Beautiful weather weekend

A few things I learned from our first demolition weekend:
-cast iron tubs are heavy
-wearing a respirator makes my voice sound like Chewbacca
-they used license plates and tin container lids to patch holes in the walls behind the frig in the 1950's
-how to remove lathe & plaster
-my husband is even more hulking than I thought
-the sleep of the laborer is sweet

In a nutshell, this weekend was great.  We went out to the house Friday afternoon and then back again for most of Saturday to start on demo.  We saw incredible sunny and 60's weather, in light of the fact a couple days ago it was about 17 degrees when Gabe left in the morning and I couldn't start my diesel car because of it!

Friday, we got the entire kitchen cleared out: all the cabinets, countertops stove, sink, water heater, refrigerator, and *bonus*: a super old dishwasher that we hadn't noticed at all yet!  The heaviest item from that list was the water heater, as it was full of water!!  We managed to get it out on the porch and have it start draining.  Gabe was concerned while we were removing it that it would just break right though the floor, since it was so soft!  We saw that the west wall of the kitchen was probably the original exterior wood siding and not the pale yellow stucco siding that we see on it now.  Have I mentioned the original house was built in the 1890's???  Yes, lots of surprises.  We found lots of coins and interesting objects too, even a Coke bottle from 1995 :)

Our goal for Friday was to just demo the kitchen, but while I was sweeping the kitchen and shoveling some parts where the subfloor was as wet as mulch,  Gabe was making some real progress on removing fixtures from the downstairs (and only) bathroom.  He got the sink and toilet out, and called for my help once he had uninstalled the cast iron tub.  This particular tub was probably 300-400 lb. and we were sliding it across the floor on it's side.  We got it out to the porch together, and up on to this board precariously perched up there.  Might I add the slab of wood Gabe selected to span the distance from porch to dumpster (it's about a 6' drop) just made it with about 2-3" inches of clearance on both sides. We did not expect the dumpster to be placed as far away as it was.  Since all the kitchen appliances were also out on the porch I was having trouble getting enough space to leverage myself to push it over the edge since Gabe was on the other side (standing in the dumpster with all the nails and broken glass to step on) to guide the tub into the dumpster.  While we quizzed for a few moments as to what were doing a couple stopped by and a man got out and asked us if we needed some help.  I let him take my spot to push it over the edge and voila! it was done.  That was kind of them!  By this time the sun is really setting and our site is getting a bit dark.  I worked on removing nails on our reclaimed 2 X 4's while Gabe was getting super dirty taking drywall and sawdust insulation out of the bathroom ceiling and walls.  He got the whole ceiling down and about half of the walls.  That was that for Friday adventures.

Saturday, we got to the site around 10 am after a delicious pancakes and bacon breakfast at Mom & Dad's.  Today we were equipped with my parents R.V. so we could use the microwave and frig for lunch and be able to wash our hands and use the facilities too.  Our first task was to check to see if the power company actually came on Friday.  It hadn't.  We got to work removing the rest of the drywall and messy sawdust insulation in the bathroom.  It wasn't straight sawdust, it was encapsulated in tar paper, but if it got torn, which it did, the sawdust went everywhere.  Gabe thought the bathroom addition was added in the 80's because of the permitting sticker on the water pipes.  There were a bunch of holes in the floor that kept forming, especially around the water pipes at the base and another hole that was widening where the tub met the wall on the south side.  With the tub gone, the floor sagged and looked very compromised; I was hesitant to even put weight on it.

After I got it all swept out, we moved into the main area of the original space, a common room of sorts.  Plastic went down since we were about to hack into the wall separating the kitchen from the living room/common room.  With our respirators in tact, we got the lathe and plaster down.  Gabe diligently took 50 gal. trash can loads out to the dumpster at interval to keep the work space somewhat clean.  I enjoyed seeing layers of paint, which I plan to hold on to, since they are nice colors of blue-green, mustard yellow, olive green and farmhouse red.  I want to match them and re-incorporate the colors when we are ready to paint and stage the house to rent/sell.

Mom & Dad stopped by during lunch at 3:45 :) and put their hands to work clearing out some brush on the exterior of the house as well as some of the trash and debris on the back porch.  We sure enjoyed showing our progress!  I will post pictures and a video next.

It stayed sunny and warm both days and we count that a complete blessing straight from our good God.  Also, another fun fact we haven't mentioned: the first day we looked at the site we noticed the house number---is the same as my parents house!!!  How fun! and probably added a bit of surety that this was indeed the house for us.

Pre-Demo Anticipation

I'm surprised at how much anticipation I am filled with this morning.  We don't know what we will find on our new site!  We have a lot to be thankful for, and few concerns.  One of them would be if the well has dried up or not.  The dumpster arrived yesterday, and apparently it hasn't been placed very close to the porch, so that might be a small drag.  The power is to be turned on today also.  Gabe, a.k.a. general contractor, wants to start demo on the kitchen this afternoon.  I am filled with mixed emotions about what we will find in the grotto that is the DR and kitchen.  Honestly, it gives me the heebie jeebies; I have yet to actually walk all the way into the kitchen.  The DR windows are boarded up, so we will start by un-boarding and putting up plastic.  Here's hoping there won't be any pet residents (a.k.a. SNAKE) since discovering skin coming out of one of the cabinets.  This venture has been a dream of ours, but when it comes to the brass tacks of actually doing the demo, I'm downright creeped out!  So, with that in mind, the very first thing we plan to do on site is to pray over our new property.  We have no idea who or what has been there before, so we need our good God to bless it.  As Nehemiah prayed while rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah 4:20, "Our God will fight for us!"

Today's challenges can yield a victory tomorrow.

Video!!!

The property is ours

Settlement took place yesterday and mom & dad now own the property!  Sooo exciting!  The dumpster comes today, and we will have it for 3 weeks.  Tomorrow, Gabe and I will head out to the site to get started on demolition!

Before Pictures

Common Room facing DR doorway

Once upon a time picture wall

Downstairs Bathroom

Kitchen sink

Stove facing DR area

Kitchen--note the snakeskin on the right!

Two small Bedrooms upstairs

The Stairwell

Looking Northeast

Facing Northwest

Back of the house 

 Auxiliary Springhouse!!!

First property to flip!

Our first reno adventure began when my husband and I visited my mom & dad over Thanksgiving 2011.  Dad had seen a couple cute properties in a nearby historical town for a super low price.  The next day we went out with his realtor to take a look at them.  With excitement and anticipation rising, we made our way out to mom & dad's, which is about 45 minutes away.  We were met with disappointing news: the sites we looked at were already contracted to be sold.  The realtor had one other place to show us, and I half-heartedly said, "ok, but is it even worth it?"  With one look at the new MLS listing, I was not impressed at all, to say the least.  It is in a historical town close by, near the base of a major mountain range, and very decrepit, featuring spongy floors in the high traffic areas, holes in the bathroom walls, a scary stairway, peeling paint, and snake skins draping down from out of the dark kitchen abyss.  Gross!!!  BUT, the more we carefully considered it, at it's $90,000 price tag, potential to split the lot, and good structural integrity, the more hopeful we got.

It took the back burner for the next few weeks as Dad gathered the financing paperwork to offer cash to get a lower price.  Exciting news came from my dad in mid-December when he called to announce an agreement had been reached with the seller at $55K!!  We were thrilled.  The property has been assessed at the end of 2011 at $130K, so when we are done with renovations, we hope to pocket a pretty penny.  My parents have agreed to finance the deal including renovations and my husband and I have agreed to put time in with reconstruction and interior design to rent or sell in a year or so.  My dad is an architect by trade, so the plans have come easily and quickly.  We have put our heads together so far on what additions should be made as well as discussing timeline.  Mom & Dad go to settlement on Wednesday.

We visited the property with my whole family on Christmas Eve together and took a bunch of pictures ("before" pics!!!) for all of you who would like a good idea of what we are dealing with. Feel free to add any encouragement and/or advice!!!