Well…there has been some progress on the house this week but I made a couple of mistakes that will have to be fixed…it has been so long since I worked on an old house that I forgot some of the basics of painting old wood that will need to be fixed tomorrow…tried to paint some old wood in the colors that were always on the house but forgot that you really can’t do light colors on old wood and have it look good…painted the garage door and the ceiling of the porch in light yellow and I just don’t like it…so I’ll use that paint as primer and repaint them tomorrow in the brown that I am using for the trim…and that will go well with the brown on the new windows and I think it will look pretty classy…just forgot that I can do whatever colors I want since the decisions are mine and it doesn’t need to look like it always has…should have the new roof on the house by the end of the week or early next week…laid out 6 grand Thursday for the down and that makes 7 grand so far with the thousand down on the new fence….I think I’ll get to the interior this week and get rid of all of the loose paint and get some sanding done so I can paint later in the week…need to get an extender for the paint roller since there are places over the stairs that I can’t reach and you can’t put a ladder there safely…going to just take the light fixtures out of the closets since I can’t find pull chain ones that meet code…I’ll just cover the boxes with covers and put a couple of battery powered led lights in there…then put the original fixtures back in once he approves it and leaves me the hell alone…should have the new windows in sometime in August and I need to have everything else done by then so I can get the water turned back on…so, it’s go time for me…

Well…finally made some visible progress on the house yesterday and got the garage door painted after spending a couple of hours removing the flaking paint…the color I chose may be a little too yellow but that is the original color of the house and I am taking it back to those colors….I also got the chainsaw work done…after having the chain come off the first one and having no tools to put it back on, I had to run all the way back to the south end to get a replacement to finish the job…I did get the last section of fence removed and most of the stumps cut out but I still need to chop the rest of them out since they grew right next to the retaining wall and were too close to get the saw in to cut them…so, I’ll get a hatchet next week and finish it up…the fence guys won’t be there for 6 weeks or so so I have plenty of time to get that done…I did buy a new string trimmer to use at the house for 39 bucks and with the problems I’m having keeping the gas mowers running, I may buy an electric since they are cheap at 89 bucks…and the lawn is so small that, even with a small electric, it can be cut in less than a half hour…I’m taking the day off today after beating the heck out of myself yesterday but will be back at scraping more paint tomorrow and filling the voids on the ceiling of the front porch so I can paint that Friday…and then I can start on the interior next week while I wait for the roof and windows to be done…which should be completed by the end of August and then I can get the water turned back on….and then take the power washer to everything and clean things up…still on track to have it ready for move in at the end of my lease…or earlier….

Well…the house made it a busy day today with lots of running around to get ready to start painting…I did have to take the sawzall back to HF since the blade release lever broke but I didn’t really need it anymore after cutting the pipes so maybe that was not a bad thing…tomorrow is going to be chainsaw day getting rid of the stumps in the fence line but I don’t think that will take all day so I’ll probably get into exterior prep for painting after I get that done…I did get everything I need for painting from HF and I bought a small wet/dry vac that will help with interior clean up when I get to that…I will need to use that on my trunk tomorrow since the cement bag leaked all over my trunk and I do need to clean that out….went out and got the exterior paint, too, only needed two gallons but even with cheap Glidden paint, it was still over 60 bucks for that and another 60 for all of the paint brushes, tape, wire brushes, gloves, and the rest so the bucks are adding up fast. One thing that irritated me some is the contractor who I selected to do the roof and windows appears to have decided to not do the job so I will need to start the bidding process over again to try to find someone who will meet that cost…I wonder if that is a thing now…that contractors are so flighty that they do a quote and then just ignore your e-mails? That took me two weeks last time but I don’t have the time to do that again…will have to think about that over the next few days and figure out what I need to do….

Well…have been so damn exhausted all day today that I had to take the day off from working on the house…I did get the fence contract signed and delivered and will be sending the check tomorrow….and I’ve made the decision on who to use for the roofing and windows and will get that contract signed Monday and that makes all the heavy lifting almost done…and for a better price than I expected so that makes me happy. I do still need to rent a chainsaw to prep the ground for the new fence but I’m not going to do it in the dangerous heat tomorrow…there is plenty of time since the fence is about 4 weeks out…the roof should get done next week, though, so I need to get the last of the cleanup done so I can put the trash in the dumpster that they will have there for the roofing material that is being taken off……so, I’m taking the weekend off to rest and recover and try to get some sleep…these days of 4-5 hours of sleep are killing me…and only having one brat for food for the entire day is not good either….

Well…just got back from the house where I wasn’t going to go today…I was supposed to just hit Harbor Freight to buy a cheap sawzall, a 100 foot extension cord, and some hacksaw blades to fit it…but, you know me, when there are new toys to use, I have to use them so I went over to try to cut the posts off the top of the retaining wall. To my utter surprise, the 20 buck saw did a good job and I got all of the posts down except one since it started to pour and the outlet in the garage is not GFI and I didn’t want to get electrocuted…and it only took 3 blades to take down 8 of them which was pretty cool. I had to measure the rooms to do the calculations for necessary ventilation and it looks like I only have to do 4 windows to meet the reqs so that is cool…but doing the roof and the windows is going to cost almost 15K and that is a little shocking…I do have another roofer and two more window guys coming tomorrow for estimates but I guess the days of 3K roofs is long gone….I did have a thought on the way home that I think I’m going to try to use the sawzall to cut out the stumps along the fenceline instead of spending 40 bucks on renting a chainsaw…will try that later this week but I need to get wood cutting blades first so another run to HF is in order. Still making progress….oh, I did find out that my son has a power washer that he will let me borrow as soon as I get the water turned back on next week and that will make getting rid of some of the loose paint a lot easier…

Well…took the weekend off working on the house since the inspector is coming tomorrow to clarify what I need to do to get the water turned back on and I needed some rest with being a little sore from heavy manual labor….the last of the heavy work will happen this week with getting the back yard ready for the new fence install by taking out a couple of stumps, leftover fence, and getting the weeds cleared around the retaining wall. I am going to buy a cheap sawzall at Harbor Freight to cut off some steel fence posts that are cemented into the top of the wall and I hope I can cut those off without too much trouble…have to buy some hacksaw blades for it and for 20 bucks, if I can get the 8 posts cut off I can throw it in the trash after that….then I need the rental chainsaw to get the stumps out and do the rest of the cleanup…after that it will just be painting and cleaning up the yard but that won’t be too taxing…but, tomorrow it’s just meeting with the inspector, another fence guy, and a window guy for more estimates…will probably have to have a roof put on the house, too but that is about 7 grand and I would prefer to not spend that right now…still hoping to get out for under 10 grand…

Well….as you’ve seen over the past two weeks, I have a new project that I am working on for my son…I am re-habbing his grand parents house over on the west side of GR so he and his fiance can move back here to GR from NYC in a couple of years…the whole thing started when the friend of his who was living in and taking care of the house just ghosted on him and the city got involved and condemned the house since the grass hadn’t been mowed this year and there was paint flaking  and brush growing all over the small lot. Since the back yard is raised, and the fence that surrounded it is gone, that was another part of the problems on the lot that have to be repaired along with two  windows, some tuck pointing of brick in the front of the house, and maybe some lead paint removal but the paint they are bitching about is not lead…the peeling paint is on the porch that I painted twice with latex so I need to make sure the inspector knows that when I meet with him Monday. I have a quote for a new fence that came in at 1900 bucks that is about 600 dollars less than I expected and I have another company coming Monday morning for a second quote along with a window company to quote the two windows….I may have to have the roof replaced too, but I hope I can let that go until spring since getting on a schedule for a roofing company is almost 90 days out and I need to have the house done before November 1st when my lease is up here. The big bitch is that the assholes in GR shut the water off until everything is done and that makes it hard to do anything without a bathroom or water to start to fix the lawn or clean my tools etc. I am going to bring that up Monday and just see if I can get the inspector to get it turned back on since I have made progress already and it would make it easier to get it done. So, this is going to be an ongoing series where I chronicle the journey of the house back to the best one on the block. Stay tuned…