Out of Sight, Out of Mind

While Matt was in the attic, he discovered a couple of broken support beams. He says one that is supposed to be holding up the roof is split in two. He suspects it was hurricane damage. It could have been either from Ike or Rita. I think when they replaced the roof after Rita, they just did a patch job and ignored the bigger damage. But this was before I owned the home. I seriously doubt my insurance will cover it now. And it is something we can't fix or afford to have fixed. Luckily, there is no immediate danger of the roof collapsing in on us. So I defer to the great wisdom of Sergeant Schultz, "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know  nothing"


Lesson 11: Get a home inspection before purchasing house and after every hurricane! Just because it looks ok, doesn't mean it is. Insurance adjusters, previous owners, and contractors will miss damage they can't easily see.

Weekends are for Working

Working a full time job through the week is no excuse for resting on the weekends. It's Saturday, and I was  up at 6:30 this morning setting up the yard sale. Getting rid of mostly Matt's old tools that he swore he had to replace with shiny new ones. Also selling the lights, switches, ceiling fans we just replaced in the house. Hoping to make back some of the money we just spent on the new stuff.


So I sit here in my garage pricing, haggling, tagging, organizing, praying for customers to come buy our extra stuff. 

Lesson 10: Garage sales are great if you live in the city, not so great if you live in a remote location out in the country.

On the upside, Matt got the new exhaust fan and shower light installed this weekend and is almost done sheet rocking and green boarding the shower walls.

Room for Renovation

Can someone tell me why a man with a 15x25 foot recently organized work shed complete with tools has to cut sheet rock in the living room using a box cutter against my beautiful antique buffet? 
Because he is a man. That's why.



Lesson #9-Use your space wisely. All spaces are up for grabs during renovations.








Tip: Each person living in home should select one small area to keep free of all renovation debris, tools, clutter, supplies, etc. 

Utility Room Not User Friendly

I started on the utility room yesterday. I immediately made a mistake. I was peeling off the vinyl backsplash so that I could paint instead. The plan was to paint the side walls and just tile the back wall to save on costs. Come to find out, not only can you tile over the vinyl, but the backsplash is attached all the way down behind the counter. So, right at the edge, pieces of vinyl are sticking up that can't be removed without removing the cabinet. Looks like I will be tiling the side walls after all.

Also, I started taping off the trim and cabinets to paint. I went to tape off the ceiling, grabbed my trusty ladder and drug it in the house. When I tried to stand it up, it wouldn't fit! The ladder is taller than my ceiling! And the step ladder is way too short. I need to either grow a couple of feet or get a ladder that fits my house.

Lesson #8- Have the right tools for the job before taking it on.

Trash or Treasure?

Funny thing, one of our biggest problems so far is in finding a way to dispose of the construction debris. The wood we can burn in the back yard. But our trash company wont pick up tile, drywall and other debris. Not to mention the rusty 4 foot x 4 foot heavy metal school lockers that were in the work shed.We were going to rent a dumpster, but that cost 600.00. Everyone we talked to suggested taking the stuff to the landfill ourselves. They only charge 27.00 a truckload. But, I think when they say truck load, they mean pick up truck. not uhaul. We would tow it ourselves on a rented low boy, but I don't have a hitch on the back of my Jeep. I think we may have to break it up and hide it in with our regular trash. haha. Lesson #7-know in advance how you are going to dispose of demolition debris.

Tip: Craig's List and yard sales are a great way to dispose of a lot of unwanted items.

I listed the metal lockers on Craig's List and by the end of the day had 3 replies. The next morning they were gone. I imagine this will also work well with toilets, tubs, cabinets, etc. Just be careful for the scammers. There are quite a few on Craig's List

Bathroom or Bucket?

Matt has started deconstruction on the bathroom now. And surprisingly, we are having more problems. lol. He found extensive termite damage to the linen closet. Enough that he will have to replace most of the 2x4s, shelves, and drywall in the closet and tub. We have called orkin to come out and inspect to see if the termites are still there. I can only hope the previous owners took care of the termites, but left the damage for us to fix.

Yesterday Matt removed the faucets and shower head and the wall they were attached to. And for some reason added valves to the pipes in the closet behind it. He says it will be easier to shut the water off at the shower if there is a problem than all the water in the house. It kind of makes sense. But while he was sautering on the new valves he charred the support 2x4s. So now it smells like the house caught on fire. He says that wont be a problem later. And there are nasty char marks on the wood. Lesson #6- Sauter away from wooden structures supports.

Good thing we have two bathrooms, or he would be doing all his business outside. He still may before this is all over with.

Why Renovating Bugs Me

Matt and I have loosely divided responsibilities in the effort. I am responsible for most of the landscaping, curb appeal, and painting and limited assistance in deconstruction and reconstruction. Matt is responsible for plumbing, electrical, drywall, construction, demolition (which he is really good at, lol) and we share in the design ideas. Lesson #2-Dividing the labor helps, but don't expect each other to work at the same pace. We will see how it goes.

Last week, Matt ordered most of the supplies for one of the bathrooms. But in order to do the bathroom, he claimed he needed to clean out and organize the work shed first. Of course this led to him finding rotten wood in the support structure and termites. So before anything else can be done, he replaced the back wall of the work shed. We weren't expecting that! 

Lesson #3 -you will find termite damage in Texas when you see wood. My boss told me there are two kinds of houses in texas, those that have had termites and those that will have termites. uggg.

While he was replacing the damaged back wall, he found the back corner of the roof was rotting away and several shingles needed replacing. And the gutters were hung incorrectly. But it's just a work shed, so those renovations are on hold. Lesson #4-when renovating you will find unexpected problems that will cost you time and money to fix, so Prioritize.

Last weekend, I spent all of my free daylight hours either in lowes or cleaning out the front gardens for replanting. And in doing so, realized the exterior of house has some cracks in the brick that will require sealing and painting and the shutters need to be replaced with something not so black!

As Matt was installing new ceiling fans/lights in the living room and dining room. We took out the gaudy ceiling fan that was centered between the living room and dining room. This of course has left us with a nice square hole in the middle of the ceiling which will have to closed and painted. Which means the entire ceiling will probably have to be painted as well. arrrgggg! Lesson #5-removing one thing will lead to having to fix something else even bigger.