Day 20: Time to Finish Up the Little Things!

I was back home for three days...and I wanted to complete EVERYTHING to get this house in hand-over status to my property manager!!!  So I hit the ground running after completing the firepit at the horse ranch this morning.  I stopped by Pa's work for some free food (delicious pulled pork!), then headed over to the house.  The guys were wrapping up the last line of siding in the back.

I immediately started painting the exterior door jambs.  Looking at the windows and doors, I had quite a bit of painting to get done!!!  I had brought along my favorite little paintbrush from Cleveland, and that worked wonders yet again.  So I just painted!

Exterior garage entry door before...

And after!

And painted...

Front door before...

And after!

And painted...

Sliding glass door before...

And after!

And painted...

Front picture window before...

And after!

And painted...

Bedroom window before...

And after!

And painted...

Street number before...

And after!

And painted.

Kitchen window before...

And after!

I had a couple of surprise guests swing by unannounced.  First was my property manager around 3:00 P.M.  He was swinging by to see the progress not even knowing I was there.  And then my sister and two nieces surprised me!  We danced a little bit in the open rooms, deck, and garage, but my sister was gracious enough to realize that I needed to keep working, so they only stayed for about 20 minutes.  But I told 'em I would see 'em again!

I was eager to get all of the work done, so I stayed over late tonight.  I picked up Pa from work at 4:30 P.M., dropped him off at home, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed right back to the house.  I had so much work to do!

I ended up staying until around 9:30 tonight...but part of that was being offered an invite from the neighbor!  ha!  These neighbors have seriously taken ahold of this work effort, and one offered me a little drink tonight during my painting!  Fine by me.

I also tried out the heat pump for the first time since I caulked the little space around the drain pipe.  I was thrilled to see absolutely no leaks at all.  I'm beyond thrilled with that.

A long but very productive day!

Tomorrow I'll start the deep-cleaning, and then I hope to be 100% done with this house!  Come on, tenant!

More Creativity! Building a Firepit with Free Leftover Bricks!

I received a text from my brother last week asking if I could build another firepit like my sister's with the leftover bricks.  Well, not really...the retaining wall bricks were mostly gone.  I just didn't have enough left to build another one.

But all was not lost.  I had some 200 bricks and stones to use for SOMETHING!!!

He later sent me a picture of an inground firepit and asked if we could build something like that.  We couldn't build what they had, but we could sure build something!  So my response?  "A little creativity (and using what you have) goes a long way."  I told him we should knock it out Monday morning.

Well, Monday morning was here!  So we loaded up some bricks and headed down to the horse ranch.  We got to work right away.

The fire ring as found this morning...

Just an open grassy area with a burn pile.

We dug a hole through very rocky dirt until we were happy with the depth and size.

The dirt was soooooo rocky!  Our firepit hole.

We then installed a brick base so as to prevent the bricks from shifting once we built the walls.  It was a little bit of an art getting the bottom level while having our eyeballs trick us on the sloping top (Jobu made me put a level in there more times than I care to admit!), but we got it where we wanted it.  A little brick pattern later, and it was time for the walls!

The base is complete!

It went up very easily.  Set the bricks around the edge, fill in the backs and cracks with good dirt, then repeat!  We ended up building a wall five bricks high.  It was looking sharp!

The last row of brick wall we installed.  Five bricks deep.

Once at ground-level, though, we had a bit of a problem.  No matter how we placed the remaining bricks, we just couldn't get a pattern or look we liked.  There were either too many gaps in the bricks, or it just didn't look right.  Well, finally, we did something we both liked...a spiral pattern of sideways bricks!  It looked good.

After MUCH trial and error, we found a look we liked!

We then took our wheelbarrel full of dirt and built up the ground around the pit.

The firepit all filled in!

And in just a few hours, we had a great-looking inground firepit!  We cleaned up the bricks and admired our work.  Not bad for worthless brick that was just sitting on a basketball court three hours earlier.  :)

The new in-ground firepit!

Ready for its first fire!

Looks beautiful!

Day 19: So Very Close!!!

I'm still out of town, but Mom faithfully sends those pictures (thanks, Ma!).

The contractor had planned on finishing up today, but I learned through the pictures that he wasn't able to get it wrapped up.  I have no idea why, but quite a bit more was accomplished today...

The gutters and downspouts are up.
The chimney is completed.
The exterior lights are up.
The "A" above the garage now has fascia and siding (looks great!).

Judging by the pictures, it looks like just a little bit of siding is left in the back.  But I do believe the front is 100% complete!  So I'm thrilled about that!  I think the project will be completed on Monday.

What a ride it's been.

As soon as the work is completed, I'll have to hop inside and paint the window sills.  I'll also deep-clean the whole house.  And then I have to paint the exterior door jambs.  But we are so close!

I'm so pleased.  I find myself just staring at the "after" pictures over and over.  Literally just staring!  I take such great satisfaction in seeing a job well-done.  I'm so thrilled.

So for your viewing pleasure...

Before...

After!

Before...

After!

Day 18: It's Hard Not to Smile

So I was out of town for today's work, but Mom was sure to send me pictures of the progress...

I opened up the email and blurted out loud, "Oh wow."  The (nearly) completed siding on the front, the blue shutters, the paned windows, the see-through glass storm door...it all just comes together and gives me that "wow" factor.

Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled.  I LOVE it.

This was the goal of mine one month ago, and now it's better than I thought it would be!

Plus my property manager called me today and informed me that he had a possible tenant that wanted to do a walk-through.  He had last seen it in the yellow siding days, so I encouraged him to go take a look.  I hope she is able to see past the ongoing construction and mess!

But it's pretty satisfying to realize that the plan is so close to fruition:  getting this fixed up for a tenant.  It's almost here.  :)

I could not be happier.  I LOVE the look!

It's like a new construction!

Still a bit left on the back of the house, but we are so close!!!

Day 17: About as Nervous as You Can Get

So I woke up a little timid today.  I didn't sleep the best last night after watching my niece fall and bang her head on concrete, and I also had the disappointments of yesterday's remodel lingering on the mind.  Well, today I made the decision to lay low.  I figured the boss had received my message and would be either dropping by the house or communicating with his workers...a message that probably wouldn't be received too well.  Discipline/chastisement was hopefully forthcoming.

Sigh.

So I decided to let the workers work.  I did drive by the house first thing in the morning to see if the workers were there yet, and they weren't, so I just took a quick glance and drove off.  I then made a run to Menard's to pick up where I left off yesterday...all of the items that I had had in the cart when my niece tumbled.  I returned and picked up four exterior lights, a chrome bathtub drain cover, and two bathtub faucet handle cover plates (both were missing).

I drove back to the house and made a couple of rounds around the neighborhood before stopping in.  I had seen the workers there, but I just wanted to keep a low profile today!  I dropped off the exterior lights, installed the bathtub drain cover, said hi to one guy, then headed out pretty quickly!  And that's how I let it be for the rest of the day.

Previous bathtub drain.

$4.99 to give it a sharp look!  (Now just need to clean below it!).  :)

So I didn't get hardly anything done.  But that was fine by me if the project would continue as planned.

Well, thankfully, the boss emailed me in the afternoon to tell me that he had had a talk with all of his workers.  He said the interior wall would be fixed up to pre-construction condition, the termite damage would be fully replaced as promised in the contract, and the end-of-the-day procedures would take on a more professional flare.

Fine by me.  I was actually quite nervous opening up the email, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the response.  He handled the criticism and requests quite well, and I was thankful for that.

Well, so as not to cause too much awkwardness and because I was flying out tonight, I decided to drop by at the end of the day with Dad.  I had actually drive around numerous times again before going to Mom and Dad's house and then finally picking him up.  I just didn't want to be THAT guy, so I stayed away.

But we are not enemies, and as I stated in the email, I DO appreciate the work that is being done.  So with that, we headed over to the house around 4:45 P.M.

I was beyond pleased.  The workers had REMOVED the previously-installed siding below the front-picture window and removed the damaged plywood.  And perhaps much to their surprise, more damaged wood was found!  The worker showed me two damaged 2x4's underneath the plywood, the 2x4's that supported the window!  He replaced both of them.  I was thrilled.  The problem had been addressed and was not ignored!  I seriously can't express my pleasure with how it was addressed.

The massive section that was replaced.  Underneath two 2x4's were also replaced.

The workers were just bending over backwards, too, informing us of everything they were doing.  He eagerly expressed how he was going to replace the back holes (caused by Dad and me a few weeks ago) with wood before covering it up, he asked about closing and locking windows, and what gets me the most is that the oldest of the workers was out raking up the mess that had previously been being left behind every day!  I was tickled pink.  It was hard not to smirk.  I actually busted out laughing later today at the thought of him raking.  I was quite pleased.

I told Dad, "We both know that this is how it should have been from the beginning, so I don't want to give them too much undue credit, but I am just thrilled that the problems were addressed properly.  And that guy raking?!  Oh, it just tickles me so."

I was pretty happy.  And compared to last night, I was ecstatic.  I gave the "ok" for the front wall work to continue, and I caught a flight out of town.

So it looks like we took a few steps back today since the siding is no longer there, but I know just how far forward we actually moved today, and that gives me such peace of mind.  Plus ALL of the windows were installed today, too!  The house is back to moving right along.

The stern but kind email paid off. I have a contractor doing good work, and he has a happy customer. The way it should be.

The view from the front.  Less siding but better work.  :)

These guys move fast!  Almost done on the north side!

The back is taking shape!

Maybe 2-3 days left before they are finished?!

The south side is 95% done and looks GREAT!

Day 16: More Steps Backwards!!!

I was able to return last night to be back for two days as I needed to have a physical check-up.  I figured while here I would see what work is being done on the house and start cleaning up the interior.

So I headed over this morning and was shocked to see grass already taking hold in the bare areas!  And I mean it was doing well!  In less than seven days, I had grass standing two inches tall in several areas!  I was nothing short of impressed.  And thrilled!  :)

Grass is starting to take hold!

I gave the grass a good soaking, then headed up onto the roof to tackle a project that I never really planned on up until now!  It's kind of comical to me...you have a huge list of projects from Day One.  And you have some BIG projects that you know need done (siding, windows, doors, appliances, repairing holes, etc.).  Then, as these projects begin, you find other projects (leaky heat pump, shorted wire, unconnected pipes, etc.).  Then as these projects all begin to wrap up, you find even more projects that you never had eyes to see before.  And that's what this morning was all about.

It turns out that I have a very, very rusty chimney cap.  I mean, it's been there all along, but I just never had eyes to see it.  I was distracted by the yellow siding, the hideous blue trim, and the overgrown yard.  But now that I have clean siding and walls going up, I had an eyesore of rust on the roof!  I needed it gone.

So I grabbed some paint and headed up on the roof this morning.  I gave it a coat of exterior paint, and what a difference that made!  She looks great!  I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier!

The very rusty chimney cap.

Getting a little facelift.

Voila!

Of course, when you are on a roof, you might as well get good perspectives of other stuff, too, right?!

The pretty dismal front yard!  It looks terrible from this angle!

The newly-installed ridge vent.  Looks good.

As the paint was drying, I headed inside and started scrubbing away the bathtubs.  They cleaned up decently, but I have to say it's pretty gross pulling up someone else's hair that you know had been sitting there for at least two years.  Yuck.  Oh well, part of the process...

Scrubbing one of the bathtubs...

The construction workers showed up around 9:15 this morning to continue work.  I was eager to see them!  They worked outside while I cleaned up inside.

This morning they were finally tackling the windows!!!  I was thrilled to see the big picture window removed and replaced with a gorgeous set with panes!  I had made that last-minute decision to add panes to the front windows, and I am thrilled with the results.  I love the look!  Just an extra dose of curb appeal.

Something is missing here!!!

I would find myself making numerous trips out of the bathroom to see the progress.  It's so fun to me.  On one of those trips, I noticed some heavy damage on the wood below the front picture window.

"Do windows usually have that bad of water damage below them"?  I remember my contractor telling me that in his bid he fully expected to have to replace some wood below windows, so I thought nothing of it. I was just curious more than anything.

"No, not THAT bad.  And I don't think it's water, either.  It looks like termites."

!!!

The window is gone!

The damage done by the termites.

The termites completely weakened (ruined) the wood.

I then told him that I had certainly had termites, and that confirmed his statement.  Sure enough, I walked up to the window and inspected the damage.  Termites indeed.  But this was a HUGE problem, for the workers had already installed siding right up to this window!  Not good.  The wood just flaked under any pressure.  Termites are pretty impressive creatures, and I was getting a crash course on them.

So if I had termites on my hardwood floors...and if I now had them three feet up underneath a window sill...would it not make sense that they used that in-between wood to get up to that window?  Sigh.  It was a no-brainer to me.  AGH!!!

I then painted a second coat on the chimney cap.

The good news is that the work is slowly progressing.  The soffit and facia started going up today, and I must say that I do not miss that blue one bit!  The white facia is gorgeous!!!  What a difference.  The house looks clean.

I love the new look! I hate that blue!

I didn't do a whole lot else the rest of the day.  I was simply limited by the work going on outside.  Most of my projects are wrapped up (woo hoo!), and I just need to deep-clean the inside, but I can't do that until the windows are all in.  So my projects were few.

Actually, it was kind of a bad day!  Outside of the homemade snowcones with my nieces after lunch and the successful chimney cap painting, today didn't go well, at all.

1.  I found more extensive termite damage.
2.  The workers were careless in the installation of windows and completely marked up my interior walls.
3.  My niece fell out of a shopping cart and fell three feet onto her head on a concrete floor.

Seriously.  I had gone to a hardware store to pick up exterior lights, and while shopping, I saw her just tumble out and fall helplessly to the concrete, smashing her back and head.  It's a sight I won't soon forget...just helplessly falling perfectly parallel to the ground with that helpless face.  Ugh.  It made for a hard night's sleep!  She was rushed to the doctor's to see if she had a concussion, but they said she was fine, so that's good.

But I wasn't very happy with the progress and workmanship at the house today, either.  So I had to fire off a kind but stern email to the boss.  I told him about the termite damage and alluded to the whole board needing replaced.  I told him about me finding the sliding glass door wide open after his workers had left.  And I told him that my interior walls were basically trashed from window installation.  I wasn't too thrilled.

My previously gorgeous freshly-painted wall...this is so frustrating.

Sigh.  It's so hard picking a contractor out of the blue.  I wonder if I chose the right one for the project.  I'm pretty disappointed today.

The new windows.  I love the panes.

Making progress on the side of the house.

The house at the end of the day.

I love the new look...just a few setbacks today.