Millie: Week 6

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  This flip, Millie is the most challenging and most exciting yet! You can find more about this house and about my 3 previous flip houses here. At some point the mess in Millie will start getting less and start to look like a functional house again.  That point was not this week.

A dumpster for trash/demo debris was delivered yesterday, so in the days leading up, I used that as a reason to get all smashy and messy inside.  So much so that I've run out of smashy room until I totally load up the dumpster.  I've only loaded it with stuff from the yard and it's more full than anticipated.  Looks like I'll be playing dumpster tetris again.

One of the larger items that I've been waiting for in the yard also happened this week- stump grinding!  I can just feel your excitement!

Once upon a time, the yard was lined with large evergreens that got damaged in an epic ice storm.  Instead of dealing with the entire tree, stumps and all, they chopped the trees down and landscaped around them, leaving me to deal with the stumps.  All 22 of them.  The pic below from last weeks progress highlights 12 of the 22.

Well, the stumps are no more!

The enthralling exodus of the stumps means that I can now finish landscaping as necessary.  I need to plant grass, do minor weeding (of the little guys that I ignored the first time around), and mulch.... a lot.

Inside the house is all about selective demolition.  Well, every room except the blue bathroom.  That is exclusive demolition.

I find it amusing that once I demo-ed the tile-covered drywall, I discovered that this bathroom did in fact originally have a wall hung sink.  Prior to this discovery, I also purchased a wall hung sink for in here (that I showed you in last weeks update).  What's old is new again, right?

Selective demo was the kitchen.  With plans to reuse the cabinet boxes, I had to carefully remove all the doors, and not so carefully remove a few 100 year old cabinet shelves to create an alcove that I'll be able to eventually tuck the fridge into.  It hurt me a little to mess with one of the original cabinets, but it's what needed to happen logically to the kitchen.  I'd rather have a layout that functions for a modern kitchen than a few old shelves.

And if anyone is counting, I believe I'm up to 13 different wallpapers discovered so far in the house.  4 of which were in here..... and all were pink.  Apparently this room has been pink since its creation.  This pic was taken after 2 layers were peeled off.

You may have seen 3 of the 4 on my instagram this week.  The 4th was a pink gingham that I found only a few scraps of.

My head was definitely in bathroom-mode this week, though.  More selective demo happened in the future master bath, as well as some layout planning.

I removed the plate rail from in there which will be used to patch on the bedroom side once we close in the wall for the new pocket door.  Yes, there are 4 windows in the bathroom, and yes, I plan to frost them so the neighbors don't get a free show.  In addition to the layout planning, lots of plumbing fixtures were ordered for both baths.  2 claw foot shower rods and hardware were ordered which means that the new master will be getting a claw foot shower as well.  The visual side of me screams NONONO, but the functional side of me concedes to the fact that people want to take a shower in their bathroom.  Silly people.

1/2/3/4/5

Other exciting stuff like rotten exterior trim repair and stripping paint from a claw foot tub also happened this week.  Not as pretty as shiny faucets, though.  Plans for the coming week include more exterior paint prep (yay!), more dumpster filling, more demo, more paint stripping, and more planning.  This house will be a stunner eventually!

Millie: Week 5

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  This flip, Millie is the most challenging and most exciting yet! You can find more about this house and about my 3 previous flip houses here. Week 5 is apparently where I start to get anxious about how little work has gotten done in the interior.  Let's get husslin!

I spent a little bit more than half of the week this week loading yard waste strategically into a dumpster.  I believe I have now achieved the status of dumpster tetris master jedi.  The dumpster was essentially full after the first day and I only had half the yard waste in so I had to be very strategic.  By the time the dumpster got picked up, I doubt I could have fit a single stick more.  I received this text after my dumpster got picked up.  Just look at that corner definition- that's talent if I ever saw it.

image courtesy of Joshua, I'll Take That Junk

But that means that the yard is finally clear! (disclaimer: I do mean clear of yard waste... construction debris and demo is a different story, however)  Now we can finally get to the 22 stumps that need grinding down.

Considering where we started from, this is pretty remarkable.  The 2 below are taken from almost the same spot, although you'd never be able to tell.

Around the side, the porch is just about finished with it's spruce up, the holly got a delightful haircut, and the contractor has moved to the front porch.

Trying to figure out a way to make the new railings tie into the old porch was a bit of a challenge, but once these are finished, have trim and are painted, I doubt anyone will think twice.

And look!  Some grass is actually starting to grow!!

While the contractor was busy on the porches, the electrician was busy working on the knob and tube, and the painter was busy power washing, I kept myself busy making messes.  Smashy smashy time!

Methinks I'll be needing a demo dumpster next week.  Luckily for me, the demo isn't the entire house- just the bathroom, partial kitchen, attic floor, and the future master closet.

I have a pretty good motivation to get this demo done fast so that my plumber can get started.  Every time the toilet flushes upstairs (in the blue rubble pile), it drips into the future master closet just outside the kitchen (I need a shower just thinking about it).

There's good and bad news in regards to the kitchen/closet floors though.  I think I mentioned last week that I was pretty sure there were hard woods lurking under.  There are!....... however, as I peeled back the layers of linoleum, under 2 layers of linoleum and a layer of plywood and on top of the wood floors, I came across what is most likely asbestos tile... big boooo.  I've left a few messages for asbestos removal places so we'll see what the quotes say.

And now that I'm starting to think about the interior, more craigslisting has begun!  You already know about the tub in the sunroom, but I also purchased a sink for the upstairs bathroom.  It looks rather unassuming now, but it actually has dainty chrome legs and when I fancy it up with a nice gooseneck faucet- she'd gonna be a looker! (Hubby and just about everyone else is skeptical.  Trust my vision people, I can see it now!)

I've also received a little bit of history from one of the neighbors.  According to a report from 2008, this house was actually built in 1914, NOT 1902 as records state.  It was built by Fred E. Richardson who built all the bungalows in the little 'walkable community' as the report calls it, and first owned by John Otis Hale.  With every tidbit of knowledge I gain about the house, I want to know more!

Now that the ball is steadily rolling both inside and out, let's hope it gains momentum!

Strong Like Bull

This week may be a light week for blogging- my computer's on the fritz again, so my apologies ahead of time. We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Tubs!  Wait, didn't I already blog about this?  Yes, but now I got one of the 2 tubs that I need and I just KNOW you want to hear all about it!  Or something like that.  In reality, I was searching high or low for someone to tell me how hard or easy it was to move a cast iron claw foot tub and couldn't find anything helpful, so I'm hoping to provide that service to someone else.  I'm only thinking of you.

Have I mentioned before that I love Craigslist?  Only once or twice, I'm sure.  I remember the primitive days when my dad would list things in the Bargain News.  My how far we've come.  I was able to procure an antique cast iron tub in rather good condition for $20.  Yes, $20!  (ended up costing a little bit more, but I'll explain)

The deal was the I could buy this tub from amongst the rubble for $20 IF....

...I moved it down 3 flights of stairs

I'm sure you can see my dilemma.  $20!  yay!  3 flights of windy narrow stairs? boo!  A huge part of my dilemma came from trying to figure out how to move something of this sheer weight.  I'd estimate it around 300 lbs.  With Hubby at work and not willing to call in any friend favors to move a tub for my business, I realized I needed to pay someone.  One moving company quoted me $550 with a truck and 3 guys- that's more than I paid to move all the staging furniture!  No me gusta!  Luckily my next quote was much more my speed.  A man with a van.  Literally the name of his company and he came with many 5 star yelp reviews for helping people move Craigslist purchases.  $170 to help me move it from the 3rd floor, transport it, and move it into Millie?  You got it!!!

Let me tell you, yes a cast iron claw foot tub is heavy, BUT it's not nearly as bad as I was afraid of.  It took Mike the Mover, the seller and me to move it down the stairs.  The 3rd person was honestly only for security and logistics (making sure no one has a tub fall on them).    It definitely helped that the feet were already detached and I would highly recommend that to anyone!

One thing that made it easier is that we were moving it from a house that was being completely gutted, so letting the tub surf (guided and controlled of course) down the carpeted stairs wasn't a problem.  If I was moving it from a house that we'd have to worry about scratching stairs or wall, we'd naturally have to be more careful and take a bit more time, but I would imagine that the process wouldn't change much.

Once on flat ground, the tub was pretty easy to maneuver.  I swear!  It may be heavier than a couch, but it's smaller, so the lack of bulk makes it easier to move in my opinion.  Mike the Mover used a hand cart to get it from the stairs to the front door, then it was furniture dollies from there.  It took us only 2 people to lift the tub onto a furniture dolly and roll it as needed to the vehicle and from the vehicle to Millie.  It even wasn't bad lifting it up 4 stairs to get to Millie's porch.  I'm sure Mike the Mover was skeptical when he saw this skinny girl claiming she could move a tub, but I'm strong like bull!  It didn't take nearly as long as I expected to get it from one place to the other.  Now my new tub is hanging out in Millie's sunroom so I can paint the bottom in a well ventilated area.  I keep flip-flopping between white or black.....

I swear, if you can move a couch, you can move a cast iron claw foot tub!!

So there you have it.  The story of how I got a $20 tub on craigslist, paid $170 for help moving it and a priceless story knowing I'm capable of moving a cast iron claw foot tub.  Now I only need one more for the upstairs bathroom.....