Bathroom Renovation Progressing Nicely!

After we all took a break for Christmas, we have started back at it today. Adair and Hailey, are doing a great job of the tub and the wall surround. They have installed mason board, and after that is complete they will install beautiful tiles.

They have come up with a great decor for the bathroom, and we are all excited to see it when it is done.

My job, right now, is painting. I have managed to get the master bedroom plus one small bedroom primed, and 2 coats of ceiling paint. Plus make sure the kitchen order gets going, and after having a new furnace installed, we are going to get the ducts professionally cleaned, hopefully after the holidays.

Once we get the bedrooms painted, then I will get the carpet put in. We are putting carpet in the 4 bedrooms and a runner down the stairs. I already put a deposit on the carpet to secure a good price.

Michelle has been helping me with the wiring, and making things safe.

With us all having other day jobs, we work on the house when we can, and are hoping to be finished by the end of January. The kitchen will not be ready for install before then, but we can have everything else ready. I already purchased the 5 appliances. I got 15% off, an already good deal if I purchased them before the end of the year. But we have to take delivery by the 8th, so they may have to sit in the living room for now.

Painting the Walls

This 37 year old semi detached house, was wall to wall wallpaper. It was stuck in the 80's and needed to come down. After lots of hard work, we all managed to do our share of wallpaper stripping.

Now the next step, was to wash the walls. Glue residue left over from the wallpaper will turn your paint finish to that crackle finish if you don't get it off. After washing with TPS solution, we filled holes with Spackle and sanded. (Lots of holes from hooks over the years).

Finally, the painting. I love the zinsser products, and purchased a HUGE tub of it, and had it tinted close to the finished colour. This way, we only have to do one coat of primer, and then one coat of the finish paint. The zinsser primer covers ALL paints including oil paint, it makes a great surface for the finish colour.

I also painted the ceiling. Even though it seemed OK, it just freshened the place up with 2 coats of ceiling paint.

Painting the walls, can make a huge difference to a room. After all the prep, it is starting to look good, as you can see in the primed picture compare to the before picture of the same room. It is still in progress, but coming along. (The before picture is the one with the pink wallpaper)

Next is to prime the window trim and bedroom doors (some are pink!). Plus we are still puzzling over one bedroom that had cork board glued to the wall, and that the previous owner had ripped off the wall, pulling off the drywall paper with it.

New Furnace

Jeremy was having a good look at the old furnace. It was installed when the house was built in 1972, and has worked like a horse since. We had it inspected, and the inspector was amazed to find out that it had NEVER been cleaned or serviced in the 37 years it has been in service. It is jammed in behind the water heater, so scratching our heads on how to get it out.

We had a energy audit test done, and it was during this test that the effectiveness of this furnace was realized. It was very inefficient, and during the test, the airflow is reversed in the house, and by fluke, some dirt and debris ended up in the furnace and it started smoking.

After turning the power off to it, to let the smoke clear, we turned it back on, with fingers crossed, and that old work horse started up again!. But the decision was made, and the poor old furnace is being replaced with a high efficiency one. It will certainly help with the gas bills, plus the Canadian Government is giving $750.00 rebate if we purchase a new furnace, after having this test done.

Install Bathtub and More!

Adair and Hailey managed to get the new bathtub in the upstairs bathroom. With some help they also got the plumbing organized and are now ready for tiling.

It was a busy week. We finished off the wallpaper removal, plumbing lines replaced, new laundry tub, kitchen confirmed, additional subflooring, and today I was trying to wash the walls to get rid of wallpaper residue, and prep them for some repairs with spackle. Who ever lived here before, loved to hang pictures on the walls (lots of nail holes) and hooks in the ceiling.

The house still seems to be in shambles, but I am sure it will come together in the New Year, as we have picked many of the new additions, such as kitchen, paint and flooring etc.

Tomorrow, they are coming in to do the final measure for the new kitchen cabinets.

Upgrading Plumbing

We had a friend come in over the last few days, and replace many of the copper plumbing lines, as they looked fragile!

Once that was done, we were able to get the water back on, but we are still turning it off at night, until the new furnace is installed. We don't trust the old one, and the nights are very cold now. We also installed a new laundry tub, and new taps for the new washer and dryer that will show up in the New Year.

Removing Wallpaper Still

Today, Friday, Hailey and I worked on removing more wallpaper. This place was head to toe in wallpaper. We have finally done most of the upstairs (wallpaper removal). I think I know why most renovators, just take the walls down back to the stud wall!. There were a few layers of wallpaper, and one bedroom, with wallpaper over latex paint that was put over oil based paint, which did not stick well. But stuck enough to be gummy when trying to remove it!

Michelle and Matt worked on more electrical today. Michelle has been with me all week doing some upgrades, right now things look messier than when we got there, but hopefully once all this wallpaper is gone, we can start some drywall repairs and paint.

We had the "end of the roll" come in and measure for carpet in the bedrooms, and we are going to try and have the hardwood in the hallway and living room sanded and varnished. The bedroom hardwoods were pretty stained. I am sure they could bring them up, but it will be expensive. So, we have decided to go for a berber carpet in the bedrooms and a runner on the stairs. They are hardwood as well, but I felt they would be better with a runner down the center.

Everynight we turn off the water, as we don't trust the plumbing just yet, especially with this cold spell and an ancient furnace. But after having that audit done, we are getting the furnace replaced soon. It was a long day, but a good day! I had to shovel the driveway first to get in! Got to love winter!

Renovation Credits

Yesterday (Thursday) we had a energy auditor come to the house we are working on, and do a energy test. He places a airtight frame in the front door, and starts a large fan in the frame. This reverses the air flow in the house, and will show up any air leaks.

This was a great test, as it showed us leaks we can fix. But the best part is, that we can get renovation credits from the government.

If we replace the old furnace with a high efficiency one, we get $750.00

If we replace the two toilets with 6L toilets, we get $130.00 for each toilet

If we insulate the basement, attic entrance, and do some caulking, there is even more money.

If we do this work within 18 months of this test, then he checks the work, and approves the credits.

This certainly helps with the budget, and with the heating costs.

The test was 350.00 and you get 150 dollars refund from the government for doing it. But if your house is over 10 years old, you could actually do renovations quite cheaply, with these renovation credits.

Replace Patio Door

Today, Jeremy and Adair installed a new patio door. The old one, was a old metal frame one, with cracked glass, and was very ugly! The rest of the house, has already had window replacements, but this door was never touched.

It took some work, getting in the new one, but with the weather moving in soon, we thought it should be changed now. Already makes the kitchen look better.

Yard Cleanup

Yesterday was a busy day. Aaron, Adair, Hailey and Cecil, got to work on backyard cleanup. We could only get Aaron and his truck yesterday (Friday) so we had crossed our fingers on the weather. A bit of snow had fallen, but they were able to cut out some scraggly trees, and clean up the gardens.

Nothing had been done in there since the previous owner left back in April. So, everyone did a great job of clean up, but man was it a cold day! We all went out for breakfast after to warm up. Adair then went to work on getting out that bathtub.

Bathroom Renovation

Yesterday (Friday) was "get rid of gross green tub day" This took a lot of work, because there were so many layers of wall coverings around the tub, that it took a crow bar to get them off.

After getting down to the bare wood, Adair was finally able to yank the tub out (with some help) and it was the last thing added to the dumpster outside. Like the icing on a cake, the tub sits upside down on top of the pile of debris in the dumpster. Will get that taken away next week.

We did try to turn the water on. It had not been on since we took posession, because the bank selling the place had the line cut and capped. Jeremy helped sort that out, and he guided Adair with capping the bathrooms and the kitchen copper so that we could demolish the cabinets. We left one toilet and the laundry room sink in the basement attached, and crossed our fingers when the water was turned on. It actually held, although the laundry taps are a bit dicey.. So we turn off the water at the end of each day.. The saga continues!

Replace Furnace

Yesterday (2nd of December) the local furnace repair shop that I am familiar with, came to look at the furnace in this house. It was working and keeping the place warm, but was old.

I had to make sure and be at the house for 8am, as I was not told an exact time, only to be there between 8 and noon. Luckily he came at 9am, just a young guy, turns out the furnace is older than he is!

After a good look, he said it had NEVER been serviced or cleaned, and was amazed that for 37 years this furnace just kept working. Totally inefficient, and was last inspected on the day it was installed in 1972! So, instead of trying to upgrade this old fossil, I am pricing a new furnace. Kind of had an idea we would need to, but sometimes people have changed out the motors, so just wanted to make sure.

Going to let a friend in the business quote first, then will see which way to go. But want to get that going right away.

Adair and Hailey were busy, and managed to strip off all the tiles and linoleum from the hall and are halfway through the kitchen linoleum. But they took a break to learn how to cap copper lines, and then demolish the kitchen, and the two vanities in the bathrooms

I had ordered a "skip" for trash, and it showed up around 2pm, and we all started filling it with the old carpets, kitchen... everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink! Good Day

More pics to follow...

Demolition Day

Although we took measurements on the weekend, the real demolition started today. Adair and Hailey, after stripping out the gross old carpets upstairs, are now tackling the two layers of stick on tiles and linoleum, as you can see in the picture.

Michelle, my resident electrician, was checking out all the sockets and the panel.

I was out and about shopping! Actually I was ordering a new back patio door to replace the tired busted aluminum one, and a replacement bathtub for the lovely green one in there now., and a couple of new toilets.

Hailey's dad, Cecil was helping today as well, and was removing all the carpet strips and trim. Such energy! Hope it keeps running smoothly. I tried to corner a kitchen person in Home Depot, but someone else got to her first! Was going to get IKEA kitchen, but they want you to design and upload your own plan, then just go and pick it up! I think I need a bit more guidance than that.

Until next time.. the demolition saga continues...

House Closing

As of 3:30pm November 27, 2009 (yesterday) we got the keys to this semi-detached house in small town, Ontario.

As it was a foreclosure, there was no one to move out, and the place was cleaned out. So, it is just crying for some updates.

I got the keys from the lawyer, and went to take my first walk through, and what got to me first, was the lovely stale, actually gross aroma!

NOTE: First job, remove gross carpets! That seems to be the origin of the "not so nice" smell.

The pipes had been drained and the water shut off and the heat was on low (55), I guess they were in for the long haul in trying to sell this house.

Took lots of "before" pictures, just like on those DIY shows, and hope to give this house the attention it needs. Just need to organize a list, and priorities. Already booked a furnace inspection for next week, and my son, is already to start work on Monday. My daughter (a second year electrical apprentice) will put in new smoke detectors etc and give the place a "electrical checkup".

Today, I will drag hubby to the house, to take a few measurements for a new kitchen. He is busy with his own business, and is letting me run with this on my own.

So, got my clipboard, got my budget, and am ready to go!