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.....

Millie: Week 4

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. Hm, somehow I've gotten to week 4 and have mainly tackled yard work.  I guess that says a lot about what needed to be done out there.  I do, however, want to apologize to the neighbors- it gets worse before it gets better.  It currently at 'worse' stage.  Piles of brush... half ripped down fences... it's pretty sexy.

BUT at least some rebuilding has commenced!!!  The deck which once sat on footings that were at about a 30 degree angle, had a wobbly railing and severely warped stairs is now on it's way to being solid, safe, and pretty again thanks to my contractor.

Meanwhile, I weeded more.  Weeding is not very photogenic, but I also changed the edge of one planter to open up the back corner a bit.  Grass will be planted once the brush piles and stumps are taken care of, and those delightful bricks will make for very good dumpster fodder.

Not a drastic change from last week (below), but baby steps here.  You don't eat an elephant in one bite.

Amidst the destruction and debris in the back yard, a few of the rose bushes are still smiling.

Luckily, the destruction has ended in the front yard and I was able to plant some grass.  Fingers, toes, and whatever else crossed in hopes that my black thumb actually allows grass to grow.

On the other end of the front yard, what I call the terrace side (the little sidewalk/street)..... the contractor is mid-way through rebuilding nice safe stairs over the old sunken concrete ones, I planted more grass, ripped down more fence and finally got rid of the hideous storm door.

Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that the only way to repair the door from the wonky and broken locks that I showed you in this post is to patch and paint.  I'll shed a tear as I paint over the beautiful wood, but it'll be better in the end.

Unlike previous weeks, I actually have some interior progress to show!  Well, not so much progress as demolition, but still. #smashysmashy!

While demoing, I realized there was a pseudo-reason for why the plumbing side was bumped out 6 inches and the other side was tiled out past the molding.

When this bathroom was originally built, there must have been a claw foot tub.  Modern tubs just. don't. fit.  In the 70s when they renovated this was their way of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole- or I guess in this case a rectangle peg in a different sized rectangle hole.  AND since I don't feel like paying an exorbitant amount of money to get a tub the right length that would still bump out past the moulding... claw foot it is!  I've apologized to my plumber ahead of time that he'll be moving a very heavy tub upstairs.

Also when they renovated in the 70s, they didn't exactly waterproof, which explains the water stains in the future bath below.  Drywall was applied right to the plaster and was then tiled over.  In some areas, this drywall acted like a sponge (ick), but other dryer areas it made for easy demo.  This entire wall, tile and all, came off in 1 piece.

If you follow me on instagram or facebook, you already saw the amazing wallpaper that was lurking beneath.  It definitely follows the nautical theme that one of the previous owners started.  The best part about the wallpaper is the Boston area maps in the background.

Next week is sure to be an exciting one around these parts as things finally start to happen!