November 24, 2010

We're making progress. We have primed all the drywall, and waterproofed the concrete areas around the tub. Need to let it all dry (which will happen while we are on holiday again) and next week we can start painting the walls and start the tiling too. So maybe only another two weeks at most before it's all complete.

November 20, 2010

Much to report this time. We have completed drywalling the bathroom. At last I hear you say. But to be fair, that is one tough job. I can see now why it is one the most contracted out jobs in DIY. We are now onto probably the second most contracted out job, which is the plastering/mudding/spackling depending on where in the world you are. To me, it is the polyfillering in the gaps between the new wall boards. And I hate this part as much as I hated putting up the drywall in the first place.  The other major improvement we have done is on the right hand side of the blog. We now have pictures. Yes you read that correctly. Pictures to go along with all the words. Now I don't have to write so much ('cos a pisha is worth a thousand words!)

November 16, 2010

In the move to the new site I lost the floorplan of the house. I have just worked out how to get it back again, so for those who haven't seen it, here it is again. The bit in red is the bathroom that all the work is being done on.

November 16, 2010

At last some progress to report. I have successfully put down the new "concrete" floor, and after some serious effort and thinking, I must say it looks rather good. We also started putting up the new ceiling and have gotten half way so far. Given that it is 2 person job, and 1 of them is working, the rest is going up tomorrow night. In the mean time, I plan to attempt putting up the walls and at least measuring and cutting the rest of the ceiling. We had a window company around today to give us a quote on replacing all the windows. 18K. Bit of a large pill to swallow. I am thinking I might put a "donate" button on the site, to raise funds. Yesterday I started the flooring as well as finishing changing the plugs and switches in the bedrooms. I did do some other work, but that effort can be found on my "good housekeeping" blog.

November 14, 2010

Well I have managed to move the blog over to a proper blogging site, where you can and should leave comments. Seems reasonably easy to do. And if you see this message, I can even email my posts directly to the site. Cool no? I forgot to mention earlier that we ordered the new blinds for the bedrooms. They should arrive in a couple of weeks. We also had a message about the new sliding door for the bathroom. It supposedly arrived while we were in the UK. Unfortunately it arrived in many more pieces than is good for a glass door, so they have had to reorder it. It should arrive this week, so I can collect it along with our new cupboard doors and bedroom doors. (These are nothing fancy, just better than the ones we have now)

November 14, 2010

We are back in the US and straight into the DIY. We have successfully attached the bath to the drain with NO LEAKS!! This means we can now start putting the floors and walls down and up. So we have started doing that and so far so good. The only other news we have is that I am probably going to move this blog to a proper blog site. This is so that all you followers can add comments if you so wish. And I know you do. Will let you know how we get on. Obviously.

October 29, 2010

At last. A day where I haven't bled for the cause. Largely because the carpet fitters are here and we are about to leave for the airport. Still I managed to complete the mouldings around the floor and doors before the fitters arrived. The new carpet does look nice though. The chocolate coloured bedroom now looks like the root beer it is supposed to. Still not seeing the earthy cane in the other room though. Well that's it for now. I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Don't miss me.

October 28, 2010

The electrician came and went. Cheaper than originally quoted too, which is always good. We have a new extractor fan installed, new light switches ready for me to connect and some minor work done. Bath drain is still a not connected. Might give that a try tomorrow. Carpet fitters come tomorrow too. In preparation I have been doing the floor and door trims. I have a new found respect for carpenters. Cutting all that wood and getting it to fit seamlessly does take some skill. It helps I guess to have the right tools though. None the less, we have managed to put up almost all the trim. I ran out of both floor and door trim with just a few bits short. I might be able to get that installed before carpet fitters arrive. It'll be a race against time!! Can you feel the excitement?

October 26, 2010

The toilet arrived this morning, so no more trying to aim down the drain. Unfortunately the bath drain leaks so I have undone what I did and will have to try again. Dang! The frame for the sliding door went up as well as some repair framework for the ceiling. Talking of ceilings, the electrician suggested (in the interests of costs) to pull down the ceiling so he can make the desired changes. So I did and in the process I managed to mortally wound my spotlights (my super expensive ones). They still work, but now need to be carefully balanced or else they tip over. 8 bucks just doesn't buy the quality it used to! And we have finished painting the 2 bedrooms now. Just in time as the carpet fitters are coming on Friday, so I have a day or two to put up the new baseboards and door moulding. And that means I get to use my nail gun. Watch out!

October 25, 2010

Not much happened today. Had an electrician around to see how much effort is involved in moving the light switches around and to install the larger than life extractor fan. Comcast also came around to replace a faulty modem. So despite the numpty yesterday telling me that I have a cookies and cache problem (which I've always had) it turns out it is their blimin' equipment at fault. Anyhoo we are now surfing along at a whopping 15Mbps. We think we have the bath installed, but need to double check the drain fits correctly. So we should be able to start putting up the concrete walls around the tub tomorrow. And we started painting the remaining walls in the bedrooms too. So hopefully by the time the carpet fitters arrive, we'll have everything ready for them.

October 24, 2010

Plumber Jim came around Friday and did all the plumbing for the new bathroom. He also fixed the main water valve which wasn't quite working. He helped me lift the 10 ton bath tub out of the way. At which point we discoverd a very dried out birdy. First one of them for a while! And yesterday Bill and Ted Todd came around to help us move the furniture. Good grief! I had no idea our stuff was so heavy. At least now we know why when we move, it is without our furniture. They also helped me move the TTBT into the garage where I can break it up. And because all our stuff is now here in the new house, we spent our first night here. The gas man also arrived at midday so the central heating finally kicked in and we have hot water. Today, Tanya spent most of the day tidying up and making it feel more like home. We have moved into the study while the bedrooms are sorted. But the room is so big, we can also use it as the study. I have successfully removed the studs for the sliding door in the bathroom, and repaired the floor where the plumber needed to make some changes. We also put in the new lighter bath tub, but need a drain to complete the installation. So this week should see us start putting it all back together again. About time too!

October 21, 2010

The gas man tried to turn our gas on last night, but I misunderstood the arrangement, so had gone home. (The other home.) Anyways I have rearranged the gas man for tomorrow morning, so will have plumber guy and gas guy there. Gave bedrooms second coats. Really starting to look good. The chocolate dries really well and looks good enough to lick. MUST STOP MYSELF. Moved quite a bit of stuff over from the other home. Arranged with movers, AKA boys-from-the-workshop-with-big-truck-and-trailer, to move big items on Saturday. Ordered carpet for bedrooms. Hopefully they can install next Friday before we leave for Blighty.

October 20, 2010

Busy day today. I fixed the garage door opener. Had the plumber show up and quote us $1500 to do his thing. Not happy about that but as I think a monkey wrench is for taking the tops off monkeys, it is one thing probably best left to the pros. Carpet guys came to measure up the bedrooms for new carpets. Comcast finally showed up so now we have TV, t'internet and phone. The bagster guy came to collect and I managed to cram a few more pounds into it before he took off. Was seriously worried about the bag splitting and all of my rubble landing in a heap on our driveway. And I did a semi professional repair job on the areas of drywall that needed it. Like where the wall was in the bathroom and the large hole I made when I took the baseboard out the bedroom. One of my best moments that.

October 19, 2010

Not much today. We need a plumber to do his thing before we can do ours. So went shopping for provisions, and with Todd from the workshop's assistance and Vince's van, we managed to get our new bath (HD wanted $200 for delivery of the bath!) and all the new drywall. Ordered our new sliding door as well.

October 18, 2010

We were supposed to have our cable installed today. Waited through their arrival time and got a phone call 40 minutes late saying he was still 30 minutes away. So he is coming on Wednesday. In the mean time I took down half the wall in the bathroom, fixed some of the edges we damaged around the bedrooms, replaced the front door knob.

October 17, 2010

Tanya is crippled. One day of lifting a floor and she is sore all over. These desk jockeys! Still we managed to get her to do some painting. We have decided on "root beer" in the master and "earth green" in the second bedrooms. Basically, that is a yummy milk chocolate brown and a colour I can't describe but doesn't look green. The brown has gone on strangely. Hopefully it dries better. We took the baseboard and door trims down too. So seventies they were. Need to do some repair work around the edges now. Took down the mirrors around the fireplace. Those too were never meant to come down, but fear me oh house.

October 16, 2010

Tanya got involved today. We destroyed the floor in the bathroom, so we really are down to the studs. All that is left in there is the bath and I don't have a wrench to undo the drain. So when the plumber comes to move the pipes etc I'll get him to disconnect and help connect the new tub. We also bought a Bagster, which is like a canvas dumpster. You fill it up with your rubble and then call to come collect it. So we started filling that. We collected the tiles this morning too. I think they will look quite nice. We had some other bloke come around to give us a quote on doing the bathroom. $6K just for a bath/shower acrylic system which is guaranteed not to leak. TBH, I'll take the risk with my tiling thanks.

October 15, 2010

One week into our US home ownership and we are down one bathroom. Not much done today as mostly it was spent cleaning up and getting a few more tools and things. BTW, I bought a secondhand ladder from some bloke for $90 and Home Depot sell it for almost $200. I also bought a set a halogen lamps for $8. Probably the best $8 I've ever spent. We had kitchen fitter come around to give us a quote on doing our kitchen. $22K. Without appliances. So we are probably going to do that ourselves too. More destruction, yeah!!

October 14, 2010

Before going to the workshop I went and finished the last wall. Largely so I could bring the hired drill back. But that was the easiest part of the demolition. Came down in two large sheets. Garage looks a mess. But the bathroom is just about all gone. Oh, I yanked the toilet out yesterday too. That was surprisingly easy.

October 13, 2010

After the mocking came the advice. A hammer drill with a chisel attachment. Hired one from around the corner and hey presto, those tiles were coming off faster than burgers at a MacDonalds in downtown Detroit. Need more bins to put the debris into. I wonder if we can get a dumpster in this place?

October 12, 2010

Bought more bins today. Carried on with the demo and got stuck into the tiles around the bath/shower. Obviously when those went up, they had no intention of them ever coming off. I think I will talk to the boys at the workshop. They may have an idea or two. They usually have at least a wisecrack or two!

October 11, 2010

Went shopping for a few tools which could help out. Best buy? The crowbar. The vanity lasted about an hour. The countertops popped off like popcorn in a microwave. The hammer made short work of the rest of it. Our neighbors are going to hate us by the end of this. Some of the walls are down now too. I'm going to need more bins to put the debris into. It turns out the gas company doesn't know who I am. So they have turned off the gas and I have to go to their offices and prove to them that I am who I say I am. Oh joy. Fortunately it isn't the middle of winter yet.

October 10, 2010

Started the renovation today. We were going to just pull out the alligator skin wallpaper and the existing vanity in the bathroom. That didn't work out so well. The wallpaper took most of the backing paper from the drywall with it so we have decided to pull the walls out and put new drywall in. The vanity was also a little stubborn coming out, so at this point not much has changed. Tanya did manage to get all attachments around the shower off and we got the door out, so some progress was made.

October 9, 2010

Went "shopping" today. Had a look at kitchen cabinets, bathroom stuff, fireplaces, taps, counter tops. Pretty much everything we want to change we looked at. Flooring too. So much to do and hopefully we can get a bathroom done in time for us to move in before we go back the UK.

October 8, 2010

IT'S OURS!!! Did the signing, handed over the cheque check, collected a TON of keys, and as sure as Robert is your Mothers brother, we had the house. Took Shireen over to have a look see and she thinks we've done alright. Still don't believe we have ANOTHER house.

October 7, 2010

At least one company around here is on the ball. We have our first bill from the electric company. We haven't even paid for the house yet! All systems are still go for tomorrow.

October 5, 2010

Got the cashiers cheque check today. Tanya wants to take it and either buy a Porsche (or some such) or the preferred option of an around the world trip. Mmm, tough decision me thinks.

October 4, 2010

Arranged the utilities online today. Hopefully that all works out okay.

October 1, 2010

Only a week to go! Getting excited now. Can't wait to get in and start Destroying it myself.

September 26, 2010

Sellers wanted $300 for the glass tables we were after. They can keep them. But we did get $800 off the final sale price to repair the radon problem. {Jeopardy mode on}"I'll take radiation for $800, please" {Jeopardy mode off}

September 25, 2010

Phew! Nothing major to report on the house. Most of the things listed are areas we want to rip out anyway. The radon gas report was a bit concerning. Not sure I like the idea of being radiated!

September 22, 2010

We have the home inspection today. Not sure what to expect but hopefully nothing serious comes up. We have also tried to get some furniture off the sellers.

September 16, 2010

THEY HAVE ACCEPTED!!!! Wooo hooo! Obviously they took the $90K. RESULT!! And we can close in 3 weeks. We are heading off for a well earned drink.

September 16, 2010

Were told they had rejected an offer of more than $87500. Made an offer of $89K without the washer/dryer or $90K with them.

September 15, 2010

Made another offer on Pebblecreek Woods today of $85K. Hopefully they will be more accepting now that it has been on for another month. It would also appear as though they are lining up a tenant, which could play in our favour.

September 14, 2010

Well aren't they the big negotiators. A counter offer of only $90000, which is only $900 off. I don't think so.

September 13, 2010

Made an offer on Indian Trails today. Another silly offer of 75K! This isn't our preferred choice, but the location is nice. Shame it only has a single garage and no basement. If they turn this down, we might consider reoffering on Pebblecreek Woods as that does have the basement and double garage.

August 14, 2010

Well they didn't flat out refuse it but they only came down $5000. New price is $100000. For now I think we'll keep looking.

August 13, 2010

Made an offer on Pebblecreek Woods today. A ridiculous $70K! It's on for 105. See what happens.