New York Renovator

It’s Renovation Eve here at the 1855 homestead. We start demolition tomorrow. I went around the house, taking “Before” photos. Here is the OLD kitchen. Break out the Rolaids, folks:

I’ll have play-by-play and “After” photos coming up. We are gutting EVERYTHING. Plaster, lathe, wood, floors, ceiling, EVERYTHING. We’re ripping out the old plumbing and shoddy electrical, and replacing EVERYTHING. We’re also going to wire the upstairs, too (through the ceiling of the first floor). After this project, the entire downstairs will be done. Hallelujah!!!

We went to the store this evening, doing a big grocery blitz that should keep us stocked up for the next two weeks. It’s so much fun going to the store with my teens– they have a hilarious sense of humor. They wear baseball caps backwards and say “word” to each other. LOL. We decided to go all out and get really fancy, in celebration of the Big Renovation Day tomorrow.

We splurged and got FANCY bandaids for the renovation!! How's dat?!

I’d say we’re now READY TO RUMBLE!

THIS IS SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We need a new jigsaw. We have an old Skil that we have been enduring (and I mean enduuuuuring) but I’ve decided that I’m not going to skimp on tools for our kitchen renovation project. Do you realize that when we moved here, the ONLY tools we had were a small hammer, a flathead screwdriver, and a (very lame) battery-operated handheld screwdriver? I did buy a handsaw. Can you believe that I built my front porch and renovated my front entry with a HANDSAW?! Yes, I did! Oh, the agony. And it’s no wonder that everything is curvy. :S

Well, we’ve acquired a few tools over the years. Hands down, my favorite tool is my miter saw. Oh my word, I love that thing! WHAT a blessing. And I do love my 14.4v power screwdriver. I would also love my jigsaw, but the one we have is unlovable. It stinks. It sticks, it overheats, it moans it groans. I’m getting a nice one this time. We went to the Big Box home improvement stores in the area.. looked around… waited *forever* for a tool department representative who never showed up… and left empty-handed. I wonder how many sales are lost because Big Box stores don’t have enough folks in the departments? I couldn’t find the jigsaw I wanted… it was on the display case, but no where on the shelves.

It's a 4.5 amp with a dust blower and a dial to adjust cutting speed. Sweet!

It doesn’t matter, because I came home to see if Buy.com has any jigsaws… and can you believe it?! They do! These guys have everything, I tell ya, and it’s always on sale! They even sell the blades! And I love Black & Decker products. They are built very well, in my opinion. Oh sure, I’d love a $1000 DeWalt hanging from my belt, but I couldn’t afford that- I’m not a professional. I think Black & Decker make the best “mid-line” products. And I love Craftsman, too. Buy.com has them all! Isn’t the jigsaw sweeeet! It’s an orbital saw- which means it makes curves as well as straight cuts. (heart beating with joy). I have to saw lathe in the upstairs bedrooms, to feed electrical wiring in– need me a saw. I’d be grateful for an orbital, as well, because cutting in squares–especially when you’re cutting a hole in a wall– is tough.

So the jigsaw I like is the Black & Decker JS6000B Jigsaw. Isn’t it beautiful!? The price is great: $53 which includes shipping. Me likey.

The detail requirements for everything little are sometimes overwhelming!

The kitchen plans are starting to take shape, finally. I have a general schedule, a basic materials list, and a nearly-completed list of products we will be using. Some of the big stuff I haven’t yet decided on (cabinets, ugh).

First week of May:
Demolition is slated to begin next week (*gulp*).
Get permit.
Get dumpster.

Second/Third week of May:
Build a closet for the washer and dryer at the south end of the kitchen (called the Laundry Alcove).
Install new plumbing (water supply, drain, and vent) for washing machine. Move gas line for dryer. Install dryer vent at exterior.

Fourth/Fifth week of May:
Electrify the Laundry alcove section of the kitchen.
Electrify the upstairs bedroom above Laundry alcove.

First week of June:
My helpers arrive (praise the Lord)!
Lay in rough-framing for the new window.
Install new plumbing (water supply, drain, and vent) for the upstairs bathroom.
Electrify the upstairs bathroom (YESSS! At last! After three years without electricity!).

Second week of June:
Install new window.
Install new plumbing (water supply, drain, and vent) for the upstairs bathroom and downstairs bathroom.
Electrify kitchen.
Install stove range hood and duct vent.

Third week of June:
Install new plumbing (water supply, drain, and vent) for the upstairs bathroom and downstairs bathroom. Install new fixtures.
Insulate kitchen walls with fiberglass batting.
Electrify dining room.

Fourth week of June:
Electrify dining room, downstairs bathroom, Front Entry Hall.
Electrify two upstairs bedrooms.

Fifth week of June:
Install new furnace ducting for living room, kitchen, and dining room.
Install sheetrock to kitchen walls. Spackle.
Install kitchen lighting.
Order kitchen cabinets.

First week of July:
Insulate dining room with fiberglass batting.
Spackle and sand kitchen sheetrock.

Second week of July:
Spackle and sand remaining kitchen walls.
Spackle and sand dining room walls.

Third week of July:
Paint kitchen and dining room walls and ceiling.
Install kitchen cabinets.
Install countertops.
Install kitchen sink, dishwasher, and oven.

Fourth week of July:
Install the flooring for kitchen and dining room.

First week of August:
Finish up loose ends: install backsplash behind stove, install light fixtures where needed, etc.

Second week of August:
Move back into the kitchen and dining room.
Praise God for getting us through this.
GO ON VACATION.

I’m still pretty scared about the whole thing. Renovation is scary business. Paying for it is half the fright, and the rest is not knowing what we’re going find behind these walls, and then there’s the installing of the new plumbing. We’ve never done plumbing before, and it’s just totally freaky to me. The Hubs has been reassuring me, saying it will be OK and we will survive, lol. He has even offered to take over the plumbing job himself, the doll. He’s done some PVC work with our sump pumps, and he has a terrific eye for detail (plus, he’s a math whiz). He seems to be at peace with it (usually he’s jittery about renovation and I’m the one who’s doing the comforting), so I’m pretty sure he’ll not need any hair loss treatment for men. Me, on the other hand…. I’m SCAIRT, people. Electricity is a BREEZE. Plumbing is terrifying.

So I’m basically totally replacing the entire plumbing system and the electrical system while renovating the kitchen and dining room. After this is all done, the only things left to do will be to rip out the upstairs plaster, insulate, and lay up sheetrock. The electricity will be done already. *sigh* And then the house will be, for the most part, entirely renovated.

Then, I will set my attentions to building a family room and additional bathroom into our attached garage, installing a pergola and patio, and building a deck and more gardens. And by then, we’ll have to replace the roof. I’m figuring EVERYTHING will be done by 2013, Lord willing. After that, it will be maintenance and some other things, like replacing the siding, etc.

It’s been a wild ride. I can see then end, I think. Lord, help us!

We’re going to gut the kitchen. Next year, hopefully as soon as the kids finish their school year (if I can wait that long). I cannot STAND this horrible kitchen any longer!! I am going to plan on demolishing the room (26 x 12) sometime in May, with plans on starting to electrify and plumb the room by June. I will have to replace the entire plumbing system, upstairs and downstairs, because most of the pipes are inside the walls of the kitchen. I know they are in bad shape, so I will have to replace the system before I close up the walls.

So I’m going to be spending all winter planning the room. I’d love to gut the adjoining dining room (that still has no electricity except for two outlets in the very old wiring system that I kept in place). That will be a tough one to do because it has four windows, six doorways, and two stairwells. yikes.

So please keep me in your prayers as I plan and finance this project. I’m going to toss aside my pride and start up a “Donate” button in my sidebar. I don’t really like those things, but I know some of you have offered to help in times past… and I have donated to some bloggers, too…. so I’m going to “make room for more.”

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Luke 6:38

….about my own home’s plight.

“Remuddling” is a term that I think was first coined by the magazine editors of Old House Journal. It was a section at the very back of the magazine, a one-page photo and description of a house, submitted by a reader. It was my favorite part of the magazine, because it always makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER about my home. Mu home has absolutely been remuddled– from the asbestos-cement siding slapped on top of the original Greek Revival wood siding, to the plumbing pipes held up by garbage bag twisty-ties… but there are definitely worse out there! And it’s a little comforting to be aware of that fact!

Here are some photos I found off the web, in case you are feeling a little “down” about your home, too.

Yes, this A-frame addition is attached to the house. Wow.

From That Home Site.

Whoa. This one sure needs to trim down a bit! Give that baby a Medifast coupon code, someone!

From Ugly House Photos.

From Country Joy Crafts.

From Old House Journal.

There’s something called the “ignorance is bliss” when it comes to homebuying– unless the home has been completely updated and modernized CORRECTLY, you can thank God for the “ignorance is bliss”– that is, that no one remodeled (remuddled) the home up until you bought it. My house is something like that. The siding is bad, and the plumbing and wiring and flooring and kitchen are all atrocious… but the rest of the house has been left alone. All in 1855 condition! :S A mixed blessing to be sure. But at least I won’t have to undo someone else’s messes… not entirely, anyway.

So…. what have I been doing?

NOTHING! I’m a SLACKER!

Well, we did clean out the garage and the shed, making the traditional switch from winter stuff to spring stuff (exchanging places with the snowblower, shovels, and sleds to the lawn mower, rakes, and garden tools). Nothing exciting worth blogging about, though.

And that’s about it!

While cleaning out the garage, I peered inside several boxes of my electrical supplies. *sigh* Half the house is still unwired… and I can’t wire the house without gutting it. And gutting the house seems like Mission: Impossible. At least right now. Plus, I just don’t have the time to devote to anything like that right now. I wonder if this house will EVER get finished?! At least maybe get electricity? Or the holes in the walls patched up? :S

So I’m in the doldrums right now. But the home renovation season has just begun, so there’s always hope.

But that’s why I’ve had no scintillating posts about renovating anything! It’s awful to have a home remodeling blog and not be doing any remodeling.

I was reading the blog Back2theLand, in which Bonnie discusses all the great deals she finds for her home on Craigslist online, for her local area. It was a “I shoulda had a V-8!” moment! What a terrific idea!

When we first bought this house, there were a few salvage stores in the area. They have since closed. The nearest one is in Madison, NY– a long haul if we’re getting large stuff like doors, porch posts, etc. It’s not unusual to be driving down rural roads (like I did recently) and see something like this:

There’s a lot that can be found at a salvage barn, I think. And it’s kind of fun sorting through things. It’s like walking back in time. I wonder how old this sink is, and where it was used? It’s still in good shape.

Well anyway, because the salvage areas nearest us had closed, I pretty much gave up on finding anything recycled for our house. But after reading Bonnie’s post, it was like “Oh yeah!!” There’s a LOT to be found online, at Craigslist or with online auctions. So I’ll put that bug in your ear, too– if you’re looking for cheap materials and don’t mind cleaning it up or hauling it home, check out the many places online to find salvage materials. Oftentimes, the salvage stuff is in excellent shape for a tiny fraction of the cost of new stuff. It can really help the budget!

So thanks, Bonnie! I’ve never tried out online auctions or anything– I think I will, now!

I love going back through the past year and seeing all the stuff we accomplished. It’s easy to forget all the little changes that have been made. Reminding myself of them makes me feel much better!

January: We started off 2008 with a stomach bug. I discovered the wonderful wonders of ginger beer, but got sticker-shock at the store prices. I found a recipe for making it myself! I also found out the hard way what to do if a washcloth is flushed down the toilet. And here’s another little tip about clogged drains. I also did a little research into managing excess (or any) rain for recycling: here’s my rain barrel idea, and here’s how we rigged up our sump pump pipes to irrigate our garden. (Not too many photos with these, sorry– this was before I got camera-fever!). Here’s some thoughts on whole-house surge protection. We had a spectacular, record-breaking January thaw of 70 degrees! That was great. Don’t want to wallpaper but like stripes? Paint them on! It takes a little time, but it’s much more enjoyable than hanging wallpaper.

February: I blogged about my concern over the flooding and water run-off problems plaging New York State, and my own property. NYS has been very negligent with maintaining its infrastructure, and allowing bloated over-development. And the State doesn’t seem to be doing much about the mysterious bat deaths. It was a great month for dwelling on creepy critters– I blogged about the Mother of All Wasp Nests that formed in our maple tree, and reminisced about having to remove a huge bee colony from our bedroom wall (inside the studs). Oh, and if you haven’t bookmarked my post about a formula for removing skunk smell, be sure and do that. You never know when you may need it.

March: March is a soggy month– here are some tips for coping with a wet basement. Here’s our wet basement in action. I was reading headlines that foretold of a coming financial crisis in the banking industry. Here are some posts where I made some calls for thriftier, more resourceful living: with kitchen appliances; avoiding the home improvement magazine temptations; diluting your laundry and dishsoap detergent (and I also dilute my liquid soap in my bathrooms); changing one’s lifestyle; new does not always mean better. My thoughts on curb appeal as we gear up for spring. And is sometimes the case, we got a winter storm warning– for March 28!

April: GARDENING! FINALLY! I spent a lot of time choosing seeds and starting my seeds indoors and prepping my large vegetable garden. I also planted a grape vine, my first! My electrical wiring that I had done last autumn was approved and I got a certificate from the electrical inspector! I was feeling discouraged about my renovations (lack thereof), and reminded myself of my buried treasure. I did a lot of thinking about our society and economy– does money make you happy? And what will happen to our food supply and food costs in this country? And I wondered if I would ever “go Amish”? (I would love to). I also posted a few quick and frugal tips, for keeping your laptop cool, and gardening uses for coffee grounds.

April and May: I slowed down blogging a little, as we were preoccupied with a caterpillar invasion; planting my little seedlings in my flower and vegetable beds (such lovely green!); thinking that American citizens really need to resurrect community living again; watching my gardens grow.

June: Seeing an infomercial got me seething mad about how easy it is to create a serfdom in this country. In the garden, I blogged about treating chlorosis in your young trees. I also blogged about fixing up your paint cans for less messier painting. And I did a post about Our Renovator Story, with links to all the things we have done around here so far. We had an Energy Audit done, no big surprises there– our house is a money pit! Speaking of money pits, I wrote this. And suggested that everyone make one of these. On the light side, my kids made cool Lego models of Jim and Elisabeth Eliot’s mission to the Auca tribe in Ecuador.

In July, my lilies bloomed. Ooooo.

Everything was growing like crazy! My Adirondack Red Potatoes grew! Yum! And I just love the color! We worked on our Secret Garden. I also wrote about the plight of the natural gas mines here in the Northeast. We got our Weatherization Grant job done– wow what a great job!

August: We got some outdoor work done– a beautiful concrete walkway for our Secret Garden. We used a Quikrete mold and it came out very well. I blogged more about thrift and our society, posting about the Planned Obsolescence that corporations afflict us with. I challenged a CNN article about “recession-proof” jobs– uhhh, I don’t think so! If anything, I think all these “crises” have been planned, for governments to gobble up our land and resources. One of my posts about such a thing got posted on the fron page of Alex Jones’ Info Wars website. Who really owns your land?

We installed a French Drain outside to help with the water problems, because we have too much water around here. We walked in our steamy, soggy yard early one morning to find a tiny snake.

September: With the onset of school, I was so thankful I’d installed Cat5 in the walls when I gutted the living room!!! I posted some tips about how to save $$ over the winter (take it from a pro). Now that the days are shorter, make indoors more fun for the kids– glow in the dark paint! We love ours. My back went out again and I got an exercise ball– when I could extract it from the boys!

October was busy, but I did some blogging. I discovered a very cool touch-lamp gadget– I love this! I also did a review of the Temperpedic Mattress– we got one for my bad back. Yours truly was interviewed by a real estate expert, this was fun! I won a video contest with a $500 prize! Snow fell. We had fun with our new kitty, Olivia. Gosh, she’s ADORABLE! I did a post on the secret Underground Chicken Movement, sweeping the country and throwing governments into tizzies!

November: I did a post on winter preparation. I did a paper towel comparison review, in time for the holidays. Results were surprising. My review of a GE upright vacuum gave a thumbs down.

A laminate flooring update (it’s holding up well). DO NOT cover your cold air return vents! I mourned the death of the Yugo… BYE BYE! FINALLY a can opener that works for me! I interviewed the delightful Martha Webb on home staging– read this post before your next open house!! More government tyranny. We’ll see if these kitchen trends come to pass this year *shudder*. I was bored. What’s inside a computer keyboard? The cat discovers the delights of toilet paper, terrific. But she’s so ADORABLE!! VERY cool virtual skylights, I want some!

December: Can’t afford a real tin ceiling? Try this. It works for us! Another cool touch-light gadget, love these things! We got our first bird feeder and made a video for the momentous occasion. And I thought my beagle was bad.
Lake effect snow, in pictures before and after. Times are changing– literally. We got a ton of snow to see the old year out and the new year in.

Whew! I guess I blogged a lot! Here’s to a terrific new year!

Some new readers to my humble bloggy abode have recently been requesting photos and more information about our renovation work here. I haven’t done much renovation this summer, but last summer and the past few years, we worked hard on the gardens, exterior and basement work, and gutting the living room.

I have tried to organize our stories in a convenient manner. Here are some links to click to read about our work and see some of the photos. (Be prepared, some photos are mighty scary!)

I had spent time researching the history of the house and property (it goes back to 1855), and blogged about it here. If you like history, you’ll like this post.

There’s Our Story here, which is a condensed version of the year 2007.

And if you want to know about this crazy family that took on this project eleven years ago, you can read more about it here.

I am in the process of looking for a new template for this blog, where I will be able to list some of our “classics” posts so you can see all the stuff we’ve been doing around here. The blog itself is also a work in progress! But I promise THAT will be done before the next century. Thanks for your questions and thanks for reading about our adventure!