House half done

[Ben Grunow]

53171

53172I spent the last year and a half converting my house from an 800 sf cape to this 3000 sf colonial.

Crew helped frame and cornice and I did all demo, tree removal, footings, siding, windows and trim/flashings (entry included, all trim is PVC-Azek brand), electrical, plumbing, hvac and interior trim. Friends did drywall, tile and paint cause I hate these jobs and they owed me. What you cant see is the 24' x 40' garage/shop in the back yard that still has no siding (dont ask my neighbor what he thinks of that) but does have and insulated shop with Sawstop and many other tools inside.

Bought house from couple who lived there 42 years and I am sure had no mop or paint brush (imagine: cat urine, broken heating system, astroturf worn to the backing in the kitchen, grease with measure it with a yardstick thickness on all door handles and cab pulls (removed it and paint with acetone and scraper) and soap scum that I cleaned with a paint scraper and the best part of all was the greasy paths worn in the rugs). Fixed those conditions, moved in, started and worked 45-50 hrs on reg job and another 20-30 hrs per week for about 17 months so I am ready for the break and enjoying the time with my son.

LOML is due end of Jan and junior is 2 1/2 so first floor is on hold for a year or so. OK with me, need time to enjoy kids and gear up to build kitchen cabs (and save up as well). Been wanting to post this for a while but life has a way plus it is a bit of a challenge to post pics.

Hope you like it.

Ben

[Jim Becker]

Very attractive, Ben! A lot of work, but it's going to be "your" home in the end.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Ben,
Nice!


(imagine: cat urine, broken heating system, astroturf worn to the backing in the kitchen, grease with measure it with a yardstick thickness on all door handles
Yep. Seen it/dealt with it.

My wife and I are about 5 weeks into our 3rd rehab.
(hehe - keeps us off the streets & out of trouble)
Nothing as ambitious as yours though - yet.
Each one we do, we try to take on a little more than the last one.

Yep - it's a lot of work,,but it's what I consider "good" work.
I enjoy it quite a bit.

Even though I'm ham-handed & all my stuff is lopsided & has a blotchy finish (to my eye), it's still a lot better than the stuff we encounter looking over the real estate the "flippers" are putting to market.

[Lars Thomas]

Ben, it looks like you are doing great work on the house. Do you have any before and after shots on the inside?

[Brian Elfert]

I'm curious, do these sorts of rehabs with huge additions really save money over just tearing down and building from scratch?

My current house was built new in 2001 after doing a teardown. The old house was beyond repair due to years of neglect. A contractor I brought in to look at remodeling looked around and the first thing he said was I should burn it down. His spur of the moment estimate for a remodel was $20k more than a completely new house that would be larger.

I'm now selling my home to move further out where I can have the space I need for my hobbies. I can't decide if I should build new or renovate an older home or what. New is nice because I get exactly what I want, but it is probably going to cost more.

Brian Elfert

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Brian,
Renovate or build new isn't a yes/no type of question since there are so many variables.
Our current project house was one of 5 on our (actually mine - not my wife's) - "short list".

2 on my list that weren't on my wife's:

- A Cape Cod in a nearby community called Silver Lake.
Asking price, if I recall, was $99,000. The house was pretty well trashed.
Silver Lake is a rather affluent community, and there are no remaining vacant lots. The location of this particular house, is one of the more desirable. Median price for homes is in the $175K to $200K price range.
A "new" home would easily top $300K in that area.
Assuming a nominal rate of appreciation for properties in that community, a 3000 sq foot "new" house would probably escalate in value to somewhere around $450/$500K in the next 15 years. My plan was to buy the house, raze it, and have a semi finished shell erected, then finish it off over the next year. "She who must be obeyed" nixed the idea due to the $$ it would tie up over a long period.

- An 1833 built house in very rough condition. It sold for $64K before I could get an offer in for it.(grrrr) My plan for this one was to do a "period" reconstruction. I budgeted $40K to $60K for the rehab. From the research I was able to do, it's one of the original houses built in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio that's still standing. Short of finding the house filled with toxic waste, there was no way that I would consider having that one dozed under.
Again SWMBO, nixed the idea after we discussed it, as being too "ambitious" an undertaking. Sadly,,, I had to agree with her - even though I know in my heart that underneath the plaster has *got* to be hand hewn Oak framing.

[Alfred Clem]

Not long ago, my wife and I were in Australia -- just tourists, going from place to place. As we visited Tasmania and the mainland, we saw all sorts of Victorian places in need of rehab. Terrace houses with beautiful cast iron balconies stretching for blocks and blocks, some in good condition and others in stages of neglect.

We wished we were 20 or 30 years younger, knowing what we know from doing rehab work in America, wondering what such places would cost, the availability of competent sub-contractors, the strength of sales, and the financing practices of lenders.

Anybody out there with any knowledge of this tempting market? Surely, there must be fortunes to be made in rehab in places like Launceston, Hobart, Melbourne, Adelaide, or Sydney.

Al of Sedona

[Ben Grunow]

No inside pics Lars, it really was so bad that taking pics did not occur to me. The pictures left square marks on the paint with black wispy lines going up the walls around them.

I am a builder and I have never seen a house that someone was living in look so bad and dirty. I think that people just get used to something over the years as things just deteriorated slowly and they were not rich or handy so they let them go. I know the people and I dont hold it against them, they just let it go.

Jim , you are correct, it is mine when its done and I hope to never move as I am close to work, family, local club with pool and I have a good sized workshop and 5 bedrooms inside. The siding took 5 months in the winter, working on window trim and flashings when it rained or snowed and working on the pump jacks with lights on after work and both days on the weekends. It was a cold job to say the least.

As to tearing down vs new construction. I should have torn this house down but I had to live somewhere and my labor is free so it was less expensive for me.. only I had to live in it while it happened.

I do a lot of renovations where we take a house back to the rough frame condintion and start over with everything and my experience is that it is more expensive to build new (usually about 20%) but... if you renovate, you still have the old ceiling heights which are lower usually than peple want these days and you might have some crooked floors or room layou t problems that end up remaining because fixing them would blow your budget. I think if you are a person who appreciates older "charm" (read as slightly crooked floors or other old home problems) then save your money and renovate and old home.

As for the work I did on my house over the last 1 1/2 years. If I could make more money I would have hired someone else to do it just so I oculd spend more time with my son. I really sacrificed a lot of time with him during important years and I regret that. I know that he wont remember and in the long run I will have a great house but I wish that I could have enjoyed that time with him instead of working.

THink about these things before you take on a major renovation like this because if you are like me, your budget will not allow you to change your mind after the job has started.

THanks for looking.

Ben