Rehabber’s Rehab

Thor, Matt and I spent the week dry-walling in the living room where the half wall was removed, cleaning gooped up paint off the walls and cleaning up the disgusting mess created by the insulation that rained down when we took off the kitchen ceiling.  This stuff was so foul that Thor even broke down and wore a face mask.

Friday:

We were trying to clean up because Thor was hoping to move in over the weekend.  The goal was to have things cleared out at home to move them and to have the sanding done and things clean so we can bring things in on Saturday.  I was at home cleaning when Thor called me in despair.  The spackle wasn’t drying, there was no way to finish sanding and things were a wreck.  An adjustment to our plans needed to be made, and it’s hard to admit the goals you set are a little too ambitioius.  Fortunately help was on the way. (more…)

Our most dramatic change to date has been the floors. In the first minutes of owning the house we immediately turned to ripping up the nasty carpeting from the sixties. What we uncovered was a mess or red oak floors. The previous owners had applied several different stains, from light gold to dark red. The floor had about a dozen places badly damaged areas. Our floor guy suspected the damage was caused by a overly competitive pets urinating around the house.

The fortunate thing about uncovering something disastrous in a remodeling is that if it can be fixed easily, it can have a dramatic impact and greatly improve the value of a home. Step in our floor guy, Jerry. Over our six day vacation, Jerry worked wonders, repairing the pet markings, filling in where we had taken out the living room-dining room divider, and refinishing all of the living space. (more…)

So we submitted our plans today, and it was not so bad as Matt thought.  The initial stages are actually pretty easy.  Looking at the Village’s website, it looks like you have to have everything ready when you go in–drawings done and electrical and plumbing permits signed off by the professionals.  It’s a little overwhelming, and after looking into it I could start to understand Matt’s stress.

After an expensive and hurried trip to Kinko’s, I went down to the Village Hall with Matt. He claims that once those people find out you are an architect, they love to start giving you a hard time, where as home owners can basically get away with anything.  We took a number and sat down to wait.  (more…)

An e-mail to Liz and Thor:

I am tired.  I don’t think I am ready to submit.  It is all just rushed and I haven’t started the forms.  OP doesn’t not have necessarily a good website for submittal requirements.  One requirement that I saw required a site plan the site survey probably won’t be enough.  There are gaps in the drawings but it is hard to say how hard they will review the stuff.  I am hearing some bad things from other architects, but I think we just need to get it into the system and take our hits.

Demo plan

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Back yard mess

We went back to the house today after the vacation and the 48 hour waiting period for the floors to dry.  The yard was just as bad as I remember.  I don’t know how much longer the neighbors will put up with it.  We were so excited to see the new floor with out the water stains and the holes filled in.  We arrived only to find that Matt had taken the key home with him after he had stopped by to take some more measurements!!

We had frustratingly locked all the windows and were unable to break in.  I suppose we should be comforted by this fact.  At one point Thor contemplated cutting one of the screens, he wanted to see the floors so badly, but was talked out of it.  I was then accused (for the first time in my life) of being too optimistic because I pointed out we can just wait until tomorrow to get in. (more…)