Pre-Publishing Note: I’ve added a pic of the house as I started painting, just to give some idea of the project. Also, several folks have asked for the location; I’d rather not say. I will describe it as a primarily agricultural town od (maybe) 20,000, located about an hour between three separate metro areas.
It’s hard for me to describe the past two months; they’ve both crawled by at a glaciers’ pace – and raced past in a flash.
Financially, I feel like I’ve been shoveling dollars into a bottomless hole- though, truth be told, my expenses have not been all that much. I am frustrated by the lack of ‘visible’ progress, even though the bulk of the expenses have been doing what is necessary in order to work. Things like setting up shop, buying tools, and stockpiling materials.
I’ve varied from my original plan in two major ways. I have painted (not quite finished, yet) the outside of the house, and I have replaced several windows (with more to follow). I have also installed a small, temporary electrical panel. I’ll explain my reasons for varying from the plan. Oh, and I’ve bought a small ‘window shaker’ air conditioner.
The air conditioner is far too small to really cool the house, but it is enough to take the edge off the heat and humidity. Even with windows open, the house was an intolerable sauna in our 100+ summer. As a result, I’ve accomplished more in the past week than in the previous nine weeks. I think of the air conditioner as the most expensive $150 I ever tried to save. I simply cannot continue to wait for the HVAC guy; I need to be living IN the place within a week.
The windows needed to be replaced now, as opposed to later, for security reasons. The existing windows were far too damaged for the alarm system to operate reliably. Some also had gaps in the woodwork plenty large enough for bugs to enter.
I had planned to use the existing household electrical circuits at least during construction. My discovery of major safety flaws -and a history of electrical short-caused fires- caused me to declare all the wiring ‘taboo.’ I have fed a six-breaker panel from the breaker that fed the former range circuit, and have routed extension cords around the house. The cords are strung from the ceiling and walls, and not underfoot. As of today, my workshop area has a functioning light!
I reversed my decision to NOT paint the outside after several requests by neighbors. I must admit that I was amazed at the difference a little paint made; I think the neighbors just wanted to erase any reminders of the previous, troubled occupants.
I’ve discovered that the plumbing needs far more work than I had expected; this will be my main focus this week. Still, my first weeks in the house will be a bit rough. I am giving serious thought of forgoing a central water heater, and just -at least for now- having a small ‘point of use’ heater for the shower alone.
Opening the walls -in part, to facilitate air conditioning work- has proceeded at a crawl. It turns out that several of the walls are not of drywall, but some manner of lumber. It’s slow going.
My biggest challenge was in getting the kitchen door (that opens into the carport) to operate. Somehow, the door was nearly 1/4″ wider than the frame. The bottom of the door also ran into the threshold, which prevented the door from closing. The door had been secured by a soggy, ‘manufactured’ board across it, and very big nails. Naturally, once I had the door swinging freely, the lock mounting was in the wrong place. Well, the door works now, and will serve until I get a new door- sometime next year!
On the far side of the carport is a storage closet. After a chat with the parcel-delivery guys, I think I will put a flap in the cupboard for package deliveries. No point letting a box sit on the front steps all day. Right now, that cupboard is where my personal possesions are stored, while I ‘make a camp’ in one of the bedrooms.
I’ve moved many times in my life. Once, I even moved to a 3rd-world country, without any ‘support network’ behind me. Yet, THIS time the thought of moving scares me. Every day I take some of my meager posessions over to the house. Every evening I stop by the house and do something, however small. Still, I expect I won’t REALLY begin to make progress until I am actually living there.
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I'd be willing to bet that nearly everyone who has taken on the task you have for the first time has had second thoughts early and often, as the number of "easy" tasks to do have been trumped by urgent, hidden defects in the house.
You sound like a guy that can get this job done, though, and I'd also bet you'll be proud of the nice place you have, and how little it cost when you get all done.
I would suggest gutting one bedroom and installing plumbing and piping in conduit there insulate and drywall and paint. put a temporary panel there and run many circuits (5-10) to the multiple plugs in that room and making that your work room living space. Have a conduit leaving the panel to tie into the final electrical system later and/or make this a junction box.
Have the air conditioner, a temp camp kitchen and workshop and bed, small armoire (closet). You can camp out there for the duration with an additional storage container in the yard for closet and possessions. Maybe a porta potty and or exterior shower set up.
Now you can gut the rest of the house and work quickly without having to trip over yourself. Easier to do plumbing and electrical and insulation when they are all opened up. Much more labor savings than trying to cut and paste. Also the first room you can abandon the plumbing since it wasn't intended to be permanent in the first place. And you can think of it as a dry run for the rest of the work.
Great comments ... I can't add much to them!
I am pretty much "camping" in one room, with another set up as a workshop.
Having lived in the house for about a month now, I have not really done 'that much' to the house. A lot of effort has gone into setting up the 'camp,' the workshop, and making the necessary furniture. I'm also digging through a lifetimes' worth of possessions, things that were -until recently- scatterd about several storage sites. (Gee, I didn't know I still had that ...)
Now that I have the "rhythm" of the house, I am in a better position to plan the work.
Some of these issues are addressed in the latest entry, "Winter Commeth." I'm in 'get ready for the cold' mode right now ... closing off the crawl space, sealing windows, getting the heat working, etc.
The hardest part is in my mind. I have to keep telling myself that I CAN do things. I've been so conditioned to conforming to the desires of others that I feel a bit lost at times. Every time I power up a tool after dark, part of me still expects a call from the landlord ...