Let the sun shine in......

September 2, 2010

Otherwise the rain will come in, apparently. Today, we had water in our basement (a ton that we haven't had before) and apparently, something is leaking and damaging the wood around the old moldy window (that has been gutted). So, some phone calls need to be made tomorrow. Sigh.

OK, so I came over this afternoon to work on peeling wallpaper and this is what I walked into:

Front stairs


Area below moldy window area


View straight into the yellow bedroom from the landing


You can see the apartment below from the landing and the yellow bedroom above


Apartment below


View from the apartment onto the landing

Nothing like some major demolition around the window with the massive air conditioner and a ton of plaster dust. I didn't stay too long (just long enough to get a "you are crazy, girl" look from Craig) and then went to go get some quotes for windows, etc. I've learned that I should never get more than one quote in a day as to avoid a meltdown. We had plumbers, an electrician, and potential house painter come by. A bit too much for one day. I think the consensus is that we need to start selling our somewhat unnecessary body parts on the black market to pay for this stuff.

We were hoping to wait to paint the house until the spring. We were told today that there are new laws surrounding painting the outside of old houses that goes in effect October 1. Basically, this law will add a significant amount of work (and therefore, money) to the painting project. If we can, we may have to try to get it done in the next month. Granted, it would take someone longer than one month to paint the house, so we'll see. It's not like we need paint or anything, right?















I came back to the house before roller derby and here was the area around the window after they were finished gutting it:



Here are some pics for the video challenged:


Ummm... where is the stained glass window going?



Craig and Jim also started gutting the downstairs, apartment bathroom. Well, barely started:


They unhooked the shower contraption from the ceiling


close up on the massive window over the bathtub

Started peeling off the faux subway tile

I remember one person who came over to our house the night we closed and said "you know this is a gut rehab, right?" We said "no, it's ok." Hmmm......

I also took some more pics of the gutters. Aren't there some random little ones:





Hopefully, we'll be able to do some work in the yard (aka mosquito breeding ground) this weekend. I have not worked outside, wear bug spray inside, and still literally have about 20-30 bites on my legs right now. In the meantime, we do have two new additions to our yard:

I wonder who put this here ;-) BTW, I'd like to say if anyone has the right to demolish their historic home right now and start over, it should be us. Don't worry.....


random Cubs thing my mom asked if I wanted in passing. I said "sure" and she put it in the yard

Gotta love it!

Oh, BTW, our washer also allegedly works now. My mom met the Sears repairman and he actually knew the difference between a washer and the dryer so that was a start.

While I was at roller derby, my mom and Alok almost finished getting the rest of the wallpaper off and my dad swept up some plaster dust. They didn't take pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it.

That's all for now. Are you worried that you'll be bored over your Labor Day weekend? Feel free to come help ;-) I'm sure I'll see so many of you there!

Jessica