Updates! a big picture glance at our current house project

Hey folks!

We are still beside ourselves with just how well our first flip went.  We are hoping the second turns out just as well!!  While the first one took about 2 1/2 years to complete, we envision the next one taking even longer.  We have a little boy now and progress is slow.

It has been a while since I last wrote!  A lot has happened in the meantime.  The current house to flip is where we are residing, so projects/updates are fewer and farther between.

You can review the last post about our current house here.

I would like to give an overview of where we are headed with this one.  Since I last wrote, we had big plans to renovate this house eventually--tripling the square footage of the home.  This plan has been put on hold since there has been some community developments come up that we weren't aware of when we initially made the investment in the property.  There are two water towers that have been approved for a nearby conscientious development with million dollar homes next door.  The towers will be a stones-throw from our property (visible from our land).  We have heard rumblings from developers (my dad is doing some architectural work about 5 miles down the road) nearby that say there is the possibility of re-zoning which would potentially enable us to sell our property without doing any major renovations at all.  We are planning on sticking around through the coming community development changes (hopefully it won't take too long for things to pan out!!) to realize this potential doubling of our initial investments.  This is not something we knew going into it, so here's hoping we are playing it smart!!

In the meanwhile, we are making "small", more cosmetic changes to the property that will improve our own quality of life living there.  Generally speaking, we would like to finish most of the 1000 sf unfinished basement.  Specifically, this includes an alteration of the basement stairs to make way for a bedroom and bathroom addition in the basement that makes sense.  A rec room/livable space is in the works as well as sectioning out a good chunk of space for storage, tools and the like.  These endeavors will permit us to live more comfortably in our 1000 sf home, with the thought that we would like to expand our family someday.

House project details to follow soon!

Ringing in the New Year with Drywall

A lot has happened in December.  And has not necessarily been us working on the house!  I finished up my semester with a 4.0, we got Gabe's sister Eva married off and spent a little bit of time with Gabe's side of the family in Michigan recuperating.

The last I wrote, we were putting in the second to last window and were waiting for the front door arrival.  The porch construction was making progress and we were rushing to get the house "buttoned up" for the winter months.

I was very busy finishing up the semester in the first two weeks of December.  Gabe got out to the house whenever he could, working around my schedule, and I managed to squeeze a couple hours in as well.  The first thing to speak of are the porch stairs, completed by our framing subcontractor, who did a nice job.  Here is a picture Dad took during the week of the progress:

It's not completely secured, but good enough for now!  We still have to decide on the design of the stair rails.  It is better that we do this in the spring anyway, when it's warm.  (we will be able to get the drywall in the building a lot easier too, if the rails aren't in the way)  It sure is nice to not have to monkey up the rails anymore! :)  It can also be seen that the window closest to the road is installed.

Various contractors worked during the week to accomplish many things.  The porch's metal roof is now completed:

The hardi-plank siding that has clad the back of the building (addition) still needs to be added to the front right corner of the building.  The electrician finishes the first floor wiring.  We decide to add two more pot lights to the living room; the vanity light needed to be raised a couple of inches...adjustments are all part of the process!  The framing contractor tied up loose ends, such as cutting the hole for the front door, since we are moving it over five feet to give more livable space to the living room.  He also framed in the entryway with a cased opening.  This will give the area some distinction, and provide a little bit of protection from drafts.

On Tuesday, we had an unusually warm day, so Dad scheduled grading to be accomplished.  Mom worked hard on Saturday to plant grass seed on the muddy ground.

Dad and Gabe worked that day to install a window in the old door hole.  We still didn't have the front door, but needed to make that progress, so we just used the french doors in the back to lock up.

How's that for progress?  :)

Within the next week, I had finished up my classes.  Friday, Gabe and I went to Home Depot to finally pick up our front door!  We also had to make arrangements to gather all the insulation.  We had in mind to finish up the insulation and schedule drywall by the end of the year.  I met a high school friend at Home Depot who helped us to gather all the necessary insulation and by about 4 we were on our way to the job site.  Mom & Dad had been at the site for a while getting some things done.  By the time we unloaded everything, it was about time to turn around and go home!  We had a Christmas play to clean up for in about an hour, so we jetted back to Mom & Dad's to get ready.  The play was a local production of A Christmas Carol, a treat we got to enjoy at a nearby performing arts center converted from an old barn that Dad designed and had built using my uncle's amazing timber framing skills.  It was the first time I had ever seen it, and it looked great!

The next day got started with Gabe working on preparing the front door to be hung, and Mom & Dad working together to get the insulation hung in the second floor.  I drove back to Home Depot to gather the remaining insulation.  It was a chilly one!  We definitely had the propane heater on that day.  Mom also worked to get the place organized so I could spray the floor with Bora-care later that afternoon.  These are some of the final things that needed to be accomplished before we could get the space drywalled.

Getting it nice and clean!

Here is Gabe working on preparing the opening for the front door:

And it gets glued:

And there it is!  It's a little hard to tell here, but it is hung!

Working on hanging insulation upstairs:

Check out Mom monkeying around on the scaffolding!

Later in the afternoon/evening, we are all working on insulation.  Gabe doesn't have too far to reach to do the ceiling!  That's kinda nice.

One room completely complete!

And that concludes the pre-Christmas activity on the house.  Gabe and I left for Michigan Tuesday morning the 18th, and returned the 28th.  We helped decorate for Eva's wedding on the 22nd, and rested a good bit while we were there.  I even beat my father-in-law in Settlers of Catan!  I won't mention all the times I lost at Ticket to Ride though.  Hanging out with our little nephew was a joy as well.  My little VW Beetle got some repairs too while we were there.  It would have cost twice as much in DC with all the work that we had done!  We managed to get 50 mpg on the way home...how's that for efficiency??!?

Since we had a bit of a hang up with car repairs, we couldn't get home in time to work on the house with Mom & Dad on Friday the 28th, which was our plan.  They ended up doing some more insulation by them selves, dodging Dad's flu sickness somehow.  Saturday was a family reunion in Harrisonburg with the Buckwalters.  We were feeling like we needed to do our share on site, so we stayed out until Sunday and worked a few hours in the afternoon (trying not to make a habit of this!!) to finish up the insulation, so Dad can get it inspected in the next week.

Here we are finishing up the insulation task:

Living room corner, adjacent to the fireplace

We had a propane heater again that day because it was mighty cold again that day...or else I had been in Michigan too long and was chilled to the bone :)

Notice the blue sprayed floors that was done a couple weeks previous, and didn't get finished since there was something blocking the sprayer from spraying.  Once we get that cleaned out was can finish the task.

Here are the two new pot lights we added:

This made my day, seeing Mom's determination to get the insulation done and done well:

Another shot of the ceiling insulation upstairs that we finished up that day:

Mom working on the insulation in the kitchen/dining room:

Gabe, scaling the heights of the stairwell

We finished up around six on Sunday evening.

We scheduled drywall to be hung on Monday, Jan 7th.  The plan is to have 130 sheets of drywall delivered to the site on Friday, since the drywall can't be dumped inside due to the close power lines.  So, we will have to move it ourselves!!  What we do to save a buck!  Gabe asked a couple of guy friends to meet us there on Saturday morning to move the boards.  We will also be there to finish up all the last minute things before drywall is hung.  Should be fun!

We've Come a Long Way Baby

Things are really happening now.  Like glamorous things.  Like windows going in, siding going up and roofing being applied!  We are so excited.  As chilly fall and winter days are approaching, we are working to get the house "buttoned up".

The last I wrote, we had just received a delivery of windows.  Well, they didn't stay in their boxes for long!!  A couple weekends ago, we started on filling the 6 window holes that were open to the elements.  These are the new build windows.  We are waiting to replace and install windows where the old ones are still in place because #1: that is something that can wait, #2: it will be a lot of work to resize the window openings.  We first had to focus on the many unglamorous things that had to happen before we could get the siding and roofing put on.

While I worked to keep the site clean and well documented :), Dad & Gabe started inserting windows on the east wall:

First the kitchen window:

And then they worked to fit in the bathroom window under the stairs and the two windows at the stair tower.  Here is Dad working to level it up:

The finished product:

These were small and easy compared to some of the ones to come!  Next is the master bathroom window, which is pretty sizable.  They first had to resize the hole:

And then one (Gabe) got on the outside, on a tall ladder, and the other on the inside (Dad) stayed.  Mom & I were there at the end to help guide it into place.

Lastly that Saturday, we got the master bedroom window into place.  Efforts were made to resize the hole again, and make sure that no ones fingers got smushed in the process!  This window is HUGE!!

We first had to make sure it could fit up the stairs....

  

Gabe preparing the window opening:

Us working together to get it in place:

Ta da!!

This took just about all day!

Here is an exterior shot of all the windows added to the east wall:

Gabe had a thing or two more to do on the roof preparing for the roofing material:

And then we called it a day.

By the time we came Friday of last weekend, the Hardi-plank siding had arrived.  HVAC duct work had also been completed:

 

How exciting!

Gabe worked to clean up the edges of the existing stucco in preparation for the trim and siding that was applied the next weekend.

No doubt that was dusty work!  Gabe ended up with snowy hair after that.  :)  And a busted blade, since it wasn't just stucco, there was a metal mesh layer as well.

While Gabe worked on this, Dad and I undertook the placement of the exterior lighting escutcheons on the back of the house, ones that flank the back porch doors.

We also determined the location of the range hood vent to place a hole/escutcheon there too.  A header had to be placed for this hole to be cut:

Then our dear friends came out to visit us and see our house project!  What fun.

The next day, Saturday, we continued to finish up & paint the escutcheon plates for venting and electrical outlets, so that the siding could be hung around them that next week.  Insulation of the soffit needed to happen too before the siding could be done, so Dad made sure that got in place.  Here's a pic of a few of the escutcheon plates before I sanded and painted them:

Here I am painting one of the plates:

I was working on removing mortar from our old chimney bricks when I got a call from my brother announcing his engagement!  What excitement to add to our day on site!

Dad had built a crawl space door, so Gabe and Dad worked to get the door to fit the opening and attached the hinges.

Gabe grinds down what was in the way of the opening before installing the door:

I went home a little early that day to work on some design work.  Pictures of the finished door installed can be seen a little later.

In the coming week we really started to see progress: siding and roofing were going up!!!

Here are some pictures Dad sent us during the week as progress was being made:

METAL ROOFING!!!!  yay!

SIDING!!!  yay!

Dad sent out a mayday on Friday morning before we got there about the trim for the east windows.  Yikes, somewhere communication got mixed up!  Yes, we will have trim around the windows.  It looks like they will have to take down a few rows and get it right.

We got to the house around 2 pm that afternoon (last Friday) and investigated the situation for ourselves.  

From the road the roof can be clearly seen.  Porch demo will be a project for next week.  Once that comes off, it will look a little shabby and incomplete for a while, until we get the new porch and roof put on.  This needs to happen rather soon and quickly, since we will be moving the door over to the right about 5 feet to give the living room a little bit more usable space.  Hence, the porch will also move over about 8 feet, becoming about a foot from the east corner of the house.  The way we will arrange the stairs and decking of the porch will reveal more of the existing rubble stone foundation on the facade.  We will be replacing the old cement blocks for new supports that will be dug deep into the ground. 

So, when we arrived, the roofers were there, as well as the men working on the siding, and the plumbers, getting a rough idea of what needs to be done.  We established that the bulk head in the kitchen is getting reduced from 10" to 4"!!  yay, more space in the kitchen!  But, honestly, when I see it, I will believe it.  :)

It can be seen in the above picture the difference between the existing stucco siding and the new lapp siding.  Realistically, the color difference is really very minimal, but when all is said and done, we will still be patching and re-painting the stucco to match the new siding.  The crawl space door Dad constructed can also be seen here.  

Gabe's first task that day was to trim down the stucco seen above so that a trim piece could be fit in to the front facade.

Good to see our sub-contractors at work today!!

Gabe also worked to patch a hole to the crawl space that apparently a snake had made it's way into.  He only got so far when we realized we needed water to mix the cement!  We stuffed the hole and will continue on it another day.

After that, we got to work replacing the window of the utility closet, our first attempt at replacing an old existing window opening.  This one needed to be done first in order for the HVAC closet to be finished in good time.  We had to resize this opening as well.

This is what it looked like at the very beginning (January 7th, 2012):

Get a load of that!!!!

Here is Dad, doing the honors:

Window demo: check.

Look how out of plumb it was!!

Then we worked to get the wall supported where we took out rotting portions of studs.  A header also got put in:

And exterior sheathing to fill in the gaps:

By nightfall (it is coming more quickly now), we have a new window in place!!!!

We've come a long way, baby.