Summer Remodeling!

[Polysorbate80]

But the fucking seeds....

I use 2,4-D on the billions of seedlings.

But it's not just the damn seeds, the flippin' trees never stop dropping shit.  Pollen, seeds, leaves, whatever--as soon as one is done, they start a new batch of something else.  Got two in front and one out back that are just too big and lush and shady to get rid of, though. 

Two old Norway spruce out front as well, great trees but one's not healthy.  The top ~20' of that one wound up in my front yard after a thunderstorm a couple of years ago.   It's probably best to take that one out altogether, but I've been delaying since the city is going to widen the street in front of my house and wipe out both of those trees in the process whether I want it or not :P

[Furiously]

I can definitely see how people got into flipping in the bubble, it's fun and lucrative and nice to see the potential in a shoddy property come out. Of course, I didn't have much in the way of structural issues, either, I bought it for it's good bones.

Mr BW, not sure what you mean by minimalist, but that's brushed nickel, not stainless steel.

The trick... Is to get your own real estate license or just do a FSBO and don't let the agents pocket the 5%. That's some huge money, plus you can start doing it for your friends and be "nice" and only take like 1%.

[Sky]

When I was house hunting, years ago when I started, I was thinking about getting an agent license. It's easy and cheap, and I was doing all the hunting anyway. My agent was fucking worthless and pocketed more than both lawyers combined, with only his half of the commission split. That's fucking stupid. I really should've gotten licensed. If there is a next time, I definitely will.

[Lantyssa]

I just look.  I never actually buy any.  But when we do, I'm not sure I could tolerate all that work.   We're thinking about buying but we don't know where, yet.  Not anywhere around here, that's for sure.  If we buy a house, it still doesn't mean Righ won't be having to travel and all that crap, and usually I go with.  Still, now that we have cats, I suppose I should settle down.  It's been nice these last two years that Righ has worked from the house and I've decided settling down will be nice.  But where?  He would probably want to buy and live in Scotland and I kind of don't.  Scotland is wonderful, I just wouldn't want to live there. 

You seem to need a live-in cat nanny so you can travel without worrying about the little darlings.  Since I'm in the market to be a bum, can you beat Yeg's offer?

[Signe]

I don't have a wife!   

[Murgos]

I don't have a wife!   

I think she was proposing...

[Lantyssa]

Heh.  I wouldn't do that to Righ.

No job can be perfect though.  With enough other benefits I can cope.  You can provide plenty of pussy for example.  Yeg made no mention of pets and I do miss having cats about.

Think of the advantages!  Another mouth to feed.  Someone to get underfoot.  Your very own layabout.  It'd be like having your own delinquent brat whom you don't have to love because they're not your child.  With enough coercion and gnashing of teeth, I might even be convinced to help with remodelling projects.  I can hammer a nail or two until I compain about the heavy workload.

[Polysorbate80]

I don't have a wife!   

I think she was proposing...

Don't do it!  Remember--the reason women live longer than men is because they don't have wives :)

[MrHat]

Heh.  I wouldn't do that to Righ.

No job can be perfect though.  With enough other benefits I can cope.  You can provide plenty of pussy for example.  Yeg made no mention of pets and I do miss having cats about.

Think of the advantages!  Another mouth to feed.  Someone to get underfoot.  Your very own layabout.  It'd be like having your own delinquent brat whom you don't have to love because they're not your child.  With enough coercion and gnashing of teeth, I might even be convinced to help with remodelling projects.  I can hammer a nail or two until I compain about the heavy workload.

You had me at plenty of pussy.

[Nerf]

Progress!

[SnakeCharmer]

Looks good.  Is that the interlocking laminate stuff?

[Nerf]

Yeah, True Natural Platinum Edition - Eden Maple.

It has beveled edges where each slat locks with the others to make it look like real wood, and I don't like it.  The stuff we used when we did the floors in the rental house in San Antonio was smooth when finished, -much- easier to put together, and like 1/4th the price retail.

We got this stuff for $2.50/sqft IIRC, MSRP is 4.25 or so. The stuff we used on the rental was like $1.15/sqft from home depot, though alot thinner.  This new stuff is 12mm.

We've got 3 more strips to run in the hallway between living room/computer room and we're done, then we just have to paint baseboard, nail it back up, and move the furnite in.

Finished floor pics sometime tonight.

[Nerf]

Finally done! Well, mostly, but it's just little niggly shit left.




Closeup of wall texture:

[Signe]

Very nice!

[Sky]

Couple more before and afters, living room edition. Not done yet, but move-innable.

[Nebu]

Who puts fake brick like that in their house?  I'm really impressed that you could see past that for the potential.  Scary stuff.

[Yegolev]

Good job getting rid of MURDERER RED BRICKS.

My new task is to erect a frame to put a bench swing in.  I found some 4x6 pretreated timbers that will get the job done, but they would not fit in my car so I just got some hole diggers.  The 4x4 ones somehow just didn't look big enough, but I'm prone to overengineering.  Current plan is to just drop them into holes and backfill with quikrete, forming a pi-shape (I don't know the construction-goober term so I'm using the math-nerd term).  I'll take some pictures if (when?) the project enters Comedy Land.

I'm also going to be burning a lot of shit with the wife's blessing.  I have a bag of marshmallows and a 150' garden hose ready.

[Sky]

Who puts fake brick like that in their house?  I'm really impressed that you could see past that for the potential.  Scary stuff.

The red is painted over girly pink. And the wall I posted earlier (that I tore the paint off) was also girly pink before being painted a semigloss white. In the living room.

Between that and the atrocity of a bathroom, I was glad for the experience I've had looking for a place for about five years, on and off. This little house is all about potential...which means I'm broke and have little free time :)

Garden hose...how I wish I had a hose. Have to replumb about twenty feet, break open the concrete and put in a new valve, put in new concrete. Then I'll have a hose. I will, dammit.

I'm tired.

[Nebu]

You're really bringing out the best in that place, Sky.  The yard looks like it has some real potential as well.  I love mature trees.

I agree with you about the experience part.  When I moved this summer, I looked at over 50 houses.  It was so easy to see the bones of a house and which homes were going to be larger projects than I wanted to tackle.  It's hard to find a well-built house with charm... at least one that doesn't need $50k in renovations.

[Sky]

It's all about the yard. Mature trees on two sides, the back is forested for about a hundred yards. Some douche pulled strings with the city and used a paper alley as a driveway into the landlocked forested part, but he's not behind my house. Right now I'm trying to get this construction done so I have enough money to hunt down the other half of the forest patch so he doesn't clear cut that part. But it's a double lot and extra deep, the biggest on the street. Second cheapest house on the street, and a small place without a garage just went for $13k more after two weeks on the market.

Also, it's on a dead-end street, second from the end. Only traffic is the neighbors coming home.

So it's all good. Sometimes hard to remember when I'm in remodel fatigue and totally fucking broke. Putting gutters on in a week or two and have to try and get the basement dried up. Then it's all about recovering the savings :) Toughest part of remodeling!

[Signe]

Someone put up girly pink bricks?  I love pink but that's just daft sounding.

[SnakeCharmer]

Looking good, Sky.  I totally lack the imagination required to see past what is and what it could be.

By the way, at the risk of sounding more daft than usual, what's a 'paper alley'?

[Signe]

Sky should become one of those house flippers.  He might not make any money but being a house filpper is sort of "in" right now.  it could be the first time in a bazillion years he's been in style!  HURRY UP BEFORE IT BECOMES PASSÉ!

[NiX]

Are you putting back the old moulding/trim in the living room, Sky?

[Sky]

A paper alley is a deeded alley owned by the city that was never turned into a real alley. Two owners ago (the old guy that I would've liked, not the douche I bought it from) bought up the 20x100 deed behind my double lot and appended it to my deed, so I've got the only 100x170 lot. The guy who used another part of the paper alley for his driveway pulled strings to get the right-of-way through what had been another guy's side yard. Thus I'm happy it's in my name and not the city's. A bunch of people just think it's free land...until the city decides to use it.

NiX, I'll be putting the crown trim back on after I clean it up (after I move my stuff in). I'll be replacing the baseboard, corner, and door stuff. The baseboard was tucked in behind the carpet and I broke some, but it was beat to shit. The door and corner was shitty 90º crap. Not sure what I'll do for corner and door, but it'll be nicer than that.

Also have to make some new shims for the heat shield on the wood stove and get some new ceiling tiles to cover the spot the big black box was in.

Sig, house flipping is dead, it just doesn't know it yet. The market is too cool for casual flipping. For a good contractor, there's always money in taking derelict buildings and rehabbing them, but the whole soccer mom flipping thing is so bubble. That said, I would walk away with more money than I make at my day job if I sold it right now...

[Merusk]

Looks awesome, both of you guys.   That texture would drive me up a wall, Nerf, but nice job on it.

Sky, what's that dot on the wall above your stove?  Just some dust on the lens?  Ceiling fans always look so sad surface mounted. Poor things, they want to fly free, too bad you don't have the room for it.

[Sky]

Yeah, it's dust. The ceiling fan is slated for replacement at some point. Some fan/light combo. Because there are three wall switches for it. Makes sense for a light, not for a fan.

[NiX]

Yeah, it's dust. The ceiling fan is slated for replacement at some point. Some fan/light combo. Because there are three wall switches for it. Makes sense for a light, not for a fan.

I didn't want to say anything about how horrid that fan looks in case you liked it, but yeah, get that shit replaced. Have you thought about sanding down those doors and repainting/staining them? That brown/brown colour scheme is scary.

[Sky]

Heh, I didn't fully list the work left. Like I said, it's not done, it's move-innable. That odd brown/grey door is to the garage, slated to get new hardware and a paint job. The front door (not pictured) got new hardware and is also slated for a paint job. Metal doors, so I'll just paint over them and replace them with wooden doors* when I can afford it. The back double doors are fucking win, one of my favorite parts of the house. I'm using them as a base for my stain color, even though they're so old they don't even match themselves anymore...

And this is just round one, to get it move-innable without the crazy wall and box. Next round replaces the ceiling, front wall and carpet (hardwood flooring ftw). That should be in 2030 or so 

*Something like this for the front door:

[Signe]

The door kind of looks like it's trying to appear rustic rather than is rustic.  I like rustic distressed looking doors.  More like this, though:



Not really the style, but the rustic look of the wood.  Which I'm sure you can beat up yourself.

[Nebu]

Those doors are nice, but what are we talking here... like $2k for a door? 

[Yegolev]

Solid wood doors cost a mint.  Also, at least in my case, they require some serious protection from the elements.  My mistake was not having an overhang to protect my front door from sun and rain, which made it actually be rustic rather than look rustic in just 2 or 3 years.  Now it's painted and kinda warped, but I don't have the luxury of replacing it.

[NiX]

Wood is a tricky beast to play with. If you want a nice wood that stains well, it'll cost you over and over again. If it lasts, you'll make your money back, but more often than not you'll be losing money on whatever venture it is you're building.

[schild]

Solid wood doors cost a mint.  Also, at least in my case, they require some serious protection from the elements.  My mistake was not having an overhang to protect my front door from sun and rain, which made it actually be rustic rather than look rustic in just 2 or 3 years.  Now it's painted and kinda warped, but I don't have the luxury of replacing it.

You don't need a door where you live, just a pool, and a poolhouse for me to retire into when I'm 30.

[Yegolev]

Yeah, I'm going to build a pool house pretty soon.  Meaning me and Killjoy.  Whee!

Until then, you can stay in the big house.