May 13, 2008
Almost all the cabinets have been built, the basement exterior door came in and I installed it with a friend, and now the sheetrock has been hanged, taped, and textured. We even primed the walls in the kitchen and bathroom last night before heading home. Today I have to do some regular work stuff, but then head over to meet the electrician for his final trim-out, meet the gutter guys so they can do their part, and let in the furnace guy to fix our ancient gas furnace’s transformer. I have to install tile backerboard, install all the cabinetry in the kitchen and bath, install all the appliances, install 2 more doors, tons of fixtures, put in the kitchen floor, and prep the place for carpet install…and we’re still waiting for our stimulous check, and a refund check from FHA for buying all this stuff, none of which we had the $$$ for. I know I’m forgetting something. Oh yeah, move in before the 1st. Breathe……….
I can’t believe we are past the halfway point. The past 13 days have been grueling, but will be worth it. More pics on the way!
May 9, 2008
…I’m beat tired. Here’s some pics to get you all up to speed:
Found behind the old medicine cabinet. “Remodeled 9/24/82″, “sink, cabinet and lights Pay-N-Pak 38th Street Mall”, and some personal info graced this message under 1/4″ of sheetrock, then 3/8″ plywood coated in some weird paper, then 1/4″ of plywood, then lath and plaster. I wonder how much square footage I gained after removing all those layers of crap.
Shot of my future throne. I ripped out the flat ceiling over the tub and put in a dropped vaulted lid. New can lights in that section, and a new fart-fan/light combo over in the toilet area.
Window in my future throne room. This will be a new vinyl unit next Friday. It leaked and the frame was shot, causing some of my rot frustrations earlier in the week.
Future home of dishwasher (I’ve never owned one in my life), sink, and other cabinet-related items. I’ll fix the food to get my eat on here sometime soon. Added new outlets, redid the wiring and plumbing. Not one ounce of galvanized piping exists in this house after yesterday.
Window in living/dining room. On either side you’ll see the walls demo’d out for running plumbing for the new bathroom on the second floor. The chase on the left for the wife’s new throne and pedestal sink upstairs, the chase on the right for the bathtub. The bottles in the window helped me to understand just what in the hell I was doing.
Sheetrock began today, will be done by Monday-ish. Cabinet assembly starts tomorrow. Pics coming soon. Whew…
May 5, 2008
Almost all the demo is complete, with some minor clean-up demo on the bathroom floor remaining. Cabinets were delivered yesterday, and as feared, the order was shorted. Damn. Remaining items to be delivered on Tuesday. I put in the new backdoor, repaired the rot in the floor and rim under it first, then put new locksets in both doors. Nothing like unexpected work to make your day. A great deal of plumbing was done, with more continuing today. Electrician is here tomorrow, and sheetrock begins on Wednesday. My back feels like it could explode. Hooray.
Updated house photos on the way!
May 1, 2008
Signed the final papers at 8 in the a.m., went to work, got the call that the deal was ‘funded’ at 1:30 p.m., and that it had ‘posted’ or some other such industry word at around 3:15 p.m.
I was a carpenter for about 15 years. I’ve worked on countless structures for every type of person imaginable. For the first time in my life, I finally own a home I can work on for myself. Hell yeah.
Demo starts tonight!
p.s.- the keychain is from work. I have a feeling it will be a much used tool in this process.
April 29, 2008
So keys will now be in our possession tomorrow, not today. Now there is a discrepancy on the sales price. It is wrong on one of the forms (it must have been one of the forms in the second hour of mind-numbing repetitive document signing), off by $1,000.00. Regardless, it’s not going to cost me any dough, we just have to resign some stuff tomorrow in the a.m., and then hopefully get keys in the afternoon. Shit.
Other than that, electrical work is scheduled, my Thursday shift at work is covered, appliances and cabinet delivieries are scheduled, and sheetrock and plumbing will be scheduled in the next day. Demolition begins when I have keys in hand…
April 29, 2008
So today was the day we were supposed to get the keys.
Notice the key word, “were”. Apparently “funds have transferred”, and “docs” have been done…but “numbers haven’t posted”…or something like that. I have been assured that tomorrow I will have keys in hand. Then the real fun starts.
April 26, 2008
Now we wait on ‘docs’, or as most of us might say, wait for the people to get to the office on Monday morning to file it all so I can get the damn keys.
The contract signing process is finally over. Friday April 25th, the day after my wife’s 30th birthday, we signed a huge stack of papers that amounted to a home sale. Disclaimers. Notices. Addendums. I’ve been called purchaser, mortgager, borrower, and even ’sir’, and that’s just to my face. No matter, the ink is dry and all systems are go. Even the post that held the for sale sign in front of the house is gone…and the grass has doubled in height in 2 days. Homeownership takes place hopefully on Monday. Here’s our ‘project’:
