It does look great! I agree, people don't use recycled materials often enough. It can really take down the price of a project, even if you end up hiring a couple friends to help with the project. Very impressive.
How to buy a Fixer Up House to be a Home.
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It does look great! I agree, people don't use recycled materials often enough. It can really take down the price of a project, even if you end up hiring a couple friends to help with the project. Very impressive.
melvingcrane
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Thanks for the great tips. I was planning to buy a new house near a tropical area. Here provided glimpses has given me good knowledge about this house buying concept.
Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum. Progress is slowing down a little but I am still finding ways to do something for little to no money. I had one large spot in the yard that grass wasnt growing to well. I thought I would work on that problem and when I started digging out there I found the problem. It was all brick pavers under an inch of grass. Seems someone built a place out there and then let it grow over. I now have them all dug out and planning to use them for a brick path up to the hot tub deck.
There is no end to this. Haha.
Neat thread! Here's my story.
Got this:
Front before
Rear before:
One year down the road
Front Now
Rear Now.
I hired a framing contractor to dry in the rear addition. He added about 900 Sq Ft, he did an outstanding job and we've become friends. I learned a lot about foundations and framing from this guy. So glad I did not try to do this myself. He masterfully blended the new to the old.
I built the windows myself out of 100 + year old cypress that had been discarded and left to rot. The nail holes are the best part, I fill any through holes with epoxy. Just about everybody who sees this cottage comments on the windows and especially the nail holes, folks just love that stuff.
The siding was also rescued by a friend of mine. It was free, but required a ton of work to get into the condition you see in the picture. Took me 5 days to do that rear wall.
The floors in the addition are 3/4" thick Heart Pine. I saw an old brick house, turned out to be 1941, that was being carefully torn down. Turned out the guy doing it wanted the bricks and the wood floors were in the way. He did not have permission to stack anything outside unless it was on a trailer. He was thrilled I'd come get the flooring "out of his way". I got enough that I'll be using it for ceiling under the rear porch.
We moved in on month 8, don't have a kitchen yet just a make do setup. I've learned to be very patient and watch like a hawk for old wood.
I brought zero skills to this project. The only thing I've ever done is type. It's been a tough job, but also one of the most satisfying things I've ever done.
Got this:
Front before
Rear before:
One year down the road
Front Now
Rear Now.
I hired a framing contractor to dry in the rear addition. He added about 900 Sq Ft, he did an outstanding job and we've become friends. I learned a lot about foundations and framing from this guy. So glad I did not try to do this myself. He masterfully blended the new to the old.
I built the windows myself out of 100 + year old cypress that had been discarded and left to rot. The nail holes are the best part, I fill any through holes with epoxy. Just about everybody who sees this cottage comments on the windows and especially the nail holes, folks just love that stuff.
The siding was also rescued by a friend of mine. It was free, but required a ton of work to get into the condition you see in the picture. Took me 5 days to do that rear wall.
The floors in the addition are 3/4" thick Heart Pine. I saw an old brick house, turned out to be 1941, that was being carefully torn down. Turned out the guy doing it wanted the bricks and the wood floors were in the way. He did not have permission to stack anything outside unless it was on a trailer. He was thrilled I'd come get the flooring "out of his way". I got enough that I'll be using it for ceiling under the rear porch.
We moved in on month 8, don't have a kitchen yet just a make do setup. I've learned to be very patient and watch like a hawk for old wood.
I brought zero skills to this project. The only thing I've ever done is type. It's been a tough job, but also one of the most satisfying things I've ever done.
Remout
Thanks for posting and great looking progress. A big part of this is knowing when to ask for help and you were fortunate to find a builder that would work with you in a way that you could also learn new skills as you go.
As a kid growing up in the 60s my dad was building our house and it seemed there was always a house being built in the neighborhood. The guys building the houses didnt seem to mind a kid standing around watching as long as you stayed out of the way, so that was my summer entertainment growing up. There is a lot to be learned by watching. The guys would pile the scrap wood in the front yard to burn at the end of the job and if I was around they never had any to burn as we would haul it off in a red wagon for a tree house. The best part was builders back then still used hammers and they dropped as many nails as they hammered in so we had crawl around the footer after they went home to get nails. I asked my dad how come they dropped so many nails and he said oh those are the ones that had the head on the wrong end. I said what and he said yep, those guys are too stupid to know they could have used them on the other side of the house.
Keep us posted with the progress, many of us know exactly what you mean when you said it is the most satisfying thing you ever done.
:"That time in between really helps I can’t tell how many times I was stumped on the next step of something and quite for the night. The next morning I knew just what I wanted to do and could hardly wait to get home from work and do it."
This has happened to me on many projects but after a night of brain storming I would often come up with a solution. I was doing some electrical work one day and just couldn't figure out how to wire a switch. That night, the solution came to me in a dream, I couldn't believe it! Apparently I'm smarter when I'm unconscious.
This has happened to me on many projects but after a night of brain storming I would often come up with a solution. I was doing some electrical work one day and just couldn't figure out how to wire a switch. That night, the solution came to me in a dream, I couldn't believe it! Apparently I'm smarter when I'm unconscious.
As a young guy just getting into the design game the company I work for sent me to a class on creative thinking. A large part of that process was knowing the idea or solution to a problem would normally not come to you fast. The more creative the idea the longer it may take. The idea was around before computers but was similar and when given a daunting task of inventive thinking you should not try and solve the problem right off rather load your mind with all the known facts of what you want to do. Then let the subconscious mind work on it even when you sleep. We used to keep some simpler work around so we didnt look like we were sleeping as we processed the tough one. Most of the time within a day or two it was clear how to best approach the tough problem.
I used to think I should get paid for all night sleeping seeing as how I was figuring out their work in my sleep. The company didnt see it that way.
renoauction
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Thanks for the tips. Well done
Awesome thread. I'm going to add my reno story/pictures here rather than start a new thread, if that's ok:
My wife and I bought a 1947, 3/1.5 1550 sq. ft home just before we got married for $72,000. It was a nice home, and we fixed it up over the 5 years we lived there. We also brought two little heathens into the world during that time (and I say heathens with 100% affection lol), and the house started to become cramped. The plan was to have more kids, so it was time to start looking for another home with more room. We were much (much) closer to broke than loaded, so that meant it was time to get our Chip and Jo on and take on a fixer upper. We listed our house by owner and sold it for $99,000 in 8 weeks, which is great in our neck of the woods (Lima, OH).
We wound up buying a 1913, 3/1.5 2800 sq. ft. double-brick home with tons of character and space to add another bathroom. It was also worn-down, not very open, and generally gross. However, the "bones" of the house were/are great. The basement walls didn't have any cracks and were straight as an arrow, which was already a big improvement over my previous house. It also had a "finished attic and basement" that would offer a 4th bedroom and extra living space, but their definition of finished was very different than my wife and I's. After going through the house a few times (the first time was on a family bike ride and I said "I'd never buy this house") and making a few offers, we wound up purchasing the house for $107,000.
The renovation process was trying and tiring, and there were several times I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into. But it wound up being the best decision we could've possible made. We still have several things we want to do, including finishing/opening up the attic (http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21204), adding a master bathroom inside the existing master bedroom (starting a thread on that soon), and finishing half of the basement, but the pictures attached will show the progress we've already made. Hopefully you enjoy it!
My wife and I bought a 1947, 3/1.5 1550 sq. ft home just before we got married for $72,000. It was a nice home, and we fixed it up over the 5 years we lived there. We also brought two little heathens into the world during that time (and I say heathens with 100% affection lol), and the house started to become cramped. The plan was to have more kids, so it was time to start looking for another home with more room. We were much (much) closer to broke than loaded, so that meant it was time to get our Chip and Jo on and take on a fixer upper. We listed our house by owner and sold it for $99,000 in 8 weeks, which is great in our neck of the woods (Lima, OH).
We wound up buying a 1913, 3/1.5 2800 sq. ft. double-brick home with tons of character and space to add another bathroom. It was also worn-down, not very open, and generally gross. However, the "bones" of the house were/are great. The basement walls didn't have any cracks and were straight as an arrow, which was already a big improvement over my previous house. It also had a "finished attic and basement" that would offer a 4th bedroom and extra living space, but their definition of finished was very different than my wife and I's. After going through the house a few times (the first time was on a family bike ride and I said "I'd never buy this house") and making a few offers, we wound up purchasing the house for $107,000.
The renovation process was trying and tiring, and there were several times I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into. But it wound up being the best decision we could've possible made. We still have several things we want to do, including finishing/opening up the attic (http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=21204), adding a master bathroom inside the existing master bedroom (starting a thread on that soon), and finishing half of the basement, but the pictures attached will show the progress we've already made. Hopefully you enjoy it!
nealtw
Contractor retired
You have done some nice work.
It is more than ok. Exactly why I started the thread in hopes it would collect stories and inspire others. Your house looks great and it is easy to see it is a labor of love. Looks amazing after 103 years. :thbup:
DrakeKoeth
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Going by that, I'm hoping it won't be a faux pas to post since there hasn't been activity on this thread in a while. Threads like this one are exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to find when I found this forum, and it's really inspiring to see the pics and read the stories.
In anticipation of our own project, I'll share a bit more about our new-to-us home: It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath tract house built in 1955. Assuming I've researched correctly, it's a Minimal Traditional style house with a crawlspace foundation. There's an addition on the back side that added the master bedroom & a large family room, which we think probably dates to the 60s or 70s. The exterior is in good shape, and the inside is quite livable but definitely dated. It won't be nearly as big a project as many on this thread, but we also don't really have the skills or resources for a significantly more challenging house right now.
Since we haven't closed yet, I don't have a lot of photos on hand. But I can share some of the listing photos:
Looks like a good solid house and good luck at the closing and congrats. We would love it if you posted before and after shots and even some in the middle here. This thread is for everybody.
I havent posted much to this thread in a while.
I we talked to a bunch of people around here with steel roofs done by the Amish. They have been doing it now for about 30 years and I would say about a quarter of the roofs in our county have went steel. I couldnt find anyone that wasnt happy with the work or the life of the roofs so we gave it a try as shingles around here start looking bad between 10 15 years in and hardly anyone makes it past 20. This material on barns looks great at 40+ years and many homes look brand new after 20.
We had 1200 sq ft covered right over the old roof. They built the whole roof out with 2x4s. and then screwed the tin down and trimmed it out. There were 8 faces to the job and one area was a hip.
The material was 2k and labor 1k. Most of the roof is 10/12 pitch and out of my comfort range. The Amish are not allowed to own power tools but they had no problem using mine as part of the deal. They knocked the whole job out in 12 hours and that included taking my chimney down to the attic floor. Im glad I got that thing down it had no liner of any kind in it just brick and mortar.
I will have to take a few pics of the finished job. Here they are getting started.
I we talked to a bunch of people around here with steel roofs done by the Amish. They have been doing it now for about 30 years and I would say about a quarter of the roofs in our county have went steel. I couldnt find anyone that wasnt happy with the work or the life of the roofs so we gave it a try as shingles around here start looking bad between 10 15 years in and hardly anyone makes it past 20. This material on barns looks great at 40+ years and many homes look brand new after 20.
We had 1200 sq ft covered right over the old roof. They built the whole roof out with 2x4s. and then screwed the tin down and trimmed it out. There were 8 faces to the job and one area was a hip.
The material was 2k and labor 1k. Most of the roof is 10/12 pitch and out of my comfort range. The Amish are not allowed to own power tools but they had no problem using mine as part of the deal. They knocked the whole job out in 12 hours and that included taking my chimney down to the attic floor. Im glad I got that thing down it had no liner of any kind in it just brick and mortar.
I will have to take a few pics of the finished job. Here they are getting started.
oldognewtrick
In memory of
Did you let them hop in the hot tub?
nealtw
Contractor retired
Good choice.
Have you considered that tree.
Have you considered that tree.
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They had a lot of questions about the pool or bath tub I offered to Holly to give them a demo but she declined. The reason I wanted to catch them early in the year is I think they just had their spring baths. It rained the first day they were there and they only got 4 hours work done and a free shower. So day 2 was not so bad.
