The roofers have been working on the house over the last couple of days. See the photo for my newest addition to my bedroom ceiling. At least no one was hurt. I felt bad for the guys as the sun was going down and it was getting chilly out. All they wanted to do was drag the equipment off the roof and tarp it and go home. Instead one of them fell off the deck onto the ceiling. S@#t does indeed happen and usually at the most inopportune times.
So as you can tell we did get the financing in order finally, even with the selling agent dumping the roof issues on us at the last possible second. We knew there were issues with the roof as well as the attic from the home inspection. Colonies of white mold had taken up residence all over the attic and due to the tiny size of the space, really the only way to resolve this was to take the roof deck off completely and re-mediate it in that fashion. The selling agent knew this and had a bid from a roofer the day after we looked at the house back in August, but wouldn't tell us what they were going to do about it until after we had agreed to purchase the home. Their decision was simply to drop the price of the house by the amount of the bid. Pushed us from a streamlined 203k loan to the more complex full 203k loan. The difference is in how the money is administered. In the streamlined you can get a few draws on the total to get you started. With this full one I and my general contractor have to bear the brunt of the project and finance it until the HUD inspector comes out and approves the work. Slows things dramatically I can tell you that.
I was concerned about the possible reasons for the mold issues in the attic until I got a good look at the roof with my contractor. The attic has no ventilation at all, it is just a sealed space. Yeah that is not a good idea here in the humid Northeast. So now I have holes in my fascia boards and will have a nice ridge vent. All my trusses have been coated in anti-fungal and 14 inches of all new insulation has been blown in after the old stuff was shoveled out, all 4 inches of it.
This house is evidently a California design that was not modified to take into account the differences in climate from California to Virginia. The front half of the house, which has a eye catching open beam design, has a roofing material that has a total insulation value of R-4. Thanks 70's builders. Explains the cast iron stove in the front room.
Meanwhile Betty and I have been busy in the interior. We purchased a new dishwasher and 5 burner range. I installed those last week. Kudos to Robert my plumber friend from Denver (Quick Drain) who walked me through the modification to my plumbing so that it is a standard install rather than a cobbled together homeowner shortcut. There is plenty of that in this house. Painted the back three bedrooms, primer and a few coats of cover paint, a very pale green, so pale you can barely even tell it is there. I still need to crawl around and do the trim painting, high gloss white. We liked that from our Texas house.
Tore out the carpets in the back three bedrooms and hallway while the roll off dumpster was here for the roofing materials. Hard on our old out of shape bodies, but we are getting better and fitter as the renovation continues. And hey we saved $335.00 by doing it ourselves. Of course had to make a trip to Home Depot for breath masks so we weren't breathing the embedded gorp.
We are still wading through boxes and packing materials. But have unpacked enough of the kitchen to survive. Wish I could find my slippers though.
New discoveries:
- Found this house at one time was entirely covered in startlingly blue carpets. Yeah loads of drugs in the 70's.
- The front bathroom does indeed have white octagonal ceramic tiles, laid over 4 layers of linoleum.
- House has aluminum wiring.
- Hardwood floors will extend all the way up the three stairs and through the main hallway.
- The three stairs will be eventually skinned with solid oak.
- Heavy up! Increase my current 100 amp electrical service to 250 amps. Replace scary electrical panel with one that doesn't randomly burn your house down. But of course no recall was ever issued for this panel and breaker system.
- Leave room for extension to eventually install hot tub next to my main party deck.
- Carpet replacement in bedrooms
- Hardwood floor install in front of house
- New Refrigerator
- Removal of false wall around kitchen
- Total gutting and replacement of kitchen
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