See that? That's the permit baby! It's finally gonna start getting real up in here! Seriously though, just a quick update today. Our contractor tells me that the first stage of construction will involve grading the backyard and digging the foundation. Not sexy stuff, but still very necessary, so the hubby and I popped by the house to see if anything had been done (and if any cool photo ops were to be had). Imagine our surprise when we saw that our deck had already been removed:
Imagine the horror when we saw this:
Eep. We knew that there was a problem with one of the support beams at the back of the house (you could see daylight between the baseboard and the floor in the kitchen), but it's very sobering to see just how rotted that beam had gotten. Our best guess is that the deck was not installed properly, and when it rained water collected there and eventually rotted the beam through. I guess it's good we're doing the reno, huh?
Oh well, we're going to take care of it and make our house a much better/happier place to live. I'll be updating all through the process, so keep watching this space for other Horrifying Home Pics. In the meantime I'll leave you with this somewhat forlorn shot of our empty hallway.
That last pic is equal parts sadness (empty house!) and potential (empty house is gonna look awesome!)
ReplyDeleteI am curious; since this is such an old home with potential hidden costs of repair along the way, wouldn't it cost you less money to buy another house one that is newer and might not have so many structural issues. I am speaking specifically about economics.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the reno and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.
We love the location & the house & just want to bring out its potential. Our renovation is more about love than economics. We're making the house we want to live in, not the optimal investment decision.
ReplyDeleteOh geez gavintiegirl- I'm sorry I missed your comment! It's pretty much what Les said. It's always been our dream to buy an old house and bring it back to it's original glory. We knew when we bought it that we were probably going to spend more money on it than it would be worth in the long run.
ReplyDeleteYou are dead right, economically speaking, we could probably have a brand new house built from the ground up cheaper than the cost of the renovation. But we love the charm of our old house, we love living in this neighborhood and this part of town, and we don't have any plans to sell it for many, many years.