Yea Siding!

 My siding is finally done!  I can't believe it took so long to find someone to do the siding, but I'm so happy that it is now done.  The weather has been perfect this week too, otherwise it wouldn't have gotten done.  I finished trimming out all the windows just before they started.

I've posted some of the original photos for comparison.

This is a mouse tunnel in the foam.  I taped it all up, don't worry.

Windows - I'll Do It Myself

Well I've decided to do the windows myself.  In the amount of time I've spent looking for someone to do it I could have already been done with it myself.  The whole idea was to save time but that hasn't worked out.  I'm still looking for someone to do the siding.

The windows are original and in sad shape.  The windows are only single pane and most are missing the storm windows.  They also have hail damage, pictured.  Half of the windows have already been done but I'm going to pull out and put them back in so that they will be trimmed the same as the new windows I'm putting in.

Getting Rid of a Gross Kitchen

I've been dismantling the kitchen lately.  You can't really see it in the pictures, but the cabinets were really dirty and grungy.  Yuck.  I also found all kinds of food and mouse poop in the cabinets, under the cabinets and in the floor vent.  As well as toys, plastic straws, coins, and silverware.  Kind of like being an archaeologist.  Except not.  

 

It's already more open and I've just gotten started.

They tried to paint the tile.

But they didn't bother to take their painters tape off. 

Windows and Siding

I still haven't found anyone to put up my siding or install my windows.  I have gotten estimates, but they are really expensive for the amount of siding that I need done, I'm not even doing the whole house.  I'm getting tired of looking and am considering doing it myself with some help.  It's going to get cold soon.

New Roof

I have a new roof!  The roofers came yesterday and got the whole roof done in one day.  Awesome!  Still working on getting the siding done, but at least my roof won't leak when it rains.

Before

After

Pulling Up the Floor

I decided, because of the intensity of the urine smell, that the easiest thing to do is to pull up sections of the subfloor.  Now that I'm done you can already smell the difference.  Not much to look at, but it smells better.  I'm still going to use Kilz on other parts of the floor that I haven't pulled up, just to make sure there is no more smell.

A Witch in the Attic!

Now that the tub/shower has been pulled out of the upstairs bathroom, the insulation in the wall has been exposed.  Some of that insulation was sticking out into the bathroom so I pushed on it to push it back into the wall and it kept going and going until I realized there was nothing behind it and I was pushing it into the attic.  When I realized what was going on, I moved the insulation out of the way and looked into the attic, just being curious.  What I saw was a cardboard box and some sizable mass lying beside it.  Well I pulled everything out of the attic through the bathroom wall, it was easier than using a ladder in the garage, and this is what I found.

 She's a life size talking, moving witch.  She actually has several phrases that she says.  No, it didn't freak me out to find her in the attic.  It's not like she was set up and plugged in waiting to pounce on her unsuspecting victim.  Lol.  She was just a lump on the floor.  There was also a cardboard box full of stuff.  Apparently the previous owners loved Halloween.  Here are some pics.

Bathrooms...gutted

I had the gas for my furnace turned on the other day and the guy who did it told me that the City of Kechi was having a citywide cleanup or free dump day.  This is great for me because I still have all the old decking that I pulled out just laying in my yard.  I also want to get rid of the shower/bath tubs in both of my bathrooms.  So I've now gutted both of my bathrooms.  I've pulled out the fiberglass shower/tubs in both bathrooms and I've dismantled the cabinet in the master bathroom.  There's nothing there now but I didn't take a picture.  I'm leaving the cabinet in the upstairs bathroom because it's still in decent shape.  I removed both toilets as well, but I had to do it with a hammer. :)  I had to do it, really.  I tried to take the nuts off the bolts that hold the toilet to the floor, but they were rusted on and the whole bolt was spinning around.  It turns out that the toilets weren't really salvageable anyway.  They were dirty inside places I could have never gotten to in order to clean, so it's better this way.

 

The whole cabinet is gone now.

 

Landscaping

Along with the siding and roof, something else that needs to be done before winter is the landscaping.  Since it is fall, now is a good time to get good deals on plants.  Most places don't want to keep their plants all winter so they put them on sale.  Big box stores like Lowes and Home Depot liquidate everything except their house plants.  The trick is to know what kind of plant you need, sun/shade, etc, and then shop around.  You're going to have to be flexible though because stores aren't going to be getting any more stock delivered.  Also, if you find something you like but it hasn't been marked down very much you can risk waiting to see if it will be marked down more.  If it doesn't get sold it could be marked down more and more, I've seen plants as much as 90% off, but you also risk losing it if you wait too long.

This house has basically no landscaping.  There is one large bush by the garage and 2 trees in the front yard, but that's about it.  There are some planting beds up close to the house in the front, but they are too small and there is nothing living in them.

The flower beds are to the left and just in front of the porch.  You can't even see them.

To build a flower bed or planter you need some way of defining it from the rest of the yard.  I considered using the bricks you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot but I wasn't really impressed with them.  Then I stumbled upon some pallets of limestone rocks at Habitat for Humanity's Restore.
  If you haven't ever been to Habitat for Humanity's Restore you're missing out.  Everything there has been donated.  It's like a thrift store of building materials.  Anyway, I bought one pallet of limestone rocks and used them as my border between the bed and they rest of the yard.  I arranged them in a flowing curve, better looking than straight, unless you live in a very modern house, and even had some rocks left over.  As for plants, I needed something tall by the porch to break up the mass of brick.  I settled on a Weeping Norway Spruce that I found for 1/2 price at Home Depot.  I also picked up 3 Stonecrop or Sedum plants, 3 Spirea bushes, and 6 Meadow Sage plants for 1/2 price at Home Depot.  At Lowes I found 2 Cotoneasters, a Star Juniper, 3 Burning Bushes, a Dwarf Alberta Spruce, and 3 False Cypress bushes all for at least 50% off.  Some were 60% and 75% off.  One plant I did splurge on was a Tiger Eyes Sumac that I got at a garden center.  It was 50% off but was also more expensive to begin with.  I bought it because it's an interesting plant with good color and is very drought tolerant.  Which is good because this house doesn't have a sprinkler system.  Here's what it looks like now.

There are still some low spots up next to the foundation that need some fill dirt.  I will get those filled in soon and then add a layer of mulch.  It's important that the ground slopes away from your house on all sides so your basement doesn't leak.

Outside In

I've been getting estimates for replacing my roof and replacing my siding.  I would like both of these things to be done before winter sets in.  You can do both of these things in the winter, but I want the house sealed up to save on energy bills and shingles have a strip of tar on the back that sticks to the shingle below it, thus it's better to do a roof when it's warm out.

I've decided on a roofer, Rhoden Roofing here in Wichita, because they did my dad's roof and I like that they spray paint the pipes, vents, exhauts, etc that come out of your roof to match the color of your shingle.  It makes them less noticeable.  My roof currently is in really bad shape.  The house was built in 1986 and the roof looks original.

You can see the spots where the texture has completely worn off of some of the shingles and many of the corners are curling up.

Before I have the roof done I'm going to replace the fascia.  That's the board that runs along the front of the eave.  When a roof is installed they put a piece of metal flashing along the corner where the fascia meets the roof.  I don't want to damage or dent that piece of flashing by trying to replace the fascia after the roof is installed.  A lot of the fascia is rotten and it some places the 2 x 4 behind it is also rotten.

Rotten 2 x 4.  The silver and red on the right is the sheathing of the house.  That's the stuff under the siding.  In most houses it's plywood but mine happens to be foil covered foam insulation.

In this picture you can see the new section of 2 x 4 that I put in.  The white thing at the top is the old flashing.  I just peeled it up so I could work easier.  It will be removed with the old shingles.

I'm trying to decide on a color.  I don't know whether to match the brick or go with something a little more neutral.  I think I'm leaning towards neutral (the one on the right).

As for siding, I haven't found anyone I really like yet.  I want to be able to buy the siding materials myself from a lumber yard and then pay someone to put it up.  I know if I let a contractor buy the materials they will mark them up to make a profit.  I don't need them to buy it for me, it's not that hard to call a lumber yard and buy it yourself.  The lumber yard even delivers it straight to your door.  Easy.  I don't like paying someone else for that.

Who Needs A Trash Can?

My plan for this house is to work from the outside in since it's September and will be getting cold before I'm done.  So I tackled the deck first.  It was wobbly and ugly and had several holes in it.  I found that those holes made convenient trash cans for when you're sitting on the deck drinking beer.  Not that I have any first hand experience, but it must be handy to not have to get up to throw away your beer can.  I found many other things besides beer cans, as you can see. 

It was mostly on one side, but there was trash everywhere!

Beer cans, broken bottles, tupperware, stuffed toys (lower left), and more!

This was a 12 pack of beers.  At least they put them back in the box, right?

And some hair.  Looks human.  Someone must have cut their hair outside because I found several curls of hair like this.

In All It's Foreclosure Glory

So I've been back to the house and taken some pictures.  One thing these pictures won't be able to convey is the smell.  Dog/cat urine.  Everywhere.  That's why no one else wanted it.  I'm up for a challenge, besides I've got some tricks up my sleeve.

Wider angle shows a little more of the lot.

There is termite damage to the siding to the right of the door.  And the 2 in the address is broken.  How do you  do that?

This is showing the deteriorated fascia board above the garage door, up at the roof edge.  You can see a little piece hanging down.

This is the east side of the house and it actually has new siding and new vinyl windows. Yea!

This is the rear, it faces southeast. One window and the sliding door are new.  The deck is old and decrepit and has to go.  The wild mulberry and elm trees are pretty, right?  No.

 The original patio is there and the deck is one step up.  It looks like they had a dog run on this side of the fence.  Oh, and that long white thing by the sliding door?  It's a fluorescent light.  Lovely for evenings on the patio.

The siding and windows on this side are in really bad shape. Some of the siding is actually missing as you can see in this picture.

The garage.  Not too bad, but still needs to be replaced.

Living room.  Fortunately, the carpet and pad was torn out by the bank.  But you can't really tell.  It still really smells in here.  You can see the stains on the subfloor.

Fireplace.  The trim belongs on the window to the left.

Two bedrooms and a bath upstairs.

Dining room and kitchen.

For some reason these cabinets are missing.

Main floor laundry.

Master bedroom.

Double closets in master bedroom.

Master bath.  You think that toilet looks bad?  I get to take it out.  I need a hazmat suit!

Master bath.

Balcony.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2, both upstairs.

Really badly stained floor.  The tannish spot in the middle is deteriorated carpet pad.  It's stuck to the floor.

Upstairs bath. Same layout as master bath.

Upstairs bath.

Holes punched in the wall leading down to the basement.

The rest of the basement stairs.

Basement family room.

Basment family room.  There used to be a door on the left.  It's gone.

Looks like they had a little water event in the kitchen and flooded the ceiling in the family room.

Furnace/Storage.  The furnace looks like a high efficiency unit so I won't have to replace it.