Latest Progress

Well, I have to say, I love the heat.  Sorry to those who hate it.  Always have been a summer girl.  I have been amazed at how much water I have been drinking however.  I can normally drink one bottle of water a day in addition to other normal drinks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc and be perfectly hydrated.  But I have actually been "downing" an entire bottle in one sitting in like 30 seconds out in this heat, I have impressed myself.  LOL.  Seriously, though, I sweat so bad that my clothes are as if I jumped in the lake... it is HOT out there.  So if you are thinking about a weekend yard project, be sure you are staying safe.  No joke!!  I will put a lecture up here about heat stroke if I hear that you all are out in this stuff and are not taking precautions.  :o)

Anyway, had to let the health educator out for just a minute.... but on to the fun stuff... since you last heard from me, we tore off a majority of the sun porch, removed a door, I had a mess to clean up, and we dug the holes for the piers under the house that I have to build.  ... a very dirty job, as you can see in the pics :)  Oh yeah, and I found out today that... good news:  I have water running to the house (saved me $350), but bad news: the pipe is broken.  So I will do some more digging in the dirt on my belly at some point in the next few weeks... should be loads of fun (I am definitely being sarcastic on that one!).   But here are the pics...

so first we tore of the shingles.  They came off in huge sheets because they were not put on properly.  (and don't mind Brian pulling up his pants... LOLOLOL!)  Then we took up the sheeting.

next, the rafters came off and the door came out.  By this time, I was on the ground throwing the shingles in my truck to go to the landfill. 

then the walls came tumbling down... wait, isn't that a song??  anyway :), I'm saving any salvagable material as I go to save some money.  So we'll re-use the door on the back of the house that will eventually have a deck on it and the sheeting and other boards that didn't have 1,000 nails in them will be re-used as well.

And just in case you thought I was kidding about this being dirty work... before and after a shower:

Hey, I guess I could have found an all natural tanning method. :)

The sunroom is going bye-bye!

Well, I have started to get rid of the sunroom... that awful looking eye-sore!  It is actually laughable.  The guy who owned the place did the construction on this, which you can definitely tell because it is nothing like the construction in the main house.  It is terrible.  I do not know how the roof has not collapsed.  The only thing I can say is that we don't get much snow in NC, otherwise, it would have been gone by now.  And he used fiberglass bathroom wall paneling as his siding... LOL!  And not even the shiny, nice side out... no, the dull, ugly looking side.  So I have just cracked up the past few days as I have been disassembling.  I'll post more pics tomorrow when it is totally gone.  I have my new contractor friend working for me tomorrow and we are going to finish de-construction. 

And of course along the way, I have my little friends to contend with...

I counted over 30 that I killed in one nest (not shown), so these things are a nuisance that's for sure.  These were already sprayed a few minutes before I shot the pic.  But they were behind a board that was covering this whole window and I almost put my whole hand right in the nest... Thankfully I didn't!!!!!!

Oh yeah, and I also went and bought all of this stuff from the previous owner (why I had to buy it, I'm not sure except he needs beer money... SAD!) for $20 (as least he was cheap).  But it is all of the vent covers, fan covers, house wrap, return grills, and concrete block for under the house.  So things I needed for sure. 

Catch ya next time!!

New Master Bath and Closet and Temporary Electric

Hey Everyone!
Well, I had a great day yesterday.  Had some framers come in and help me move the bubble tub from a downstairs bathroom to my upstairs master bath and the small shower that was in the master down to that same downstairs bath (it was a switch).  Sounds easy... and the downstairs bath was... but the master, that was another story.  As you can see from the pics, the upstairs is a loft, so framing has to be carefully thought out.  But the guys were patient with me and we mapped it out as we went, saved the lumber from the tear out and re-used it, and now I have a new master bath and master walk-in closet and spent less than $100 on materials.  I know it is hard to see when there are only see-through walls, but basically there will be a walk-in tile shower, a bubble tub, toilet, and double vanity in the master. 

I also passed my first inspection... the saw inspection.  I put this temporary electric pole up and the city inspector passed it.  Then they send a note to Duke Energy and they give me electric.  I can plug an electric cord into the box on the pole and run it into the house. 

I didn't take a picture with the meter in yet. :) I'll take one for ya for next time! LOL