Our Monona Mess

  Our First Night Sleeping in Our New House The moving truck showed up early. It was supposed to come between 11 and 2 and call us 30 minutes before it came. It just showed up in the driveway at 10:30. After my panic and a quick walk through, they decided that the big cart of wood and the table saw required a different truck, so they left and came back an hour later with a truck with a lift.  The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity as Dave took apart furniture and appliances and the couches, beds, shelves, dressers, washer, dryer, wood cart, and Dave's big table saw got loaded on the truck.  While I kept packing at the old house, Tyler and Amanda kept bringing box after box over, and Dave got the new house ready for our first night. He scrubbed this disgusting sink, the only one we have installed right now, so we would use it. This is the before shot.  He and his mom ripped out some of the carpet in the new kitchen so that we can set up the refrigerator. The ...

  Thank You Friends and Family The doors in the kitchen look like a modern art installation in the sunlight. Maybe the paint fumes are getting to us.  Today was a whirlwind of packing and moving added by so many people. Tyler and Amanda came to stay for a few days and help us out. They kept loading the vehicles and driving materials to the other house. Our friends Kendra and Chad arrived early to take the first load and Chad brought his truck which really helped with big items. Then our friend Laura came and helped to move 2 big loads of boxes from the basement. In the afternoon our friends Anne and Chad joined to help move and pack items too.  During all the craziness, our doorbell rang and Willie introduced himself. Check out his card above. Willie and his crew headed to the new house right away to give us an estimate on fixing the chimney flashing. I was just saying yesterday how hard it is to find black owned or women owned business to support during this reno and the...

  Where Did the Day Go Today was supposed to be a packing day, all day.  Somehow the day got away and very little packing was done.  The plumber worked at the house all day and made steady progress on the new sewer lines which are quite the math problem as he tries to make them code without cutting into the floor joists.  Dave also had help from Grayson and his parents to finish up prepping the doors for painting. His parents also put together our new temporary shower stall for the basement.  Pretty fancy, huh? It just sits over the floor drain downstairs. After packing in the morning, Teagan and I stopped at the house after getting haircuts and dropped off some stuff. Then we ran to Home Depot to exchange a sheet of plywood that was missing a ply and to pick up an order that included more packing boxes. Right after I got back to the house, Dave called and asked if I had picked up the sink for the laundry room too. Nope! So while Lauryn made dinner for everyone,...

` Furnace Fiasco I cannot make up the stories about this house. Today began so well. I woke up to finally find all of the building permits for the house approved. For just a couple hundred dollars mailed to the city, we can finally have our permits.  Dave headed to the house to work from there because the plumber was working there all day and someone was coming to inspect the furnace. After loading my van with Dave's office and the entire linen closet, I headed to the house too.  The sexist inspector finished checking the furnace and then spoke to the man and showed him a picture (that picture you see above) and told him that the furnace had a corroded secondary heat exchanger (supposedly the arrows point to the corrosion) and that it needed to be replaced. I was standing right there, but was never showed the picture. He turned it off and tagged it as the furnace is unsafe to run at this time due to a potential carbon monoxide leak.  So they scheduled someone to come an h...

  Buyer's Remorse Dave finished the trim in Teagan's room and began to trim Lauryn's room.  He also laid the subfloor over the hole in where the stack came out yesterday.  In the main bathroom, he build the wall that will support all of the plumbing for the new shower/tub combo.  I shopped for showers for the master bath (cried over it, in fact--I think exhaustion has set in.) Then I spent the rest of the night packing.  Later, Dave and I sat on the couch and discussed the Schitt Show--with many regrets--but as everyone says, it will be so beautiful when it is done...when will that be?

A Slow Day Today's progress was small but steady. Our plumber and Dave took out the sewer vent stack.  How? You ask. Just hit it with a hammer of course. It makes the bathroom look much wider without it. They made other plumbing progress too. There is a hole for the new stack (upper right), the start of a new wall for the bathtub and shower combo in the main bathroom, and the beginning of sink drains.  Dave also started putting wood trim in Teagan's room. It looks so nice.  Behind the scenes, we also ordered the faucets for the sink and bathtub/shower for the hall bathroom. Today was a slow day and that is a good thing.

  When it Melts it Pours So our pet name for the house has been Schitt Show from the beginning, but it really lived up to its name today.  Dave left the house for a few hours to go with me to order our cabinets from the most wonderful Amish furniture builder. When he got back to the house, water was actually streaming into the living room. The mantel paint is peeling off, the carpet is soaked, the wall on the fire place is bulging, it is a huge mess.  Dave put buckets in the attic to stop the stream--and then we discovered the weight of the snow is breaking the dormer more than we already knew about.  We also finally heard from the structural engineer, so we went up to the attic to rip up more plywood and to take more pictures of the messed up joists so that he might actually finally get the job done.  In much better news, the plumber came and actually stayed this time (the last 2 times he came and left within a couple of minutes). We actually have signs of plum...

  Floors!  Thank you Nelson Flooring--and Dave did some other stuff--enough said! Look at these (I do not understand why the before is on the bottom for most, but you get the idea).

  Finishing the Bedrooms Today was all about getting ready for the wood floor crew to come tomorrow morning. Dave started the day by finishing putting down on of the subfloor boards--he seems to be going through construction adhesive fast.  I started by painting the hallway. It was great to finally be rid of the green. You have come a long way, Hall! While I was painting the hall, our plumber showed up and then had to leave right away again. My friend, Andi, came to see the how for the first time and she stayed awhile and painted the ceiling trim in Lauryn's room.  And Dave's parents came to help again.  Dave spend a good part of the day sanding boards to see if we should replace them and replacing disgusting boards in the hallway.  This house tells many stories. Teagan's room was definitely used by a smoker for a long time. The walls and ceiling have been difficult to get clean and take paint due to all the smoke damage. In addition, the carpet acted like a fil...

  A New View A view we have never seen before--Monona Drive from the living room. Dave started his day outside. He took a chainsaw to the remaining trees in front of the house. It makes quite a difference.  Dave also took the roof rake to the snow accumulation on the roof.  In the afternoon, Dave's parents and Lauryn joined Dave. He and his parents worked on laying more subfloor and finishing up other projects and Lauryn painted closets.  I joined in the evening and worked on painting as well. I painted the master closet and then painted around a bunch of trim while Lauryn did a second coat of green in her room. We ended the night with a de-assembly line as we moved all the woodwork out of the bedrooms to the living room to get ready for clearing the rooms for floors and then headed to the other house for pizza for one more gathering at the old house.