Hole-y Cow, I've Got a Foreclosure Mess!

I only have a few days off of work this time, so I wanted to tackle some projects rather quickly.  My goal is still to host Christmas in this home!  It's totally doable!

Well, at least it was at the beginning of the day...

In the two or so days I had off, I had plans of getting the kitchen flooring up.  At that point, I could start aggressively shopping for flooring.  The more I do, the less I pay, the easier it is on the flooring installers.  It's a win-win.

So it wasn't even my plan originally today, but I wanted to do SOMETHING, so I decided to start ripping up the kitchen floor!  That was going to be my big project for the next few days, but why not start out doing it?!

And so I did just that!  I used the pry-bar tool again and starting ripping up the linoleum which was on top of luan.  Again, it was work!!!  You try to get under the luan, but you have to try to avoid the hundreds of staples holding it down, or it just jars your forearm!  Oh, the number of times I went to scrape hard under the board only to have a sudden stoppage of flow!  Ouch!

Starting to pry up the kitchen floor!

The hardest part was trying to figure out what to do with all of the stuff on top of the floor!

Little by little.  The floor came up with lots of effort!

The new floor possibilities are going to be endless!

The pieces were coming up in big sections.

While prying up the floor, I yanked just a bit too hard on the linoleum, and I ended up pulling the small cabinet to the left of the stove out of the wall a bit.  Well, since it was already out, I figured why not remove it completely!  So I unscrewed it from the wall, but while doing so, I didn't think about the paint and caulk, and I ended up ripping the drywall paper where it attached!  A little frustration!  It happens.

But a very important question was answered:  The cabinets were installed AFTER the floors which meant that I had to figure out a way to get the flooring up without removing all of the cabinets.  Hmm, not too easy of a task.  I decided to ask my neighbor across the street!  He suggested using an oscillating tool to cut along the base of the cabinets.  Perfect!  Well, except I didn't own an oscillating tool!  Time to add to my collection!

My aggressiveness pried up the little counter next to the stove, too.  But that's when I confirmed that the cabinets were installed after the floor!  Hmm, what to do about that...

The cabinet removed from the wall.

But that's what the day entailed!  Pry up the floor, try not to jam a staple in your finger as you grab the piece, toss the piece aside, repeat.  Again, my forearm kept getting jarred as I caught the hundreds of staples left in the floorboard when I tried to scrape the floor.  But the beauty of a project like this is you see instant results.  So it's pretty motivating to keep going.

One of the most difficult parts of the job was actually removing all the stuff that I had moved over from my current house!  I had set so much of it in the kitchen!  And now I had to move all of it again...to a room that is not yet carpeted...where I will have to move it yet again!  Agh!!!  I need finished rooms where I can put stuff!

This kitchen is HUGE!

I have no good place to put these!  I moved in too quickly!!!

A lot of floor to remove!

A lot of work to do!

Once I removed my books and all, though, the process went fairly smoothly.  Just hard work!

But little by little, the floor kept coming up.  A little piece here, a large piece there.  I hauled it out to my truck for disposal and kept going.

The linoleum is removed from the laundry area!

And exposed some water leaks from the washer.

But all was not well.  When I ripped up the floor from the laundry area, I saw water damage.  Black mold had moved in, as well.  This was not a surprise, as I saw remnants of the mold in the fourth bedroom/office adjacent to this room.  But it was pretty extensive there in the small laundry room.

What a mess!

And then it basically went all downhill from there.  The more I ripped up, the more I saw years and years of water damage.  When I ripped up the part below the drip in the ceiling, I saw very weak floorboards, so much so that when you pushed in on them, they crumbled into the crawlspace.  Uh oh.  Not good.  Not good at all.

My first big setback.  A large hole in the subfloor.  This is directly underneath the ceiling leak.

Hello, crawlspace.  The more I pushed on the floor, the more it came apart.  It's rotten.



The floor is so rotten.  You can see the big ring of water damage past the hole, too.

And then I started ripping up the area underneath the fridge.  I was hoping the leak was stopped or relegated only to the luan, but that would just be too easy.  When I ripped up the linoleum and crumbling luan under the fridge, I exposed a massive area of water damage, rot...and you guessed it...more termites.  I could easily see the termite tunnels in the wood, and when I pushed on the wood, it just disintegrated.  My oh my.

My second big setback.  The water leak underneath the refrigerator.

Lots of black mold.  And it's not just water.  It's a termite haven, too.

The termites destroyed the subfloor underneath the refrigerator.  You can crumble this with your fingers.

This is a major setback.  Part of flipping foreclosures is not knowing what you are going to get, but had this been a normal sale, too, I don't think I would have known.  I knew there was some sort of water damage under the fridge, but with the three layers of flooring on top (laminate, linoleum, luan), it was very-well hidden.  Such is what happens when you start removing layers!

But this is going to be a big time setback.  I'm not sure about cost, but I have a lot of subfloors that need replaced.  And being so close to the wall, who knows how far the damage goes underneath there.  Oh the joys.

The last pieces of flooring around the cabinets.

This area is done!

I headed out to Menard's to pick up an oscillating saw...er, tool...I looked and looked and looked in the saw aisle but could not find one!  So I asked a worker, and he said it was in the "Dremel aisle."  It's labeled a tool, not a saw!  Whatever works!  I picked up the cheapest one plus an extra half-moon saw blade and was out the door for $26.77.

And then from there I headed to Dad's work to meet up with him for the tackling of another big project!  I received word from a tenant that her microwave "caught on fire" this past week.  She said she didn't put anything metal in it but that it started smoking like crazy.  She stopped it, waited another day and tried another item (mac and cheese).  When it smoked again, she called me.  I told her to unplug it and that I'd be there to fix it when I was in town next (like when do I have time for that?!).  But part of good business is keeping the current tenants happy!

So Dad and I learned as we went.  Neither of us have installed an above-the-range microwave before, but thankfully, the project went fairly smoothly.  We had it installed in 75 minutes.  I was happy about that!  And it actually didn't cost me anything (today).  I had been storing this microwave for the past two years (waiting for the current one to go out).  I had purchased it as a package deal along with a dishwasher from my aunt.  I literally lugged it over to the new house where it was just sitting on my workbench!  Dad said he saw a "2000" date on the one we pulled out.  Sometimes things just go bad.  16 years isn't bad for a microwave!

The "new" microwave installed.  Thanks, Pa!

Quite literally, everything is new in here!  Since purchase, I've had to replace the stove, dishwasher, and microwave!  And the fridge was purchased new!

And after finishing completion of the microwave, the tenant said, "You're not going to like me, but my kitchen faucet isn't working, either.  The handle keeps coming off."  I inspected it, tried to fix it (it broke), and was reminded that the tenant and her dad tried to fix it a year ago.  Once I realized that they had already replaced the handle once before, I said I would fix it tomorrow.  I'll get you a brand new one!  Agh, it's always something!  But she has been a great tenant.

From there, Dad and I headed back to the new house where Mom was meeting us, too.  I sawed the linoleum along the cabinets, then pryed up the pieces while Dad took them to the truck.  It was fairly easy work.  That tool is impressive!  It cut right through the wood!

I had to buy a new tool to finish the rest.

The wood is so soft you can crumble it with your hands or feet.

I made the decision to remove this second cabinet from the wall to the right of the fridge in order to fully see the extent of the water and termite damage.  Three screws is all that held it in.  Dad and I tried to lift it to the other side of the room, but I kid you not, I could not lift!  My right forearm just froze up when I tried to lift!  It simply would not work!  It was mush from all of the prying and sliding and pounding and sudden jolting when hitting those pesky staples.  It was kind of embarrassing, but my arm just didn't work!

But we were able to figure out a way to get it across the room.  And I am glad I removed it, for it DID expose more damage underneath where it sat.  It's pretty extensive damage.

The cabinet before removal.

The cabinet has been removed!

I know why they put laminate on top of their linoleum!  So discolored from the original new!

The massive mold and termite damage under the fridge and cabinet.



What a mess.  It all needs to be cut out.

Oh boy.  Well, the good news is my big project for the next three days is now complete.  I surprised even myself getting it done the first day back, but once I saw progress, I just wanted to keep going.  The very-not-good news is I have some major damage to my floors.  I have a large hole and rotten wood underneath the drip in the ceiling, water damage and mold in the washer/dryer area, and extensive termite and water damage underneath the fridge.  It's not good.

I've got some big issues...

So I'm happy with the progress today.  But what a setback!  I'm not sure Christmas is going to be able to be hosted here at all anymore!  I've lost quite a bit of time.  I am going to have to call contractors to come by and make bids on the floor repairs.

Actually, one contractor who has been working at my dad's work swung by tonight.  He was supposed to come by tomorrow, but he wanted to see the address on his way home from work, and he noticed us there.  So he walked through and kept on saying, "Wow."  You never want to hear your contractor say, "Wow."  He is curious as to the extent of the damage underneath the doors and actually wonders if he won't have to remove the doors to fix the floors.  That's right...the damage is not just in the kitchen!

My floor repairs are as follows:

--Underneath the ceiling drip in the kitchen (water)
--Underneath the washer/dryer area (water)
--Underneath the fridge (termites and water)
--Front door entryway (termites)
--Rear French patio doors (water)
--Upstairs Master Bedroom door (water)

Floor damage underneath ceiling drip in kitchen.

Flooring damage underneath refrigerator.

 

Flooring damage underneath washing machine.

Flooring damage in front of main entryway door.

Flooring damage in front of rear patio doors.

Flooring damage in front of door in Master Bedroom.

The cost is seriously a guess right now.  It all comes down to whether the doors will have to be removed in order to repair the subflooring.  And if they DO go out, I will most likely update at least some of them to update the 25-year-old doors.  If the French doors go out, I will put in a new sliding glass door (contractor thought $600 which I found to be low).  If the front door gets taken out, I would LOVE to have it put back in to save me $1500 (it's expensive with the two side-lites).  But if it is damaged, then that's a $1500 loss.  The upstairs door in the Master Bedroom will have to be replaced.  And the garage entry door will likely have to be replaced.

I'm guessing on the very low side with just the floors cut out and replaced (can they slide in subfloor underneath the doors?!), I'm looking at $1000.  But if doors have to be taken out and removed, then I'm telling myself anywhere between $5000-$8000.  Oh, what a day.

So today I experienced a major time setback but also a significant financial setback, as well.  I definitely want to fix the house properly, but I'm afraid that is going to involve some serious cash to do so.  Time will tell.  Tonight's contractor said he will swing by Menard's after he leaves and get back to me tomorrow.

I will start calling others to receive bids, as well.

Christmas, I'm not sure we will be celebrating in this home this year.

So I took a major step forward (ALL of the flooring in the house is now removed!  Woo hoo!).  But I took a MAJOR step backward, as well (I can't install new floors until I get the structural work complete!).

Oh, the joys of flipping homes!

But the floor is all gone!  Now I just have big headaches with the subfloor!

Subfloor now is exposed from wall-to-wall in the house.  It's ready for flooring as soon as I get the structural repairs completed.

I'm excited about the opportunities for flooring, but, wow, what a setback day!