Author: Sarah

Fiber artist, gamer, and jack-of-all-trades... A million and one hobbies to be dabbled in. Wife, cat-owner, and pregnant. Shortly - the General Contractor. Always the love of my husband's life.

Greenwash Hogwash?

March 9, 2012 / / 2 Comments

So, the biggest decision at the moment is whether or not we are going to go through the Chicago Green Home and/or LEED Home certification process.  Matt probably touched on this subject in previous posts, but it is turning out to be a much bigger deal than we had anticipated.  For one, the architect will charge more for going through the process than if we skip it, because the plans are much more complex for the certifications as is required.  And, adding in additional items to make the requirements of the certification will be more expensive.   In general, doing the Green Home and/or LEED certification costs more.  Much more than we thought that it would, unfortunately.

The question of the day is… Is it worth it?  We were planning on doing most of the energy conservation projects/upgrades anyway, so this process isn’t too much different from what we were planning on doing.   But, how much value DOES it actually bring to the table?  We dug around to see if we could get concrete numbers on how much more valuable a home is with the certifications vs. not, but the best that Matt could find was office building comparisons.  This particular type of building with a certificate is just too new to get an accurate sense of the value that it would be adding to our home.   Will buyers want LEED certified homes in ten years?  Or, is this just a fad that will mean little to nothing in the too near future?  We don’t know.

For now, we continue to get quotes from architects and dig through the internet to find out more information on what we are signing up for.  Because, in the end, we are doing this to make money – not spend it on unnecessary procedures.

The Next Step…

February 29, 2012 / / 1 Comment

So, the next step in this process (now that we have the basement mostly cleared out) is getting an architect and having a blueprint made.  At one point we debated either trying to skip this or do it later, but with the possibility that the structure work would be changed by the blueprints we decided to do this first.  It was just the logical choice when we sat down and went over the big picture.

Below we have a rough sketch of what the backyard and garage will look like when it is done.  Matt did this all from scratch and you can see that he’s very talented.  If he had decided to finish his degree in architecture, I am sure that he would have made a great architect.

Back Yard Model

With Derek needing a little less maintenance these days, we plan on finishing the demo in the basement shortly and possibly starting the next project (which hasn’t been determined yet).  We are both super excited to be going onto the next step/project, especially after seeing Marcus’s renovation progress at his Open House this last weekend.   We were glad that he hosted it, as he’s much further along in his renovation.  We were able to see what ours will similarly look like in the future (in terms of the guts of the walls and some of the utility setup).  You can see Matt, Derek, and I in the video on Marcus’s post about the Open House.   I can’t wait until our house is looking that good!

Thank Goodness for Friends and Family!

August 13, 2011 / / 0 Comments

It has been a long process. Almost two months since we have closed and we still aren’t quite ready to move in.

However, I would be remiss if I did not thank my family and our friends for their help over these past two months.

Matt B. looking VERY tired after all of his hard work

Thank you Aaron, Eileen, Collin, and David for your awesome demoing and gardening skills. Thank you Matt L. for helping us move big items. Thank you Will for helping us remove cabinets and flooring. Thank you Matt B. for sacrificing your vacation days to come down and help. Thank you Dean and Siobhan for everything that you did, especially for the use of your truck and the kitchen appliances. Thank you Meg and Eriq for helping us install various items, clean walls, and the air conditioner. We have used it more than a few times! Thank you James for helping with the kitchen, the microwave/ladder, and for stopping by to see if we needed anything. Thank you Nikki and Rob for also helping us transport big items, for lending out your awesome tools, and for the amazing ceiling fans that you found. Thank you Tony and Jenn for the free dishwasher. The loan/gift of various appliances have made it so we can afford to do the structure right away. The free labor also helps us with this goal.

Sarah’s Dad

And, a very, very big thank you to my parents who helped us out every single week. Without your generosity with help and tools we would not be moving in on the 20th. You really do spoil the hell out of me. And if you ever need ANYTHING, please do not hesitate to ask. We are just a phone call away. 🙂

And, if I forgot anyone, thank you so much for everything! We have the best family and friends we could ever dream of.

It Can Be Fixed!

July 19, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Towards the beginning I decided to tear some tiles off the wall in the second story kitchen by the living room door.  Here is a picture of me in the process…

You may be wondering why I did it?  Well, the tiles were only half-glued on in the first place.  And, there were cockroaches running under them.  So, I tore them off.

But, I had to fix the mess I made…

Aside from the chimney stains already coming through the Spackle, it doesn’t look too bad.  I will need to prime it before painting it (maybe a couple of times), but I generally pretty proud of the Spackling job that I did. 🙂

Layers of a Really Rotten Onion

July 10, 2011 / / 3 Comments

You have probably figured out by now that we picked a real piece of work when it comes to this house.  One of the most frustrating aspects we are currently facing is trying to get the house into a livable state.  That means no pests, working kitchen/bathroom/etc., and everything is clean.  It doesn’t sound all that difficult, but the reality is that every single time we touch something we find out that it was done completely wrong.  And, not just a little wrong but really stupidly wrong.  This means that we are going back and having to redo a lot of stuff. Like fix the bathroom completely.  Redo flooring.  Fix windows, paint everything, buy lots and lots and lots of stuff, and still manage to find more stuff to fix or replace.

My visual example of how terrible this place is happens to be found in the garage.  But, it is a reflection on what can be found throughout the whole property.

If you aren’t catching everything going on in this picture, I will break it down for you.  First, there is a triple outlet connecting one extension cord to another.  Second, the one extension cord has been sliced up past the plug.  Third, the cord is plugged into two different outlets at the same time.  Fourth, they have done this before but on the two outlets to the left of the cord as seen by the scorch marks on the triple outlet.  So, we have a plethora of issues at hand here.  And, I won’t even mention how they are getting power to the garage (or that the garage previously burned down to this garage).