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.