Dream Floors Versus Reality

Although I fear my Pinterest membership being revoked, I have to say it.  Wide Plank Flooring, although beautiful, might have been a bad idea.

I'm trying really hard to hold back judgement until the entire floor is installed, but the past 48-hours have been a killer to morale and my back!

I'll save the details for the full installation post, but here's what we were able to get done in 2 days with 2.5 DIYers. 

It took Cody and I a full day to pick out the 'best' boards for the entry way.  And with a toddler at the house, we were actually lucky to get through half of the boards.   

As you can probably imagine, especially if you know Cody, it took us about an hour to decide where to start the first board and why.   After that, we used the craziest glue we've ever worked with in hopes of creating a moisture barrier between the first floor and the crawl space/basement.  Oh, and did I mention that we also had to nail it down?

After six hours, we high fived to 48 SqFt installed.  

Yep, that's what 48SqFt looks like. 

Thank goodness for Coke-a-Cola or this weekend would have been a DIY disaster. 

2018 New Year's Resolutions

I love making New Year's resolutions.  I'm the type that has a list for everything I do, and every time I cross an item off that list, I. Feel. Good.  I've made hundreds of resolutions throughout the years and I'm a little ashamed to admit that my success rate is in the single digits, like zero (0%).

You would think that I'd learn my lesson and stop making resolutions.  Nope.  Although I keep failing miserably, I still love to make them.   So here goes.  New year, new resolutions. 

• Blog at Least Once a Week: Life is crazy--house, school, move, work, family, volunteering, first baby, commuting on the weekends back home-- but I'm reshuffling a few things to get back to some of the other things that I love to do, and a big part of that is writing.  No worries, the baby isn't going anywhere.
• Quit Coke-a-Cola:  I am an addict.  This is on my list every year and I can't ever kick it.  Drinking water is an alien concept and I just don't like it. 
• Move Into Betty by Summer:  This two year adventure has got to come to an end sometime. Living out of a suitcase and not having our own space is quickly getting old.  Also, when I come home on the weekends, I just want to relax and we can't really do that right now.    

What's on your New Year's resolution list?

99 Problems and Cedar Shingles are One

Have you ever had a day when you're already late for class or work and everything else--the breakfast drive-thru, the traffic, the construction-- continues to pile on to your tardiness?  That's the perception I'm getting with every new project we take on at Betty.   We're behind schedule, but nothing is moving faster.

I'm starting to think that there are no quick projects on our To-Do List.  Everything-- demo, windows, drywall-- has taken months to complete and it looks like new cedar shingles aren't the exception.

We're 15 days in--weekends and a few hours after work-- and I'm about to call it.  We are just slow at everything!  Take a look at our progress.

In The Beginning 

End of day one, there is hope!

Somewhere between 4 & 6.  Apparently shingles crack on uneven surfaces

End of Day 8...those uneven surfaces suck!

Day 12 we have a rhythm going!

Day 15 looks alot like day 12

Weekend #3 Lets get this done by Labor Day PLEASE! 

Windows and Doors Everywhere

There have been a few projects along the way that have taken a bit longer than we anticipated--the darn demolition took about four months and I still bring it up to DH.  Now, it's the window and door installation that is certainly the cause of my recent high blood pressure.    

I can't make up my mind on what's more frustrating--the weather or our installation pace.  The  windows arrived in mid-February, but the snow, rain and the below 32F weather stalled our ability to start tackling the project.  And, of course, once one thing falls behind in schedule, it effects everything else. It's like that darn skeleton song…the foot bone is connected to the leg bone...

Two months later and the windows dominate the garage space.  Our HVAC contractor has begun work inside, and our electrician starts this week with no where to store the material on site.

Like I said, it's not just the weather that's put us behind schedule.  Our installation pace is a bit embarrassing.  On the first day we installed one window.  One!  I couldn't find the flashing tape I had purchased, the instructions were missing because we didn't put them back in the box.  We have 34 doors and windows to install!

The experiment 

On weekend number two, we fared a little better and actually got three in there!  I'll spare you the math, that's 34 windows and doors installed in 8 days, or 4 weekends!

The bushes won't make it

I think I'm actually developing anxiety over these windows.  On Monday mornings, I stare at my weather app and stalk the weekend weather, praying that we can get a dry day above 32.

Until the next installation day, I make myself feel a little bit better by crossing off the windows we've done a la Revenge.  Or maybe it's become more like a sniper crossing off her targets.  Only 30 to go!

The Red Monster

At Fenway Park the left field wall stands 37 feet tall and is affectionately called, by both the Red Sox and it's frenemies, the Green Monster.  Although you might think that the Sox built the wall to prevent homeruns, they actually built it to hide the view of the field from non-paying spectators that would stand outside of the park.

That's exactly how I felt about our 117 year old brick fireplace--it was built to obstruct my waterview!  The fireplace was three stories tall emerging from the basement to the family room, through the master bedroom, up the attic and out the roof.  It's our very own Green Monster--but with red brick and faux panel. 

Although we try to save as much as we can--took us forever to safely remove all of the moldings-- I think DH and I both accepted early on that there probably wasn't a way to save the Red Mo nster from demolition.  We spent weeks working with our architect to figure out a way to save the fireplace while still getting our views.

Unfortunately, there was no way to save the Red Monster, no matter how we drew it out.    One of the biggest reasons we purchased this home was because of all of the light and the amazing views.  Although 117, it just couldn't stay.

 
Before we began the demo, we had our plans approved by the city Building Inspector and we had to figure out if it was structurally feasible to take it down.  We had a chimney expert inspect the structure-- we learned that most chimneys are not structural and don't hold anything up.  Although the chimney wasn't holding anything up, we did come across plumbing that was placed flush with the chimney wall and all of those pipes will need relocating.

There was no asbestos and we learned it cost about $5000 for the chimney to be removed. There's a lot that we can do with $5000, heck, we need the $5k for everything else.  So to DH it made sense that we DIY the demo.  For me?  No joke, that roof slop alone was worth me paying a professional to get up there and do it.   Unfortunately, there was no way I was going to convince DH of that, so up he went.

Taking down a chimney--or two as we took the one that vented the old oil-heating system-- was a lot of hard work and our backs are still recovering.  Those bricks from the late 1800s were meant to last FOREVER! It took DH, my dad, BIL, and myself 4 solid weekends to take both of those chimneys down.  There were a few heart attacks along the way--the steep roof could have been a killer.  There was so much old DUST.  DO NOT skip on investing in really really good masks.  We had to patch the roof, add floor joists to the new empty area, and I ended up making a lot of runs taking the bricks from the inside into the dumpster.

In the end, I'm a little sad to see the Red Monster go, but I can't  wait to see the ocean while standing in my kitchen.

Fact: Bricks are heavy!

The DUST!

DH trying not to get himself killed

Second Floor Chimney Gone!

Open Concept

Our clean up system wasn't exactly the Ford Assembly Line

Fun Fact: What did we do with all of those bricks?  We placed an ad on Craigslist.  If you could haul the bricks away, you could have them for free.  Many of the bricks were in really good shape and could be recycled and used for an outdoor patio or walkway.  Giving them away was also a cost-saving measure as we had weight restrictions with our dumpster.   

Money and Cents:

Demo: Took 4 weekends for two chimneys, but aside from our time, it cost nothing to do it ourselves.  We took wood from the demo and extra shingles from the garage to patch the roof.  The joists were covered under our framing contract--more on that later!

Savings: About $4000 after dumpster and joist-framing costs

We Have Windows!

After not waiting so patiently for 6 weeks, our custom windows and doors are in!!  I actually think DH and I went a bit overboard and Betty could have more window square footage compared to wall square footage.  

Windows and doors played a significant role in our design of the new layout.  Our goal was to achieve an ocean view as much as possible and hopefully these do just that!

Keep your fingers crossed that the Andersen directions and YouTube videos are enough of a teaching tool to get us to install these correctly!  There's no room in the budget to get these installed by a vendor.

Sticker Shock

WARNING: This post was written while upset and two glasses in to really tasty Prosecco.

Let me start by emphasizing how much respect I have for the trades.  DH and I have this philosophy that we'll DIY as much as possible but hire out on plumbing--don't want to flood the place-- and electrical--don't want to start a fire or die from electrocution--not because it's hard, but because it requires a true professional with experience under his/her belt (no pun intended).

I believe that one should be adequately compensated for the work that they do.  I mean, I myself expect to be paid well for what I do, why wouldn't I expect the same for the trades?  I also believe that you get what you pay for; however, a small electrical fire or electrocution may be worth it.

Today I was told our "million dollar house" needed $65,000 of electric work.  You read that correctly.  That's 4 professionals working full time for 2 weeks.  This is a great company, came highly recommended and we wouldn't have to worry about the quality of the work or materials.

Even as I say it out loud and type it out, I still can't wrap my mind around the cost.  I feel like going through my DVR and rewatching every show on HGTV to see if their electrical costs come any where close.  I get it, and I hope you do to.  Either HGTV has #alternativeFacts or I'm calling the wrong folks for quotes.

And maybe it was the way he explained it to me that set off this type of reaction.

I almost cried, doubled over, and threw up on the man's shoes.  Then I got upset.  

Is it because of the location?

Is it because I'm--a woman--acting as the General Contractor (GC)? Do GCs get a better price?  Would my husband get a better price?

Am I underpaid??!?!?!?!

Twenty minutes later and a new sense of reality has set in.  Did I underestimate the work that needs to be done?  Was I naive not to see how everything would cost more because of the beach location and the double square footage?

Do I have an unrealistic understanding of how much things cost?

For now, I'll call another company for another quote and I think I'll rewatch Super Bowl 51 and get my blood pressure under control...well, at least the 4th quarter.