Enjoying the Chaos

As we worked, we managed to have some fun too. Many of our friends popped in to see what we were up to and we enjoyed showing them around. I took so many pictures of them, but unfortunately accidentally erased all the pictures from my digital camera and lost them. Damn!
I did manage to get one of Anne when she brought us some lunch the day Jack was helping with the dryer hookup. Darlene and Will were over a couple of times, this time was for pleasure only, but they also helped removing the old stove and kitchen cabinets. I did not hesitate to pump Will for some electrical advise while he was here.

Vinny K came by one morning and took all kinds of pictures of us on the property and around the house. Too bad we did not get pictures of Vinny! Maybe next time, we want his picture on this blog.
Here is some of what he took, Lee and Paul giving Pitoune her morning coffee by the pool (we hope the vet does not see this, she doesn't agree with all the "people food" we give our dog), Lee out in front of the house and Paul loving the barn up in the back.
We love having company and appreciate everything our friends have done for us, be it helping with a project or just popping in to make sure we are alright. Even though we are living in the seclusion of the woods, we are not too far away and its nice to have friends we can count on close by.

Somewhat moved in

Lee had to empty his house first, so we began moving his stuff into the house. Since we were still under construction, we needed to store all his stuff in the basement temporarily using only essentials upstairs.
We may be under one roof now, but we are far from organized. Some days it seems like we are never going to get there, other days we fell like we've arrived.
We did manage to move out of the sun room where we were sleeping on an air mattress and set up bedroom after Lee cleaned it thoroughly. He's a real stickler for cleanliness, on this day it looks like he decided to sleep in a little. He deserves it, he works very hard.

Once we got a regular place to sleep established, we set up the first room anywhere near completion. Being small and out of the way the sun room gave us a place to relax and watch some TV in between projects.

Next were the animals. Pitoune, our precious dog, was easy since she goes everywhere. She has barely worn a leash since we moved in, she loves her new home and the freedom it affords. She enjoys visits from neighboring dogs, deer and bunnies too.

The cats were a different story. They just hid at first, not only because of the new surroundings but because of each other. It took a couple of days for them to adjust but Olivia ("Scootch") and Boy are doing just fine and love all the space inside and out.

They don't exactly love each other, but they are getting along pretty well and can eat side by side. Pitoune helps keep them both in check.

"It's Just Cosmetic"

The seller of this house told us that everything we wanted to do was "cosmetic." To this point, we have done nothing cosmetic. Every labor intensive task has included major renovation and money. Here is Lee ripping up the horrible green living room carpet and padding, underneath which he discovered years of cat urine and a bubbled and damaged subfloor that will need to be resurfaced. Talk about a stinking job, this really smelled awful!

In the mean time Paul works on the subfloor for the bathroom and the installation of Hardy Backer waterproofing. The old subfloor suffered a little water damage, but after 40 years of use was not too bad.

Finally we loaded up the pick up with 1,450 pounds of "cosmetic" waste, which consisted mostly of the cast iron tub and all the bathroom fixtures, the bathroom walls (including the tiles), the carpet and padding from the living room and any other garbage we needed to haul away. We suspect that this won't be the first trip to the dump.

Repairing the Pool

The new pool liner arrived and Jimmy and his crew got started 7am Saturday morning. The first thing they did was make needed repairs to the vermiculite bottom which was cracked from exposure but Jimmy said he had seen worse. Then the side walls needed to be re-surfaced with special insulation to protect the new liner.
Once they began putting the new liner in place, we started feeling a lot better. It certainly was attractive, Jimmy said we were wise to pick the heaviest gage liner they offered.

When they began rolling the liner out, putting it in place, vacuuming out the air from the walls and making the proper cuts in the liner, the pool started looking and smelling brand new. This was a very exciting day for us. The time and precision required to install a pool liner was impressive. I remembered that when we discovered the pool's condition, the owner said he would fill the pool with garden the hose and it would pop back into place. Not quite.
Jimmy and his crew ran back and forth on the pool's floor pounding corners, adhering the sides and perfecting the fit as the vacuum worked vigorously to get the air out from underneath.

The fun part was watching the three tractor trailer loads of water it took to fill the pool. 20,000 gallons in total. Once it was full we tested the lines and equipment. Except for one small crack in an above ground hose, we are ready to go. We're hoping for a long hot summer.

Gutting the Bathroom

Even though we were not sure exactly what we wanted, we knew the bathroom had to go. The toilet didn't flush, the lights were dim, the medicine cabinet was filthy and the tiles were white, brown, pink and tan. Three trips to Home Depot and $3,500 later we had the new fixtures, a skylight, tile, grout, subfloor, sheetrock, glue, nails and screws. We hoped it was everything we needed, until we ran into trouble with pluming and electric which has to be done before we install anything .

The toilet ended up sitting on the front walk for a few days and the porch became a dumping ground for the debris.

Our dog, Pitoune, immediately noticed the space left over, thinking to herself, "hey, wasn't there a bathtub here yesterday? And check out that floor! Tiny ugly pebbles glued to plywood and a complete bitch to remove (click on this or any picture to enlarge for a clearer view). An hour with a sledge hammer and and an ice scraper and it was gone.

In the end, we left nothing but the bare bones so we could begin replacing the plumbing and rewiring the electrical lines. Now that the demolition is almost done, we can focus on re-building. This will be the first new room in the house that will not include the smell of anything old. Believe it or not, we have grand visions for this space. The ability to use an indoor bathroom again tops the list.

First things First

After replacing the rotting lalley columns (those are the posts that actually hold up the center of the house) we focused on heating the place. We suspected the old furnace was wasting a fortune in fuel because it never stopped running, and it made some real scary noises too. We expected to pay $4,000-5,000 for a new one but ended up getting this baby for $7,250. Our plumber friend, Mark hit the roof when he heard the price. If he says we overpaid, then we REALLY over paid, because Mark isn't a "cheap" plumber. Another friend, Eileen, wouldn't even tell us what she paid for the same system stating simply, "you paid too much." Seems every one sees dollar signs when they see a new homeowner coming, even someone we thought we could trust. Our consolation is that we have a brand new furnace, that with proper maintenance should last us 25 years.

Let the Shopping Begin

Shortly after the close on April 16, the appliances we had ordered from Sears arrived. The refrigerator, stove and microwave hood came first. We hauled them home in the pick up and brought them in.


That was a cool $2,500 but we are not done! We had decided to keep the existing dishwasher until we tried to use it. Shit! Ante up again! Paul found a $830 dishwasher on sale at Sears for $600 and ordered it.


We needed to remove the glass sliding doors to get the enormous refrigerator in the house. Nothing about this place is easy. Here's Lee, glad to have the new refrigerator through the patio doors - finally! The new refrigerator has an ice maker and water despenser, but we don't even have it in the same room as the water hook up that's not there either.