This Old House.Follow

Jonwin and I are in the process of contacting various contractors about doing home repairs with the money I inherited and just like the tv show we're finding surprises that come when you remove 89 year old woodwork.

So far nothing nice like the drawing of an eagle my parents found under the wall paper. Nope we get the ones that eat into the budget and may mean I don't get to go to fulfill my dream of going to Europe next year. We finally will replace the boiler next week but found out that we need to have the chimney relined. Those 6 vinyl windows put in by the former owner that we wanted to have replaced, has become a structural issue with rusted metal lintels that must be replace, so we're hunting for someone who knows how to do it, without the brick walls falling down. The structural engineer was great guy and email us drawings of what we need done. So the windows Jonwin had installed 20 years ago will also be replaced. Total of nine double hung and 2 basement windows.

There are walls of cracked and falling plaster to be repaired. Guess we may end up painting them ourselves, at the rate money is going for unexpected repairs.

If I'm lucky we have enough to have the kitchen remodeled. My brother-in-law, the architect who has had kitchens in Architectural Digest, will design it for free, but it needs a new floor, sink moved into the house proper, instead of the summer kitchen the size of a small walk in closet, were there is also a gas pipe to hook up a stove, that if it was there would leave barely enough room for a very thin person to get to the sink. Right now we many use electric skillet and a hot plate for cooking, though there is a gas oven upstairs, in the room I want to use as a studio. Baking in it causes the hard wired smoke detector to go off. Oh and the dropped ceiling got to go, though it's been hiding falling plaster and wall paper.

If it wasn't for the fact that Jonwin and I can't afford to sell it as a fixer upper, I would give up a trip to Europe happily for a house that isn't a money pit. Darn I would do most of the tear out work myself if my health was good as it was when I helped my parents remodel their home. (Back then I would get a chronic sore throat from all the plaster dust and back then you didn't need to get a lead test before you do anything more then change a light bulb.)

Instead of spending time making jewelry, I'm spending time on Angie's List, put the claw foot tub that needs major refinishing on Freecycle and trying to clear out clutter, so I will have room for all the things I inherited from my parents. Jonwin is still trying to work things out, so we won't need to put stuff in storage, but the next person I hire will be hauling out some of his old furniture that is too beat up for freecycling or donating to charity.

The good news is I have to buy new clothes, as I'm down to size 10 pants from size 16 last winter. I'm still hunting for good buys t the thrift store, but shoes and business clothes were brought on sale, I've upgraded the jewelry I'm making to sterling silver, since it's price is down and will be overhauling my marketing once I've dealt with getting the major house repairs done.

Ignore it and hope you die before the house collapses. Then it's someone else's problem.

Summon a demon. It might be two or three generations, but your eventual fame is assured. Hide bodies and sigils behind walls and wallpaper while you're at it.

The correct way to fix an outer wall structural issue involving removing and rebuilding structure is to put a temporary beam and posts in place just inside the wall to be worked on (or a temporary stud wall), and then jack it up to take the load, making sure if you are on a second floor that you have posts underneath the jacking point all the way down to ground. if its concrete you can use pads, if it is a dirt basement, you have to build a temporary piling, then go off of that, etc. Not a particularly materially expensive task but one that you want someone who knows what they are doing to set up and monitor.

With the mention of all the antique stuff, my brother found and got me something from your neck of the woods that Jonwin might find interesting. It's a print of a ship. A rather famous ship from over there actually. Turns out it's an original lithograph of the USS Constitution painting by Gordon Grant (looks like the one in the link here) http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/proddir/prod/496/23/ from the 1927 restoration. Not really germane to the thread at hand, but this seems a good a place as any to post that heh.

Hopefully your house restoration project goes smoothly the rest of the way!

Start it on fire and claim the insurance.

Can't you hobos afford new houses instead of hundred year old homes? Sheesh.. get a job, people.

I'm trying to get a new house, except it will only be a new house to me.

Big old sailboats make for great paintings. Even more so if they're in a naval battle.

I wish I could afford a nice 100+ year old house.

Its not all shoddy construction. We also have a furnace that I'm pretty sure fell off the back of a truck in Mexico.

Even when you get a brand new house, odds are good there will be at least one major ***** up in it that you don't discover for a few years.

Edited, Nov 7th 2013 11:15pm by Catwho