A Weekend to Remember

While I should have been inside working on the bathroom...I spent most of the Memorial Day weekend (while not drinking beer and grilling out) working outside to fill in the "gap" in the fence next to the railroad...fence guy gave me the cedar slats for free (and I have just as many left over). I've deferred to my train buddy John Derrenkamp who complained that he couldn't see the bottom of passing trains. So, I'll use the remaining slats to make a small platform and John and others now will be able to watch trains to their heart's content! In the foreground of the s t r e c h e d photo is the garden I am building with the sundial on one of the brick posts removed from the side of the driveway.

We did reach a milestone in that one room is just about complete and Joyce and I bought a used couch and loveseat to celebrate! OK...that was the easy room...no bathroom or kitchen yet but the floor in the downstairs bathroom should be in this coming week.

We are taking a BIG risk this week in listing one of our rental properties for sale but six months or longer is the norm right now for a sale. If the house sells early, we will have to move into the new old house sooner than expected. Well, at least there is one working toilet and a couch to sleep on!

This is our house on Elliot Avenue which is for sale...if you are interested (old "before" photo) :

Well, yikes! four property tax bills just came in the mail...it must almost be June! Thanks for tuning in this week...Deano

Let's Change EVERYTHING!

Here's a photo of the front of the house TODAY; new brickwork and wood columns and an unusual yellow Rhododendron that we purchased from the garden center on Sunday.

We also planted a Red Maple and a Climbing Hydrangea (I'm not sure what that is). Here's more photos:



















Today is Joyce' birthday (I won't say how many). She celebrated the day by changing her mind about the kitchen! Mark, a contractor friend suggested knocking an outside corner out so we could expand things...good idea, but straining our already tenuous budget.

Why didn't they do this in the first place? I ask.

We've already spent over $10,000 on this project!








Well, work goes on and here Greg the mason is up on the roof inspecting the chimney...something neither of us should be doing at our age...............................................















Joyce received this nifty sundial/birdbath for her birthday that I will put on an old tree stump...it reminds us of how short life is and to value each moment...an appropriate thing for a birthday!



Next week...my special "birthday gift" for myself and the estimate for the kitchen addition...

Deano

Everything you've always wanted to know about Termites

We knew that there was some termite damage here and there...but when you deal with old houses, things are always worse then they seem and when you start addressing one problem, you find another and another and so on.

The Parlor Right floor was a little "bouncy" near the fireplace but no damage was visible except in the far right corner of the photo below. Because the furnace with its octopus of ducts was directly below, I had to fix the problem from the top which meant removing floorboards.

Termites are attracted by moisture and I suspect that the moisture came from bad sheathing on the fireplace chimney...around the hearth, all of the beams were damaged or destroyed.



Now this is a piece from one of those beams...the termites had gone right through the grain and eaten the best part. We'll have this framed and call it "Termite Art."


I tried to pull up about one third of the "swamp pine" floorboards with a crowbar but since they were tongue and groove, it required that a circular saw be run along the groove to cut off the tongue. The saw is old and the depth kept changing...making matters more difficult.

I removed all the damaged splinters and framed around the hearth with 2x8 pressure treated lumber... using a bottle jack, by the way, below the hearth, just in case that the concrete might want to crack.

Each damage beam was "sistered" with the same 2x8 lumber and bolted in place with large bolts, washers and nuts.
The floorboards were replaced, best that I could...some had split but these will be covered with new flooring anyway. The bad news is that I have found damage even on the second floor but everything seems solid up there. I suspect that the front porch deck is a goner too.

The place is sure a mess...the lesson to be learned is to do one task at a time...not three or four but us ADD guys just don't know any better.

More next time....

D

Diary Entry No. 1: We buy our first HUD Home

My wife's friend, Becky Candler. lived in the white house at the end of the street in the 1950's and 1960's but the neighborhood was far older than that; the John Olden subdivision, laid out in the 1880's; one of the first planned suburbs in the country.

I didn't know much about Cincinnati, Ohio when I moved here in 1999 from New Jersey, 'cept that people there tended to be provincial and perennially resistant to change... but I was an admirer of old houses...and especially of the white house at the end of the street.

Alas, Becky told us that the house had been yellow and had arched windows until Mrs. Candler hired a cheap vinyl siding contractor in the seventies who messed up everything. There goes the neighborhood...but those windows will return someday, I secretly vow.

About two years ago, the previous homeowner walked out on their very expensive mortgage, and eventually, HUD, the good old Secretary of Housing and Urban Development acquired the property. It took over a year for a "for sale" sign to appear.

I've never purchased a HUD property before...and probably would not again. The listing and the contract was a bureaucratic nightmare...somebody lost a LOT of money on this house and I suspect that it was the taxpayers...you and me.

For instance, HUD had hired a contractor to go through the house and document every spot of missing or chipped paint. I didn't bother reading his voluminous report; old houses have lead paint; we know this, everyone knows this and they didn't have to waste taxpayer's money reminding us when a simple disclaimer would suffice!

"HOUSE MAY HAVE LEAD PAINT." There, now was that so difficult?

Anyway...at $55,000 the house, sitting on a double lot, was a steal (It had been sold for $105,000 previously) and I signed an offer for $48,000.

Just after we signed the contract...someone kicked the back door in and removed copper pipe from the house...and HUD's local service company didn't bother to show up for three days to secure the property. HUD...through (yet another) company representing them refused to repair the damage. $800 of damage for about $20 worth of copper...hmmmm. We backed out of the contract...and HUD graciously kept our $500 deposit.

We then spent the next three months...count 'em, three months...making a new offer of $35,000 every week until enough time had passed for HUD's software to finally figure out that no one was going to purchase the house but little old me.

So, that's the HUD story. We purchased the house officially in December and have a list of things to do that's about three miles long....

The REST of this blog will describe our experiences restoring the old house...to it's original glory and for our modern convenience....(and I promise, more photos and hopefully funny dialog).

Deano (New Jersey Boy sojourning in Cincinnati)

And I invite comments....dherbert53@aol.com