Welcome to the Shit Show.

Episode 2: Joey Looked Worried. Just doesn’t get worried. EVER.

So, we bought a building.

Now it was time to get to work.

Joey took an entire week off from his full time job so he could start demo.

The plan was pretty simple.

Pull down the old ceiling tiles.

Replace a few studs.

Start cleaning things up and closing it back in to make it pretty again.

Nothing crazy.

A week should give him plenty of time to knock a bunch of it out.

Boy were we being naive.

It Looked Worse Naked.

Here's the thing about old buildings.

Sometimes they're better with their clothes on.

Because once Joey started pulling down those ceiling tiles...

Well.

Shit.

There was a LOT more going on than we could see originally. 

And suddenly, our little list of things that needed fixing started getting longer.

And longer.

And...

much much LONGER.

The front windows?

Basically hanging on by a thread.

The front door that barely wanted to open?

Turns out she wasn't just being difficult.

The weight of the roof was literally coming down on it.

Cool.

Cool cool cool.

But Joey is Joey.

So he kept going.

Which is when we found the next surprise.

Termites.

As more walls came down, Joey realized we had termites.

And before anyone says...

"Well, it's an old building. It probably had termites at some point."

No.

Not had termites.

HAS.

Present tense.

Very much alive.

Very much still free loading.

And apparently working overtime.

We had several termite inspections done, and the general consensus was that these little bastards had been having an absolute FIELD DAY in our building.

For who knows how long.

They ate the wood.

Then apparently ran low on the wood they liked...

So they started eating the rest of what they could find available. 

Because I guess when the buffet is free, you don't get picky.

At this point, "termite damage" didn't really cover it.

They basically ate the damn building.

Most of the wood was gone.

Not damaged.

Gone.

Some of the ceiling joists had so little left to them that they would literally sway with the slightest touch. 

Our newly purchased building.

Commercial investment.

That we bought.

With money.

And Then Joey Looked Worried.

Now, let me explain something.

I worry about everything.

It's basically just what I do. I am a realist and always think worst case scenerio.

Joey?

That sucker doesn't worry about NOTHING.

Something goes wrong?

"It'll work out."

Something costs twice what we expected?

"We'll figure it out."

A project turns into ten projects?

"It ain't that bad."

We could probably be standing in the middle of a burning building and Joey would be looking around like...

"I mean... the foundation still looks good."

We could not be more opposite in that department.

So when I looked at Joey...

And he looked worried?

Oh.

Ohhhhh hell no.

SEVENTEEN years and has never worried about ANYTHING... and we have been through some THINGS. 

Never worried.

UNTIL NOW. 

And THAT was probably the scariest discovery we'd made yet.

Not the windows.

Not the roof.

Not the joists blowing in the damn breeze.

Not even the termites currently eating their way through our investment.

Joey. Looked. Worried. THAT SAYS IT ALL. 

And I knew right then...

Remember when the plan was to take a week off, pull down some ceiling tiles and replace a few studs?

Yeah.

That plan was officially dead.

Because we weren't looking at a remodel anymore.

We were looking at a building that had been eaten from the inside out.

So now we had a decision to make.

How much of this thing could actually be saved?

And at what point do you stop fixing a building...

and just tear the whole damn thing down?

Episode 3 coming soon.