Weekend 1:Restoration

The plan:

1. to remove the 3rd story window,
2. replace it to make the house water tight,
3. and remove the knob and tube wiring.
4. Hahahahahahahahhahaha...hahahahahaha.

And there is the DH!  Hi honey!

See the knob & tube wiring at the header?

The window was replaced - after removing much more of the window than originally intended, much scraping of paint; and yes the scrapings were retained and not allowed to contaminate the neighborhood. Then - hmmmm - by the way - did I mention it was 3 stories up? Just in case you missed it - 3 stories!  I'm sure you've done the same.  Yes - scraping paint, standing on the peak of the kitchen roof, holding on tight to the inside wall studs and window frame - directly below one strand of knob and tube - that still lights up with the tester.  Probably not the smartest thing I've done in my life - but, perhaps, foolishly - it really wasn't that scary - and who's going to do it - if not me? It had to be done.

First stupid accomplishment in the name of putting the house back together.  We were able to use the old stops on the new window and we are hoping this is the only window we actually replace.  The rest will be rebuilt - but with a storm coming in Sunday - we didn't have time for the learning curve of rebuilding a window.  We did keep all the rest of the old window - to either recycle parts or however we can use it.

By the way - I'm not the one to hire if you don't want paint on your shingles too.  I'll get better!  I had the wrong brush for that part of the job.  Now we have the right one for the next window trim painting. You can see it in the picture if you look close.

The new window - from this distance can you even tell it's a new window?

Hopefully this is the fix and not the horrid job that was done with the flashing against the main house!

I think, all taken into consideration, it went well.  The storm didn't surface though, so now it's a waiting game to see if that was the problem. So that was Saturday - morning through early evening. The rest of the evening - babysit the granddaughter!  Yeah!!!! Love that baby!

Day 2 - Sunday...Plan had changed at this point - we really needed to try to sturdy up the front porch since we were making so many trips in and out.  The plan - put plywood down.

Ok - so first misunderstanding. DH wanted to buy 3/4" and I felt 1/2" would be sufficient. I thought the DH wanted to put the plywood over the existing boards, but his plan - cut out the boards and put the plywood over the gaping hole.  Very surprised the DH agreed to the 1/2" plywood - not like him to give in when he knows he's right - perhaps he felt it was a learning point for me. Hmmmmmm.  So he even went to the point of cutting it and demonstrating how it was not thick enough. OK OK  - well you could've explained yourself better...LOL - but right???

So back to the lumberyard - and there ya are - a sturdy entrance! 

So much for electric - why? Well, because of all the little bugs with all their little friends - also known as TERMITES!!!  Hmmm, didn't we have an inspection?  No mention of termites on / under / in the home - the only mention of termites was in the detached garage about 50' away from the house.  Why are we keeping secrets like this Mr. Inspector?  Not GOOD!  So back to the store to buy them all party drinks - there was no suffering - it was an instant death!  We will need to hire someone for further treatment, but for this weekend - game over!

EDIT*****ADDITION
ALSO - Lots of lock changing...we bought locks prior to fully checking the old out - we will learn - maybe...
So - basically I took the old locks apart and swapped out just the chambers where I could - I'm sure I can probably just buy the locking chamber somewhere - but oh well - it's done.  We additionally changed the lock on the back door. No pic though, what?

And - all this without plumbing!  I had called the utility company Wednesday to have it transferred to our name for Friday and turned on - the house had been winterized.  So we met the truly wonderful realtor, Sandy, about an hour from our new home for the closing and since we were early we made a call to the utility company to schedule having the gas turned on and she informed the DH that there was a leak on our side of things with the water - of course there is! - YIKES - all we could picture was all this water running all over the house because we forgot to close all the faucets, etc from the house being winterized.  However, this city has considerate, thoughtful, wonderful people working for them and they had the sense to shut the water right back off when they saw the meter spinning when the turned it on. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!  So, the first thing we actually did upon arrival to the house was close all faucets, etc.  Thank goodness - that would have been a disaster!  Soooo - still no water - though - to be continued....