Day 5!

Today I started to tackle the kitchen. It went very quickly after the first few cabinets came out. The kicker though about the whole thing was inside one of the walls was a picture book from 1953 of most of the family, receipts, an old shopping list, a few books of matches, and various odds and ends. (pictures of the wall find to come soon). The weather broke and was cooler today so I ended up being able to work longer than originally planned. Most of the kitchen walls came down, the sink, counter (which by the way decided to remain one piece and very nearly killed me), and cupboards. The only real surprise, other than the antifreeze down the sink that is now fairly ingrained in my clothing, as a spot of bad electrical wiring that gave me a pretty bad jolt when taking the wall mounting screws out of it. Though all in all day five is done with no serious damage to myself or Amber. Injuries thus far include: stepped on nail, nail through the hand, electrical jolt, claw hammer hand strike and a few minor scrapes.

Pictures of day 2&3

Here are the promised pictures from day two and three

Day two and three all rolled into one

Pictures are to come later, day two consisted of tearing out shelves and walls to expose the structural elements of the house.  As it turns out they are in good shape and over built (score!).  Day three was more of the same though as space ran out in the staging areas my lovely coworker Amber helped me strip nails out of salvageable planks and sheets.

D-Day

After many months of contemplation, more than enough gumption and almost enough money to take this on, today was the first day of repairing Dee and Elizabeth DeLind's house on 2188 Hamilton rd.  Though I guess it is actually my house now and is in need of more work than I can reasonably understand at this point. For starters "repairing" today consisted of tearing out carpet and sub-flooring.

I subconsciously decided to purchase the property a few years ago before I had the means or the understanding of what needed to be done to it. Through a series of advantageous events regarding this (graduating college, getting a job, and of course the fact the place never sold) I found myself proud owner of an 1850's brick house in the heart of downtown on 1.3 acres of land. First and foremost I would like to thank my family (though I'm sure most of them will never read a "blog") for supporting me with the decision, cutting me deals, and helping finance. It is much appreciated and will probably keep me out of trouble for at least two years...

  On to day one. No better of a time to start a project than in 87 degree weather, especially if it involves removal of carpet, foam rubber, and subfloor. It went according to plan for the most part today though the plywood is old enough that the glue doesn't hold the pieces together so taking it out is a real pain in the ass.  What at this point appears to be a oak plank floor underneath will some day more than make up for it, after a quarter inch is ground down into it. Structurally the foundation, floors, and roof seem to be in excellent shape though thats about where it ends. I guess blogs should have purpose, so, this one is to document a young adult struggling to re-establish a house for the fourth generation.