worth some caution. Everything else mouse-borne here looks to be something that fundamentally gives you the runs like salmonella. If the infestation is active, like mice running all over your bed or kitchen counter, then hantavirus is a big consideration and fresh rodent mess cleanup requires a lot of caution. It has relatively short survivability (a few days) when just left to sit in the environment though. Lepidospirosis is mainly through contaminated water. So...I have material that has clearly sat untouched for a long time, is dry, and is not around my food/water. My impression is that this type of dry old dust situation is actually a much lower risk for rodent-borne illness than a house I lived in for a while as a kid that had a very large and very active infestation where there were regularly mouse droppings in the kitchen and on food containers.

 

[3KillerBs]

I will be called idiot for this I'm sure, but I will be open about it. I can't use respirators while doing anything physically taxing. To be clear, I'm not some kind of anti-respirator advocate something. The issue is that anything that causes me to have to inhale or exhale with resistance sends me into non-trivial bronchospasms eventually, and it happens quickly if I'm doing some kind of physical activity in the process. For situations that normally call for a respirator, I have to pick being able to breath at all or just accept the risk. If it's small I accept it and try to mitigate it by other means, otherwise I don't do the thing. When I accept the risk, I minimize exposure time, maximize distance, and maximize ventilation and air flow away from me whether it's fumes or rodent mess that's the issue. In this case, that's doing work with doors wide open when it's windy and using long tools where possible so I'm not right up in it. When the shed doors are open, the air flow is pretty strongly from the roof openings downwards and out the doors (one of the reasons I had difficulty controlling the styrofoam bits). I do cover up pretty well and wash both clothes and myself after shed sessions.

The main rodent-related health issues for the area for air exposure from what I read are hantavirus and to a lesser extent lepidospirosis, hantavirus of course being the big scary one that is worth some caution. Everything else mouse-borne here looks to be something that fundamentally gives you the runs like salmonella. If the infestation is active, like mice running all over your bed or kitchen counter, then hantavirus is a big consideration and fresh rodent mess cleanup requires a lot of caution. It has relatively short survivability (a few days) when just left to sit in the environment though. Lepidospirosis is mainly through contaminated water. So...I have material that has clearly sat untouched for a long time, is dry, and is not around my food/water. My impression is that this type of dry old dust situation is actually a much lower risk for rodent-borne illness than a house I lived in for a while as a kid that had a very large and very active infestation where there were regularly mouse droppings in the kitchen and on food containers.

Risk balancing is always the thing.

In my case as an asthmatic, I'd have to wear at least some sort of mask because I'm sensitive to particulate even without the additional rodent hazards.