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| Eerie shot of light coming up from under the crawlspace |
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| All fixed up with new plywood! |
It's all ready for the vinyl tile, which hopefully I'll be able to do myself after class tonight, then I'll be able to have a toilet again! Yippee! :P
-Megan
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
More Bathroom Floors
Wow! Matty and Travis were able to work on the bathroom floor yesterday and it looks a thousand times better!
It's all ready for the vinyl tile, which hopefully I'll be able to do myself after class tonight, then I'll be able to have a toilet again! Yippee! :P
-Megan
It's all ready for the vinyl tile, which hopefully I'll be able to do myself after class tonight, then I'll be able to have a toilet again! Yippee! :P
-Megan
Monday, August 6, 2012
Officially Moved In!
Tuesday was my first night in the house! It was so quiet...I'm so used to all these noises, like the neighbors above me dropping something or walking around in high heels, passersby yelling or laughing, or even the streetcar going by my old building. It was definitely an adjustment...I used the white noise app on my phone so I could listen to something as I was falling asleep! Kahlua is slowly adjusting but still spends most of her time in my room under the bed :)
My friend noticed a couple of weeks ago that the water heater was off, and I thought that was weird but I didn't really need hot water yet so I put it off. I asked the guys who were working on the floor leveling if they turned the gas off for any reason but they denied it. Well, I took Friday off so the gas company could come by and do a (free!) inspection and sure enough, they said someone turned off the gas from the meter, but it wasn't them. Anywho, they turned it back on for me, re-lit the pilot light on the water heater, showed me how the furnace worked, and just gave me a lot of information so it was a good thing to do. With the gas turned on, I was able to do laundry for the first time this weekend! I have only ever lived with laundry in-unit once in my life, for about 9 months, so this is a huge deal for me :) I'm never going to have to buy rolls of quarters at the bank again!! And where have I been showering without hot water you ask? Mainly at the gym after I've worked out, or sometimes at Stan's place. But even with the hot water now turned on I still haven't showered at the house for reasons that will soon become clear...
Saturday was a super busy day, so no work on the house was done, but yesterday my friend Matty came over to help rehaul the bathroom. "Oy" is all I can say. Before we even started anything, I opened the box to the vanity that I had ordered online and it was broken. A piece of wood where the door hinge connects was splintered off and therefore the door was working on one hinge. So I ended up returning that obviously! Well, I could do without a sink in the bathroom for a while because the kitchen sink still functions, so we proceeded to rip everything out anyways. First, the vanity was not attached to the wall, and the sink wasn't even attached to the vanity cabinet! Oy. Then the toilet, which was just disgusting and looked like it had never been cleaned. Oy. THEN the vinyl floor...we started ripping it up and unfortunately ran into rotting floor boards underneath :( See, the floor had been rotting it looked like for some time, but the seller just put more plywood on top of the rotting floor and ugly vinyl on top of that, then didn't even caulk between the vinyl and bathtub, which resulted in even more rot. Oy! Thankfully, Matty and my other friend Travis have offered to replace the floor so I won't fall through, although it might take another day or two. So I am bathroomless for the time being!
After returning the vanity, I ended up deciding on a pedestal sink. I know that will translate to less storage, but at least there's a medicine cabinet and I can put pretty baskets on the floor next to the sink or even shelves above the toilet for things. I didn't have any in-bathroom storage at the apartment either so it won't be a huge adjustment! Going with a pedestal sink also allowed me to go with the only vinyl tile flooring I liked that wasn't special order from Lowe's! It's kind of a dark rust color, and I was afraid it would be too close to the color of the vanity cabinet so I was kind of at a loss for what flooring to choose, but having the vanity arrive broken was kind of a blessing in disguise I guess! I get to go with the flooring that I originally wanted (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg) plus I'm saving a TON on the sink now, it's like 60% less!
I don't know how much energy I'll have to tackle anything else until the bathroom is useable again, but I do have quite a few boxes I could go through in the meantime!
-Megan
My friend noticed a couple of weeks ago that the water heater was off, and I thought that was weird but I didn't really need hot water yet so I put it off. I asked the guys who were working on the floor leveling if they turned the gas off for any reason but they denied it. Well, I took Friday off so the gas company could come by and do a (free!) inspection and sure enough, they said someone turned off the gas from the meter, but it wasn't them. Anywho, they turned it back on for me, re-lit the pilot light on the water heater, showed me how the furnace worked, and just gave me a lot of information so it was a good thing to do. With the gas turned on, I was able to do laundry for the first time this weekend! I have only ever lived with laundry in-unit once in my life, for about 9 months, so this is a huge deal for me :) I'm never going to have to buy rolls of quarters at the bank again!! And where have I been showering without hot water you ask? Mainly at the gym after I've worked out, or sometimes at Stan's place. But even with the hot water now turned on I still haven't showered at the house for reasons that will soon become clear...
Saturday was a super busy day, so no work on the house was done, but yesterday my friend Matty came over to help rehaul the bathroom. "Oy" is all I can say. Before we even started anything, I opened the box to the vanity that I had ordered online and it was broken. A piece of wood where the door hinge connects was splintered off and therefore the door was working on one hinge. So I ended up returning that obviously! Well, I could do without a sink in the bathroom for a while because the kitchen sink still functions, so we proceeded to rip everything out anyways. First, the vanity was not attached to the wall, and the sink wasn't even attached to the vanity cabinet! Oy. Then the toilet, which was just disgusting and looked like it had never been cleaned. Oy. THEN the vinyl floor...we started ripping it up and unfortunately ran into rotting floor boards underneath :( See, the floor had been rotting it looked like for some time, but the seller just put more plywood on top of the rotting floor and ugly vinyl on top of that, then didn't even caulk between the vinyl and bathtub, which resulted in even more rot. Oy! Thankfully, Matty and my other friend Travis have offered to replace the floor so I won't fall through, although it might take another day or two. So I am bathroomless for the time being!
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| Matty removing the vanity |
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| The scary looking rotting floor :-/ |
After returning the vanity, I ended up deciding on a pedestal sink. I know that will translate to less storage, but at least there's a medicine cabinet and I can put pretty baskets on the floor next to the sink or even shelves above the toilet for things. I didn't have any in-bathroom storage at the apartment either so it won't be a huge adjustment! Going with a pedestal sink also allowed me to go with the only vinyl tile flooring I liked that wasn't special order from Lowe's! It's kind of a dark rust color, and I was afraid it would be too close to the color of the vanity cabinet so I was kind of at a loss for what flooring to choose, but having the vanity arrive broken was kind of a blessing in disguise I guess! I get to go with the flooring that I originally wanted (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg) plus I'm saving a TON on the sink now, it's like 60% less!
I don't know how much energy I'll have to tackle anything else until the bathroom is useable again, but I do have quite a few boxes I could go through in the meantime!
-Megan
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Moving Weekend!
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| Kahlua's all packed up and ready to go! |
This past weekend I had a lot of help moving all my crap to the new place! :) On Saturday I borrowed my boss' truck and my friend Todd met me at the new place and helped me take a load of stuff to the dump. It was mainly the carpet and underlayment that Stan and I ripped up when I first got the keys to the house, but also the sheetrock and studs and other assorted trash items from knocking down that wall. We also took all of the paint cans and garden poisons that the seller left in the garage (because he's such a nice guy) to the hazardous waste place. It was a lot of fun pitching the trash into that big pile of garbage, but man did it stink!
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| The truck piled high for the dump |
When the trip to the dump was finished, Todd, Stan, Leslie and Nick all helped with a couple of trips moving all the big stuff in the truck to the house from the apartment, then Stan helped with a couple more trips in my car for some smaller boxes. I also took yesterday off and did a few trips by myself. I have come to the conclusion that I have too much stuff! :P
Yesterday I also got my appliances delivered! The refrigerator is already up and running, but the range and dishwasher will just be boxed up in the living room until they're ready to install. I also got a quote to install a gas line for my range...man, the expenses keep piling up! Oh yes, and the flooring guys were finally re-pouring the concrete footings too...it was a busy day yesterday at the house!
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| All shiny and new! |
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| It's like an appliance wharehouse in here |
Yesterday I also set up the bedroom so it's nice and ready for me to pass out later tonight :) I took advantage of my last day of TV by watching a lot of Olympics coverage (yay volleyball!) and slowly cleaning the apartment...I hate cleaning, have I ever mentioned that? It kind of came to a point where I was like "screw this" and just did a half-ass job. If they take money out of my deposit to clean it more thoroughly, it will be worth it to me!
Last night was my final night sleeping in the apartment...boy am I going to miss it! I had a lot of good memories there, and I will miss being able to walk pretty much everywhere and having everything I could need within a close distance, but I know homeownership will be worth it...eventually at least! :)
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| Bye bye cute apartment! |
Tonight I have class after work, so I won't be back to the apartment to get the last few things until pretty late. And then I'll have to wake up early tomorrow because I really don't know how the morning commute will go! This should be an interesting rest of the week... :)
-Megan
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wowza
I didn't end up getting any work done on the house last night as planned, boo me, but I did do a little more packing at the apartment so at least it wasn't a total wash :) As I mentioned earlier, I ordered a vanity for the bathroom and I looked at the tracking status yesterday, which said it was set to be delivered on Friday. Well I checked the tracking status again today and it had been updated to say it was delivered yesterday!! I freaked out a little because they just left it outside the front door (that's what the website said) and I don't really know any of my neighbors yet, or exactly how safe the neighborhood is in that sense. So, I panicked and my boss just let me take the work truck this morning to drive over there.
Well thankfully, the workers were there who are leveling the floor. They told me they saw it there yesterday when they arrived and just brought it in the house so that was a big relief! It would have been nice if they would have emailed me or something to give me a heads up but whatever, at least it wasn't stolen :) I also got a look at the progress of the floor/foundation and got to ask some questions about the process. It looks super scary, but here's a pic of the side of the house where they removed the foundation so they could re-pour the footings:
At least if there's a major earthquake in the area my house will be incredibly sturdy! I'm hoping they finish up by Monday (which was the latest update...) so I won't have to deal with any of this while I'm actually living in the house. I guess we'll see!
-Megan
Well thankfully, the workers were there who are leveling the floor. They told me they saw it there yesterday when they arrived and just brought it in the house so that was a big relief! It would have been nice if they would have emailed me or something to give me a heads up but whatever, at least it wasn't stolen :) I also got a look at the progress of the floor/foundation and got to ask some questions about the process. It looks super scary, but here's a pic of the side of the house where they removed the foundation so they could re-pour the footings:
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| woah! |
At least if there's a major earthquake in the area my house will be incredibly sturdy! I'm hoping they finish up by Monday (which was the latest update...) so I won't have to deal with any of this while I'm actually living in the house. I guess we'll see!
-Megan
Monday, July 23, 2012
A Little Help from my Friends
By the way, can I just say I have the best friends in the world?? To everyone who has already helped me, everyone who has offered help, everyone who has given me advice and recommendations, and everyone who has just leant an ear to my stress-induced rants, I couldn't have done any of this without you! When the kitchen is, well, a kitchen again, I'm going to have a great big housewarming party with all of you as the guests of honor! Be ready for an evite in the hopefully not-so-distant future :)
Wall-be-gone
The kitchen wall is officially all the way gone! Travis came over again on Saturday to rip out the studs and patch over the open spaces. Here's a progression of the tear down process:
It looks so open! I am super in love with how it turned out! Travis also showed me how to do the mud and tape stuff, which was really fun to learn. It will take me a while to master it but I'm up for the challenge!
While Travis was doing all that dirty work on Saturday, I primed most of the living room walls and ceilings, as well as the walls in the "master" bedroom and started on the bathroom. Here you can see why I need to prime every single surface of this house...I tried to capture the contrast between the primed parts and the non-primed parts of the wall:
On Sunday I had an impromptu paint party! Regina, Erin and Matty came over and helped prime the second bedroom and paint the master...it looks really dark in the picture, and it's actually a bit darker than I pictured it would be but if I really hate it I can always paint it again! It's a purple-y mauve color, which I'm a big fan of, so hopefully I'll love it once it dries and I move all of my stuff in :) I figured I'd get my bedroom finished up before this next weekend so that once I'm totally moved in, I'll at least have the bedroom as a calm space in the house. I'll be needing to paint many more walls in the house so if you missed this party and want to help out, there will be plenty of more opportunities! :P
Wednesday evening I plan on painting the base trim and possibly the window casings so the bedroom will be good to go by this weekend, and then Saturday will be the big moving day! Who wants to help? :D
-Megan
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| Apparently I didn't take a normal "before" picture of just that wall...oops! |
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| Minus the sheetrock |
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| Minus the studs and partially patched! |
It looks so open! I am super in love with how it turned out! Travis also showed me how to do the mud and tape stuff, which was really fun to learn. It will take me a while to master it but I'm up for the challenge!
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| Travis putting on the first coat - I sanded and put on the second coat on Sunday |
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| Travis and Courtney's dog Guapo helped :) |
While Travis was doing all that dirty work on Saturday, I primed most of the living room walls and ceilings, as well as the walls in the "master" bedroom and started on the bathroom. Here you can see why I need to prime every single surface of this house...I tried to capture the contrast between the primed parts and the non-primed parts of the wall:
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| That grime was EVERYWHERE on every wall and ceiling! |
On Sunday I had an impromptu paint party! Regina, Erin and Matty came over and helped prime the second bedroom and paint the master...it looks really dark in the picture, and it's actually a bit darker than I pictured it would be but if I really hate it I can always paint it again! It's a purple-y mauve color, which I'm a big fan of, so hopefully I'll love it once it dries and I move all of my stuff in :) I figured I'd get my bedroom finished up before this next weekend so that once I'm totally moved in, I'll at least have the bedroom as a calm space in the house. I'll be needing to paint many more walls in the house so if you missed this party and want to help out, there will be plenty of more opportunities! :P
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| The paint crew! |
Wednesday evening I plan on painting the base trim and possibly the window casings so the bedroom will be good to go by this weekend, and then Saturday will be the big moving day! Who wants to help? :D
-Megan
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Bathtub
Not surprisingly, like most everything else in the house, the bathtub was incredibly disgusting when I started with it:
Yesterday, I took the day off because an electrician was coming in to re-route those wires in the wall I was knocking down. He also replaced all of the outlets in the entire house with 3-prong outlets, added at least one GFCI outlet in each room, and replaced all of the light switches so they're not all grody :) I took the opportunity to work on the bathtub since I had to wait for the electrician to be finished so I could start polyurethaning the floors! After hours of scrubbing with bleach, using a utility knife to scrape the old caulk out, scrubbing some more with bleach, and finally re-caulking, the tub looks a million times better! By the way, this was my first time using caulk and boy is it stinky and sticky! I was still pulling it off my hands hours later, but the result was totally worth it!
Once the electrician left, I went and got the polyurethane and a stain pad that screws onto a telescoping pole. I also got a watering can...I had watched a tutorial online that suggested pouring some poly into the can, and using that to put a little on the floor at a time in a controlled manner, as opposed to dumping it out of the can it came in I guess! It worked super well, and I recommend it to anyone taking on a project like this! I got Minwax water-based poly in a clear semi-gloss finish, because it seemed the best choice based on online reviews and the result I wanted with my floor. I put on one coat, went and killed a couple of hours browsing at Lowe's (my new favorite store), and put on the second coat last night. I plan on putting the third and final coat on tonight so I'm able to start moving stuff in this weekend!
Sneak peek of the poly'd flooring:
I'm not sure if the finish will translate well in pictures, but it looks really cool in person...almost like an old barn floor. The differences in the wood grain and the variation in colors between each plank are really highlighted and it definitely has a rustic feel. I love it so far!!
This weekend Travis is coming back to knock out the studs in that wall so it will be super open which I'm very excited about! I think I'll also prime all of the walls and ceilings, well, at least I hope I'll get all of them done! I'll start moving in non-essential things from my apartment as well, just to cut the load down for the ultra-big moving weekend on the 28th/29th!
-Megan
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| I just threw up |
Yesterday, I took the day off because an electrician was coming in to re-route those wires in the wall I was knocking down. He also replaced all of the outlets in the entire house with 3-prong outlets, added at least one GFCI outlet in each room, and replaced all of the light switches so they're not all grody :) I took the opportunity to work on the bathtub since I had to wait for the electrician to be finished so I could start polyurethaning the floors! After hours of scrubbing with bleach, using a utility knife to scrape the old caulk out, scrubbing some more with bleach, and finally re-caulking, the tub looks a million times better! By the way, this was my first time using caulk and boy is it stinky and sticky! I was still pulling it off my hands hours later, but the result was totally worth it!
 |
| Like new! |
Once the electrician left, I went and got the polyurethane and a stain pad that screws onto a telescoping pole. I also got a watering can...I had watched a tutorial online that suggested pouring some poly into the can, and using that to put a little on the floor at a time in a controlled manner, as opposed to dumping it out of the can it came in I guess! It worked super well, and I recommend it to anyone taking on a project like this! I got Minwax water-based poly in a clear semi-gloss finish, because it seemed the best choice based on online reviews and the result I wanted with my floor. I put on one coat, went and killed a couple of hours browsing at Lowe's (my new favorite store), and put on the second coat last night. I plan on putting the third and final coat on tonight so I'm able to start moving stuff in this weekend!
Sneak peek of the poly'd flooring:
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| Still wet! |
I'm not sure if the finish will translate well in pictures, but it looks really cool in person...almost like an old barn floor. The differences in the wood grain and the variation in colors between each plank are really highlighted and it definitely has a rustic feel. I love it so far!!
This weekend Travis is coming back to knock out the studs in that wall so it will be super open which I'm very excited about! I think I'll also prime all of the walls and ceilings, well, at least I hope I'll get all of them done! I'll start moving in non-essential things from my apartment as well, just to cut the load down for the ultra-big moving weekend on the 28th/29th!
-Megan
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