So Long Old Linoleum!

Later this week we are finally having Sue's Helping Hands lay down tile in our kitchen, dining room and bathroom.  Although it will take 3-4 days since Sue is working alone (so far her helpers are all busy), it will be worth it.  The linoleum is so old, Gerard can't get it clean anymore which is extremely frustrating for "Mr. Clean."  I never did like the kitchen linoleum but chose to live with it for 17 years.  We will be using the same color tile in all three rooms to provide some continuity.  In the meantime though, our living room will be loaded with all our dining room furniture and perhaps the kitchen table as well. Since we won't be able to walk on the new tile for 8 hours, the kitchen and dining room have to be done in sections so we can get to our front door.  At least one of the days, we will have to go out the front door and in the side door to get to the basement (Gerard's bathroom is down there).  Not looking forward to the obstacle course part.

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8 Reasons I like Our Awning

When we first bought our house, the porch had an awning but then several years ago when we got a new roof, the roofer removed the awning because it was in the way of doing the roof.  We went without one for about 3-4 years I think and found that I missed it.  We finally had this new one installed and I am so glad to have an awning again for the following reasons:

1. When it is raining, we have shelter when unlocking the door to get in so we don't get all wet (assuming we had an umbrella).


2. When it rains, our porch chairs won't fill up with water as much.


3. When we leave a bag of clothes out for the Salvation Army or Veterans of America, the bag (or box) won't get wet now if it rains and fall apart.


4. On hot summer days when it is raining lightly, we can still sit outside on the porch.


5. It provides shade so on warm sunny days I can sit on the porch and read without getting a headache from the sun or having to squint. Abby prefers lying in the shade too as opposed to the sun on hot days.


6. In the winter, we won't have ice right outside our front door anymore and won't need to shovel the porch off.


7. We now have something to hang a wind chime on again or a hanging basket of flowers.


8. I think it looks better with the awning than without it. Without it, it looked too open and unfinished.

Now if I could just find a way to keep the bees from coming on our porch. Already when we were sitting on the porch reading on Sunday, a big yellow jacket came flying through and then came near me on its next visit. I HATE those things and went inside shortly after. I felt like "Little Miss Muffet" except it was a bee that chased me away instead of a spider.


(50 cents per legitimate comment during April goes to Paralyzed Veterans of America.)

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Insulating Our Walls and Attic by USA Insulation

Since our pipes froze last winter we decided our next home improvement project would be insulating our attic and yesterday it was done. Naturally, we had to clear out everything from the attic and tossed out a little over half of what was in it. Some stuff was even in there yet from the previous owner.

We had to take down the pictures on any outside walls just to be on the safe side so that they wouldn't fall down when they drilled holes around the house in the cement between the bricks so that the insulation could be pumped into the walls. The drilling made a lot of noise so our cats got scared and both hid under our bed (shown in video below). I took their food, water and their favorite litter box in there for them, but I don't think they used any of it.

It seals up any cracks and it was obvious we had some in our living room around the bottom of the mirror. (No wonder the couch was always cold.) White fluffy stuff to all over our mirror and the couch and everything that was on it. Fortunately, it was not hard to clean up and the contractor cleaned it all. I took the day off and spent most of it on the computer and taking pictures for this blog post as the project progressed. Here is the video I made to show how things went:



If you want to know more about the procedure and materials used, click hereto check out the video on the USA Insulation web site. That's what convinced me to got with this company.

The Joys of Home Ownership--17 Improvements

when Gerard and I were married and bought our first home together, it was very exciting. I remember driving by just to look at it and taking a picture to show my friends at work. It was the first time either of us bought a house. It was one big hassle getting all the paperwork done and then paying it off, but we did it!

We were very pleased with our purchase. We moved in 11 years ago to this day. It was a beautiful sunny day but oh was I exhausted! We were supposed to go to a wedding that night and I just couldn't force myself to go. We both just conked out instead. I was never so tired in all my life!

After we moved in we began to see things that should be done. I started making a list of the improvements we wanted to make and every year, we would add to our budget one big project. It's really amazing how much money a house eats! It seems like there's always something that either needs repaired or that we want to fix up better. Looking back over the years, we've really accomplished a lot as you can see by the list of things we did below:

1)New sidewalk and driveway: This we did after my dad fell in our driveway. It was cracked and weeds would grow in the cracks.

2)Waterproofing and sump pump in basement: We could see water stains on the basement walls in certain areas when we moved in and the paneling was bowed so the first thing we did was sink money into waterproofing half the basement--the worst part. Later we did the laundry room side after we had already put down the Nature Stone so we had to have that patched up.

3)Painted den & carpeting: The den was a dark blue when we moved in and the carpeting was very worn and faded so I repainted it bright yellow and we got new carpeting.

4)All windows replaced slowly but surely 3 at a time. Lots of air used to come in through our old windows and the big windows on the front of the house in the living room and dining room wouldn't even open. We chose Air-Tite Windows Co. to replace them--averaged $500 each. We are happy with our new windows and they pull in to clean. The big ones can actually be pulled out to clean.

5)Nature Stone for the basement floor (done in 3 sections). We liked how the Nature Stone looked but it was expensive. We did the laundry room first and then the pool room. The other rec room area had brown carpet and we just did that part when we had the basement systems put in last month.

6)Den bathroom sink, floor, walls: This bathroom had a very old ugly sink when we moved in but since we didn't use it often, we let it go for awhile. I was glad when we replaced the sink and put new tile on the floor. Litt's Plumbing did the sink and floor but I painted the walls myself to brighten it up.

7)Basement shower and sink: Later, when we had the other side of our basement waterproofed, they had to tear out the old shower to dig around the edge inside of the basement to finish the waterproofing so we got a new shower and new sink installed at that time. We also had the bathroom and laundry room walls painted a pretty blue.

8)kitchen cupboards. Our old kitchen cupboards were gray and pretty ugly. I didn't like them. We had Thiel's resurface them instead of taking them all out and building new ones. This saves a lot of money and they still look very nice! Even this was thousands of dollars.

9)Fence along driveway. We had a wooden picket fence along the drive in back when we moved in that was wobbly and in need of paint. I chose to replace it instead with a vinyl picket fence from Henry Fence Co. We had to get our neighbors to sign that it was all right with them!

10)Upstairs carpeting for man cave(spare bedroom)from Empire. The old carpeting had a couple big stains and was worn pretty thin so we finally got around to replacing it.

11)New roof on house and garage. This we did in March of 2007 because some of our shingles blew off and others looked like they were curling. When my dad dad, the realtor recommended the roofer she uses.

12)Front Door. Our old front door looked okay, but a lot of air came in around it and I didn't like the screen door. We got our door from Thiel's and are very happy with it. It's much sturdier and looks very nice. The screen can be moved up or down and the storm door can just slide over the screen part.

13)Replaced basement paneling and plaster ceiling with basement systems walls and drop ceiling. This was all done by Owens-Corning in just three days and we are thrilled with it!

14)New carpeting for living room. We are waiting to schedule when this will be installed, but it was included with our Basement Systems price. We decided to have them do it because we were planning on getting new carpeting for Christmas and they said they would take out the old and move the furniture for us without charging extra. That's why we decided to go with them for it. They usually do it as part of the basement refinishing, but since we were getting the Nature Stone to match the rest of the basement, they said they could put it in the living room for us.

15)Somewhere along the way we got a new Rheim furnace and a hot water heater too!

WOW!

Visit www.moblyng.com to make your own!

This just goes to show what can be accomplished over time with a plan of attack! What improvements have you made to your home?

We Finally Did it--Got Rid of That Dark Paneling!

Ever since I saw this fabric type wall that makes the basement look brighter at the Home and Flower Show about 4 or 5 years ago, I planned to get it for our basement. Our basement had paneling that is buckling and dark.

I hate to see what's behind it after all these years. When we first got the estimate for between $15,000 and $20,000 after seeing it at the Home and Flower Show, I was floored and pretty much decided we couldn't afford it so gave up on it until last year when my dad died and I sold his house. After buying a new KIA, I put the rest into our savings with $20,000 earmarked for those basement walls and ceiling I wanted. So, thanks to my dad, we are able to fix up our basement real nice. I think he'd be happy with the way we're using his money.

Here is what we found behind the paneling and the plaster ceiling:


Eww, it really looks ugly!

The kitchen sink pipe looks like it should be replaced! YIKES!

Finding this was a bit scary . . . a hornet's nest in the rafters!


This wiring looks really bad. It's a good thing we're doing this!



The good news is there wasn't the mold that we expected would be there and it will be very nice when it's all done.

The problem with remodeling is moving out all the furniture and not being able to use the room for awhile. After the walls and ceiling get done by Owen Corning Basement Systems, then we will put down the nature stone in the last part of our basement. We did it in sections because it's quite expensive. That means we'll be without our second TV for almost 3 weeks and there's no sense in moving the furniture back until after the floor gets done too.

To top it off, we are also getting new carpeting in our living room by basement systems. They said they would move the big furniture items for us with no extra charge so we agreed to let them do it. Our living room carpeting is probably at least 13 years old and it's faded and stained. I hope this can wait until after the basement floor gets done because we really need our TV!

Finally Getting Rid of the Old Ugly Mustard Color!

Today is the day I finally quit procrastinating and just do it! Since we've moved here almost 11 years ago, the kitchen had the one wall by the counter top an ugly mustard color. I figured that since I painted the upstairs bathroom and a basement cupboard that since it was only a small area, I could just do it myself and save some money. I already had the yellow paint leftover from when I painted the upstairs bathroom. The difference though is that for the bathroom and cupboard, I used the roller but for this wall in the kitchen, I have to use a brush. I am finding that it is different. Not only doesn't it go as fast, but I can't seem to get it on even and my strokes show! I'm hoping that once I go over it with a second coat, it will be okay, but if not, I'll be calling Handyman Connection again!