bought my house in 78 started working on it as it was just a cabin, In 1984 or so built the back addition, Started siding it , Now im so slow i came round to the front and the back needs to be redone, Just finished the kitchen i started 4 years ago, I have the kids rooms done now just as they left, Yam i the slowest guy here??? Maybe im stuck in a cosmic perpetual motion machine that never ends, Now im eyeing one more time around is it for me.
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Replies
LOL... yer not too slow Bobby. Life just happens too fast sometimes.
Somebody once told me "one sign of maturity is not feeling you need to do everything yourself just because you can" Not my words, I'm just repeating what I was told.
One of my wife's co-workers's is a BI and big DIY type. About 5 years ago he started a upstairs remodel that included reconfiguring some rooms and moving the second full bathroom. The family of 5 has been using the master bath (attached to the master bedroom) for the duration. They got a home equity loan for the project but spent the money on a grandiose SUV, soccer camp and some other necessities. I guess it works for them.
Eight years ago I build a new house for DW and I. She said she would help on-site, but there were always mitigating circumstances that prevented her helping - like mud, dust, cold, hot, bees, paint smell, etc. In the end she was a huge help though because she not only sold the old house and packed all our sheet, but she issued the mandate: "I'm not moving in there until it is 100% complete." She even hired a HI to inspect it. :-) The project took 10 months and I worked 16+ hr 6 day weeks including my regular job. We ended up moving in with a 3 item punch list - one item still isn't done...
We ended up moving in with a 3 item punch list - one item still isn't done...
And there in lies the problem!
I do this stuff all day long and to come home and do it some more is tough.
I am the king of procrastination, I just bought a house that needs a complete remodel. That wouldn't be so bad but I already had another house that needs quite a few things done AND I'm looking at buying a property out at some lake that needs even more work.
Hell man I'm 50+ years old, when will this shid get done if I don't get going. Not fair to leave it to the kids or wife.
I need to get me one of those wife's that give ultimatums!
Matt, you don't know how lucky you are!
Doug
Like I said - she was a huge help.... bless her heart. Even though she never touched a tool (or even a broom). There were a few nights I fell asleep exhausted in an un-powered house in a closet on the bare subfloor - using a paint tarp or similar for a pillow. A painter saw the little bed arrangement and asked if a homeless person had been in the house. :-)
I've been working on her for 2 years now for another build... to me though, building is a lot 'funner' then fixin'... She has agreed in concept - we just haven't yet met on size and location... :-) Elsewhere here I read it isn't smart to try and outsmart wimmin.... and I agree - but I can wear 'em down... ;-)
Edit: I'm the king of procrastination too. The way I handle it is I make punch lists - and then I execute - execute - execute. It's particularly hard for me at work as I have little to no supervision... :-) At home, sometimes, she makes lists for me - I hate it when that happens....
Edited 3/29/2008 5:34 pm ET by Matt
"Not fair to leave it to the kids or wife."think grandkids! - - I spent the first half of my adult life cleaning up my ancester's messes - now it's my turn! - I should change my tagline to 'What the f---- was he thinking?' - - I know I said that a number of times as I tackled my forebare's legacies - "there's enough for everyone"
"Hell man I'm 50+ years old, when will this shid get done if I don't get going."Whatever made you think that it will ever get all done?
When your house is finished, you die.
>> When your house is finished, you die. <<
I got a better idea - when your house is finished, build another one...
Oh please have mercy. Why oh why did I ever think I could run a remodeling business and then have the energy to come home and remodel my own house. If only I didn't start all these projects!
CaliforniaRemodelingContractor.com
bobbys'
Norm Abraham of this old house still hadn't finished many things on the new house house he wrote a book about 11 years after they moved in.. "minor" stuff like the stairways and one whole end of his house including a wall of bookshelf etc..
11 years and he wrote a book about it! That was a decade ago...
OK I'm a bit more ambitious than most and yet almost none of my interior is done and I still have about 1/2 of the north wall exterior to finish.
Not to mention that my electrical is still mainly extension cords,, my heating is just barely adequate to keep us warm, there is no plumbing up to the third floor (or heating) I need to build and install the lakeside doors, and install about 22 doors on the interior.. Access to the attic is thru an unfinished portion of the ceiling not the door on the walkway.. the walkway has no railings yet or even access ladder.
The kitchen is just the old cabinets set in place with a bit of sheetrock on top covered with shelf paper. I have around 10,000 bd.ft. of wood to be milled into flooring, ceilings, window trim, and cabinets..
The flooring intended for the great room is likely once prepped (which promises to take more than a month (160 hours) of full time work) will require about 4 full months to install. Due to the unique nature of the wood, and the complex method of installing planned..
Oh and did I mention that all that black walnut timbers and trim on the outside already needs a new finish?
"Oh and did I mention that all that black walnut timbers and trim on the outside already needs a new finish?"Well... If you'd used something besides shellac for the original finish...;o)
Life doesn't often leave a very easy trail to follow.
LOL and you want a million dollars????
Slow down !!!
I'm gettin a nosebleed just trying to keep up !
Life doesn't often leave a very easy trail to follow.
After thinkin bout this i gotta take a nap
"I'm gettin a nosebleed just trying to keep up !"It's the North East angst thing. He's just....one of us.
You have me beat I started in 1984
went to a new restraunt tonight.
we decided to have a little road trip with the kids ...
ended up at a castle!
on a gold course no less. Pretty cool ... I been to castles in England ...
aside from being brand new in comparision ... this one looked legit.
and ... the cajun chicken sandwich was great!
anyways ... I looked up then was explaining to the boy what a "coffered ceiling" was ... then re-explained it to the wife.
then added ... Oh yeah .. that's what I decided to do in the LR ...
she was thrilled ... not because she now loved coffered ceilings ...
she was thriled at the thot of having the drywall patches I cut open 3 years ago finally finished!
I always said she was pushing her luck ... hell ... took me 2 years to cut the drywall to fit into the big hole in the plaster I'd cut those 2 years before!
don't rush me woman!
btw ... won't be stain grade "castle quality" ... I'm thinking a frame work of 2x4's laid flat ... insets of 1/4" drywall glued ... then a sheet of MDF ripped down to cover the 2x's and all painted white.
all thsi done ... 'cause I don't wanna drop that damn ceiling fan again! Old house ... short old wires out of the box ... and it's a pain.
so my plan ... run a big MDF medallion around the fan first ... then work out from there.
her fish dinner was good too.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Sounds like about a 10 year project.
You guys are making me feel better. I see what McDesign does at home, and I feel inadequate, because it takes me a year to do anything. That guy must have a huge supply of monkey adrenalin.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, I see all these crazy words like "slow" and "procrastination". It's nothing of the sort. Like a fine wine sometines plans and projects need to age or mature before they come togethor. We just want to get it right. Thats right, the dining room ceiling "needed" to be down for a year with plastic up, more of a quality job when it was done because of the time spent planning etc. After all the house is about 130 yrs old, sagging, out of plumb etc. And no, my wife doesn't buy any of my BS, she is very understanding!