Black Friday (for the SAVINGS)

Aside from the $60 stove we got from the meth family in Hillsboro, the new place doesn't have any appliances.  Thanks to Amy's innate sense of savings (it's italicized because that's how she always says it: "Savings!") we decided to hit up Best Buy for appliances on Black Friday.  We didn't stand in line at midnight, but we did go to the one in Jantzen Beach and rub elbows with the (other) materialist dbags and random people taking advantage of their only day off to buy water filters and video games.

Anyway, we signed up for all of the rewards cards and 0% down, 18-month financial shackles, first-born, etc.  We got a fridge, washer, dryer, and dishwasher.  And a molehill of debt.

We'll never be going out on black friday again.

Final Meetings With the Architect and Contractor Before Permits are Submitted

Amy and I met with Nathan, Craig and a very special guest star (!) to follow up on a few things:

• any issues that need resolution (Craig pointed out one of Nathan's drawings needed some rethinking and/or revision)
• what we can hold off on (windows, deck, other things to keep the budget under control)
• energy conservation work.  This one was pretty interesting:   Energy Trust of Oregon came out to give us a free consultation on what we needed to do for the house.

And the findings in reverse order:

This is where the kitchen used to vent into.  Amy is apalled.

Energy Trust came out for free to tell us about what to focus on when remodeling as far as energy savings goes.  In the past, houses were just drafty -- I guess energy was cheap and the ozone layer was healthy and the sea levels weren't rising -- people had better things to worry about, like global war and polio.  So instead of insulating their houses, they.. didn't.  They burned old growth wood in their fireplaces and cranked the oil heater up to 11.  For ventilation they just pointed their ductwork towards the direction of the roof -- seriously, this house's kitchen used to vent straight into the attic...

These days, of course, we can't do those sorts of things.  We need triple-paned argon gas-filled windows from Marvin Windows and Doors (come on coupons!) and insulation blown into the exterior walls and foam insulation on the underside of the roof. But as nice as that sounds, we've found that every decision in this project sets off a whole new row of dominoes falling and you can't have just one thing -- you have to have them all or nothing.

We thought this would be a sort of a-la-carte menu of renovations we could do today, tomorrow, whenever.  Turns out no -- there's an order and an economy to these things.  If you have the walls open, you HAVE to insulate them, if you want to insulate, you HAVE to disconnect the old knob-and-tube wiring (we have a lot of that), and if you're doing all that you MIGHT AS WELL redo all of the plumbing in the house.  Hence my reactions in the budget post...

To the Energy Trust guy's credit -- he gave us some good ideas on where to focus the few remaining dollars we'll have left.  

And speaking of budget.  I talked to Craig today.  He agreed with me on the domino analogy.  We agreed on a stopping point -- that is, a dollar amount at which we agree that we is where we need to stop or explore alternatives.  I'm not sure what those alternatives are, but one might be selling plasma.  We'll see - in the mean time, he's going to get the list of possible DIY or deferred tasks off the initial project plan and stick to our agreed-on budget.

Finally, we had to fix the stairs.  This was a neat observation about architects and contractors.  Nathan drew the stairs going down to the basement such that they went a little lower than they are today -- not realizing that there was a concrete wall in the way. Craig, the solution finder, said no problem - we can jackhammer the concrete foundation and make it work.  In the end we worked it out and made it cheaper and better.  Very happy that C and N can work together and with us to fix things before they become problems.

Tomorrow, Nathan takes the drawings to the city and (hopefully) gets the permits.  After that, we execute a contract with Craig and get demo underway.

The fun begins!

We've given it all we got

For the first few weeks, we dove right in and did some demo.

Before:

Linoleum floors from the mid 90's.

Gross and smelly carpets.

During:

This was us taking out the popcorn ceiling.  It was disgusting
but probably not asbestos...   though it probably was.

about 400 lbs of carpet...

After:

Pretty oak floors protected by carpet for 30 years!

Pretty fir floors upstairs! (and in the kitchen, but not so pretty there.)

It look us lots of after-work nights and weekends to tear up all that carpet, dig out the carpet tacks and pry up the tack boards.  I'm sure we've saved the contractors about 20 minutes and about $47 in labor, but hey -- I've done more for less in the past.

We also took up the linoleum in the kitchen -- there are fir floors under there too, but they aren't in such good shape...

At this point, any demolition work that we do will start to throw lead dust into the air and cause us to get even dumber.  And nobody needs that. So we're just salvaging old cabinet drawers and picking up ancient leftover crates from the crawlspace.  fun.

I think the next thing is to pick out fixtures and tiles and paint - maybe hire a designer or something.. I don't know -- I can barely dress myself.  Amy will have to take care of this.

The Budget...

Oh dear.

As I said in the first post, we were planning on spending every last cent we had -- I didn't realize it would take more than that.

I think we went into this thing with realistic ideas of how much things cost.  Things like electricians, plumbers, etc.  After all is said and done, the house will be really pretty.  Big open kitchen, an additional bathroom upstairsWe may not have much left for furniture, but hey, that's what credit cards are for!  (just kidding - we'll put the mortgage and food on credit)

All kidding aside, there will have to be some prioritization.  Here's the budget in round numbers:

Permits	not so much
Lead precautions	not as much as I thought
Demo and jacking up house for foundation repair	not as much as I thought
Debris hauling or drop box	more than I thought
Demo both chimneys	not as much as I thought
Footings	didn't even know this was a thing
Foundation repair	not as much as I thought
New masonary fireplace	about as much as I thought
Framing	a lot
Windows	a shit ton
Siding repair and window installation	about as much as I thought
Exterior doors	not so much
Interior doors	not so much
Plumbing work	a lot more than I thought
Plumbing fixtures	about as much as I thought
Electrical work	a shit ton
Electrical fixtures	not as much as I thought
Cabinets - kitchen & bathroom	a shit ton
Tile - kitchen & bathroom	more than I thought
Insulation	not as much as I thought
Drywall	a lot more than I thought
Hardwood floors	more than I thought
Other Flooring	more than I thought
Finish work- case doors, case windows, base board trim	more than I thought
Finish work - built ins & closet storage	more than I thought
HVAC work	more than I thought
Door hardware	not so much
Cabinet hardware	not so much
Mirrors & shower doors	more than I thought

We may put off any windows that aren't truly necessary until next spring.  We're going to try and do the tiling, floors and whatever else we can ourselves.  This doesn't include a sweet deck... but that can wait until spring as well.

more to come.

Sewer guys and I have the same sense of humor

Got the sewer done today.  James Reynolds sewer company -- they're great.  I'd list their site here, but I'm not sure if they even have a website...  anyway, google them and hire them if you're in need of sewer repair in  the Portland metro area.

And if you ever get a chance to hang out with guys that work on sewers, take the day off from work, because they are hillarious.

While checking our sewer, they found a baby's pacifier.  In the sewer line.  I asked if they had seen weirder stuff and without missing a beat, they said "oh yeah -- really weird stuff.  Go tell your coworkers that you spent the morning watching dirty movies with a couple construction guys"  get it?  Dirty movies?  Sewers?  Feces?   I wanna hang out with these guys!

The List

While wandering around different open houses, we came across a really beautiful house on NE 32nd.  It had a beautiful deck, great landscaping, chickens (which Amy hated, of course), master bedroom, etc.  We chatted with the owners and they said that they did most of the renovations themselves over the past couple of years.  They even showed us a giant list of things to do - on which every item was crossed off.

Lo and behold, we've now got our own.

Unfortunately, my handwriting hasn't improved since the 4th grade.  I'll try and recreate it here:

• spike the birds (there are two pigeons that live on the north side of the house -- it's evidently the top priority to make their roost less comfortable)

  

  My attempt at getting organized.
  

• get a garden plan together
• tear up carpet
• electric bill
• water bill
• gas bill
• start garbage service
• chimney demo
• foundation repair
• oil tank decommission
• sewer quote and schedule
• sewer repair
• get structural engineering plans from Nathan (the architect)
• Driveway repair?
• Energy trust interview (11/14)
• plumber walk-thru
• electrician walk-thru
• tear up linoleum in the kitchen
• Fireplace discussion with Craig

it's far from complete.  It's missing things like "redo the kitchen" or "add a bathroom", but we'll probably break those out in finer detail in a bit.

Amy Meets With Electricians and Plumbers

Amy met with the plumber and the electrician today and took copious notes:

Electrician:

• our panel looks good - 
• we'll need to check the wiring of the light fixtures (knob and tube dangers)
• we'll only need to replace the k&t wiring on the exterior walls (because you can't insulate around it without burning your house down)
• we don't necessarily need to re-wire the stuff in the walls unless we want significantly more voltage than we currently have
• we'll definitely have to rewire the kitchen, but we expected that
• he wants to run wiring to the second floor where the coal chimney is
• there's some new wiring, but it's spotty
• We'll need to rewire the bathroom(s)

Plumber

• He said this is pretty standard
• he wants the coal chimney gone to make room for plumbing
• he's going to give us quotes for tankelss water heaters and non-tankless
• He said that our connection to the city water supply is probably not sufficient for a two-bathroom house.  Also, the city might have an issue.
• We can buy cheap fixtures, but never go cheap on a toilet (no problem since we have a particular one in mind)
• He'll quote replacing all the pipes -- he said it was "the smart thing to do"...
• Tankless water heaters require gas lines plumbed
• his quote wont include fixtures

Our Contractor

Our contractor, Craig McNinch, seems to have thought of everything (if briefly).

Here's his/our plan so far:

• He's the GC for the project
• we do the kitchen and upstairs bathroom at the same time (it'll cost us less if we do all the in-wall work at the same time).
• First thing we have to do is the Chimney and Foundation (permits for these are separate than the permits for the bath and kitchen)
• Sewer and radon stuff isn't included -- we can manage that ourselves.
• roof is an open item -- not sure how that ties in to insulation work
• His pricing includes "allowances" for things like tile, countertops, cabinets, etc.  The allowance is presumably a nominal figure of what these things cost -- like $5/sq foot for flooring (or whatever).
• The deposit is 10% of the job up front so he can pay for permits, etc.  We pay as we go for materials, etc.  And then we withhold 10% at the end until we sign off on the project and it's done.
• He's a lead-certified guy and will take care of all the lead abatement
• We don't move in until Jan 15...  Today is November 2nd.
• Permits take up to 4 weeks
• we need plans from Nathan Cooprider (architect) to start the permits.

Our caveats:
we don't want him to do anything cosmetic that we can do ourselves.  Our view is that we're hiring Craig for skilled labor and we don't need him for unskilled labor that we can do.

We want a bunch of energy trust benefits -- insulation, window rebates, financing, whatever. Energy Trust is coming by 11/14 for a look-see.

Before Pictures

Amy in the living room with sinking floor on the right.

Walking into the house in the beginning was pretty nasty.  It smelled like dust and neglect.  The Chimney was cracked, the livingroom floor was sinking, windows were broken.  It was pretty bad.


I credit Amy with even finding the house in the first place -- the listing had no pictures, it was out of our price range and had the message "MAJOR FIXER".

Even our realtor at the time had said that this was not a project that we should take on.

Other side of the living room.

We persevered, however, and inquired about the house.  The seller was very open and told us how much of a fixer it actually was. The list of repairs is long and distinguished:

 * foundation
 * sewer is broken
 * driveway is cracked
 * chimney needs to be demolished
 * roof has about 2 years to go
 * siding needs repair
 * and the hits keep coming...

that's the chimney and foundation you see.  Cracking.
Evidently the gas line that was added 5 or 6 years ago undermined the foundation. 
Fantastic.

 But there are some good things too.  Check out that great period builtin!

There are actually a few places where there is some actual craftsmanship.  This is one example, the front door is beautiful, the floors under the carpets are oak and fir.  Even the light fixtures are pretty -- they look like what you pay tons of money for at Restoration Hardware or Schoolhouse Electric. 

The Jackhole Appraiser from Hell - Part 2

There's chipping paint everywhere.  Stating that we have to "address the chipping paint" is roughly equivalent to "paint the house".  Fortunately, it didn't say that on the appraisal -- is just specified the paint around the windows. Evidently, chipping paint on the exterior of a house could be a health and safety hazard... good luck selling those old homes,  America!

Seals your chipping paint.
And your fate.

Anyway, we get Craig to go out to the house and put a coat of sealant on the chipping paint.  Here's what he used:
XIM Products Inc 11461 1 Gallon Acrylic Gel Bonding Primer, Clear  

Fast drying, penetrating, filling primer for exterior applications. Ideal for rough surfaces, T111 Siding, Plywood, Stucco, Brick,. Can save hours of prep work. Remains flexible. Low temp, high humidity application. Soap and water clean-up. Top coat with exterior latex and elastomeric paints in 60 minutes. Tintable with water based tint colors. 
You can get it at Sherwin Williams and other high quality paint stores (maybe I'll get a coupon if I plug more product...) This sealant is like Elmers glue - thick and tacky and dries clear.  It's also pricy -- up to $50/gallon.  But it does the job and Craig seals the chipping paint around the windows (which is what the appraiser asked for).

The appraiser comes back out a day or two later (for another $100 fee, mind you) to make sure that we have a stove, got the hole in the wall inspected and addressed the paint.  Andrea and Amy and I meet him at the house to make sure that he has everything he needs and understands the product we used, that it dries clear, etc.

He eventually shows up wearing basketball shorts and sneakers.

Celebrity rendering of
Jackhole Appraiser

He notices the stove (doesn't even turn it on).  He confirms that he's gotten all the documentation on the imaginary structural thing and the primer/sealant. And then he congratulates us on the house.  The prick then goes outside, takes pictures of the side of the house and leaves without saying another word.

Turns out he goes back to the appraisal management company and tells them that we didn't address the peeling paint!  

We throw a fit.  All of us -- the realtor, the mortgage company, Amy and I are in tears yelling "why is he doing this to us?!"  -- seriously, it was like this guy was slowly extorting $100 fees out of us and there was no help from the appraisal managers.

Trina, the operations person from the appraisal management company, says "the paperwork with the 1004D only states that the windows were sealed with a primer. The photos provided clearly show the peeling paint/exposed wood on both the window sill and the exterior of the home." We complain and complain -- saying "the sealant dries clear - he needs to touch the paint to see that it's been sealed."  We finally get them to say that we just have to paint another (large) section of the house to get a passing grade.  Fine.  We go to the paint store for another can of glue.

We buy another 2 gallons of XIM and tint it white this time so the Jackhole can see that it's applied.  It's 5PM and we start painting the outside of the house.  The white sealant on the outside of the house looks horrible:

yuck.

super yuck.

Andrea comes over and tells us that we have to paint it the same color as the rest of the house -- otherwise the appraiser will just say it looks like shit and we won't get the loan.  FINE.  Back to the paint store at 6:45 with a giant chip of paint from the house.  They match the color and give me a gallon of cream-colored primer.  It's now 8:30, cold, starting to rain, and life just generally sucks.  Good thing Andrea took a picture:

Thanks to Andrea DuFresne for capturing this special moment.

We leave that night absolutely despondent -- no clue if the appraiser is going to tell us to fix something else or point out something completely different.

The next day we finally pound some sense into the appraisal management clowns and they promise that a new appraiser will come out, look at everything and give us his opinion that morning -- and they graciously offered to pick up the fee for that visit.  How nice of them!  Jerks.

The new guy comes out and doesn't have a thing to say.  Maybe after they realize that they can't extort any more money out of us, they decided not to find anything else.  I'm convinced it's either that or plain old neglect.  Word to the wise:  make the First Choice NW Appraisal Management company your last choice.

The Appraiser From Hell - Part 1

Part of the process of getting a loan to purchase a house is getting it appraised.  The appraisers' job is to be the "eyes and ears of the bank" and let them know if the asset that they're helping you buy is actually worth the price that you're paying.

After the mortgage debacle in the mid 2000s, Fannie and Freddie enacted laws and guidelines to prevent collusion among banks and appriasers, limit buyer exposure, and other checks and balances to protect the consumer (theoretically, anyway).  What this means is that the appraiser you get when you're about to close on a loan is pulled out of a hat and the mortgage broker cannot even talk to the appraiser directly -- they have to go through a third party agency to get any questions answered.

We were very concerned about the appraisal.  Though the house is worth what we're paying for it, it has some issues that a bank might consider risky:  to wit, a chimney that could fall at any moment, tearing off half the house and possibly smushing nearby cars and structures (and people).

The hope was we get an appraiser that looks around the house, checks comparable sales in the neighborhood and says "it's worth what you're paying for it" collects his $500 and we move on with our lives.  If we got a guy that called out the chimney as unsafe, it might destroy the whole deal. The seller was not a fan of this sale dragging on and was not going to make any repairs.  We weren't thrilled about fixing a house we don't own.

So the guy shows up and does his thing.  A day or two later we get the report back and there's good news and bad news.  Good news is that there's no mention of the chimney or foundation or anything structural.  Bad news is that he did call out a few missing things:

• a stove.  The house is missing a stove (it's also missing a refrigerator but evidently we can live without that).  We need to get a stove to purchase this home?  Yes.  Fine.  Whatever.  We go to Hillsboro and get a $75 stove from a family of meth cooks.  Amy got them down to $60.  We're still not sure if it works.
• There's a piece of wall under a window that has some peeling paint and plaster.  The genius appraiser thinks there might be something structural and says we need to get it inspected.  He's obviously wrong and a moron and ugly-on-the-inside, but that's ok - we get an inspector to look at it.  He charges us $100 and apologizes because there's clearly nothing wrong "structurally".
• There's chipping paint "around the windows" that "needs to be addressed".  This is the tricky one.

We should have just put up warning signs saying "DON'T EAT THE PAINT"

What happened next?  Continue on to part two for the harrowing conclusion.