Rehabber’s Rehab

Rehabbing is expensive.  Its more expensive than you think.  So the constant question is where can we get what we want at the cheapest price?  This post will only concern products and I’ll save service recommendations for another post.

Ultimately you always want to get value, because our experience is that you can certainly get a piece of junk for a little amount of money, but then you are left with junk.  So there is always a trade-off.

One stop shopping is so key in remodeling, you’ll be doing a project and you’ll need a dozen different things, plus you’ll remember all those other things you need for other projects.  So why not go where they will have everything, these stores include HOBO, Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards.

But do not shirk the local hardware store.  First, they are often within five minutes of your home.  Secondly, they may look small, but they will surprise you in how much they pack in an organized manner that will be a great relief when you’ve walked a mile from one end of a box store to another looking for two things that seem like they are related. (more…)

The house was dark when I came in tonight, but that was no surprise since Thor was out working.  I turn on the kitchen light, and nothing happens.  Maybe I flipped the wrong switch?  I’m still not used to even having light switches that turn things on.  Nope, the other switch doesn’t work either.  Now I start to worry.  I walk through the house trying to turn on every thing I can, and each time am met with the same result: nothing.  There is no power anywhere to anything, and the house is incredibly cold.

This is more than a blown fuse.  Did we even have fuses any more?  I call Thor, and he has no idea, but suggests maybe ComEd came and switched our service.  I go outside, and sure enough, the meter had been removed and the original power lines that fed into the house had been cut.

We were pretty hesitant to try and turn the new electrical panel on ourselves.  We vaguely recalled being warned about messing with “something” that if touched could basically blow the house up.  So what followed was a series of phone tag between myself, Thor, Matt, the head electrician, and then the guy who has been working on our house, and a few frantic calls to the power company’s various voice mails.  The result was me sitting in the dark and cold in-between running out to the car to keep my phone charged up wondering why in the hell the electric company hadn’t let us know that they were going to switch our power.

The electrician finally showed up (he had been dragged from his sick bed by his boss), it turned out to be a pretty simple matter of first checking to make sure the connection to the old box was off so the house didn’t blow up.  Then as he flipped the on switch to the new panel I could hear the furnace rumble to life, and the rest of the house turn itself back on.

Check out this article on the Illinois endangered historic places.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/01/the-glassy-airport-terminal-from-the-former-meigs-field-and-post-world-war-iihospital-buildings-likely-to-be-demolished-as-pa.html

Our countertops were installed today.  We now have SURFACES.  Places on which to put things.  A covering that keeps the dirt out of the drawers.  And the sinks are installed.  We have to get the plumber back to get running water to them, but in terms of appearances, we are starting to get there.

The bathroom and kitchen look like what they’re supposed to be now, and I know that we are so close to utilizing them for their actual purpose.  In a few days I can (or Thor can) wash dishes in the dishwasher and not the tub.  The countertops in addition to the microwave that Thor and Matt installed last weekend are turning the room into a usable space. The microwave was a bit more trouble than we thought it would be because the electrician put the plug a little too high and at first we thought a part was missing.  All the worry was for nothing and eventually it went in.  This increased our quality of life also because we were able to move the old microwave out of the office and are able to start to use that space for its true purpose.

I think I am most pleased with the bathroom.  It is a remnant that we choose in the middle of a snowstorm on a Friday afternoon.  All of the slabs of granite were frozen together and it took 6 guys to pull them apart so that we could look at this piece.  It looks awsome with cabinets and the slate we already have in there.  There was definitely a moment of worry when we chose it because we didn’t have any samples with us to make sure it matched, so I was doubly thrilled to see how good it looked.

The kitchen is thrilling too.  We were finally able to settle the debate over whether the countertops were black or not.  They are not.  They are green with black, gold, and white flecks.  After this weekend it will work like how it’s supposed to too.  As I type, Thor is in the kitchen installing the tambour (appliance garage) in the kitchen corner.

So as we near completion of the kitchen and bathroom, we are planning on refinancing the house to take advantage of lower interest rates.  This will involve a new appraisal which takes into account the updating of the electrical and plumbing, the new kitchen and bath, the remodeled sunroom, and the cleaning up of rest of the house. (more…)