DIY SAHPs with fixer uppers

[wildmonkeys]

Anyone else? I am a sahm to 3 kids and we bought a fixer upper in August that needs lots of work. I am trying to do as much as I can during the day (considering this my pt job right now) and DH and I try to knock out a big project or two together each weekend.

Anyone else doing a bunch of work on their house themselves - want to start a support thread? I feel like it is sometimes hard to motivate myself since we have done so much and have so much to do and I am working alone most of the time.

Yesterday I painted the boys bathroom and couldn't wait for dh to come home and pat me on the back. bTW it looks great

[MJ13]

YES!!!!

We bought our 2nd fixer upper last January. The first time we redid a house we didn't have kids so the challenges are sometimes very overwhelming.

We bought an older house in a great area to be closer to work for my DH. We knew it needed a lot of work but once we got in here and started ripping & tearing we discovered SOOOO much more than we originally thought.

And to add another log to the fire - my DH works a crazy rotating schedule. Nights for 4 weeks then days for 4 weeks but the days each week change too

Most recently my DH ripped out a wall and put in a pantry on one side and a huge coat closet in our family room which is on the other side that has been amazing! And the people are coming this week to install our new heating system. (We chose to have someone else do this since we need all new ducts ran and we're moving the system and my DH just doesn't have the time to get that all done before we really need some heat in here!

[changingseasons]

Count me in. We just bought our first house a few months ago, and we have a project list a mile long! I'm finding it really difficult to work on projects with a toddler running around... (things like ripping down wood paneling/drywall, painting, etc.)

[MJ13]

thankfully we only have one room of paneling (which I painted when I came to terms with how low on the priority list it was to replace...) but we have to rip out drywall in EVERY room. There is *no* insulation between the brick on the outside and the drywall on the inside so our plans of coming in and refinishing the floors and painting so that half of the house would be done went flying out the window.

I can't remember right now why but for some reason we can't use the blow in insulation - something to do with the electrical (oh yah! that's all jacked up too!)

oh this could be a fun post...lol... i've got some stories!

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by MJ13

thankfully we only have one room of paneling (which I painted when I came to terms with how low on the priority list it was to replace...) but we have to rip out drywall in EVERY room. There is *no* insulation between the brick on the outside and the drywall on the inside so our plans of coming in and refinishing the floors and painting so that half of the house would be done went flying out the window.

I can't remember right now why but for some reason we can't use the blow in insulation - something to do with the electrical (oh yah! that's all jacked up too!)

oh this could be a fun post...lol... i've got some stories!

I think we might have the same house! We are discovering that we also have NO insulation in most (maybe all?) of our outer walls. The rooms that we're taking down drywall will be easy to insulate, but that was only going to be 2 rooms out of 8. Now that it's getting chilly, we're really noticing all the places where we're losing heat. I've put plastic on a few windows, spray foam around pipes, and that insulating foam tape around all the doors. We have original aluminum windows, but also original cedar siding... so we'll have to cut up the siding to replace the windows. I think heat bills are going to kill us this winter, but hopefully we can get things up to date before the next winter!

[MJ13]

Well thankfully our windows are relatively new - I think that's about the only thing the last owner did with the house...

It was built in 1959 and we're the 3rd owners - so that's not saying much!

What has your biggest "disaster" been so far?

We HAD to totally gut the kitchen down to the studs because it was still a 1959 kitchen and I was honestly *scared* to even turn the oven on or the stove. When DH and his dad riped it out they realized that when the previous owner did some "work" and opened up the doorway some more they never installed a support beam so there was... NOTHING holding up the roof for about 20 feet and it was sagging 12+ inches...that got UGLY. Thankfully they have a nice big beam up there now and I have cabinets. (no doors - and my bottoms cabinets are just wide open and useless with 2 toddlers!!! but still )

Sometimes I think this is fun and sometimes I think we are just crazy to be doing this with 2 small children. However my parents and DH's parents did the same thing when we were both young so we know we'll get through it

And I thought it would be so fun to make all the choices and pick paint colors and hardware... that got old so fast! I'm tired of making choices lol!!!

[changingseasons]

Well, no major disasters yet... just a few unexpected additions to our project list. Like that all our downspouts are completely clogged (solid) and/or rusted out. Of course the rainy season just started here, so that was an unpleasant surprise. I've been up on the roof 3 times in the last 2 weeks trying to get leaves cleared off in the middle of a rainstorm (we have "california gutters" and a LOT of trees- not a good combination) and get the downspout openings unclogged as our back porch flooded with water. good times..

We will have some major projects once we have more time and money. One bathroom has to be gutted (we just keep it locked for now and use the other one), and eventually the kitchen will need to be gutted as well. But I'm hoping it's got a few years left in it. We're treating this house as a reeeeally long-term project.

[wildmonkeys]

Yeah! I am glad I am not alone - we can compare projects and product and whatnot

We bought our house (built in 1988) from the original owner. An older lady with one leg on disability who smoked about 2 packs a day with the windows shut. Some of the upstairs windows were still in the builder wrappers - they had NEVER been opened. Everything was original so we had to replace a couple of appliances and the water heater and are hoping the roof/furnace etc. hold for awhile.

To get rid of the smoke smell we left the windows open for a few months, cleaned the walls and ceilings with amonia and painted the walls, ceilings, floors with oil based kilz primer (we used 35 gallons!) We ripped out all of the the floors before we cleaned and painted and put new ones in. We also replaced most of the light fixtures because of smoke damage and I made new window treatments. It doesn't smell like smoke anymore, but now we are moving on to other projects like a a broken exhaust fan in the bath, decorating, etc....

[changingseasons]

WOW. That IS a project, trying to get smoke smell out. We looked at a couple houses like that, and I said no way.

[Ornery]

because we are looking at possibly buying a fixer upper. I'm hoping to learn from you wise mamas!

[wildmonkeys]

Yeah, the smoke is gross! I can't even begin to explain how disgusting it was... it took us about 3 - 4 weeks to get rid of it (we didn't stay here during that time...)

We were willing to do it because we never could have afforded this space in this school district unless we got a fixer upper and she priced it about 100,000 below comps in the neighborhood. We figured paint, vent cleaning, and new floors to get rid of the smell would be such a sliver of that amount that the work was worth it to us, but it was GROSS.

Anyway, today I bought paint for the living room and master bath and taped the master bath off - I am going to try to paint it tomorrow afternoon.

Anybody else have a project planned for the week?

[Amys1st]

DONT START WITH OUT ME!!

I am so in on this tribe!! I really am thinking all of us posting bought the exact same house but in different areas of the country! LOL

This is our second total gut house. We bought our 1st house in 97 as newlyweds and in our mid 20s. The house needed new owners as my MIL is fond of saying. We ripped out wallpaper (a lot), pulled up brown carpet, painted, ripped out a black and gold bathroom, put in a new one. Ripped out a yellow kitchen, replaced that too! drywall drywall drywall! heated the garage, updated the landscaping. Then finished and we outgrew the house with our 2 girls.

Our current new old house. bought as a 5 bedroom, 3 full bath, full basement, very large yard, 2.5 garage house. Built in 1948, It was a 2 bedroom ranch with a small front room and walled off kitchen with a door too. Someone in the mid 70s added a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath addition upstairs. So a large master bedroom with a bath and 2 med sized rooms and their bathroom as well. They also put a nasty mansoored roof on. It is still very ugly to this day! As pp have said, we bought into the neighborhood, which was the most important. We have redone many before so for us, we like it so why not.

So far, a week after we moved in June 07,
we knocked down a wall and fireplace and the front bedroom (5th) became a tv area. We knocked a load bearing wall down between the front room and the kitchen. Put up a beam etc. We ripped out the kitchen, put in a new kitchen. Redid the hardwood.
updated all electrical and installed 200 amp service (outsourced)

2008, we ripped out the girls' full bath and redid that. We also replaced one of the furnaces.
2009, we ripped out the nasty pergo wood floors in our master, and the closets plus the bath. We have put in a new bath, new closets w elfa, new hardwood floors (they are breathtaking!!) and changed the floor plan so the bath is in a larger area.

We have nasty carpeting in the rest of the upstairs. The previous owner was surprise= a smoker duh! We want to rip out the carpet, put hardwood in the upper level. When we pulled up our old flooring, there was NO insallation in the walls either. NONE.
Also the person who did the addition, as well as the previous owner did everything half arse so its easy to rip out, but OTH, you scratch your head thinking, WTF??

Also in 2010, we want to do the main floor bathroom. Its a full bath, we will keep it as such, but it needs updating badly.

The basement is unfinished and we plan on just painting it this year. The kids toys and my work out area is there, as well as a laundry area and workbench area for DH. He also has a full shop in our heated garage. Eventually, we will finish it and keep the area as a tv room. Right now, the kids are younger so it needs to be a toy room. They spend hours down there and I do as well since I now work out 4-6 times a week.

the roof will be done in 3-7 years. We will also put a porch on the house.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by wildmonkeys

.

Anybody else have a project planned for the week?

Last week was cleaning up all the leaves. This week, its putting up our closet doors that DH built and stained, finished. Then thanksgiving week, its put up all the trim. He was hoping to start the full hardwood floors upstairs, but I blew the whistle. I want to rebuild our bank acct for a few months and finish off what we already have started.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by wildmonkeys

Anybody else have a project planned for the week?

I was going to put in deadbolts on all the exterior doors (already replaced all the doorknobs, but none of the doors have a deadbolt!), but alas... my cordless drill is dead and the poor old battery won't hold a charge. So I guess this week I will just be measuring and planning and shopping around for materials to completely replace all our downspouts. And ripping down more wood paneling and wallpaper, of course.

I discovered yesterday that the previous owners apparently wood paneled this entire large room, and THEN put up a dividing wall to make it 2 separate rooms. So... I can't get the wood paneling (or baseboards) off without taking down the whole wall. Oh well. We wanted to change those room configurations anyway.

[changingseasons]

OH- and you guys want a nasty project? (I really don't know if this is worse or better than the cigg smoke) We have a attic and crawlspace FULL of dead rats. Apparently the previous owners had a problem years and years ago, and just decided to thrown poison at them and leave them there. That is one project that I am leaving up to DP.....

[MJ13]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

OH- and you guys want a nasty project? (I really don't know if this is worse or better than the cigg smoke) We have a attic and crawlspace FULL of dead rats. Apparently the previous owners had a problem years and years ago, and just decided to thrown poison at them and leave them there. That is one project that I am leaving up to DP.....

at least they are dead....

DH is only off tomorrow this week so no big projects for us. I've given up on the raking until the rest of the leaves fall - lesson learned!
I should rip off some more wall paper... we really didn't have that much but UGH!!! it drives me crazy to do it!!!!

[wildmonkeys]

Changing Seasons - you win you win you win - I can't think of anything more disgusting than dead rats!

Has anybody had glass cut? We have a HUGE mirror in our bathroom with a crack on one edge - I want to have it trimmed down but don't know who does that sort of thing? Suggestions?

[MJ13]

hm... we didn't have any big mirrors and I'm not sure I would have thought about cutting it if it was just a little broken...huh! Sounds like a great plan though if you can find someone to come and do it. Our old local hardware store cut glass & mirrors but I'm not sure if they would have came to your house?

We've been getting a lot of rain from this tropical storm sitting off our coast and thankfully *knock on wood!* our basement is staying pretty dry. DH unhooked the drain pipe from the gutters and it isn't leaking this rain so we're going to add digging out the pipe and replacing it onto our never ending project list...

I really don't like our basement... really really.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by wildmonkeys

Changing Seasons - you win you win you win - I can't think of anything more disgusting than dead rats!

Yay! Wait- I don't want to know what my prize is.

We've had a lot of rain here too, and I'm pretty surprised that no leaks have popped up in our roof or skylight. The roof looks fairly new, but there are a lot of water spots in different rooms that I was hoping were from before the roof was replaced. So far, so good. I do need to get on the downspouts today... I went out to look at them yesterday, and one had just completely fallen off the side of the house some time in the last 2 days.

[Amys1st]

We havent had dead rats yet. Opps now I might have jinxed myself. We did have a mouse a few years back that took 11 days to trap. We named him Einstein because he was smart enough to do just that. Finally, one night just before bed, DH put the trap right by dd1's kindzeat. Within seconds we heard SNAP!