I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses. Check out other posts about Frankie the Fliphouse HERE. The last major item on the To Do list got checked off yesterday with about a dozen exclamation points- new windows!!
Despite the annoyance of scheduling the windows, the install guys were complete rock stars. I'm resisting the temptation to show you a (very boring) series of window pics throughout the house. Spoiler alert: they pretty much all look like this:
Seriously, though these are some sexy windows. At least compared to their predecessors, remember? They were even uglier up close.
In the back 2 bedrooms, I did keep the existing vinyl windows on the right, so the new windows don't match them (sad trombone). There was a method to my madness, though: I wanted the sides of the house to have all the same windows and I wasn't prepared to spend an extra $1000 to replace the already replaced, but matching windows on the back. Never fear! I have a solution! Installing neutral white miniblinds will help to unify the windows in the bedrooms(which are also different sizes) and add privacy.
With all the major items off the list, I've been working through my list of what feels like a million little things.
After trimming down several doors to allow for the new floor heights (which the contractor had already supposedly trimmed...), I was finally able to get ALL the doors rehung and start putting the newly painted hardware back on.
All the wonky electrical has now been fixed and updated throughout the house (by a pro!), I was finally able to glue & screw down the butcherblock island top,
and while the window install was happening upstairs, I finally got started on the basement. Basement beginnings included removing about 3 kajillion nails from the ceiling, organizing everything left over from the upstairs work to keep/donate/trash piles, and prepping every single surface on the planet in the basement for paint.
The walls got prepped by scraping flaking paint and using a wire brush to remove all the efflorescence. I'll follow this with paint designed to seal basement concrete walls. I used this same process in the last flip and it seemed to do the job, so here's hoping it'll work again!
With the basement cleanup finally started and all the major items with a check next to them on my list, I feel a huge weight lifted off me. Fingers crossed, but I'm hoping this last leg of the flip will go swimmingly!