February Snowmageddon!!

Snow storm 2010


Well we got the dumpster out of there just in time as we got almost 3 feet of snow in the big snow storm. A layer of snow sure made the house look pretty, but shoveling all that snow was hard work!

Work continued inside with the removal of hundreds of nails from the stud work and staples from the floor. One of the good things we discovered was that the whole house had lovely hardwood floors beneath all of the horrible various floor coverings! They just need to be sanded and refinished and they'll look good as new.

As this is such a big project we're getting in some pros to help us get the project done properly like an electrician, plumber, HVAC man and some guys to help fit windows and doors. We'll also be dealing with the County over permits and so this will be a learning experience for us as we've not had to do that before.

The Demo Begins!

Not wasting any time at all we started on the demo to remove pretty much everything in the house so that we would have a blank slate to start with. With some hard work and a sledgehammer we were able to pull out everything in the house in just two weeks. The old radiators, oil boiler and pipes were collected by a guy who was going to recycle them. We were just pleased to have him come and take them away as they weighed a ton!

We started in the upstairs floor pulling out the bathroom first and removing the old pink cast iron bath wasn't easy, but we got it out. Behind the layers of stick on vinyl tile in the bathroom it was like being an archaeologist uncovering a history of the house. By the end of the first day everything was out of the bathroom and it was back to the studs!

Next was the bedrooms! We removed all of the drywall to discover that there was no insullation at all in the outside walls. No wonder it was so cold up there. The only insulation in the house was some blown in stuff that was in the roof space, and which all fell out when we took down the plaster board! Messy job.

With all of the drywall out and upstairs completely gutted we got a good look at the 1930's electrics and they would have been more at home in a museum! Good job were getting the place rewired to 2010 standard. Already the house was looking far better.

Once the upstairs was done we moved our way downstairs. Our plans to take a little longer to get everything out were put into a higher gear with the impending snow storm that was about to hit, and not wanting our dumpster to be filled with snow and be stuck there for who knows how long, we pushed ahead to get everything out by February 6th so the dumpster could be taken away before the snow storm hit! It was tough work but we got there just in time.

While doing demo throughout the house we kept finding pennies and dimes everywhere! This truely was the 'Money Pit'! Just waiting to find a 1943 copper penny, and then we can move to Hawaii!

The stairs, dining room and kitchen look totally different now they are all open. We found some very funny wall paper and floor tiles during the demo, but thats for another blog!

A Tour of the House before the Demo Begins!

So to show you how things looked before the demo began, lets take you on a tour of the house we fondly call the 'Money Pit'. Lets begin.

From the outside the bright red exterior certainly sets it apart from the other houses in ton, but we're not sure about the pink & red combo!

Through the front door you'll see that each room is a little box, with a living room, a dining room and a kitchen on the main floor. At the back of the house it looks like an old screen porch has been filled in to make another room, but with no windows its very dark and an odd shape.

Before.
Living room, Dining Room, Kitchen

Going upstairs you'll find two bedrooms and a bathroom! The trick is to look through the colors and decor and imagine what it could look like!

Before.
Bathroom, Front Bedroom, Back Bedroom

And so the tour is complete. Now you've seen what it looked like before, lets start the journey into transforming this 'diamond in the rough' into somewhere you'd actually want to live.

The start of the project

On the 22nd January 2010 we got the keys to our new project house. We're keen DIYers and so decided to tackle a new project after renovating our current home.

After some searching of foreclosure properties in the local area we found the perfect candidate for our project. A small 2 bed, 1 bath house which was in need of alot of TLC to bring it up to date from the 1930's when it was built.

Our goal was to completely renovate the whole house which would include replacing the plumbing and electrics, installing a new central heat/air system, insulating the whole house, fitting a new bathroom and kitchen, and replacing all the windows and doors. Easy!

Not one's to waste time we were in the house a few hours after signing the contract and the demo began. We started at the top and ripped out the bathroom first. My what a mess that was! A pink cast iron bath and several different layers of vinyl on the floor and walls and a very odd set up for a shower were all removed.