David and I have been married for 11 1/2 years now. In that period of time I've have rarely found something that I don't like doing with him. We have so much in common. The same sense of humor, we like to do the same things, and in general we just get along. Today I discovered though that I absolutely abhore doing electrical work with this man! I'm sure he'd appreciate it more if I knew what he was talking about but when I ask a question he answers it in terms like I know what he's talking about. Do I look like an electrican? Do I look like I know what you're talking about? No, not really! UGH!
Today we were running electrical wiring for the dryer. Using a higher rated wire and a new plug and bringing the plug down on the wall since the washer and dryer are going to be unstacked when the cabinet is made over them for the folding table. While running it to the breaker box he pulled out a section of the old wiring. And when I say old, I mean O. L. D. !!! It was copper wire, covered ancient plastic that was then covered over in fabric. It was apparently anchored to the wall via staples. But they're nails going through ceramic pieces. I asked him, "What is this?" David says, "A staple." I said, "Oh, of course, cause I know exactly what you're talking about!" LOL. I thought it was funny but he got a bit miffed with me. He's lucky I'm not a person who gets ticked off easily otherwise that would have started a huge argument. LOL. We'll laugh about it later and it wasn't that big of a deal but some days.......let me tell ya!
Anyhoo, we did get the wiring done, and the dryer is working again. He's now running more cable to go from William's room to the basement for William's computer. He's also running cable and phone wire to finish up the wiring in William's room. So now the laundry room, William's room and Edward's room are all completely wired with new connections, outlets, switches, and cable. Another thing counted off the list.
Walking around the basement today I realize how much patience it takes to do any type of renovation. First you're dealing with the arguments between you and your significant other. But then there's the other points. All of the stuff that usually goes into the laundry room is now all over the basement. You've got a shelf stashed here, a laundry basket there, a box somewhere else. Whenever you want to go downstairs you're manuveuring through a maze of crap that always fit so neatly into the laundry room and is now stashed everywhere! I feel the worst for poor Walter. A lot of the beer making stuff that is usually under our stairs is in his room taking up his space. He's being a good guy about it but I know it gets on his nerves. To compensate we haven't been as harsh about the cleanliness of his room but I don't think that does much good.
So I guess that's another good lesson. When preparing for a renovation don't just think about the renovation itself but all the other stuff that goes with it including where you'll put everything and the people you'll be putting out with all of your crap!
I gotta say this as well, it's making me want to go through our stuff again and get rid of more stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Waiting
I have to say when it comes to renovating the worst part is waiting. We're not the typical home improvers. We can't afford to buy all of our supplies at once so we buy as we go. This is a pro and con type situation it's got good points and bad points.
The good points are we're taking it slow and easy. With this it keeps us from getting bored or frustrated so we take our time on things. We're not letting the renovation get to us so we're not making mistakes that would come with the mentality of "let's just get this done!" It's giving us more time to talk through decisions that come up during the renovation, because no matter what you do you can't come up with answers for every single situation that may come up. Plus if our ideas change we're not stuck with supplies we don't want. We can take a little extra time with decisions like "do we really want this color of floor tile?" It helps.
The bad thing is we want to work but have no supplies to get anywhere. Currently we're at a stand still. We don't have supplies to finish certain things before we can continue with another area that needs to be finished! UGH! It's a bit frustrating. Today we were stuck inside due to a snow storm and we could have worked more on the laundry room but with no supplies we ended up sitting around instead.
Some days I wish we had everything but other days I'm glad we have the time to make sure we want what we've decided. I guess it's a catch 22 situation. LOL. Isn't everything though. Lucky for us David and I have next weekend off together and we'll be able to finish up the walls and start on the drywall! Another step in the right direction.
The good points are we're taking it slow and easy. With this it keeps us from getting bored or frustrated so we take our time on things. We're not letting the renovation get to us so we're not making mistakes that would come with the mentality of "let's just get this done!" It's giving us more time to talk through decisions that come up during the renovation, because no matter what you do you can't come up with answers for every single situation that may come up. Plus if our ideas change we're not stuck with supplies we don't want. We can take a little extra time with decisions like "do we really want this color of floor tile?" It helps.
The bad thing is we want to work but have no supplies to get anywhere. Currently we're at a stand still. We don't have supplies to finish certain things before we can continue with another area that needs to be finished! UGH! It's a bit frustrating. Today we were stuck inside due to a snow storm and we could have worked more on the laundry room but with no supplies we ended up sitting around instead.
Some days I wish we had everything but other days I'm glad we have the time to make sure we want what we've decided. I guess it's a catch 22 situation. LOL. Isn't everything though. Lucky for us David and I have next weekend off together and we'll be able to finish up the walls and start on the drywall! Another step in the right direction.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Half Way There
We are half way done! The laundry room is starting to take shape. It's starting to look like a laundry room should. Things we have learned:
The man who worked on this house previously had an issue with ground wires. He never used them!!!! Dear Lord we haven't found anything that's been grounded. It's scary to think about. With the fabric covered wiring we have in this house it's worrisome to have such a fire hazard.
You have to keep a sense of humor during a remodel. David and I laugh and joke through a lot of the stressful and frustrating points during this renovation and it's helped.
Make sure you both agree on everything before you even start demolition. Do window shopping, make a list of what you want, make sure you both completely agree on every single aspect. Where you choose to place things, lighting, wall color, flooring, even down to the type of 2x4's you plan on using. It's the best and easiest way to get through things. Then when things do come up they will be smaller issues and easier to deal with once you know what you plan on doing.
In the 3 days we've been working on the room we've gotten the sub floor and ply wood down. The walls are all framed in despite 2 more pieces of wood. We've gotten most of the insulation in. The wiring is done except for the sconces we've chosen to put on the walls. All of the plugs work, the switches work, and have been wired into the breaker box. All that's left to do is the dry wall, framing in the windows (we're framing in around the windows with wood), flooring, mudding and taping, lighting, and painting. We've also decided on the wall color, the type of wood the cabinets will be made out of, the counter top we'll be using, and the switch and plug covers.
I really can't wait until this is done and it's finished. Some days it's annoying and frustrating but I keep thinking of two things: 1) it's gonna look awesome when it's done and the house will be more ours when we're done, and 2) it's added equity into the house. We're building upon our investment. I really can't wait to share with you all the pictures!!!!!
The man who worked on this house previously had an issue with ground wires. He never used them!!!! Dear Lord we haven't found anything that's been grounded. It's scary to think about. With the fabric covered wiring we have in this house it's worrisome to have such a fire hazard.
You have to keep a sense of humor during a remodel. David and I laugh and joke through a lot of the stressful and frustrating points during this renovation and it's helped.
Make sure you both agree on everything before you even start demolition. Do window shopping, make a list of what you want, make sure you both completely agree on every single aspect. Where you choose to place things, lighting, wall color, flooring, even down to the type of 2x4's you plan on using. It's the best and easiest way to get through things. Then when things do come up they will be smaller issues and easier to deal with once you know what you plan on doing.
In the 3 days we've been working on the room we've gotten the sub floor and ply wood down. The walls are all framed in despite 2 more pieces of wood. We've gotten most of the insulation in. The wiring is done except for the sconces we've chosen to put on the walls. All of the plugs work, the switches work, and have been wired into the breaker box. All that's left to do is the dry wall, framing in the windows (we're framing in around the windows with wood), flooring, mudding and taping, lighting, and painting. We've also decided on the wall color, the type of wood the cabinets will be made out of, the counter top we'll be using, and the switch and plug covers.
I really can't wait until this is done and it's finished. Some days it's annoying and frustrating but I keep thinking of two things: 1) it's gonna look awesome when it's done and the house will be more ours when we're done, and 2) it's added equity into the house. We're building upon our investment. I really can't wait to share with you all the pictures!!!!!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Problems
The house we own was built in 1932. It's an Arts and Crafts home. It's been around for a while and was probably one of the first houses built in our neighborhood. We're slowly learning the history of our home. Things like our home was owned by a man named Robert Noble. He owned the Noble Merchantile which was located kitty-korner from our house. That area is now the location of the St. Vincent de Paul's parking lot. The business was moved across Central Ave. W. to where Noble Liquor is now. Mr. Noble's brother owns the liquor store. I've talked with him and he says the family grew up in this neighbhood. In face he grew up across the street from my house. Mr. Noble died in the mid 1970's. His wife lived in the house until 2002. She kept the house in impeccable condition. She was moved from the home and put into a nursing home where she died in 2004. Since then the house has been owned by two other families besides ours.
Other little facts I've learned is our street has not always been 1st Ave. SW. It used to be called Pierce Ave. And Central Ave. W used to be called Broadway Ave. I've also learned that an alleyway about 2 blocks up from us is asphalt and has sidewalks on either side of it. I've always wondered about this. During a tour of the Civic Center with William's Boy Scout troop I learned this alley is called Pig Alley. We're located by the railroad yard. Well the story goes that this alleyway was used to move pigs from the rail cars to where a slaughter house was previously located. It's no longer there. I love living in my neighborhood. You could live in a big house, in a new area but you don't get these historic stories in those types of areas. I've enjoyed learning about our area and I look forward to learn more.
With the fact that this house is almost 80 years old the house has some issues. Like any home would. But we have the extra added issue of the fact that the last owner thought he knew what he was doing. We have found issues that come with all old homes. It still has single paned windows, lathe and plaster walls, no insulation in outer walls, and the original floor joists. But to join the list of regular things we've discovered oh so many other problems. We have found that they tried to redo certain areas of the home like the kitchen, the bathroom, one of the bedrooms, and the basement.
The kitchen was redone with sub standard stuff which was the cheapest things you could find. We found our sink for $25.00 at Poulson's. The plumbing was poorly done. They moved the stove from where it was originally to an area next to a wall. The flooring is not a good one, it's slick and at times dangerous plus they put it directly over hard wood floors, one of the window panes has been broken out and was covered with a book propped up on the sill. The cabinets are barely attached to the wall and the cupboards are falling apart.
The bathroom had one of my favorite problems. Every time we would shower we'd have a leak into the basement. We had to take it apart to find the problem. Oh we found the problem alright! The idiot tried to "fix" the plumbing by sauldering brass onto copper. We you can't do that. He learned but then "fixed" it by gluing the pipes together with Gorilla Glue. When we changed out the sink we found out that the guy tried putting PVC piping into the original galvanized steel pipe but it didn't fit so he forced it and buckled the PVC piping. It's been slowly dripping. He cut out studs and didn't replace them, and once again he put flooring over hard wood floors. So our bathroom door way has a 1 1/2 step up between the hall way and the bathroom itself.
The basement we've started working on. When we first moved in they had been in the process of sectioning off the basement into rooms. The man apparently had no concept of 16 inches on center! Then we had our laundry room. We ripped that all out because the sub floor he laid down he had done a poor job, he didn't finish it, and the walls were about 4 inches thicker than they needed to be.
As you can see it's going to be a large job and a long process. But I think we're up for it. We look forward to the adventure that lies ahead.
Other little facts I've learned is our street has not always been 1st Ave. SW. It used to be called Pierce Ave. And Central Ave. W used to be called Broadway Ave. I've also learned that an alleyway about 2 blocks up from us is asphalt and has sidewalks on either side of it. I've always wondered about this. During a tour of the Civic Center with William's Boy Scout troop I learned this alley is called Pig Alley. We're located by the railroad yard. Well the story goes that this alleyway was used to move pigs from the rail cars to where a slaughter house was previously located. It's no longer there. I love living in my neighborhood. You could live in a big house, in a new area but you don't get these historic stories in those types of areas. I've enjoyed learning about our area and I look forward to learn more.
With the fact that this house is almost 80 years old the house has some issues. Like any home would. But we have the extra added issue of the fact that the last owner thought he knew what he was doing. We have found issues that come with all old homes. It still has single paned windows, lathe and plaster walls, no insulation in outer walls, and the original floor joists. But to join the list of regular things we've discovered oh so many other problems. We have found that they tried to redo certain areas of the home like the kitchen, the bathroom, one of the bedrooms, and the basement.
The kitchen was redone with sub standard stuff which was the cheapest things you could find. We found our sink for $25.00 at Poulson's. The plumbing was poorly done. They moved the stove from where it was originally to an area next to a wall. The flooring is not a good one, it's slick and at times dangerous plus they put it directly over hard wood floors, one of the window panes has been broken out and was covered with a book propped up on the sill. The cabinets are barely attached to the wall and the cupboards are falling apart.
The bathroom had one of my favorite problems. Every time we would shower we'd have a leak into the basement. We had to take it apart to find the problem. Oh we found the problem alright! The idiot tried to "fix" the plumbing by sauldering brass onto copper. We you can't do that. He learned but then "fixed" it by gluing the pipes together with Gorilla Glue. When we changed out the sink we found out that the guy tried putting PVC piping into the original galvanized steel pipe but it didn't fit so he forced it and buckled the PVC piping. It's been slowly dripping. He cut out studs and didn't replace them, and once again he put flooring over hard wood floors. So our bathroom door way has a 1 1/2 step up between the hall way and the bathroom itself.
The basement we've started working on. When we first moved in they had been in the process of sectioning off the basement into rooms. The man apparently had no concept of 16 inches on center! Then we had our laundry room. We ripped that all out because the sub floor he laid down he had done a poor job, he didn't finish it, and the walls were about 4 inches thicker than they needed to be.
As you can see it's going to be a large job and a long process. But I think we're up for it. We look forward to the adventure that lies ahead.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Introductions!
Hello, our names are David and Cami-Michelle Spicer. We usually go by Dave and Cami. We have three great kids. Walter is 16, Edward is 15, and William is 12. Our lives are simple. David and I both work. David is in the Hardware department at Home Depot. I'm currently working in the Receiving department at the Malmstrom Commissary. In our spare time we geocache, hike, swim, and discover new areas around our home town of Great Falls. David was 12 years in the Air Force and during most of that I was a stay at home Mother but I also went to school for 3 years for Interior Design. That's a just a little bit about us.
David and I have been married for 11 years. We've been through a whole lot. Seriously we have been but that's not what this blog is about. Right before David got out of the military we finally decided to take the leap and buy a house. We were both very scared but felt that once we moved from base housing it would be best to buy rather than to rent. Cost being the biggest factor.
Buying a house was a lot harder than we thought. Money was the biggest issue. Finding something in our price range, something that we both liked, in an area we wanted to live in, and finally agreeing on one. It took us over 6 months to find one. We probably drove our realtor insane! Chuck Jones was awesome though. He was there every time we wanted to look at a house and was patient with us. The house we live in now was originally found in a housing brochure. I saw it, it was in our price range so I mentioned it to David, the first time he said no just from looking at the picture. I spent another month looking and brought it up to David again. He said we'd drive by it. After the drive by he said no again. I spent another two months looking. We found one that we both liked and put in a bid, but lost it. After a couple more months of looking we noticed the house was still on the market so David decided to look inside. I was not impressed. He was dark, cramped, the way the furniture was set up, and the basement smelled funny and the one room was so packed full of crap and was so dark that I didn't even know it had a closet. David on the other hand felt right at home! UGH! I was frustrated. It actually started an argument between the two of us. I have to say the woman we bought the house from did not set up the house to be seen. It wasn't clean and like I mentioned earlier it smelled funny.
After the argument David put in a bid on the house, was denied and so we put in another one and she went for it. We waited another month for our closing date. When we signed the papers I finally saw the house the way it should have been seen, the curtains were open (thankfully she took them with her) and I could "see" the house! I mean I was excited because David and I were finally the owners of our own home but I got really excited once I was able to see the house without all of her stuff.
This blog was started so we could share what we've been through and we've done to improve the house to what we want. We hope you enjoy the blog and sharing in our adventure!!! Thanks for reading!
David and I have been married for 11 years. We've been through a whole lot. Seriously we have been but that's not what this blog is about. Right before David got out of the military we finally decided to take the leap and buy a house. We were both very scared but felt that once we moved from base housing it would be best to buy rather than to rent. Cost being the biggest factor.
Buying a house was a lot harder than we thought. Money was the biggest issue. Finding something in our price range, something that we both liked, in an area we wanted to live in, and finally agreeing on one. It took us over 6 months to find one. We probably drove our realtor insane! Chuck Jones was awesome though. He was there every time we wanted to look at a house and was patient with us. The house we live in now was originally found in a housing brochure. I saw it, it was in our price range so I mentioned it to David, the first time he said no just from looking at the picture. I spent another month looking and brought it up to David again. He said we'd drive by it. After the drive by he said no again. I spent another two months looking. We found one that we both liked and put in a bid, but lost it. After a couple more months of looking we noticed the house was still on the market so David decided to look inside. I was not impressed. He was dark, cramped, the way the furniture was set up, and the basement smelled funny and the one room was so packed full of crap and was so dark that I didn't even know it had a closet. David on the other hand felt right at home! UGH! I was frustrated. It actually started an argument between the two of us. I have to say the woman we bought the house from did not set up the house to be seen. It wasn't clean and like I mentioned earlier it smelled funny.
After the argument David put in a bid on the house, was denied and so we put in another one and she went for it. We waited another month for our closing date. When we signed the papers I finally saw the house the way it should have been seen, the curtains were open (thankfully she took them with her) and I could "see" the house! I mean I was excited because David and I were finally the owners of our own home but I got really excited once I was able to see the house without all of her stuff.
This blog was started so we could share what we've been through and we've done to improve the house to what we want. We hope you enjoy the blog and sharing in our adventure!!! Thanks for reading!
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