Money Is Rushing Out!!!

Well, today I met with the contractor for the first time in person.  I had used my realtor for the recommendation several weeks ago, and the Company had put a bid in (which I accepted), but I had never had the pleasure of meeting the gentlemen until today.

But first!  I have working feverishly at my OTHER job (yes, who flips a house with a full-time job?!), and I only had 30 hours home in 14 days!!! So last night and today I shopped aggressively, making last-minute and quick-minute decisions as far as tile and paint colors.  As mentioned in a previous post, sometimes having 30 minutes to make a decision is way easier than having two hours to shop.  So I was in, out, in, out, using Lowe's and Menard's for the paint and tile!

Yet I had myself in a pickle.  I had church, lunch after church, shopping, a contractor meeting, and a two-hour drive to work to get done today!  And I didn't want to backtrack.  So I used my lil' car and filled it up with tile.  BAD decision.  Like horrendously bad decision.  It held the load, but I was pretty sure I broke a spring while at Mom and Dad's for lunch.

NOTE:  Do not put hundreds of pounds of tile into a Hyundai Elantra!  You have been warned!

I may have caused damage to my car!!!  Way too much tile in the back!!!

Ok, back to the contractor!  I met the two gentlemen and was pleasantly pleased with their demeanor, kindness, and persona.  They are obviously knowledgeable of the trade, not afraid to get their hands dirty, yet reasonable.  We clicked right away.  Hopefully just two honest parties wanting to keep the other happy.

As I said to the gentlemen as I agreed to the final bid, "I think a good business decision is one where both parties are happy.  You get to do what you do best and get paid for it, and I get to pay you and be pleased with your work."

Now let's hope their work is great!

The final bid to the work I agreed to came in around $7500.  The original bid was around $13,500, but I cut out a lot of stuff that I could do.  And with some surprises (more later), I decided to cut out a couple more items in order to reallocated funds to those surprises!

One of those pesky surprises was the Master Bath tub.  When I first purchased the house, it was obvious that the previous owners had done something crazy with the tub.  Upon further efforts at cleaning, we concluded that they used the tub to wash the paint from the purple bedroom.  It also appears that they did not wash the tub afterwards, OR that the tub would not drain (incredibly likely considering the foot-long hairball I pulled out of the drain last week) fully.  Either way, all efforts were null and void.

My mom and I tried liquid bleach cleaners.  Nope.  Powder comet.  Nope.  Sanding with wire wool.  Nope.  Sanding with a wire brush on the end of a drill.  Nope.  Scraping with a razor blade.  Nope.  Scraping with a screwdriver.  Nope.  Goof Off.  Nope.

I mean, this stuff was stuck on stuck.  It had permeated into the pores of the fiberglass and simply would not leave...even with sanding.  And it was unfortunate, too!  The contractor said it would add about $1200 to the total cost.  $1200!!!  With the bid at $7500 (before the $1200), this was a huge 16% increase!  Aghhhhh!!!

It's so frustrating.  Like beyond frustrating.  The tub itself is fine.  It holds water.  It drains.  It does exactly what it's supposed to do.  It's rigid.  It's 100% functional.  And 100% the bane of any woman that stands inside it.

Ask me how I know!

Ok, so I put a post out there on Facebook about renting the house for $1000/month.  I said it would be available around August 15.  Well, I had a tremendous response!  And one of those responses was REALLY adamant about seeing it!  She asked to come over TODAY, but I said it's not ready.  She said she didn't care.  Hmm.

I really said it's in rough shape, but she said her fiance was in town, and they would "see through" all of the work being done.  Ummm, I don't think you realize just how much work is being done, girl!!!

Well, she won.  I agreed to show her the home today.  And one of the questions was, "What are you going to do with the Master Bath tub"?  No shame!  It was poignant.  And it was actually then and there that I realized that I was going to have to replace it.  The contractor had left 30 minutes prior with the tub being up in the air, but this solidified the decision.  I had a young woman that wanted a clean tub.  She didn't care about functionality.  She cared about pride and feeling clean.

Listen, I get it!  But aghhhhhhhh!!!  $1200 gone!  Just like that!  Those are the parts that hurt in a flip.  Just like with the smaller amount of $654 with the A-coil due to a simple drain pan, this bath tub replacement was due to a stain!  A stinkin' stain, I say!  Grr.

Beyond frustrating.  $2000 gone!  POOF!!!

I needed to head to work for a ridiculous 4:50 A.M. wake-up call, but the work that needed done!!!  So I kept on stalling the drive...again...and again...

We tried to prep the house for the contractor (he really appreciated that, he said), so that he would have an easier time in his work.  I am all about keeping my contractor happy!  So part of that was removing the dishwasher so that the could tile underneath.  While we had it out, I went ahead and replaced the inlet valve.  So hopefully that fixes that!  A $30 fix that I won't know if it works for another several days when I hook it back up!

It's nearly unfathomable to imagine the amount of water that comes out of a simple crack like this until you've seen it.  It's like turning on a hose under your dishwasher.  The water accumulates so quickly!

The old inlet valve had a massive crack!

The dishwasher is out!  Bye-bye, old linoleum!

The area underneath the dishwasher.  It all gets replaced with new tile!

Next we removed the bathroom mirrors and light fixtures.  I had debated on leaving the vanity lights, but a quick stop by the Habitat for Humanity Restore (used items) changed that in a hurry!  I scored a beautiful fixture for $1.99 and another one for $9.99!  These fixtures go for $75-100 apiece!  Woo hoo!!!  These bathrooms are going to look super cute.  I love that.  A great find!  And with the mirror down, you could see just how filthy the walls actually were.  Ew!

Bye, bye, mirror and vanity light!  The Main Bathroom.

Bye, bye, mirror and vanity light!  The Master Bathroom.

Can you see where the mirror was?!  Gross!  This is the Main Bathroom.

And then we decided to take off all the return-air vents.  My, oh, my, what a project that ended up being.  Not that it's a surprise at all, but the filth behind the vents was just ridiculous.  Of course, most home-owners probably don't clean their vents ever (I sure don't), but this was probably moreso a combination of poor cleaning INSIDE the home that led to the atrocious filth of the vents.  When you don't dust or vacuum, well, the house gets dusty!  And that dust gets sucked into the vents!

The first vent cover removed.  My, oh, my what lies in there?!

After removing the first vent cover, here is what I faced.  So gross.

And when you don't have proper airflow in the ductwork, that dust just sits there and doesn't make it to the furnace filter!  And the dust adds up year over year.  And when you have a child that treats the return-air vent like a mail slot, well, all bets are off.

After removing yet another cover!

The vent in the hallway.  Just ridiculous.

The "simple" process of cleaning the vents took over an hour!  I used a shop-vac that kept on clogging on Monopoly money, real coins, broken glass, actual mail, and lots and lots of dust!  The broken glass was likely from the hallway fixture that had no glass!  Either way, it was just laborious...and gross.

The vent was full of everything you could imagine!  (But thankfully no pet hair!).

The vent in the living room.

This will no longer be in your lungs!!!

The Monopoly money vent after being cleaned!  Notice the spots from sticky coins!  Gross!

I then vacuumed out the various items in the A/C-furnace closet.  So filthy!

Toys and dust everywhere you looked!  Likely years of accumulation.

The family of four that walked through earlier had mentioned that the house smelled of being musty and full of moisture.  Yes, I'm sure it DID smell of both!  The house still had plenty of black mold in the bathrooms, AND it had air that was passing over these nasty vents!  Every ounce of air passed over this filth before it came out cold overhead!  "Yes, sir, this house DOES smell!"

So gross.

The time kept ticking, and I needed to head south, so I called it a day.  The contractor starts Tuesday morning!  It's been a (not so) long time coming for the big work to start, but I'm ready!  I really think this house is going to transform!  And I can't wait!  Here's to hoping for a beautiful flip!

On a totally unrelated note, about 25 miles south of this house, on my drive, I looked at the window and couldn't believe my eyes!  I quickly pulled off the Interstate and drove as close as I could!  Then I watched a GORGEOUS funnel cloud just whipping around, sometimes tightly, sometimes loosely.  I had front-row seats in the middle of nowhere for about 11 minutes of this beaut.

So gorgeous.  A welcome stop.

The gracious finale.

How fun!!!  It was so mesmerizing.

A wildly busy yet productive day.  When I return in five days, I am hoping to come back to a transformed home!