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Two Years --Another House-aversary

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  I cannot believe that it has been 2 years since we bought the house. Back then the changes each day were drastic and necessary; today the changes are still constant, but not as noticeable on day to day basis. We finished transforming the outside right up until the weather stopped us.  In July, we continued to rip off all the siding and Dave patched all the places where we had changed the windows and replaced any boards that where bad.  In August, we began working our way around the house to scrap, paint 2 coats of a special peel stop primer, and paint  each and every surface on the house. It was a long process that we did not finish before the snow flew.  Our work was interrupted in August to have insulation added to the outside walls.  In most places, we could remove an exterior board, drill holes to blow the insulation in, and then plug the holes and put the exterior board in back in place but in the screen porch and breezeway, we had to go right throug...
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Month 17: Siding down, Windows in, and a New Addition

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  The end of May, Dave began to take the siding off the house.  The house has vinyl siding that shatters on contact. In fact, one of the first things we did was take down the awning that was falling off the house and when he put the ladder on the wall to climb up there it broke the siding. Look at the 2 holes by the window  Under the siding there is foil wrap that has many staples holding it, so after the siding and nails are off, the foil and staples need to come out, and then you can scrape and sand it.  We began experimenting with color and materials on the side of the garage.  We discovered that after all the prep, the walls would take 2 coats of Peel Stop primer before the paint.  The finished product looks pretty great. Just 16 more faces of the house to go!! In June, we also got new egress windows for the basement bedroom. We hired a company to dig the holes, cut the concrete, and take it all away.  Then Tyler and Dave put the windows in.  ...
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Month 16: Screen Porch Progress and Outside Demo

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  This month the weather improved and we began the outside. Dave started to rip down the soffits and they are a mess underneath.  They are going to take a lot of repair. The upside is that we did find some soffit vents that someone covered long ago.  Dave also worked on the screen porch. He finished the repair to the walls and began scraping and repainting the water damage and the ceiling.  He discovered that the ceiling in the screen porch used to be blue, so he made it blue again.  The beginning of June, Tyler came down and helped us get the floor in there tiled.  He does not look like he is enjoying it, but the finished product is beautiful.  And now we get to enjoy the room! Well Rufus does!
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Month 15: Just a Little Break

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In April, we were exhausted and the weather was cold and dreary. We spent many evenings in the living room talking about the house, planning for the summer work on the house, and not working on the house.  The big event for April was finally getting a new shower enclosure for the master bathroom. They came to put it in first week and discovered that there was a chip in the glass so they had to come back a week later to install it.  Then Dave installed a ledge that doubles as a grab bar.  Dave also spent 2 different weekend times putting shelves in the broom closet.  And he also began to fix the rotten wood on the screen porch.  During April, we were able to get more bids on egress windows for the basement and insulation for the side walls. We booked our new concrete and decided to remove the siding and try to save and paint the wood siding underneath it. We are getting ready to make it look pretty on the outside.  We also continued to furnish it and got a n...
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Month 14: Finishings and Furnishings

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The big news for March was the installation and final inspection for the lights in the living room. It  sure is nice to have all of the electricity working in the house now (except the hall lights--we have never had a working light in the hallway by the bedrooms).  The lighting in the living room makes a big impact on the before and after. This month we continued to furnish the house too.  Our big purchase was a new recliner for the living room and some pillows to draw it all together.  While I worked on furnishings and getting bids for the next big items, such a shower doors, egress windows, and concrete, Dave worked on finishing work around the house.  He put the pulls on the bathroom drawers, and stripped, sanded, and painted the doors and woodwork for the bathroom We also began to clean the basement, but I am not ready to post a picture of that yet--no one should see that mess!!
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Year 2 Begins--Final Building Inspections

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  One year ago, we spent a crazy month trying to get the house ready for us to move in.  This month was much calmer. Dave installed the rest of the plumbing in the master bathroom so that we could get the final building inspections completed.  And I was able to take my first bath in the new bathtub.  Our structure and HVAC inspection passed right away, but the electrical and plumbing did not pass.   Dave spent the month changing all the outlets in the house so that they fit the child safety code and adding some air gaps to appliances. These small fixes helped us pass the inspection right at the 1 year anniversary  of moving in! We still have one more permit out for the electricity in the living room and then we are done in the eyes of the city--but we have a long list of what we still need to get done for finishes.  The rest of the month was not without some excitement. One night, we were awakened by the loudest noise and bright flash of light out...
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