Remodel Begins

With the start of February, the remodel begins.

 

They started with removal.  Removal of carpeting (turns out that was a very good thing - carpeting on the first floor was kind of 'icky'), and walls that were poorly constructed as well as poorly placed. 

 

We are very lucky to have Robert Ginn, Creative Carpentry and Design and Dusty, High Caliber spearheading the remodel work.  Robert and Dusty are more than skilled builders, they are friends AND they have a whole house perspective - what needs to be done, what can be done to bring the house not just up to code .... what can be / what should be done to bring the house back into balance.

 

First floor family room - carpet removed.

Turns out the first floor family room and bedroom used to be the garage.  At some point, the garage was remodeled into a family room and a bedroom and a four car garage built.  I'm good with that.

First floor bedroom - carpet removed, walls to closet area removed.

First floor family room looking towards entrance from garage.  Pellet stove (or gas - plumbed for gas, we chose pellet) pedestal on the left side of the picture.

This is a picture of an awesome find - a drain in the room where the furnace and the water heater and pressure tank are located.  What makes the drain so cool, is that Robert thought he was going to have to put one in - between the water heater, the pressure tank - that space needed a drain.  Not to mention, the crawl space under the floor needed ventilation (I can't even describe the fumes that almost knocked Robert out when he moved the laundry sink and plumbing).  Anyhoo - when Robert cut the access hatch into the crawl space he located the drain and all they had to do was drill out the floorboard that had been covering it and howdy-do .... drain!!

Picture of the laundry room - where the sink used to be AND where Robert filled in the gap in the floor tiles so we have a solid floor.  Pulled the laundry sink from the middle of the wall (more space for the dryer) and as you can see the plumbing now angles to the left towards the left corner of the room.  Sink will go in the corner.

Picture of the formerly blank spot of tile (now filled in) - immediately to the left of the shower.  When the former owners left there was a big gap on the left side of the shower, between the shower and the wall.  Robert found spare tile in the garage and filled in the gap .... first floor bathroom now has a complete floor.  Woohooo!!

Not up for remodel or removal - Picture of one of our evening visitors.



Catching Up - and Homeowner milestone

I think I've been pretty free with sharing my excitement that final paperwork, signatures and transfer of ownership was completed end of last month (January 28, 2013). 

The end of a wicked stressful (for me at least) time .... getting paperwork together, getting inspections done, having the well treated, meeting all the requirements of the lending approval agency (and for that matter, the lender). 

As many of you already know, the days leading to the closing were not without drama.  The well tested 'unsafe' for levels of cholioform (generic name for a bacteria family).  The good news is that it tested negative for E.coli - that is the bad one (and I am assuming expensive to remedy).  I researched and became first name friends with the folks at Colorado Department of Public Health, flushed the pipes, sent off a sample and crossed my fingers.  The sample came back "unsafe".  Okay - now we are up against a deadline - credit report from lender about to expire, acceptance of the offer from the bank about to expire ..... At this point a huge THANK YOU to Crystal Eidson (my amazing realtor), Dave Leonard (and Sheri Parkhill) at the Mortgage Lending Company, my family and friends ..... for not killing me, disowning me or ignoring me as I tried to get everything done in the time allotted. 

Obviously, we did it!!
Thank you!!

In the middle of the well water quality issue, the appraiser made his visit to the house. The short version of the story is that I ended up painting the outside of the north facing doors and windows and the garage doors. The seller's agent was kind enough to paint the bare wood window frames on the south and east sides of the house. Seems FHA won't approve a loan to a house with chipped or peeling paint or bare wood ..... and we had some weather (chipping and peeling of paint) on the north side and there were a couple of window frames on that were bare wood. Guess this is where I give thanks for the time spent as a painter while we were living in Harwich. I grabbed can of primer and started painting. When I started the temperature was about 40-degrees and when put my brush away, it was 33-degrees. Not pretty .... and while the appraiser didn't seem impressed by the paint job, he did complete the appraisal on the house and we were 'good to go' - at least from the Appraiser.

 Master bedroom north facing french doors (that's me taking the picture) - primed and free of peeling paint.

Living room french doors - post removal of peeling paint and application of primer.

Living room window - primed and ready for re inspection by Appraiser.

As I said, not a pretty paint job .... the goal was to eliminate all peeling and chipped paint .... goal accomplished!  And - it all got done before the temperature hit 32-degrees (temp at which you have to stop painting cause the paint doesn't really work at 32-degrees or colder).

 

And effective January 28,2013 ..... "Homeowner" ......

:)