Some of you know that we are renovating our 1946 home so we can sell it and move. I thought I would start sharing the renovation process with you so you can see where we are, how far we’ve come and how much farther we still have to go.
Beware – these pictures are not pretty and may cause nightmares. You’ve been warned.
In April of this year we started the renovation process on our home. Our goal is to have the home completely renovated in a year so that we can put it on the market to sell. I’m honestly doubting meeting the goal of a year at this time since every time we turn around another issue comes up.
We had to get our septic tank pumped, which led to finding out that our septic system isn’t even working properly. (Probably because it’s about 2 million years old.) That led to the Health Department coming out to see if we could put a new one on our land in a different place. No, of course not. We were told we have to hook up to the town’s sewer system.
After paying the deposit for hook up, we learned there are two ways they can hook us up to the sewer. One way is to go in front of the house, which would close the road for two days, which of course they don’t want to do. I don’t see a problem with this since we do not live on a main road and people can go around our road. They basically use our road as a shortcut. The second way to hook up to the sewer is behind our house, but they have to go onto the land of the healthcare and rehab that sits behind us. This of course means lawyers and paperwork.
While the town people and lawyers and whoever else is involved did their thing, we decided to go ahead and tear apart our bathroom for remodel.
The best part of a bathroom renovation is tearing down the walls. Seriously, if you have some frustrations built up inside then you should volunteer to tear up some walls in a home that’s being renovated.
I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “Why in the world did she paint the walls of a small bathroom dark green?” Well, y’all, this was before the Joanna Gaines era.
The worst part of a bathroom renovation is the drywall dust. That stuff gets everywhere! If you plan to tear down walls, wear a hat! My hair was so crunchy that I was afraid it might just break off in pieces.
Another tip: cover the door of the room you are working in with plastic, or cover up every single thing in your house. We did not do this at first and there was drywall dust all the way in the kitchen and living room!
It took a lot longer than I thought to tear down a small portion of a wall. The nails holding the wall up where really stuck in there! Some of them were so old they were just breaking apart.
Removing almost all the walls (except behind the bathtub) wasn’t as easy as it looks on all those home renovation shows. There is also no clean up crew following along behind you with trash bags. (That would’ve been nice!)
After creating this huge mess, it was fun to go shopping at Lowe’s and pick out the floor tiles and the new sink. We also ordered a bathtub and picked up the tiles for the wall behind the tub.
Now we are ready to put everything in and have a new bathroom!
We now have to wait on the town to decide which direction they are going to go when hooking us up to the sewer system because our plumbing depends on which direction they take. So we can’t start on the bathroom.
It has been four months since we started this process. Four long months of brushing our teeth in the kitchen because we only have one bathroom. And our one bathroom has no sink. Four long months of no walls and a broken window. Four long months of yuck. Four long months of two huge holes in my backyard because of the septic issues.
On the plus side, since they took our deposit before all of the decisions were made, they now have to pay to have our septic tank pumped every three weeks. That’s a huge savings for us and huge loss for them, so hopefully that will help them hurry everything up.
Pray they hurry everything up!
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Oh my goodness, they need to get you hooked up ASAP! How frustrating!
Yes it is! It's driving me crazy brushing my teeth in the kitchen! :)
I know the feeling of renovations! It can be a lot of fun, but it seems there are always things that come up which we don't count on at the beginning. It's too bad you have had to wait so long. You need to call them frequently, that will get them moving faster. It really does work. I hope the rest of your renovations go a bit more smoothly! Enjoy your day!???
Thank you! It's definitely frustrating, but excited at the same time. :) I'm hoping after them having to pay the bill for our septic tank being pumped a few times they'll get a move on. That's not cheap! haha! I hope you've had a great day! :)
You're welcome, yes it has been a great day!??
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:)
This definitely sounds like a struggle, but you guys will get through this! Keep the end goal in mind!
Thank you so much for the motivation! I definitely need it right now. :)
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Prayers for a speedy resolution! Our last house had a similar situation with the septic system. We were too far out to hook up to sewer and had to put in an aeration unit -- that is basically a VW-sized water-treatment plant. We were in the process of selling the house when the field failed. The unit was installed two hours before the closing deadline. Two hours! Maddening!
Oh wow!! That had to be so stressful! It gives me hope, though...anything is possible. :) Thank you for the much needed prayers!
I always love watching the whole process of rebuilding and remolding. It is a beautiful mess, I can't wait to see the afters. I know what you are doing is crazy hard and so messy. You are doing a great job. I did the dark green years ago as well, in my bedroom. I liked it at the time. I am always switching things up.
Thank you so much! It's definitely hard and definitely messy. :D We've been working every day. I'm like you - I'm always switching things up and changing my mind. :)
I've done a lot of remodeling, demo is the best form of therapy, just a little messy! Good job!
Yes, it is! Especially when knocking things down. :D Thank you so much!
That whole thing with the sewer is crazy! You're brave. We need to sell our house soon but I think we're just going to sell it "as is" and roll with whatever we get!
Isn't it? It's super frustrating! The guy that dug the septic tank hole said whenever people say they're going to hook up to sewer in town he's going to tell them about us! :D We called the Big Ugly House people and he only offered $28,000 for our house so we were still going to have to come up with the rest of the $10,000 we still owe to pay off the mortgage. So we told him no thanks and decided to remodel to get more out of it. I hope it pays off. We may have to do "as is." Good luck to you!!
And good luck to you too!
Thank you so much!!
Oh dear Michelle - you really do have your hands full! I am so sorry the town has done that! What a bunch of madness! They never seem to be in a hurry when it doesn't affect THEM. Nevermind everything you've had to go through as a result of their delay. (sigh) I pray they get their behinds in there with immediacy and get this finished for you. And praying for your sanity!
I think you are going to be so happy when all of this is complete. Even if it does feel slightly overwhelming some days and all you see around you is chaos. I know. This home is from the '20s and we are renovating to sell as well. It wears on you quite a bit in between those exciting, fun moments. Hoping your vision stays fresh of how great it'll be in the end so you can get through the rough patches with ease.
Thanks for sharing the progress you beautiful lady, you :)
Thank you! It's so frustrating because I feel like they are just shoving us to the bottom of the pile. Thank you for the motivation. I have had some days were I'm ready to just give up and shove the whole house down the hill. :D Every step brings up another issue that needs to be repaired. I'll keep your words in mind whenever another problem comes up. :) Thank you for the prayers!!!
Oh my. Hope it goes well and ends even better.
Thank you! Me, too, especially after all the hard work going into it. :)