Day 8 - Just a "Little" Bump in the Road

At this point I'm beginning to realize that all the planning in the world is never enough when faced with the possibilities of an old home.

Take the removal of a hot water heater. Easy, right?

Not so much. 

After getting quotes, and looking at hot water heater options, I finally settled on a 40 gallon, 12 year gas model from Rheem. I originally thought about going "on-demand" but realized that for resale, that may not be the best approach. For one person, it's fine, but for more than one person, it may not work out as well. It would be nice to be green and conserve resources, but I will settle for a high quality, efficient solution.

At any rate, in the process of removing the old tank, it had to be drained. No big deal... until the floor drain doesn't work. I got a call from Dex, the handyman extraordinaire, saying, "I think you need to come over here". So I did, to see a mini 40 gallon pond in my basement. My "huh, yep, we have a problem" was greeted by laughter from Dex. Apparently most reactions are a lot more vocal with some blame thrown in. But hell. The house is 93 years old! I have learned, by this time, that the previous owners didn't believe in maintenance. I couldn't blame Dex, and I was rather glad to have found this before the mold remediation started (oh.. yeah, I may not have mentioned that lovely item).

I called my contractor who told me to call Aksarben Sewer and Drain. Not having been through this, I figured they could fit me in the next day. Nope. At noon, I was meeting them at the house, prepared to resolve the issue.

I'm happy with the outcome. And very pleased with their customer service/response time. Vince took the time to explain everything he was doing during the process. I like that and it says a lot about the company. Sadly, it wasn't just a clogged drain, but the trap had actually collapsed. They tried several different ways to bypass the trap, and they found one, thereby resolving the water drainage issue and my timing issue with the mold remediation team. I will eventually have to get the trap issue fixed, but in my research I've found that a lot of these old homes had the cast iron traps with a float/ball made of cast iron as well. They tend to rust shut. It's possible that, with a lot of work and patience, I can get that ball free, but for now, I'll use the bypass. It's a good amount of money to replace the trap, and it's definitely not in the budget.

Aksarben Sewer and Drain - Great guys!

I also picked out a door for the upstairs bathroom. Originally I just told Mike, "pick out a door, a door is a door." And then he explained to me the intricacies of decorating and decor. All the doors in the house are original and solid wood. I'll never get the exact same thing without breaking the bank. Therefore, I selected a 3 panel. mission style door. Then I had to choose whether it was raised or not raised (not raised). All these choices make my head spin, to be honest. But here's what it sort of looks like:






We're still in the framing stage in the attic. I'm starting to see the vision!! Those pics are soon to come. But it's reality, it's happening and I STILL have shopping to do.

Day 2 - The Fun Never Stops

After an exhausting day 1 (I was asleep by 9 PM), day 2 started out slightly cooler. I hate to sweat, but it's clearly something at which I excel.

Day 2 brought the muscles of Cody (and myself) to haul up 2 couches (neither of them sleepers, thankfully,but there's one of those on the main floor) and a old style 50 inch TV (I believe it was the tube kind) that "worked" but needed some part (according to Anthony). So it went to the curb with a "FREE" sign and was gone by the end of the day. I also counted this as my "workout of the day". After all, Cody is my personal trainer! I took pleasure in the fact that he was sweating too! I don't think he thought it was funny when I kept saying, "can't you call some strong guy friends?" We got it done. I only complained a little (a lot).

Heidi came along to help clean out the closets (coats, more gallons of paint, a ton of coat hangers and more "stuff"). Bob brought donuts and diet Pepsi, light bulbs and rags, buckets and plastic ties. And then he went to town on the garage. Here's the difference between Bob and I...I was thrilled that we had actually gotten the gross crap out of the garage and the "keep" stuff out of the basement and into the garage, in some semblance of order. Bob, however, attacked the garage like a man on a mission, sweeping, organizing, sorting and making it look so much better. Thereby reducing the risk of critters (there was bird seed all over the place.) Plus, you have to love a man who knows how to use a broom. Too bad he's married....

Heidi also acted as my main tour guide when visitors showed up, as I swept and scrapped the basement floor. I have to have mold remediation done, so I didn't want papers and pieces of balloon animals (wtf) going down my drain. I'm sure my visitors understood.

And finally, it was noon. I was so done for the day. Plus... I had committed to going to River Riot.  I'm not the smartest tool in the box some days. But I figured I needed a break. Thanks to Melissa for putting up with my tired ass as we met and watched some really good bands! In the heat. Oh well, it's summer. I have to suck it up.

Here's some pictures of our accomplishments. It also gives you a peek at the house "before" renovations. The sink is next on my list...and a big list it is!

The bathroom, divested of the previous owners toothbrushes (for real). The tub, floor and medicine cabinet are staying. The pink tags you see around the house are from when they winterized the house (and the antifreeze in the toilet). As much as I like purple, that rug is GONE!

A clean basement!

All the OLD screen windows were stacked up here

Old coal storage room (complete with coal chute) 

Old coal storage room #2

This is the creepy root cellar (we refer to it as the "puts the lotion on the skin" room)

The former home of 2 couches and a TV.