Sevier Heights: the remodel, day 1

when i bought the house, i resolved that i would share the remodel progress on the blog. after all, it isn't often in one's life that a person attempts to do 4 months of remodel work in 2 weeks with a few very good friends.

between working on the house full-time for those weeks, continuing with my day job (some deadlines could not be moved), and getting The Influenza - there was no time left at the end of the day to upload photos or write. The Influenza dragged on for weeks after the remodel, slowing me down dramatically, and it is only now that i have been able to carve out time to edit the photos and start the reporting. we certainly worked our tails off, but we also had a wonderful time.

The A Team: Starting Line-up

Don - a Habitat buddy and professional contractor. Don was finishing two new houses early and volunteered two weeks labor on my remodel. Don's most used phrase - "You're the homeowner. What do you want?"

Dora - a Habitat buddy. married to Don. crack construction skills of her own. amazing pumpkin cookie baker as well. Don didn't want to activate Dora unless we had to, probably because Dora's most used phrase was - "I don't care how much work it is. She's the homeowner; she can have whatever she wants."

Chris - a Habitat buddy. works for Don now. Chris is from Texas and used to be a professional bull rider. because he is an American, Chris will only eat 'American' and Mexican food. Chris' most used phrase - "But this is jacqui's house. I want it to be perfect."

me - happy and (perhaps delusionally) full of faith. my most used phrase - "That is hilarious... Okay. How are we going to fix it?"

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The List 1.0

Outside

• Remove aluminum awnings
• Install shutters
• Tear out concrete drainpipes and rebuild
• Tear out 2nd driveway and fix grade/slope so water no longer pools against foundation
• Tear out shrubs in front of house and fix slope (so water no longer pools against foundation)
• Install window wells
• Replant front of house
• Apply sealant to cracks in brick mortar around house
• Install mailbox
• Replace garage doors and install openers
• Fix gutter by office
• Replace and seal boots on roof
• Add stepping stones or walkway from driveway to front of house
• Fix floodlights over driveway
• Repair screens in screen doors

Basement

• Install post in basement to shore up alcove next to stairs
• Fix leaks under basement sink
• Correct double-tapped circuits
• Turn off power to Ceil heat

Kitchen

• Tear out counters in main kitchen
• Rearrange kitchen to install dishwasher
• Replace/install garbage disposal
• Add shut-off valves to kitchen water lines
• Install new kitchen counters

Second kitchen

• Remove stove and frig from second kitchen
• Install dryer vent from second kitchen
• Move cabinets in second kitchen to accommodate stacked W/D unit
• Rewire for W/D
• Install W/D in second kitchen

Small bathroom

• Tear out bad vinyl in small bathroom
• Tear out bad shelving unit
• Fix subfloor
• Replace with tile floor
• Replace vanity with new sink unit

Main bathroom

• Fix missing tile
• Fix light fixture

House at large

• Cut big-a** hole in wall between kitchen and living room
• Remove 5 unnecessary doors and patch doorjams
• Remove carpet
• Patch cracks in walls, ceiling, stairwell
• Remove second thermostat
• Paint whole house including closets and stairwell
• Replace questionable light fixtures
• Replace outlets with 3-prong
• Clean or replace drapes
• Replace water pipes? (this was very contentious initially with most of the team opposed)

Onto Day 1's progress...

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Day 0, Don and i met at the house to review the basics of The List and so i could give Don a set of keys. you see, sadly for me, i had to work Day 1. that did not in any way stop Don and Chris from launching the first assault...

i received my first voicemail from Don at 9:18am:

Hey Jax. This is Don. i just wondered... if you have any time between classes and you wanna call the recycling people, there is a pile of aluminum sitting in the driving and you can tell them they can come take a look at it. see ya.

whoa. the awnings



are down!



by noon the living room wall went from this:



to this:





... discovering in process that the electrical for two outlets ran right there and that a light switch in the living room controlled that outlet visible in the kitchen photo as well as an outlet in the living room. this amused me no end and so, instead of removing the switch and replacing with a blank outlet cover, i asked that we leave it.

other progress on day 1: they patched the boots on the roof, took off all the extraneous doors and moved to the basement, and figured out how we could patch the jams.

unfortunately, they also discovered that the wall tile in the main bathroom wasn't, well, tile...



it was Econ-O-Tile. fake plastic tiles not seen since the 50s.

hmm. this could be interesting...