Jan
21
“Can We Perhaps Add a Couple of Days onto January?”
January 21, 2008 |
Sprinting towards the finish line on House #2 as far as trying to wrap it up by the end of the month, but it’s probably 50/50 as far as whether I’ll make it. Well, more likely 25/75. Oh, who the hell am I kidding. 10/90? 5/95?
There’s still a lot of painting ahead of me, which will likely be the hold-up and reason I go a week or two over. But somehow or other, it’s looking like all the major stuff will be done. Which is a slight small miracle in and of itself, as the last week saw some pretty major progress.
I’d been holding my breath on the last major obstacle for the new bathroom, which was removing enough of the concrete slab so that the plumbers can run all the pipes and vents and get out under the foundation footer to tie into the existing lines. A couple of the contractors who originally came out many moons ago to bid on the project (before disappearing) weren’t at all encouraging about that prospect, quoting me prices of $150-$200/ft for cutting out the necessary area with a concrete saw and jackhammer. While my contractor was willing to give it a shot, I assumed we were in for an extended nightmare, if the going rate for such work is that high.
In the end, not so much. In fact, anti-extended nightmare, as all the sawing and jackhammering took about two hours total, with another hour for cutting out rebar and cleaning up. We were done before lunch and had the rental equipment back in time to just get charged for half a day. Total cost to remove about 15 sq. ft of concrete? About $250 plus some thank-you beer for the guys coming out on a Saturday to tackle it.
We also got the old gas floor furnace out, almost accidentally. There was one old floor furnace in the bathroom hallway and we were looking at it to see what to do about the hardwood floors there, as far as patching or inserting some inlay design once it was removed. We lifted it out enough to see how thick the old floors were, and it was coming out fairly easily (it was disconnected from the gas lines, so no need to monkey with that), and some banging and cursing and crawling under the house to insert a jack underneath it resulted in no more gas furnace to worry about, which was another nagging item in the back of my mind that I’d never tackled before and wasn’t sure how long it’d take.
All the tile is currently going in, as we’re on hold for the last of the sheetrock work, waiting on the plumbers to work their magic so we can have the rough inspection, before sealing the last of everything back up. Trim and crown moulding and some door casings are going in, so rooms are actually looking like rooms again.
Seems like I’ve been over there more than at home for the last few weeks, but at least the end is in sight. The only downside to all the above happy-happy progress talk is that the budget is on fumes, and I’m probably going over by a couple of thousand dollars. That “miscellaneous” category will bend you over every time, as trim, light fixtures, and outlets add up too damn quickly.
We’ve had a surprising number of showings of House #1, but still no offers. Still on the fence about whether or not to reduce the price further, just to get it gone, but I’m leaning towards leaving it where it is at $89,500 and giving it a month, and renting it out if it doesn’t move by then.
Comments
3 Comments so far
Ever think about renting an airless sprayer? I’ve looked into them at the local rental place. The guy there told me that I’d be doing more taping/masking than painting. From what I’ve read and discussed with people, this is the way to go. Especially since I’m having carpet installed just before the sign in the front yard goes up.
Thots……
Bill,
I actually got an airless paint sprayer for Christmas and it’s about to get a workout in the coming week or two. I’ve been playing catchup on trim work so far and haven’t had a chance to bust it out, but painting the entire exterior is going to be its first big test.
Very cool! Let me know how that experience goes. Too cold here for outdoor painting. I’ll have to wait for spring. I’m going to use one for 3 bedrooms and a large living room. All neutral color. Rooms have beautiful 10″ crown molding that need taped off. No fun there. I’m hoping that I can paint coat 1 in the afternoon/evening, then paint coat 2 the next morning. Am I too wishful in that? Is there something that can be added to the paint to speed up the latex paint drying time?