Wow. No posts since January of 2021. I've been gone for a while! The past 14 months, I have been doing renovations on my house. My little crackerjack box of a house, that has been riddled with problems, causing me endless frustrations and added expenses.
Could I have hired someone to do all the work? Sure. But I would never have been able to afford to do that. Did I have the ability to do all the work? Yup. Along the way I had help from some of my family, especially my youngest sister. And a good friend who lives close by helped me whenever I needed him to. (His wife once quipped that all he ever did was come over to talk and bullshit, until he told her to come have a look. She was surprised at the transformation!) He's a millwright by trade, so a very handy and knowledgable guy to know! And I picked his brain a lot because there were a lot of complications with almost every step of this project.
I painted every room, including ceilings (I hate textured ceilings!!). I replaced the flooring in every room. I replaced all the cabinet hardware in the kitchen. I replaced the countertop, sink and faucet in the kitchen. I replaced all the light fixtures in the entire house, including the basement. In the bathroom, I had previously replaced the toilet, sink and vanity, replaced the tub surround, put in a large mirrored medicine cabinet, and replaced all the trim (including around the window) with vinyl trim. I had put shelving into the pantry and disassembled a bifold door, moving the hinges to the outside edges so it opened in the middle for the pantry door. I painted the wrought iron railing along the edge of the kitchen and down the basement stairs. The flooring that I put in the kitchen (snap together vinyl tiles) I also put on the back door landing and down the basement stairs, with vinyl stair nosing. The front door was replaced a couple of years ago. The high efficency furnace and central air conditioner are from 2016. The front porch is from last year. There was a lot more work than just that, because there were lots of repairs and modifications done along the way to be able to finish each step.
Just as things were winding up a couple of weeks ago, the hot water heater started leaking, so on a Sunday afternoon, my friend Glen installed a new one for me while I finished the stairs. And the next day, it started warming up here, and the inordinate amount of snow we got this winter (3rd highest amount in recorded history!) started melting while the ground was (and still is) still frozen. Of course it started coming in the basement!! When I discovered that, the words out of my mouth were "FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!!!!!"
It is not uncommon to get seepage of meltwater in basements here when the ground is still frozen. But because there was so much snow on the ground and the roof, I had water coming in in areas that had never seen water in the decade I'd been living in this house. I spent a lot of time sucking up water with the shopvac, running 3 fans and having the dehumidifier on 24/7. The furnace fan also runs 24/7 to keep the air circulating in the house. Glen has been a godsend, as he would come to the house to check the water status if I was working, and unable to come (I now live a 45 minute drive away). He would come over twice a day when it was a steady influx, and text or call with reports of how things were.
It is now mostly dry (one area, the usual suspect, is still a bit seepy) and I completed the final removal of tools and cleaning stuff today. I called the realtor and set up an appointment to list the house. I am sure it will sell very quickly, because there are not a lot of houses on the market in any price range, and this one is very affordable. I am hoping it will go for more than list price, but either way, I will do well, as my remaining mortgage is relatively low.
To not bore anyone with a bunch of photos, I did a walk-through video today. I didn't include the basement because it is mostly unfinished and not much to look at. But I am so relieved to be finished this massive project!!!
