Why Not Just Remodel?

 A couple of people have asked why we don't just remodel the existing house instead of tearing it down and rebuilding.  Twenty years ago, that might have been a possibility, but today it isn't.  After not being lived in and taken care of for two decades, there are a few holes in the roof.  This is the ceiling of one of the rooms in the back of the house:

The ceiling in the back room

The floor in that room now looks like this:

The floor in the back room...

While this is the worst of the damage, there are pockets of damage throughout the house. 

From the outside, you can see where this room is in the back of the house:

Roof damage, most likely from the tree

A Look at the Past

 While cleaning out the house, we found a lot of photos.  We didn't take the time while we were cleaning to look at the photos.  Instead, we just put them in tubs to be sorted later.  This week was "later."  I found a lot of photos of my husband as a kid.  I'll save those for later.  There was also a photo of the house from February of 1973:

February, 1973

Both Geff and I noticed how small the bushes are in front of the house.

I took this photo today:

August 1, 2021

Granted, it isn't from quite the same location, but I didn't have the 1973 photo with me.

In the 1973 photo, the front door is to the right of the windows.  Now that the asbestos has been abated, the front door and porch look very sad.

Front door today

You can see how tall the bushes are today on the left of the photo.  Unfortunately, asbestos was in the glue holding the windows in place as well as the floor.

Front porch 

Front porch

Life Happens

It has been four years since my last post.  Projects have been completed.  And, probably twice as many projects have been started.  But, sometimes, life happens.  Over the next 16+ months, my husband and I are going to be on a journey to build a new home to provide a better way to care for my mother-in-law.

Over the past year, two events highlighted the need.  First, in June of 2020, I had foot surgery.  I never realized how difficult it would be to navigate a tri-level house with only one foot.  There is no level in our house with food, a bathroom, and a bed on it.  Fortunately, my wonderful husband brought me my food and medication, and helped me live for 8 weeks.  When he needed a break, a good friend of mine braved COVID to help.

The second event was the death of my husband's older brother in August of 2020.  My mother-in-law stayed with us for a few days after his funeral, and it was quickly apparent that not only were the stairs a major barrier for her, but our bathrooms are not set up for someone with limited mobility.  Plus, while my husband's younger brother lives in her house with her, she needs more care.  We are currently making it work by helping her bathe, doing her laundry, and general clean up while the younger brother deals with meals and medication.

It turns out that starting to build a new house isn't as easy as it may sound, especially with a hot housing market and wood products that have increased in price.  After a number of false starts, we're finally making progress.  And, I'd like to document that progress.  Yes, there will be sewing along the way, but many posts will be more general updates on our current house, the new house, or my mother-in-law's house.

We're planning on building our new house on the lot where my husband grew up.  Currently, there are two houses on the property--the main house and the little house.  While both houses were good 40 years ago, the main house, especially, has not been lived in in about 20 years and had a number of structural issues, including holes in the roof.

In order to tear down the two houses, both houses needed to be emptied and then the asbestos removed.  This process has just finished.  

The property itself is large. I took this photo last weekend.  I was standing near the front of the property line.  

A view from the front of the property

I turned about 45 degrees from where I took the last photo to take this photo:

The front yard and front of the main house

The little house basically had a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom/living room.

Front of the little house

When looking at the little house, the main house is to the left.

Back of the little house looking toward the front of the property

At the same time that this is going on, we're working on home improvement projects on our current house.  I should say that my wonderful husband is mostly working on home improvement projects.  He has updated the deck railing.

The back deck at our current house

Previously, there were vertical bars where the trellis is, just like on the stairs.  The trellis really changes the look of the back deck.

He's also working on painting and sprucing up the patio doors.

The partially updated patio door

The left door is the newly painted door--with new hardware.  And, the deadbolt is now fully installed.  The right door will need to wait for another weekend day.