Put an Offer in on a Fixer Upper!

Project of the Year - Remodeling an under performing single family home
Hours Spent - 15 Hours - Touring and Researching Homes
Money Spent - Offered $96,000 with Seller Paid Closing Costs (Home Cost = $90,000).  Gas to drive around to all the homes I have been touring and researching.
Beginning Status - I have not had my offer accepted at this time but still wanted to track what I am working on. This is a home in foreclosure(short sale) and therefore the bank will take anywhere from 30-60 days to approve or decline my offer.    I put an offer in on a 3 Bedroom - 2 Bathroom home.  2 Car Attached Garage, Pool, Deck, Fenced in Yard, Full Finished Basement (with Wet Bar) and approximately 2,300 SF.  This house I am hoping will be the future subject of the majority of my blog posts so I thought lets start sooner rather than later!

For Sale Pictures:





Somewhere behind that "house height" bush is a huge bay window!

 

I'm positive this color yellow they are fascinated with has to go!



 

  

There are a few changes needed to be made to update this bathroom

 

  



The pool has not been operational for more than 7 years -
I think some minor repairs are in order!



  

Overcoming The Overgrowth - Perennial Management

Project of the Day - Getting Back Under Control the Perennials (Parents House)
Hours Spent - 2.0
Money Spent - None - Used Lathe Board and String already at the house and hands used to pull

Beginning Status - The front garden at my parents house was planted with misc. plants that my mother loved which included dead nettle.  This plant is a ground cover plant that multiplies while you blink.

Before Pictures:

The dead nettle plant had overgrown and was choking out numerous plants throughout the entire front garden and had turned a once lovely plant garden with mulch backdrop into a completely ratty looking mess which was completely covered by this one plant (note you  can not even see some of the stone pathway). The mulch was taken over and all spaces between plants was being devoted to this ground cover.  We decided to take on the project of rescuing all of the plants in and around this dead nettle and remove the dead nettle all together to prevent future problems.  The result was amazing and a very clean look.  However when we began to get up close and personal with the flowers we found some other problems that needed to be remedied.

We discovered that while my brothers Black Lab is AWESOME to have around - the trample affects of a good game of fetch are long lasting.  The other problem we found was even the plants that had not been trampled - some of them became too big to stand up on their own.  So we set out to repair and stand up all of the flowers that were laying down or trampled.

So the day included - along with removing all of the dead nettle flowers we found string and posts to tie up all of the plants - position them back to the sun and hopefully mitigate the trampling affects of this summer.

Conclusion was a productive day with no major road blocks or lessons learned - these days will be cherished!

After Photos:

 

Sheetrock A Garage - Debatable Idea

Project of the Day - Sheetrocking A Garage (Other House - Not Mine)
Hours Spent - 2.5
Money Spent - Gas to get to Friends House
Beginning Status - Garage was orginially sheetrocked partially prior to home purchase.  Sheetrock was only put where there was no exterior exposure - all outside walls were skipped.  The project was to patch in and repair the existing sheetrock and merge the new sheetrock with the old.  Plastic Insulation Vapor Barrier and Insulation was completed prior to my arrival!

Before Pictures:

We started going through the project pretty well in the first hour or so but then the problems started like a domino effect with the problems.  When we got to a location where the sheetrock was to butt up to the existing we came to the realization that some of the garage has 1/2" sheetrock hung and other areas had 3/4" sheetrock hung.  We decided - rather than to purchase multiple kinds of sheetrock for the different areas we would put a 2x4 in the wall and set it out 1/4" out to make up the difference where they met and that way it would be a gradual transition back to the 1/2" we were installing.

The next error was on my part - I started in a corner and hung two sheets of 4'x8' horizontal stacked on top of eachother and was not until I was going for the third sheet to the left of the first two that I realized the left side of the sheets were in between two studs and I could push them in.  Now we can not decide if we are going to scrap the 3rd and 4th pieces we cut and remove the 1st and second sheet to trim them back to the stud or if we are going to put a piece of wood in the wall behind the sheetrock to makeshift a stud location to ensure the sheetrock does not sink into the insulation at the seam.

The third and final problem we ran into which was the sign we needed to halt for the day was the decision regarding what to do about the garage door.  We are 90% sure we should just leave the garage door and all of the parts and pieces and sheetrock around this but we are not 100% sure yet so this is where we decided to retire for the day.

Progress (or lack there of) - 12 sheets we started with - 6 sheets hung - 4 sheets potentially need to be removed.  All in all, not a great day but a start at least.

 Progress Photos: To Be Added - Forgot to Take Them

Heading To the Races - First Post in LIFE!

First Blog Post - EVER

I was daydreaming while working on a home improvement project and trying to remember what I did last time I worked on this type of project and how I did it.  Then I got to thinking - it would be great to have a reference guide somewhere of the projects I did over the years and most importantly a single place to review WHAT NOT TO REPEAT!

So here is my blog I have created to catalog the do it yourself projects I work on and the ups and downs of the project.  My hope is that one day - one person will read this - even if it is just my future self - and I save time or money not repeating the mistake!