Termite Work

October 26 - Tented!

The house had to be tented for termites. The day it was to be tented, I got a call from the termite company to inform me of some "roof damage". They didn't want to be held responsible, so they called to let us know that there were some 15 roof tiles damages or broken. The roof was repaired the week prior and those tiles were supposed to be replaced per our purchase agreement! Nice job, Daddario Roofing. I called them and was told "that doesn't sound like us." I was then told that the owner would be notified and someone would be out on Friday to finish the job. No one called or showed up on Friday. Sooooo, I would not recommend Daddario Roofing!



October 29

Today, the termite company began demolition of the damaged areas. I stopped by after preschool and learned that our master shower was rotten through to the stucco!

We knew there was water damage and only expected the tile and subfloor to be replaced. We were not expecting to gut the entire thing! When the tile guy pulled the tile, the studs came with it. Oh man, that isn't good. I have never seen wood that comes apart so easily. Part of the problem was with the window. As you can see in the photo, the wood above the window is just fine. It is the wood below the window that suffered most.

Shower Before & After Demolition

Bathroom Before Demo



Bathroom After Demo


Looks like we need a contractor's help on this one. The shower really needs to be repositioned - the door opening is only 18 inches and the low height of the shower head would make Lisa seem tall. Not really sure how George would wash his hair... maybe he could sit? We met with one guy who said it would cost around $20,000 to redo the bathroom. Um, what? That is more than our entire renovation budget! Let's just say we are still interviewing.

And so it begins. One week after receiving the keys. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Our new mantra.

Bathroom Charm

We Love Pink!

The bathroom that the boys will share is pink! Maybe peach? We hope to eventually remodel it, but for now, it will stay as it is.

The Master Bathroom - there is major dry rot under the shower, so the whole shower has to be ripped out and the subfloor needs to be replaced. Plus, we are wondering where the toilet seat went... Sooo, it will look much different when we're done!

The Interior

The Kitchen & Dining Room

The kitchen is large, and has room for a small dining table. It has a double oven, electric range, and dishwasher. The colors are unusual - yellow tile with gingerbread trim. We would eventually like to knock out the wall between the kitchen and family room to make a great room. There is a ton of storage cabinets, which is great. We will be painting the cupboards and walls.



The dining room connects to the kitchen and family rooms. It also leads to the backyard. There are nice hardwood floors in the dining and family rooms. You may notice a strange window in the dining room. This used to be a window to the yard, but at some point, the previous owners added a room and boarded up the window (but didn't remove it)! A little weird, but we are going to use it as a playroom, so we are excited for the extra space.

Day 2- Playhouse

DAY 2 -The Playhouse Emerges!

George and his three helpers - thank you Craigslist!! - worked on clearing the ivy on Sunday afternoon. We knew there was some sort of garden shed in the rear right corner of the yard, but what we didn't know was that it was actually a 2-story playhouse with power!

BEFORE

AFTER

Day 1 - Yard Demo

Let the Yard Work Begin!

On Saturday, Oct. 24, George went to the house to begin clearning out ivy. Lisa was with the boys, so he was on his own, or so he thought! Our new neighbors, Cathy, Zoe, and Don, came over armed with shovels, wheelbarrows and gloves and worked alongside George. What a warm welcome!

BEFORE

Brick Planter - Note the Overgrown Ivy

After Day One Clean Up... The fence is now visible!

The Thickest Ivy - They cut what they could, but some of the stalks were too thick. We have never seen ivy like this!

Future Garden - There is a great corner of the yard with tons of sun. Once it is cleared of the oleander and ivy, Lisa plans to plant a lovely garden!

We Bought a House

October 27, 2009

The Dowell's bought their first house!

Finally! When we realized that Trooper has lived in 4 houses at the ripe age of 3, we decided it was time to become homeowners. After putting offers on three homes, our 4th offer was accepted in mid-September. We jumped through a lot of hoops and final got lender approval and signed our loan docs on October 19. On Friday, October 23, we received the keys to our first place!

The house we purchased is an original 1950s rancher in Willow Glen. By original, we mean "fixer-upper." At first, we didn't want our first home to be a fixer, but we decided that size, location, and layout was more important than updated. We'll see if that decision was a smart one!

At just over 2,000 square feet, the 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house has a lot of potential. It has a large eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, family room with fireplace, and a bonus room. Once we do some work, the bonus room will make a great playroom (see pic at left). It has a crack down the center of the room - we do not recommend building a structure on top of a concrete patio! The ceiling needs to be replaced due to water damage caused by the leaky roof (since repaired). We are interviewing contractors to help us with this "project."

The Yard - Wow!

The yard is good sized, with a covered patio, lawn, pool, and jungle. The ivy in the backyard took over somewhere around 1980 and the previous homeowners let it grow into a jungle. We plan to clear out as much ivy as possible. We hope to enhance the yard with a large vegetable and flower garden. Watch out Martha Stewart! Luckily, the pool is separate from the rest of the yard so we won't have to worry about the boys getting into too much trouble.

Future Garden

"The Jungle"

We're hoping to use this blog as a way to show our progress as we remodel the house. We'll post before and after photos and share our experiences. Let's hope things go smoothly!

Best,

The Dowell Family

On Saturday, we jumped right in.