House Renovation - The First 100 Days

100 days have passed on the calendar since I closed on my new house. Actual work has only occurred on the weekends and two full weeks of vacation time.  Except for some painting, I have done most of the interior work by myself.

Sanding ceilings

When I bought the place, I knew this project would be close to overwhelming and fairly expensive. I have a good amount of experience with home repairs but most of it was 20 years ago and nearly all my tools have been in storage for the last 12 years. I was counting on the theory of once you learn to ride a bicycle, you never forget. It does not seem to apply to spreading joint compound but I do sort of remember that I never really learned that particular skill.

So did I run into any surprises? Well the water damage behind the kitchen cabinets made them utterly useless and the drywall behind them had to come out as well. I thought I could work with the kitchen for a while but it reeked of mold and had to be the first thing to go. The AC blew up a couple of weeks after I closed. Not really a surprise. It was not looking to good at the inspection.

Just a little roof leak

I then discovered that the popcorn ceilings were spot patched and painted all throughout the house. I thought about re-spraying the whole ceiling but that could have lead to the popcorn falling. If you ever want to remove the popcorn on your own ceilings, good luck to you. It is an extremely dirty job and on a 12 foot cathedral ceiling, just a bit dangerous. Get the popcorn a tiny bit wet and it literally falls off with a quick pass of the scraper. Run into the patched and painted areas and you will wish you had never started removing it. About 1/4 of the living room was patched in some way. The roof apparently was leaking and repaired for years. The 30 sheets of plywood used during the new roof installation were a pretty good indicator of how long this roof had been neglected. If I had not salvaged this house, it would have likely melted and caved in during the next summers rains.

Goodbye moldy kitchen

I took a huge leap of faith (in my own skill level) and decided to remove the soffits above the upper cabinets in the kitchen so that I could put in taller ones. They were built to last and connected to a lot of structural lumber that needed to remain undisturbed. A delicate balance between swinging an eight pound sledge and gingerly using the pry bar to not bring down the roof or split the ceiling. Came out perfect.

So am I on schedule? Even with all the extra work I am exactly where I wanted to be. This is literally a top down renovation. The roof is done. The fallen ceiling in the master bedroom is hung. The popcorn ceiling in the entire house are scraped, sanded, primed, and painted. The walls patched, and painted. The trim sanded and partially painted. The master bedroom still needs a final sanding and painting. If this was an HGTV episode I would be on day two of a five day build. I suspect they have more of a crew than the one I have.

Dad supervising

Drywall jack - Best tool ever

How are things on the expense account front. I expect to drop about $50K on this renovation. So far I've spent $15,000.00 on the roof. I got a quote to do the bedroom ceiling of $1,500.00 so I did it myself for $100.00 in drywall an $170.00 for a drywall jack. Another $500.00 or so in paint, patch, and parts at Home Depot. The new AC goes in next week. Another $3000.00. There will be a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches between now and the end of this project.

Ceiling and walls painted. Just the trim left to do

Coming up next - Tile floors, a new kitchen, and all the appliances.