Linda and I have acquired (through a lot of sweat) a lot of skills and knowledge, right out of the books. Before we moved into this house on New Year's Day, during a rain shower (all day long), in 1979, I had never done ANY kind of carpenter, electrical wiring, plumbing, lighting, mowing (acreage), masonry, and generally any kind of repair or remodeling, that requires a certain skill. I (We!) just read good. Sometimes I read good several times! You might say 'we do it all.' Linda has learned right along with me, and is VERY skilled and crafty. She could easily manage and supervise remodeling houses, with all the credibility of a professional. I thank Linda for giving me a boot in the rear each time I started to falter, and slack off. We recently finished-off our hallway leading out to the familyroom. It entailed making the door trim and moulding, and matching the ceiling tile with the new suspended ceiling tile in the kitchen and diningroom. Now stay with me on this: the trim had been laying on the floor, up against the wall, in the familyroom for "4 or 5 years!" Sometimes you just forget about things, right? After passing through the doorway for a couple of months, it just lost it's importance. That job has been my biggest failing, for letting it go on for such a long time. It's finished now, and looks great. Linda picked-up an idea on painting the walls - apply a base coat and then the final color, but prior to it drying, you spread out a thin sheet of drop cloth plastic, and 'squoosh' it around with your fingers. The effect is very pleasing and attractive. Nice going, Linda!
Our most recent project was making a china cabinet counter top, from the planks we removed from our kitchen interior wall, during demolition, for remodeling our kitchen. The planks (1 x 12) were Long Leaf Pine, found only thru demolition or by the foot ($6.50) from high quality lumber outlets. We ended up with about 10 - 15 planks. We started to throw them away at first, and one day a carpenter came by to look at a vehicle I had for sale, and saw the boards leaning against our work shop. He told us what we had, and suggested getting them inside out of the weather, before they were ruined. It would have cost about $200 - $300 to have the nails removed, and run through a planer. That was out of the question, so I bought a belt sander and $40 worth of belts, and went to work! Needless to say, it took 2 -3 weeks just to sand them down to a suitable quality. This wood was stopped being milled back in the 20's & 30's, and Believe Me that wood was hard. It had apparently been used once before on the exterior of a structure, because it was weathered and solid! You couldn't drive a nail into it - all the holes had to be drilled. After the sanding was complete, Linda and I took it all to the Randolph AFB Wood Hobby Shop (very convenient, with all the tools, for a small hourly fee) and ripped all the necessary pieces we needed - 3 and 4 inch wide slats, and all the facings. We mounted it on top of base cabinets, from HomeDepot, and put a nice finish on it, and then had a small brass plate made, telling a short history about it, and the builders, and screwed it onto the front edge of the facing. It really looks nice, and we are extremely proud of it. The dimensions are approximately 2 feet deep, and 6 feet wide, with a 4" backsplash. The thickness of the planks varied from board to board, which caused a lot of sanding.
(Nov 9, '98), We are remodeling our second bedroom. Each section we have remodeled, we've
had to stud the walls, and apply sheetrock! This 'ole farm house was constructed with
hollow clay blocks, that are colored kind of orange. The blocks make up the exterior of
the house (except for the stucco covering we had applied a few years ago), and on the
inside, the "builders' (?) installed lathing strips to the blocks, and used about
1/4" of insulation, and then paneled it! Can you imaging how cold this house was in
the winter time? We have all the sheetrock up, and added two outlets, plus the alarm
wiring for the windows. This was an ideal time to install wiring, with the walls wide
open. On one of the walls, we added 2 x 4's to frame an inset shelving affair. There is
one on each side of the double windows. They are about 3' high by 20" wide. The are
lined with sheetrock, and when we start the wood trim finishing, there will be a 1 x 6 (or
8) sill. All the taping and floating still has to be done, but we sure put a large dent in
it! Once we make the trim and moulding for the windows and door, plus the base board, this
job will be almost finished.
I plan on retiring and doing a little fishing when we get done ... oh, oh .. I forgot that
we were going to start on a new "in ground" pond this winter. Oh well, maybe
I'll get to go fishing later on!
(October 24, 1999) The remodeling of our LaundryRoom and Bathroom is complete. This was a
major undertaking, with no time to spare, so we contracted with a gentleman we know from a
previous job (removing an interior load-bearing wall - not to be undertaken by an
unknowing novice!) We are very pleased with the way everything turned out!!!
The LaundryRoom was an add-on, from the previous owners (1979). The floor was plywood, sitting on 2 x 4's, right in the dirt. We have had skunks dig under the wall and die! What a pleasant surprise ... This part of the house was unkept, used for storage, washer & dryer facilities, had an old inoperable toilet,and was a major eyesore! Cleaning it was not the ticket - it needed to be replaced. Paul (the 'contractor') removed the floor, plumbing, electrical, the inside covering of the exterior walls, and the old suspended ceiling. What a mess. This reminds me of a quote that is SO TRUE, concerning "contractors". "The contractor says, 'for the next 3 or 4 weeks, you're going to hate me and call me every name you can think of', BUT when I am finished, we'll be the best of friends." The laundryroom now sits on a concrete slab, air tight (no varmits), has a central AC duct from the main house, a nice vinyl floor covering, vanity & sink, a great functional toilet, an exterior door that actually works (easily), new lock & deadbolt, a new suspended ceiling, stucco walls, and good utility hook-ups for the washer & dryer. It is really a pleasure to use the toilet and do the laundry (not necessarily at the same time!).
The bathroom was the first remodeling project we took on when we moved into this house over twenty years ago. So we thought it was about due an update. Nothing structurally was altered, but a new tub, toilet, and sink were installed. This time we used ceramic tile for the counter top and tub surround, the walls were sponge painted with two shades of green, new vinyl tile flooring, and new lights were added. The bathroom now looks fresh and clean again! Good for another twenty years!
(Dcember 31, 1999) WAIT A MINUTE - WHOAAA ... more information is going to be added. I just finished installing the toilet in the laundryroom! "What?" you say. After about two weeks, the toilets (both) backed-up. We were without a toilet for about three days. The cost was in excess of $1,000.00, and a lot of pain & anger, and a lot of raw sewage on the laundryroom floor. The contractor screwed-up the sewer plumbing, and it had to be redone. A big hole had to be cut in the new floor of the laundryroom, for a new sewer line to the septic tank. The tile on the floor suffered a lot of damage, and I had to cut new pieces to fit around the toilet base. I still need to caulk around the toilet base, and the baseboard, but atleast it's working now. Ever put a waxring on the bottom of a toilet? Our toilet was sitting on some newspapers for about two weeks, while we added filler and patched the concrete that the plumber filled-in the big hole with. The filler had to be added 1/4" at a time. What a pain in the butt! When it came time to put the waxring on, I had to set the toilet on top of two cinder blocks, standing on end, in order to get it high enough. My legs were about 1" short of being long enough to raise the toilet easily. I would have leaned the toilet on it's side, but the lower bowl portion still had water in it. The box that the waxring came in said to turn the toilet upside down, and then install the waxring! RIGHT ... under ideal circumstances, that would've been fine! That's when the cinder blocks came into play. One wall may have to be repainted ... the plumber had to run a snake down the sewer opening, and a lot of sewage splattered on the wall. Several dings were cut into the tile floor, and it was a maddening mess for a couple of days, but now we're up and running again!
Remember what I said on the other page about "no matter how much you pay a contractor?" We were very pleased with his work, until this problem came up. Oh well, this will probably be the VERY LAST project before we sell this place and move into a GardenHome in San Antonio. Seems like no matter how much you pay, or how little you pay, the contractor will always get to you!
(March 23, 2001) We sold the house !!!!!!
Well, we have moved !!!! It had come time to move back to civilization, with basically no responsibilities as far as upkeep and repairs or remodeling. With all projects complete, the only future project would have been to rebuild the workshop/storage/boat house!
We just up and decided it was time to leave. All the work had become overwhelming, and we were both sick and tired of working all week-end, every week-end!
I made a list of things that needed repairing or fixing, and it took almost 4 months to get to the stage of showing the house to prospects. We had a sign made, and stuck it in the ground out by the road (For Sale by Owner). Many people looked at it, and most were scared-off by the price ($119,000). A couple of families tried to qualify for homeloans, and couldn't swing it. But lo-and-behold, I was talking to a friend in a garage one day (having the truck repaired), and he asked if I had ever sold our house yet (I had mentioned to him a year earlier that we may try to sell it). The Service Manager was a friend of his also, and overheard the conversation. He asked about the house, but never really seemed that interested in it, but finally called one day and wanted to look at it. It was love at first sight - they wanted it! We had contracted with a realtor to try to sell it, just 2 days before they called us - we weren't getting enough exposure! After being contacted by the prospective buyer, the realtor told us there wouldn't be a commission if a previous potential buyer bought the house within 60 days! The contract process was long and drawn-out, but we finally got all the papers together, the buyer got his homeloan, and we closed on March 8th. By doing all the paper & leg work, we saved about $7,000. Linda researched the internet, and we downloaded all the necessary forms for the legal agreements. It was very tense during this process, and at some points we got very discouraged, but it payed-off.
The new owners are from Converse, Texas (sub of San Antonio), and we wish them the very best with their new house, and property. Our 22 years there were joyous and a learning experience.
We bought an older house in a retirement community, with paid yard upkeep, just North
of San Antonio. There's a guarded gate entrance, with nightly patrols, and all
residents are over 55, with no children allowed. The association has a lot of rules,
but we really enjoy the seclusion, the quiet, and the lack of mobile homes being
plunked-down on small roadside lots, with 4 or 5 junk cars towed-in to keep everyone
company! Sound sarcastic? We started out in a quiet country setting, and as
the years went by, all kinds of junky mobile homes were setting-up all around us, and
there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it! Well, we're happy now, and except
for a small carloan, we are completely out of debt, with new furniture, water softner, and
a reverse osmosis treatment system. On the weekends, instead of cutting grass, I'll
be relaxing and doing what I want, instead of being dictated to by the old house &
property!
Best of luck to all who have read these few stories of ours. We wish you a happy ending also!
Dan