Getting Rid Of the Hole In the Floor

With the grate up and against the wall, you can see the duct here is old and collects a lot of crap. I found $.50, a few pieces of Lego, a spoon, an old battery, and a lot of dust, cat hair, and feathers.

Ductwork is now removed.

The plenum is easily visible now.

Looking up from the basement. The box that surrounded the hole is now gone.

Getting the old, short joist out was a bitch.

It's gone now. You can see where it used to be because the wood is lighter, and you can see that some subfloor planks ended on that joist. Great, so I decide to put in two joists because the ends of those planks are all shredded.

First joist goes in. I cut them to 12' where the distance from sill to beam was about 10'. I beveled the ends that went on the sill and the beam to make them easier to pop in, then used a screw jack to push them in place.

Second joist in place. Notice long afternoon shadows....
Tomorrow I will cover the hole and we'll put in the LR floor.

Oh yeah - I had to swing these replacement joists around without disrupting a gas line, a fridge, ductwork, water pipes, and all within less space than was ideal.

The "Paul, are you crazy?" project is almost over.