My Feet Are Tired!

[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

[Trek420]

H should be here tomorrow, plumber or no plumber she'll get to work. So I may have a further progress report. Did I mention this is not my carpenters day job?

So when she gets called in to work by her union things can stop for days. Luckily she coordinates things that go on in between so the plumber's been over, and so on. Or she sends me out shopping.

Monday after dropping Knott off at the airport I headed to Homedespot and picked out lights for the kitchen and 1/2 bath-laundry area. I'd looked eeeeeeeverywhere else, didn't see anything I liked and finally end up going with the lights H recommended. Luckily we have similar aesthetics. These will look nice.

We talked today and she said she'd finish painting the front door and installing the new lock. But how to get the key since I'd be home after she left. She came up with a super-top secret way to hide the key. So I arrived home, moment of panic when I did not see the key in it's innovative top secret hidey place. Came around the front, whew. New lock is not there.

So that's not done yet.

But the door is re-painted and looks like a new door (without the cost of buying and installing a new door of course), the drywall is largely back up in the kitchen with appropriate spots for the new gas line that she has run in should I or a future owner wish to say "now we're cooking with gas."

I am however still cooking with a microwave, electric tea kettle and French Press coffee maker.

All the electrical lines are tagged, labeled so that when the electrician is here tomorrow and I let him in (which I'll be doing instead of going to the C.S. Aikido Association yearly regional training where everyone who's everyone will be-can you tell this is getting a little old?) anyway he can tell where everything goes.

Seems I need a new breaker box cause the one I have won't even support what I've got. So that'll be done.

Then maybe I get a kitchen....soon.

[Trek420]

The electricians are done, I can finally close the doors (extension cord out the front, guys running in and out of the back) and warm the house back up. Just took a long hot bath to start warming me up.

I should have taken a picture of the new, improved, much larger breaker box before they closed it. In an odd way it's a beautiful thang (everything with a neat label and tied down, all new and shiny). He was able to add wiring for the ceiling fan without new holes in the ceiling to match, whoot!!!

Now a long walk with my mutt Mae but it is raining hard.

[Tuckervill]

My "electrician" is working on my bathroom renovation right now. (My husband, who is an electrical engineer, but not an electrician!) Adding can lights in the ceiling, new outlets, new light fixtures. Then the plasterer is coming in. As soon as the plaster is done, then refinishing the floor, and then putting the tub back...new sink, etc.

Plaster is expensive!

Karen

[Trek420]

Oh it's all expensive new electronics are a beautiful thing. This is the new fusebox, twice as much capacity as the old one. It was oddly beautiful work, like watching weavers, everything lined up, with a little tag. The old one was small, like a birds nest and some wiring problems. I decided while the walls are open to just go ahead and have it re-done.

Question; you did not mention a fan in the bathroom. Master bath now does not have one. I'm wondering if I should add one.

[salsabike]

Trek, I got the distinct impression that having a bathroom fan--a real one, that vents somewhere and pulls out steam--is really important to buyers. And it would be to me.

[Tuckervill]

My husband, who deals with electricians all day, said they refer them as "fart fans". He said they supposedly do nothing for steam. I don't know how true that is because I haven't tested the theory. Sounds plausible.

We don't have fans in either of our baths, mostly because this is a really old house and venting them would be a bear. We looked long and hard at them at Lowe's, but none of them met my criteria of quiet, unless they were big old honking things, seemingly made for salon baths. The bathroom is not tiny (about 9 x 9), but it has short ceilings since it's in the attic space. A big fan would stick out like a sore thumb. Since we don't have a shower up there, just the tub, and we now have working windows, we decided to forgo the fan.

I understand why buyers would want one, because the vented ones really are difficult to install in a pre-existing space without a total renovation.

Karen

[Trek420]

Trek, I got the distinct impression that having a bathroom fan--a real one, that vents somewhere and pulls out steam--is really important to buyers. And it would be to me.

dang, that's what I was afraid of

[KnottedYet]

put in the fan, you've got a selling point, life is groovy.

(just don't tell 'em a fart fan really doesn't do anything, it just looks sexy)

[Trek420]

Well H got a little less done today than planned because she arrived and found she'd forgotten her keys. So the first thing she tried was using her ladder to go over the patio fence and drop into the back. But I leave my patio door shut.

So she went back home and then returned. The walls are obviously in a state of getting better doing the mud and tape stuff etc.

What's gratifying to know that of my neighbors some of whom are retirees and home etc no one questioned someone driving up, using a ladder to vault right over the wall

[Tuckervill]

Maybe they recognized her?

I'm one of the few people home all day on my block. I keep an eye out. Most of the houses within view of my windows, I would know if there was someone around who didn't belong. They usually act suspicious, anyway.

Karen

[Trek420]

True, she's here enough.

Just noticed another nice detail. H said she could not find a heating grate in the size I have. And the old one was looking groady. Instead of cutting the wall and patching to do a new one she sandblasted the old one and repainted it.

Looks like new! Nice detail and way to save a little.