Demolition

Old things need to be repaired and sometimes that can't happen until you fix the root of the problem.  Old houses are full of old problems!  In the process of fixing one problem, it often creates another.  There was a lot of demolition going on in this remodeling project!  And a lot of new problems arose!

It starts with the kitchen and the porch.  Removing old cabinets was easy.  Tearing out an old bathroom is less easy.  Tearing off old siding and planks, not so hard.  Raising a floor.... hmm... now the door won't close!  Fix the floor/door, now when the door swings open, it hits the light fixture on the ceiling. Gah!  The electrician will just have to put in a recessed light! It's a big mess and you begin to wonder if it will ever go back together and look nice again.  I cannot picture the end result.  I have a hard time making decisions.  Everything has to be done in a sequence.  The walls can't go up until the electrical wiring is in place.  So we wait  on the electrician to get done with his part of the job.  The floor can't go in until the plumbing is done.  So now we wait on a plumber.  The drywall can't go on until the framework is worked out.  You can't paint until the walls are done.  You can't put in the flooring until the painting is done.  It's like a set of dominoes in reverse!

The Porch is one of the very first things they worked on.  Tore off the old outside siding.  Removed the windows, build the framework for the door, ceiling, and walls. Put in a new back door with a lock, and a new door to the basement!  Here are some pictures of the Porch remodeling:

  

 

  

The kitchen cabinets, counters, and sink were the next to go, and the little bathroom soon followed:

That tall vent pipe is made out of cast iron.  Now that's a job for the plumber.

Seems like every house needs one of these vent pipes.  After talking with the plumber, this pipe will be moved to the little wall between the laundry room and the refrig.  They will build a "box" to put it in. In effect, they will be moving that little wall 6" left, into the kitchen.  They will put the plumbing for the washer in that wall box as well, so that the laundry room plumbing is not on the outside wall.  Since it will be so close to the kitchen sink, the sink will get 3" pipe right up to the drain--the sink should never clog up again!!  This is good for the laundry room, because that extra six inches moving into the kitchen allows a regular sized washer/dryer to fit in the space on the porch.  Originally we had to consider a "stackable" washer/dryer, or a pair of "Space-saver" appliances.  Now that's not going to be a problem.  However, solve one problem, create another!  Losing 6" from the kitchen counter poses a problem with an already short counter space.  We had left 36" at the end of the new counters for the refrigerator.  Now we only have 30".  (And still have a short counter to the right  of the sink, which needs to be centered with the window and the existing plumbing setup.)  Solution:  Move the refrigerator to the other wall, next to the other window and stove, with a counter/cabinet in-between.  There is (will be) new electrical outlets in both places, so it works.  This will be exactly like my own kitchen.  It works!

So, the little bathroom is gone, and the main bathroom now looks like this:  (OMG!)

  

You can see they have started framing in the bath tub area, and it doesn't show in this picture, but some ceiling framing is happening as well.  It makes me so nervous to see so much demolition.  I guess this is what you could call "negative progress."  The old has to go before the new can be installed, and a lot of prep work has to be done.  I will be glad when I start to see some "positive progress."

The Beginning

 I apologize if this blog might seem "rambling" to you, or the sequence seems out of order.  My memory is very bad (getting old, I guess), and I am starting this this blog after a month's worth of "progress."  I did take pictures, which are dated, so that will help.

The purpose of this blog is to help keep track of the progress of the remodeling project (or lack thereof) of my rental house in Belmont.  It is my intention to put the house up for sale when the remodeling is complete. This had been a rental house.  The last tenant did not take very good care of it, and although it was never in the best of shape, it was clean and everything was working and looked good when they moved in.  They lived here for 2 years, and trashed the place pretty well.  This was the last straw for me, and the deciding factor that it's time to sell it. I do not want to be a landlord anymore.  I'm too old for this $#@*  !!!

I never liked the layout of this house.  I would hate to have to live here.  This is part of my reason why I want to fix it up. It should to be a DECENT place to live.  Here are the floor plans (more or less) of what "was," and my vision for what "will be."

First off, and seems so crazy to me, is when you walk into the house and the laundry room is immediately to your right. Who needs to see your dirty laundry right when they walk into your house??  The living room and the bedroom have a connecting doorway. Gah!  This will be drywalled over, thus separating these two rooms.  Next to the kitchen on the left, is a half-bath, so tiny.  Originally this was part of the kitchen.  This is why the kitchen is "L-shaped."  Some previous owner boxed off a part of the kitchen and made this half-bath.  It is my intention to remove the half-bath, and restore the kitchen to its original size.  The kitchen is not really a good functional space at the moment, nor is the half bath.  Both are too small and oddly shaped. There is a door from the kitchen to a small,  screened-in porch with the basement stairs covered with a piece of plywood.  It is my intention to have this area re-constructed, and move the laundry room into this area.  Have a real door to separate the basement stairs from the laundry room. Raise the porch floor to the level of the kitchen, and incorporate it into the kitchen.  Put the kitchen door on the outside wall and have new steps built to the outside. Insulate everything!  Put  in new cabinets, counter tops, sink. This will involve major plumbing, electrical, and construction work. This all seems very ambitious and I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew.  

Let's take a look at some "before" pictures:

 
          The Front door          The Back door, and porch area

Side View

View from the Street

 

  

Entering through the front door, you see this:

  

 

The kitchen is straight ahead. Immediately on the right, there is what used to be the "laundry room" but I will be turning it into a dining room.  Between the laundry room and the kitchen you can see an open door.  This is the main bathroom. 

 

This bathroom will be gutted, a new tub surround, toilet, sink and vanity will be put in.  The sagging tile in the ceiling will be replaced with drywall.  It will have a new floor and be painted. There will not be a medicine cabinet, but instead I will have a nice mirror above the sink area.

Here is a picture of the little bathroom that will be removed and done away with! You can see how skinny the bathroom was!  If you had long legs and sat on the toilet, your knees would literally touch the wall.

 

 

 

The Kitchen:  In the 2nd picture, you can see where the stove was butted up right next to the kitchen counter, making the cabinet space under the counter unusable. The third picture shows where the kitchen table used to be.  There used to be a restaurant-style booth with benches in the corner under the window because there just wasn't space for a table!  The window and booth "remains" will be removed, and a solid wall put in.  

 

In the third picture above, on the very left, you can see the door that leads to the porch and basement stairs. The first picture shows the door to the outside.  The second picture looks back into the kitchen and you can see the space where the refrigerator should go.  The third picture shows the windows which will be removed.  The fourth picture shows the plywood over the basement stairs and some shelves over the window.  

 

 

The Living Room:  The entrance of the living room is shown in the first picture.  You will notice a painted-over door to the right of the doorway.  At one time, this was the entrance to the house.  Someone then moved the entrance from the living room to the hallway/laundry area and painted over the sealed-up door. I think this looks so goofy!!  I will have the living room drywalled (since the plaster is all loose anyway, and cracking in areas and falling off in others.) This will take care of the goofy door problem!  The second picture shows an old boxed in chimney and a heating vent (?) in the ceiling.  I'm not sure if the chimney can be removed, or if it's just better to drywall around it, but I think that ceiling vent will be removed.  I'm not sure how this will all finish off!  The second picture also shows the doorway into the first floor bedroom.  This doorway will be removed and drywalled over, so it will be one nice wide (or not-so-wide?) wall!  

 

The Bedroom: 

The downstairs bedroom isn't going to change much, except the door into the living room will be removed.  My daughter tells me that a "bedroom" without a closet can't be officially called a "bedroom" when you sell a house, so maybe I should start calling this a "den" or an "office" since it has no closet.  This is the only picture I have of this room, taken as you stand in the doorway by the little bathroom.  It shows the door adjoining this room with the living room.

So, this is the downstairs.  The upstairs has 3 bedrooms.  Except for new paint, carpets, and lighting fixtures, nothing up there will be "remodeled."  I did not take "before" pictures, but I still can do that, since nothing is being "fixed" up there.  Maybe before new carpets go in, I will snap a couple pics of each room.

There WILL be some changes to the outside of the house.  

 This shows the entrance door on the front porch, AND the old entrance door that used to go into the living room.  That old door will be removed, and sided over.  I would like to side the whole house, but not sure if my budget will can afford all these renovations.  We'll see.

This poor porch!  This whole corner of the house will be re-built and sided., those windows taken off and and a new stairway leading up to the door.  Perhaps I could have a small cement sidewalk leading around to the front of the house.  It will totally depend on the budget, and this is a very low priority.

 This part of the house shows the porch roof sagging and pulling away from the main part of the house.  The porch roof will be raised up, reattached to the house, and new support posts put in.   Flashing and new siding will prevent water from getting back into the gap.

So, this is the vision!  Fix it ALL will probably not be possible, but I hope I can re-coup my costs when I sell the place.  I hope a family buys it, and will continue to fix it up!

I am SELLING!

 My last tenant turned out to be an illegal immigrant; after renting for almost 2 years, he was caught and deported. His girlfriend, her friend and daughter still lived in the house.  I did not know this for at least a month, probably more, and due to Covid-19, I had not been in the house for probably 6 months.  No one notified me of the deportation, and when I collected the rent, I always asked if anything needed to be repaired, and the answer was always "no."  When I finally learned from the police department about my tenant being deported, I gave the remaining occupants a 10-day notice, and they did leave, but the mess they left behind was atrocious.  Let it be known that I had a police escort when I made this final inspection.  I am posting some pictures of what I had to deal with...

 

 

 

I thought I had a reasonably good renter, the rent and bills got paid. I called his employer before we signed the lease and had gotten a good report. I still got duped.   Who could I sue or take to court for damages? I don't know where my tenant is, or even if I know his real name.  I can't sue the girlfriend.. maybe I should be glad she didn't sue me for the poor condition of the house!  I will keep the security deposit of course, but it will not cover the damages.  THIS is why I am no longer going to rent this house. I have decided to sell. It will take a lot of work to bring this house to a livable condition, but if I do, maybe I can make a profit.