In mid-November, ~D and I closed on our first house. It's a great house. Certainly better than a lot of the crap that we saw when we were looking. It's an old house, but in very good condition. It has a dry basement (a rare event in this town), the slate roof looked solid - no major leaks in the attic, and it was well-kept by the previous owners, cosmetically as well as structurally. We know that it'll have its quirks, but we don't have to worry about it being a death trap for us or our one-year-old daughter, ~J.
On our side was the fact that the seller, Mrs. M, was a little OCD about drafts in the winter. They had the house insulated (cellulose blown into the walls) and some of the windows have been replaced. They put in a new gas furnace about 5 years ago. They've kept up with the landscaping, painted the walls before selling the house, and even did somewhat of a bathroom remodel. While we don't agree with their aesthetic choices (they clearly like the country look), they obviously cared about how the house looked.
So what have we done so far?
- Changed the locks and doorknobs. The old ones wouldn't keep a chipmunk out if it pushed hard enough. Mr. M clearly had an unhealthy obsession with wood putty and coated half of the jamb side in the stuff so that the latch wouldn't. I cleaned it out, put in a new strike plate (there hadn't been one at all) and we put in a new deadbolt, as we weren't given the keys for the existing one. It took a lot longer than it should have on account of having to drill, clean, and line everything up right, but we secured our home in the first weekend.
- Painted. The master bedroom was baby blue with a blueish-silver area carpet. It is now a medium-ish taupe (kept the trim white), with the same carpet, but it goes very well with our silvery-teal bedspread. We have also painted our big shelving unit to match.
~J's room was originally off-white. It is now a sweet light pink with random green stripes. We added a small coordinating green shag area rug (about the size of a bath mat) and a shelving/cube unit for her toys and books. Her new bedspread has a green stripe at the bottom with pink flowers coming up from it.
- Ripped out the rhododendron. It was eating the side of the house. It was going to be more of a liability than an asset really quickly - it blocked the front window so anyone could break in and not be seen; it was also going to start interfering with the porch roof pretty soon. It's out and we've got a big scar in the front yard, but we'll be taking care of that in the spring when we get started on our landscaping projects.
- Took down/out various crap, such as the iron, horse-shaped sign on the back deck that read "Mrs. M's porch," and all sorts of hangers, shelves, etc.
- New appliances! We dropped a ton at Lowe's one day - new fridge, stove, washer/dryer. The fridge was delivered the next day. The rest came a week later because the gas dryer needed to be special ordered and we figured we'd just have them deliver everything else at once. A couple of weeks after the fridge arrived, we hooked up the ice maker using the water line in the kitchen that the M's used for their washing machine.
Our plan with the washer/dryer was to get a stacking unit and move them to the mudroom at the back of the house (off the kitchen), where the M's had their dryer. We had originally intended that ~D would do this, until he called the plumbing department to ask if a permit was necessary, thereby announcing our intentions, and, because of MA law, requiring that we contract a plumber to do it.
The plumber we went with is fantastic. He's a great guy. He came in and hooked up our new stove (which also required a permit) while he was in town on another job, and looked at what we wanted to do with the washer. $1000 and a couple weeks later, the morning of our annual holiday party/gift swap, we had a washer/dryer. I've never been so excited to do laundry in my life. No more laundromats!
- A new sanitary line. While the plumber was connecting the washer/dryer, ~D was off with ~J doing some shopping. The plumber came upstairs, saying "uh, Lisa, can you come down here?" Not words you want to hear from your plumber. So down to the basement I went, to see our main sanitary line spraying all over the floor, while the plumber and his assistant are trying to get a bucket under it. Fortunately it was just shower water at that point. The old line was cast iron, which corrodes over time. While they were disconnecting the old washer drain, they knocked a bit of the corrosion off, opening a hole. I was able to stop most of the leak with electrical tape - they had tried duct tape, but I watched Mythbusters and know that duct tape won't save a sinking boat because as soon as it gets wet, the adhesive hardens and won't stick. We knew this was something that would need doing, but had hoped we'd have a little bit of time before having to. We got the proposal just after Christmas, and it was replaced a week and a half ago.
- A new water heater. There was all sorts of trial and error for getting a hot shower with sufficient water pressure. We figured it out, and then the gas company suggested a new heater because it was 12+ years old (the old one was and the new one is leased). So there is a new, more efficient, hot water heater.
- Speakers wired into the walls. No more stringing cable with cable ties all around our living room! It took a couple of hours, but we have our surround sound wired without any visible wires. So nice.
- Roof work. We have a slate roof. While generally solid, it was clear to us and our inspector that we needed a slate guy to come check it out. So we did. Slate guy found about 15 tiles and some flashing needing replacing. So we did it before winter set in. The M's slate guy suggested patching it with more tar. Sure, a smaller price tag, but we didn't want to be dealing with the later problems that that could lead to. So we had our guy do it right. We'll call him back in the spring to finish the washer hookup (the drain needs to be vented through the 3-season porch roof which is slate) and have him check for any winter damage. We plan on seeing him annually...
I'm sure there's other stuff we've done, but that's what we've finished so far...
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