My Feet Are Tired!

[Trek420]

I'm assuming the blueboard is water resistant, but since I haven't found anyone who can do it I haven't really researched it. I prefer plaster, but drywall may be the most practical option.

Check into that. Though you don't use the shower and I assume DH does not either there's steam and mist from the bath. Water is the enemy of your home both from inside and out.

If the blueboard is water resistant .... go for it

[Trek420]

Since I'll replace the washer/drier anyway I may want to get a gas drier. My kitchen range is electric.

I'm debating whether to get a gas range or keep the existing newer electric but anyway....since there's gas water heater and heating upstairs is it worth it to pay the extra to bring the gas down to the kitchen/laundry area?

It's already there. And if I want it extended to the kitchen just a relatively quick turn and jog over.

Also I'd wondered if the house is earthquake braced, that is bolted to the foundation. While the house guts I now see are not on a load bearing wall H. pointed out that they are bolted to the foundation so it's likely the exterior walls are too. I'm not going to tear things out to find out, but it is reassuring.

[Brandi]

Can I join in here! I just read through all of your comments! How exciting all these new things happening in your homes. I would like to comment on the to keep or not to keep the electric stove. Go gas! It is so much nicer. And when you go to sell it (if you do) it is preeferred by a lot of people. We lived with one in our house till it broke. I had no problems putting in a gas one. But then I like to cook. One of my cats once stepped on a cooling down electric burner and hurt herself. I was happy to see it go.
We have oak wood floors that we had to fix. Oh I hated the sanding, it got on everything. But they look so nice now!
The people who lived in our house before we bought it broke up while they were in the house. He weny crazy And took an axe to all the kitchen cabnets and a few of the walls! So there were no cabnets in the kitchen when we moved in and axe marks on the counter tops. The day after we moved in everything that had bad karma on it was ripped out! I thought I might feel a little wierd moving into a house that had an angry past but we brought enough love in it to turn it around. Oh he didn't take the axe to her by the way. But we found out later he went away and killed himself! Creepy huh? But like I said you do not feel them in this house at all now. We have been working on this house for over 14 years now. It is a 3 story house with a view of the ocean. We bought it for 139k way back when. and at the time we bought it for the veiw not the house. It was such a wreck! I can't imagine living in any other house now though!
Oh the best feature of the house when we moved in was the bright orange cast iron sink that was in the kitchen. When my dh threw it over the balacony into the sandy drive way it made the whole house shake from it's wieght i swear!

[sundial]

Go gas! It is so much nicer.

And should you lose power, you can still have a hot meal.

[Trek420]

Can I join in here?

Yes! the more the merrier.

I spent part of the evening at Lowes with H. the carpenter. We picked out a sink for the 1/2 bath/laundry room area and a new light for the room, sconce for the hallway, dinning room fixture (a ceiling fan. it gets hot here) and I'm semi stuck for the kitchen lighting, I'm going to take another look.

The designer in me saw a nice halogen track light, the tree hugger wants something that will take CFLs. I will look at a couple other places this weekend and make a final choice.

Good news, we don't need to dig a trench through the foundation to move the sink

Bad news, the electrical needs more work than anticipated

Good news it's about or less than what we thought trenching would be.

Also good news Mae the wonder mutt looooooves the plumber. She's enjoying this parade of new people, activity mess and noise. It's an expensive way to socialize a dog but it's working.

[divingbiker]

The people who lived in our house before we bought it broke up while they were in the house. He weny crazy And took an axe to all the kitchen cabnets and a few of the walls! So there were no cabnets in the kitchen when we moved in and axe marks on the counter tops. The day after we moved in everything that had bad karma on it was ripped out! I thought I might feel a little wierd moving into a house that had an angry past but we brought enough love in it to turn it around.

The house next door to me is one of those bad karma houses. One of the people who had lived in the neighborhood since it was built said that the house has never been loved, and has never had stable owners. In the 16 years that I've lived here, it's been rented to several people, all of whom have been evicted. One of the renters also took an axe to the walls and countertop, others were drug dealers, and one was a squatter.

The owners were the most awful people, screaming at my that I had stolen their ladder (when it was on top of their garage, where I took a picture of it and gave it to them) and calling me awful names and accusing me of putting my yard waste bags on their property, after I had mowed and raked their yard for years because they didn't do it. (I gave them a copy of the survey to prove that it was my property, and they still didn't believe it.) The house sat idle for years, then the cops came to my door in the middle of the night looking for someone who had apparently lived there years before.

Finally an investor bought it, sunk a lot of money into it, and lost a bunch of money because it wouldn't sell for what they wanted. Finally someone bought it, lived in it for 6 months or so, and now it's been foreclosed on and the bank owns it.

Apart from this house that's cursed, my neighborhood is great. I wish they'd tear it down and start over.

Thanks for allowing me to vent...this is cathartic.

[Trek420]

You're welcome.

Had to find food that can be 'et when the kitchen looks like this Great idea for a cookbook: the Remodel Cookbook

New kitchen plumbing's been plumbed, just a couple finishing touches and things will start going from destruction to construction mode. At least that's what my carpenter says.

You can't tell from this, maybe compare to the older shot but the counter height will be different. These units were designed and built in the 70's with cheap yet custom cabinets. All measurements non standard. This I think is one reason (besides the economy and I blame Dubya for that) stuff is not selling here. Owners have a choice of refacing the old cabinets, but if you wanna get new you have to go full custom.

Most of my neighbors can't afford that.

Thankfully H. my carpenter figured out "move this here, that here and voila standard cabs". So I may pay more to move stuff but I'm trading that for new cabs and counters with nearby competition that can only reface.

On the left is the utility sink sitting waiting to go to the half bath/laundry. And on the right is Mae waiting to be take another walk. Byeeeeeee.

[Crankin]

You are really moving along, Trek. I give you credit, I know nothing about "house stuff." Not to play the stupid little woman, because my mom knew about and did all of the work around the house, but I am all thumbs with tools and never had any interest in even choosing the flooring or carpets in the first 3 houses we owned. I know what I like in furniture, but my way of operating is to go in, buy it without too much comparing, and leave!
A little over 2 years ago we bought a 22 year old contemporary house on an impulse. We had been thinking of selling our typical 4 bedroom 2 bath colonial in a development and had looked at some older victorians. But the rooms were so small and the amount of work was daunting. We looked at our house on a rainy day when the ride we were leading was cancelled. The previous owner had the house stuffed with ugly unfinished antiques and junk everywhere. She had let her college aged daughter paint the rooms weird colors and let's just say she didn't know how to paint either. The powder room was bright green and red. Two bedrooms were purple. The lower level (family room and guest bedroom) smelled like mold. But, we fell in love and knew there was some work to do. The house is in a very unique neighborhood, with access to a community pond and hiking trails.
Well, let's just say we didn't know what we were getting into. We found out this house was built on spec and for about 7-8 years a series of renters lived here. There were rumors of rock bands and drugs. The people that owned the house before the woman we bought it from never fixed anything. Everything was cheap early eighties, the lowest priced stuff you can get from Home Depot. The heat and AC blew like crazy in some rooms and didn't work in others. Our heating guy said he couldn't fix it! My husband fixed it. The smoke detector went off every time we cooked. One of the lights in the kitchen went on and off every 2 minutes. First, we painted all of the rooms. We got all new lights, rewired everything, replaced the outside doors (none of them could lock!). We hired a contractor to demolish the kitchen and put in new cabinets, floor, and move the new appliances we had bought. The contractor also redid the powder room, where there was a cabinet so big you couldn't open it. The new tile went from the front door to the kitchen. That took 6 weeks. We set up our fridge in the dining room and cooked on a microwave and hot plate and washed dishes in the bathroom. The time went buy very quickly, but I haven't bought store roasted chicken since! During this time my husband totally redid 2 of the bathrooms himself. They came out great, but it was hard work for him. During this time, we found out a lot of other things in the house were broken and he fixed them. Nothing was standard. When all of this was done, the contractors demolished and redid our bathroom and enlarged my closet. I can't describe how bad the master bath was. This was done from the middle of April to June. It got delayed a little because one guy didn't show up to fix the hardwood and the schedule got off track. But it's beautiful now. Then, we landscaped the front of the house and said no more until next year! Last spring we had all of the windows replaced, which has taken about 20% off of our utility bills. My husband spent most of last summer, to October doing the back of the house and building a patio. I carried about a ton of rocks. Oh, and we had a bunch of wood rot fixed, along with 2 decks that we found out were about to fall down.
WE have one more area in the front to do this spring and then we are done until the outside needs to be painted in about 2 years. That's not counting the driveway that needs to be replaced and the garage that we would really like to rebuild...

[Blueberry]

I'm currently ignoring all that needs to be done to our 1912 bungalow. It had been let go, was partially restored, and was then rented. We've already re-done the kitchen, floors and the bath was OK. But, we need to have the attic re-braced, lots of foundation work done, none of the windows work, etc. etc. DH has gotten a little overwhelmed with it - but it does have personality - too much sometimes

I have to confess - this thread does not make me want to get started on any of the work yet.

CA