Week Seven: Extreme Mess and Dumpster Delivery

We've filled bags and bags with drywall, debris, and tile, and have started to quickly fill a dumpster. 

Mess-o-potamia!

The main bathroom and the utility room are in an extreme state of deconstruction, and there is a rather scary hole in the floor between the two rooms. Some DIY plumbing over the many years has caused a lot of rot in the subfloor, and it all needs to come out.

Before:

After:

The hole in the floor where a very DIY shower stall once was. Water has damaged the floor joists.

We're going to be spending a lot of time in the crawl space ... beer will be needed!

We did get to relax in front of the fire -- our first fireside meal of bread, cheese, sausage, and beer. If we really use our imagination, we can almost picture everything being finished one day!

Demolition Men, Part II

Demolition Men, Part I

Today, Liam and Tom busted out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.

Heave of Destruction

The boys took hammer and pry bar to the faux brick fireplace in the living room today, and seemed to enjoy themselves. It was really messy! Discovered where windows had once been, boarded up when the mammoth hearth and mantel went in.

The ventless gas fireplace also went away today; sold it on Craigslist.

The now-empty corner formerly occupied by the ventless fireplace. Eventually, a coat room will go here.

Week Four: Hunting and Gathering

To save money, we've been looking for the things we need for our house on the Internet, places like Craigslist and eBay. This week, we picked up the cooktop and oven bought on eBay from the loading docks of the freight companies that trucked them here from Texas. It was freezing cold -- like 20 degrees -- on the dock (we couldn't help but notice a skid of condoms with a sign that clearly said "Store at Room Temperature"!). Our Bosch oven and Fisher & Paykel cooktop are both new but a little dinged up, so they were real bargains and are really cool:

We also got a great slightly used Pella sliding glass door and three nice windows from Craigslist. And the seller even delivered it to us!

We're hoping to get some real work done on the house between now and the end of the month.

Week Three

We were too busy to get any work done on the house this week, but we did go sledding on the back hill for the first time!

End of Week Two

This is what you wear if you might need to go into a crawl space:

Also, if you visit us, we might will put you to work. That's my mom, from Portland, cleaning up after helping to pull up carpet and carpet tack strips in the living room. Love the sunlight on the wood floor!

Here's the "before" for comparison:

That fake brick fireplace's days are numbered....

Goodbye, Closet

Liam gets the award today for being the hardest worker. He pulled the paneling out of the master bedroom and, with Tom's help, took out the makeshift closet.

Maya also put some time in de-rainbowing her future bedroom.

Goodbye, Paneling

We worked on the kids' rooms today, tearing out the paneling and molding. The hardwood floors will be great, once they're sanded.

Honey Dippers

Two gentleman came and pumped out the septic tank this morning; hard work, nice guys. Raise a glass to the people who help us with our "basic needs." (And, by the way, the septic tank bacteria will really like the beer, whether it's applied directly or filtered through you. And yes, that brown stuff in there is what you think it is!)

Week One: It Begins

It's our house now! So far this week, we:

• fixed the water pump (yay for working toilets!)
• replaced the exterior door locks
• tore up the old carpet and pads in the three bedrooms (satisfying!)
• pulled up the tack strips in two bedrooms

Tomorrow, the septic tank gets pumped out!