Kitchen demo

Removed all the counters and cabinets from the kitchen. Notice the faucet hookup still in the kitchen? Well, turns out that there are no shut off valves at all to these pipes -- they go directly to the main water supply. So, we put the faucet back on, so that we could turn the water on for the upstairs bath. Gotta get shut off valves put on.
There will be wall repair on the sides of the wall cabinets. Not much support behind those areas, and the drywall is damaged.


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I realize that I forgot to post of picture of the kitchen toilet! The pantry toilet, yargh!!
Gives a whole new meaning to cooking with gas.....

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And on a hilarious note - I got a quote on a roof from Lowe's. For this 1200 SF house, they want $10,500. Can you believe it? More than double anyone else's quote. I cannot believe anyone would use their contractor services!!

Week in review

Got a lot done on this house during the week.
- lifted all the ceramic tile
- removed door and drawers from kitchen cabinets, and unfastened all the screws holding the countertop down.
- found a solution to patch my wallpaper problem, and finished the master bedroom (except for 2 corners).
- scrubbed the trim in the living room and dining room to prep for painting
- removed the padlock on the garage and storage shed
- called roofing contractors (getting them to return the calls is another story...)
- raked a season's worth of leaves from the front yard
- lifted the linoleum floor from the kitchen

Goals for this week will include:
- remove the rest of the kitchen cabinets and counters
- remove the toilets
- finish the wallpaper in the other 2 bedrooms
- wash the trim and walls in the rest of the house to get ready to paint


We did find out that our driveway was too small for a dumpster - even the smallest size roll off. The shortness of the driveway coupled with the utility pole at the end created a problem for delivery. We also were unable to get a permit to have the dumpster in the street, since the street is somewhat narrow and close to an intersection. So, all debris is going into the garage, and then a junk out crew will empty that in one shot.

Dining room ready for paint

Got the ceramic floor out of the dining room, and cleaned the trim and baseboards. Now they are ready for painting.
Comparison pics below.


Dining room before lifting the tile.


Ready for paint and floor refinishing.

More hardwood found!

Lifting the ceramic tile in the foyer and the dining room. There is hardwood underneath the underlayment!! That will save some money not having to purchase tile for that - about 150 square feet of tile. Why the original owners covered up those beautiful floors to put down cheap pink tile, I will never know.

Work is progressing slowly. Still working on layers of wallpaper. However, today the kitchen vinyl floor was lifted, and I got the lock off the garage door. I wasn't sure what would be in there when I opened the door, but was pleasantly surprised to find.... nothing!

Wallpaper woes.

The downstairs is finished as far as removing wallpaper. Yay!!

The upstairs bedroom, removing the wallpaper revealed...... more wallpaper! This is the original papered wallboard that has to be as old as the house (1920). And there are 3 layers of it! Fun, fun.

Not quite sure what I am going to do yet, as these other layers are very, very thin. I might put a skim coat on it and paint.

Taking a break from the wallpaper today and started lifting the ceramic tiles in the dining room. That is actually easier than the stupid wallpaper! Glad to get rid of those, they were pink and really cheap looking - not to mention slippery.

Tomorrow I am breaking in the Lowe's project card and picking up the cabinets, and bathroom toilet/pedestal sink.
Change of plans in the renovation schedule, going to do the bathroom first, at least the floor, sink and toilet - so we have something to use while working on the house!

Wallpaper everywhere!!

I knew there was a lot of wallpaper in this house, but good grief! Every single room is wallpapered - including inside all the closets. This wallpaper is vinyl, too - so it takes longer to remove. Basically I have to remove the vinyl cover, then the paper backing.

And the kicker - when the plastic tub surround was removed - wallpaper behind it! The downstairs should be completely

The water was turned on today, and I was told to turn on the hot water to let the air bleed out of the system as the hot water heater filled up. Well, the bathroom sink overflowed, since the drain was slow (which was unknown -since the water was off). Got the water cleaned up pretty well, although there was some seepage that is visible on the ceiling of the kitchen. There are old water stains in the same areas, so not totally unexpected.

Post clean out.

Here are the rooms post clean out, but pre-demo. The selling bank removed the debris, which was quite nice, I have to say. We removed the blue carpet in the living room.



This is actually a cute little kitchen (emphasis on little).





Living room minus nasty carpet. That was one nasty, nasty carpet. Makes me never want carpet in my own home again! The floors are in good shape, I was so pleased to see that. Some stains, but those should come out with a refinishing.



This is the bedroom that had all the junk - mattresses and garbage in it. Amazing how just dejunking makes everything all better.

Pre-clean out

Here are pics of the house with the former occupant's stuff in there.


One of the 3 bedrooms. There was so much stuff on the floor that you could barely go in this room.



This is another bedroom. Nice hardwood floors in all these rooms. Just need refinishing.



Dining room, complete with cologne bottles shaped like pistols on the table.




This is where the fridge used to be. Not even in the kitchen, it is through a door into the back hallway. We will be moving the fridge into the kitchen.




The kitchen had a lot of food left in it. Infant forumla, an open bottle of wine, ashtrays. Not to mention a toilet installed in the pantry. Hope they didn't keep spices in there!!!



Large living room. There are hardwood floors underneath the carpet - yeah!!

Clear to close!!!

We got the clear to close - finally!
Closing will be monday the 16th. Then the real work starts!!

More Red Tape

This mortgage industry problem has really created a lot of red tape now. Banks are scrutinizing applications like never before.

This loan is taking forever!!!! They are now requiring 12 months of money in reserves rather than the usual 6. So, additional documents were needed, and the waiting game begins again......

Still waiting

Argh! Still waiting on the conditions for the mortgage. I really do understand the appeal of hard money, but I keep weighing the delay on this mortgage at 9.3 % (no points) with an HML of 14% with points. Is it worth it? I think so.

Should have conditions in the next day or so, then can close 2 days later.

Here is a pic of the house in original condition: