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What’s Going On?

April 12, 2020 / / 2 Comments

All this time and no updates. Obviously I haven’t made the blog a priority, and to an extent, the house hasn’t been either. At one point I did write a whole, thorough update, but then I ran into WordPress issues and it didn’t save and I didn’t feel like starting over. That was… months ago. I’m sorry; the house has been been depressing and overwhelming, and writing about the low spots instead of the high spots makes it seem all the worse.

The short version is that we’re still living in the basement, and not much has changed. Why is that, when we were getting quotes and getting ready to get it all done last year? Well, because we finally got quotes. Really big, really expensive quotes. We started going through and trimming things, because we’d asked for what we wanted knowing that we probably couldn’t get it all, but figuring we might as well start there.

We kept trimming, and kept trimming, and in spite of that, the project remained stubbornly expensive to finish. We discussed what we could delay and do later, what we could do ourselves, what we could live without. Honestly, spending so much time on this project, chipping away at it, we’d clung to the dream of what the finished project would be like, so this was fairly painful, giving up things we really wanted. We tried getting alternate quotes, spent more weeks trying to get better numbers, and while we made progress, we ultimately got stuck on a few key points.

First, the total cost, not just the quote of work to be done, but the overall math: what we originally paid for the house, what we’ve put into it so far (just in materials and paid labor, not counting our time), the quote itself, and finally an estimate of what we’d still have to pay down the road. When we add those numbers together, it should be less than the cost of buying an already finished house, otherwise there’s not much point in all this “sweat equity” and basement living we’ve been doing for years and years.

Second, the monthly cost: every ten grand of loan is $50 a month of mortgage payment, even with low rates. Every $50 a month we spend on the house is $50 we don’t have for anything else: savings, furnishings, going out to dinner, going on trips. The work we’re putting off for later still needs to be paid for, and if it’s not in the loan, it’s out of pocket.

Third, I’m obviously cheap. No one that wasn’t cheap would take on a project like this, and a lot of the numbers were just plain high. I’ve come to accept that we don’t really have the free time needed to do finish this project ourselves. But I still have an idea of what labor is involved, what materials cost, and the resultant profit I’m potentially paying someone. I don’t begrudge someone a living, but some of the numbers were just beyond the pale.

All of that meant we didn’t move forward on the plan, even though we didn’t have a better path forward. We didn’t magically have more time and we didn’t have the cash on hand to pay to get parts of the work done. We discussed trying to get all the mechanicals done ourselves or out of pocket so we could spray foam ourselves, and with Dean’s help I’ve done a fair bit of work on the drain and vent plumbing. Besides saving money, it ensures it’s done the way I want it, without soffits everywhere. I’ll make a post about that when it’s closer to done.

With the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone at home, it would sure be nice to have the whole house done, instead of us all crammed into the basement. Unfortunately, we don’t have much more free time than usual because we both have work-from-home day jobs, the kids need help with home schooling, and the house gets messier with everyone home all the time. When we do have free time, it’s kind of nice to spend it with the kids or relaxing rather than fighting the house.

The swing set

I did take the time to build a swing set in the back yard from some leftover pressure treated lumber for the kids. We set up some toys for them to play with in the empty first floor and put up a basketball hoop in the back, since we can’t go anywhere.

We’re back to trying with the same contractor, getting new quotes and trying to hammer this into something we can stomach. We still want the house done, we need siding. At this point all that cursed house wrap will need to be replaced. It’s torn loose in more places and flaps noisily in the wind, an ongoing reminder of the unfinished project. I’d like to get a quote from a different GC, it would either reinforce that the prices are fair or give us another option. I’ve got some recommendations I need to call. One way or another, we’re getting it done. We have a goal of finishing it by Christmas, but to be honest that was the goal last year too.

Bit by Bit

June 26, 2019 / / 6 Comments

It’s been a few months already, so I should probably update you all on where things are, huh? Well, when it comes to visible progress, you haven’t missed much. In order to make progress on the house, we need to get the loan. In order to get the loan, we need the contract, specs, and plans. The contract and specs are also waiting on the plans, so we’re really waiting on the plans.

Don’t we already have plans, you might ask. Well, yes and no. Years ago, I made drawings in SketchUp, we worked with an architect, and we got approved drawings and permits. That was at the end of 2012. Unfortunately, permits don’t last that long, and the plans we have are not accurate in several ways. We got the original permits as a soup-to-nuts omnibus permit that covered everything we were doing. However, since we’ve been doing this mostly ourselves, slowly, that hasn’t worked out as well as it might. It may have been better to break it up into smaller pieces, but that wouldn’t really have worked either, because it wasn’t discrete projects. What it comes down to is that the permit system isn’t really designed for a long gradual project like this.

Our builder suggested an architect he’s worked with previously, and since we weren’t super-thrilled with the architect we had before, we decided to have him revise our plans. He started with the structural plans we used to frame the second floor, checking the work the original architect had made against some of the changes we had decided to make along the way. Then we sat down and went over what we needed to finish everything, and he suggested we draw up new plans that were both correct and, more importantly, only covered the remaining work. That will make it clear to the City, for permits, and the bank, for the loan, the scope of the work.

Instead of having a complicated contract, we can simply have the detail in the plans and build to that. Well, the long and the short of it is that he couldn’t take the plans drawn by our previous architect and update them, apparently they can’t do that. He had to start over, and that meant it took a lot longer than we expected.

He finally finished a few weeks ago. Since then we’ve met with the builder, talked to the bank, started the permit process (again) and met with several of the skilled trade contractors, including plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. Next we need to get quotes and commitments from them so we can put their names on the permit, as well as get their numbers into the bid for the contract, so we can take that to the bank and finalize financing. This will most likely eat up the next couple of weeks. Permit itself typically takes upwards of a month (we’ll see how long it takes us since our luck isn’t great on that front). Financing from where we are is supposedly a couple-few weeks, so we’re hoping that actual work may start around the beginning of August. How long the work will take is still an open question.

So, despite my lack of updates, the only thing you’ve been missing out on is a lot of waiting and a lot of trips to the storage unit, filling it up with all the things in the first floor, which still has a ways to go. Since I hate to make an entire post without photos, I’ll give you our not-quite-completely-full ten-foot-by-ten-foot storage unit.

Still lots of room

House Re-Wrap

March 21, 2019 / / 2 Comments

I just can’t get enough of being at the top of really tall ladders, wishing I had more arms! When you put up house wrap, tape it! Tape it all! We’ve had some really windy days recently, and in a couple of places on the South wall, the house wrap was not up to the job (it’s almost like it’s not supposed to be left exposed all winter). The wind ripped the house wrap clean off the staples and it would flap, loudly, in the breeze, a constant reminder of my failure to adhere it properly the first time.

House wrap blowing away

In my defense, the South wall was put up in sections, so there are more seams than there should be, plus I put it up myself, and house wrap is, by most measures, a two (or four) person job, particularly when you’re twenty feet up in the air. We had a lot of help when we did the North side, but bringing in a bunch of people to repair one twenty-foot long strip seemed like overkill, even if it was up at the top of the wall.

After it tore off the second time, and then a second section came off after that, I realized if I didn’t get it on properly there wasn’t any point in doing it. However, that still left the question of how. While we have two ladders (one is on loan from Mike S), I didn’t want Sarah up on the other ladder, I wanted her holding mine so it didn’t fall over. After the Internet failed to produce an idea (there was one, but it doesn’t work when you’re way up in the air), I came up with how to do it.

House wrap dispenser

I drilled a hole in a block of wood and put one end of a ratchet strap through it, tying a knot to keep it from pulling back through. I ran the rest of the ratchet strap through the 9′ roll of house wrap, making a convenient dispenser that even had a hook at the top. For the first section, there are some conveniently large holes in the top of the wall that let me attach the hanging roll to a ratchet strap inside the attic.

Making progress

With the roll hanging from the top of the wall, I could pull it out and staple (and tape!) it at the start of the section. Then I went into the attic and carefully moved the roll from one side of the section to the other by reaching out through the gap in the wall and passing it around each rafter. Since the one end of the wrap was stapled, it simply unwound as I moved it. Then I went back to the ladder and stapled it all down, taping the bottom seam as well.

I’d originally skipped the bottom tape because I wanted a path for any water that got behind the house wrap to be able to drain out, but the wind catches it like a sail, and each staple that gives make a bigger sail area, increasing the force to pull it free.

House wrap curtain rod

The next section was the real trick. About twelve feet long to the corner, with no holes at the top of the wall, I had nothing to hook the roll on. I came up with a solution that I’m quite proud of. I found a tiny gap in the front corner of the house by the roofline where I could squeeze a ratchet strap out and attach it inside. Once hooked to a second ratchet strap, it was long enough to stretch across the section. I brought the loose end up the ladder and connected it to the ratchet, and made the whole thing taut, right under the roof line.

From there I hung the roll from the taut strap, and slid it along like a curtain rod, unrolling the house wrap as I went, moving the ladder every couple of feet. I cut the house wrap at the correct length to wrap around the front of the house by about a foot, lowered the rest of the roll down, and finally stapled and taped the edges.

House wrap restored (don’t mind the dangling strap)

After all of this, though, I’ve reconsidered something our builder suggested, which is to use Blueskin instead of the house wrap. After all of the time, effort, and money we’d spent to put the house wrap up, I wasn’t really interested when he brought it up several months ago, but now, with the house wrap looking worn and faded from being exposed too long, and an unrelated bit of work that needs to be done on the windows, it’s probably a good idea. It will do a better job of keeping out water and air sealing and still allows the building to dry to the exterior. I hate doing things twice, but even if I’d put up Blueskin in the first place, it would be well past its exposure time in several places.

Second Floor Framing

March 9, 2019 / / 7 Comments

Wow. So, we’re working on the loan to finish the house, but we also didn’t want to lose a month or more while that happens and the builder had a crew available, so we moved forward with framing. We signed the contract on a Thursday, I cleared all of the debris and tools out of the second floor and attic over the weekend, the crew started on Monday, and they finished the following week Tuesday.

What I’m saying is that, in seven days of work, the framing of the second floor and attic was completed. This included the structural work of putting in beams and columns and adding blocking to the outside walls to support the new lowered joists, replacing the subfloor on the second floor, framing the second floor interior walls, the attic subfloor, building stairs up to the attic, adding the collar ties that make the ceiling of the attic rooms, and finally, framing the interior walls in the attic.

I took a video because photos of framed walls are difficult to make sense of

If I had done this work myself, with assistance from friends and family, a rough guess is that it would have taken about a year. That actually makes sense, given that a crew of eight carpenters working for seven days is 56 days worth of work, and a generous estimate is that, on average, I find time to work on the house one day a week.

There are a couple of things that they either didn’t do or did differently than I’d prefer that I intend to simply fix myself, like adding exterior wall fire blocking to the second floor and tweaking a couple of closet walls in the attic where the slope of the roof didn’t exactly align with the drawings. Hopefully I’ll get that done in the next few weeks while we’re working on the loan. That’s a whole other story that I’ll put into its own post.

Can’t Someone Else Do It?

January 29, 2019 / / 2 Comments

It’s been a couple of months since my last post. Sometimes work is diligently continuing even as I don’t update the blog, but in this case, not much has changed. We still don’t have a new roof. We still don’t have siding. We do, however, have a new plan. Whether or not we can bring that plan about and how long it will take, is a separate question.

When we started looking at siding, we got a few quotes. With the two inches of exterior rigid foam, we wound up choosing Hardie board, a cement fiber clapboard siding. I spent a lot of time reviewing other options, but there are a lot of products that will not warranty an installation over more than an inch of foam. In the case of Hardie Board, we’ll need to put up furring strips over the foam that are screwed through the foam and cladding into structure.

When we did the research on siding, we found that there was a big range when it came to cost, so we weren’t sure what to expect in terms of quotes. Without exception, the quotes came back at the top of the range. That means that siding is turning out to be a very big ticket item. So big, in fact, that paying for it out of pocket isn’t really feasible, and getting a loan or floating it on credit cards would put us in the position of paying it back over perhaps three years.

The problem with that is we are tired of living in the basement. It’s been two-and-a-half years already (time flies) and we’d really like to live in our house. If we take out a loan that we have to pay off for even a couple years, it means we aren’t taking out the loan to finish the house until that’s paid off, and that is a very unappealing idea at this point.

What we’re left with is putting the siding into the same loan that we need to get to finish the house. One option is to forestall siding until we’ve finished all of the remaining projects left before we take out the loan, which mostly includes re-framing the second floor and attic: subfloor, walls, and stairs. It’s hard to accurately estimate how long all that would take, but given the rate things have been going, I’d guess it would take another year.

The other option, and the one we’ve decided to go with, is taking out the loan now, and letting professionals finish the job. We’ve been working on this house for seven and a half years now. We’ve put in an awful lot of sweat equity, and we’re ready to have a house that we can live in. The kids are ready to have their own bedrooms.

With that decision reached, we’ve been working with contractors to put together proposals, working with banks on loans, and working with an architect to revise our plans to match what we actually built and what we’re actually building, given some of the necessary and elected drift that’s taken place in the last several years since we got our original prints.

This wasn’t an easy decision for us to reach, and we’re faced with all the same concerns (and experience) we’ve had with contractors up to this point, but we simply don’t have the free time needed to get the house done ourselves the way we want it done in a reasonable amount of time. We’ll still have to finish the basement ourselves, since we’re living in it,
and probably some of the back yard work like the patio and pergola, but the rest of it we’ll get done in one fell swoop.

More to come. Even with this change in direction, we will continue to chronicle the progress in the blog and perhaps (perhaps!) the end is actually in sight.