Tuesday, December 14, 2004

As Is

Eventually (ten year plan), we will gut the house one summer and move in with my folks next door (Sshh, don't tell them. They don't know yet).

As we continue to catalogue all the things we want to change about the house, it is becoming clearer that we'd be best served by a total overhaul, or at least half an overhaul. The house can more or less be divided into the original section and the addition. We’re basically satisfied with the addition and will continue to do little improvements here and there that don’t need a concerted plan and can be done as funds and opportunity arise.

The original house, however, suffers from a series of maladies that if we fix one, we’ll first need to fix two others. We’re thinking now that we should stop trying to improve that part of the house, and instead wait until we have the money and accrued vacation time to do it all at once. At that time we’ll move all our possessions into the addition, do the demo ourselves, bring in contractors to do parts we can’t or wouldn’t have time to do in such a compressed period of time, and then do the finishing (laying tile, painting, etc.) ourselves.



First Floor of the House (not to scale)
Current Problems by floor:
Basement:
-Cement floor needs to be stripped of flaking, ineffective sealant
-Saltillo and in-floor heating to be layed
-Bathroom needs to be stripped out and moved into back corner
Main Floor:
-Floor and ceiling have sagged, roly-poly floor to be torn out and replaced with subfloor that will support tile or slate (sagging ceiling not such a big deal).
-Spiral stair dominates front room and is treacherous to climb, especially with laundry in tow. Needs to be moved and replaced by conventional stairs.
-Main floor is divided up into boxy little rooms that constrict traffic and aren't very useful. Current pattern of walls actually restrict flow of heated air from primary heat source (wood stove).
Upstairs:
I'll leave this for Brit to outline.

2 comment(s):

  • SD--

    You are better than A and I. So planful.

    We just stayed in denial and now the restoration is slowly taking up our living space. We have now been squished down to approximately 28% of the space available in our house. It is a very tight fit.

    Run for the folks' house! Run, I say!

    And have a nice holiday.

    jm over at HouseinProgress


    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/15/2004 04:32:00 PM  

  • I like soup.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12/18/2004 06:05:00 PM  

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