fix up my house

Since I last checked in on 43T (3 years ago!) we’ve made major progress on fixing up the house. And by “we”, I mostly mean various contractors who I hired to do the job :-)

• Replaced all the windows and doors
• Replaced the roof
• Rewired all the electrical
• Replaced the waste pipes under the house
• Installed wall-to-wall carpet in half of the house
• Ripped out the concrete basketball court in the backyard
• And about a million little things that improve the livability of the house

There is still a lot of cosmetic work to do, but it’s inspiring to think of all the progress that has been made.

I haven’t actually done any repairs recently, but I’ve been thinking more about my grand plan for the house – which room will be used for what purpose, how the rooms should be decorated, etc. This is an important step because there are a few quick fixes that will help the house feel more like home (e.g. new window treatments in the living room) that I’ve been holding off on buying because I don’t want to waste money buying something that I’ll end up replacing.

Today my brother and Dad will be arriving with a moving truck full of family heirloom furniture from 2000 miles away, that my mom has been saving in a storage locker until I got a house. I’m looking forward to filling out my furniture collection, but I still have to figure out where exactly I’m going to put the piano!

We knew when we bought the house that the roof needs to be replaced. Last night we had our first major leak, in the rear right walk-in closet. (After 2.5 inches of rain in 24 hours!) Fortunately the stuff it got wet was mostly either waterproof or washable. We saw that part of the ceiling was sagging and had to lance it (like draining a blister) in order to make sure the water wasn’t going to stagnate and cause even more damage. More incentive to make sure that we get the roof replaced this summer!

Actually got this done just 3 days before Little Miss Fussypants was born. That’s cutting it close, huh? So glad it’s done so Little Miss can be comfortably warm! It cost a little more than I expected, mostly because we elected to get the ancient floor furnace removed at this time, something that would have to be done before we get central air installed sometime in the future.

Except for the two walk-in closets. But those aren’t crucial. DH and I have bought new (matching!) doorknobs for all the interior doors but some won’t be worth installing until we get new doors and doorframes. We got the front bathroom door to be able to latch shut, which is a big accomplishment :-)

Along with the happiness of finally owning my own house comes the bitterness of having to clean up after the people who lived there previously. Before, I’ve only lived in dorms and apartments that have been decently cleaned by the previous tenants or landlord. I’ve never had to deal with the clean-up-before-you-move-in issue. Thankfully, this move is in-town (as opposed to cross-country, like my previous moves) so I actually do have time to clean up before moving in. At least the previous tenants did actually remove all their belongings, so I don’t have to deal with hauling away a lot of trash.

• Installed light bulbs
• Wiped down kitchen surfaces
• Vacuumed some rooms

• Install new locks
• Find telephone line & hook up phone (The single telephone jack in the entire house does not appear to be actually hooked up to the phone line…)
• Start service on remaining utilities – trash & internet
• Dust ceiling fans (more like scraping & scrubbing – that dust is caked on from years of neglect)
• Vacuum remaining rooms
• Mop floors

There is a lot more cleaning to do beyond simple vacuuming and mopping, but this is the stuff that needs to be done before furniture and boxes come in and get in the way. All those grubby cabinets can wait until later.