Our Old House

This is a catch up post! Lots has been accomplished since our last post, but not really much to see cosmetically. Remember when we said this blog was more for us to keep track of our progress--so this will be one of those boring post with just a list of what we have accomplished the last week. The basement has 4 windows that are below grade, have rotting wood, and leak a bit into the basement. Chris worked on one side of the house to remove the windows and block them up. 2 done on the left side of house--this side was completed first because the gas company will be coming soon to install the gas meter and line from the street to our house. 2 more windows for another day on the right side of the house. In the basement we had very old heating pipes that were wrapped in asbestos. As part of the condition of sale, we asked the homeowners to remove the asbestos. They countered with having them "sealed" which is what most municipalities recommend and is far less expensive...

The air conditioner in our 2015 Suburban has only been working when it wants to work. No rhyme or reason to it's decision to blow cold air or hot air. Next week the local weather is predicting a heat wave--we could be in the low 90's all week! Which means the first stop on our travels today is Wind Gap Chevrolet .  We drop off the suburban and continue on to pick up load #2 of  the lumber list. It was an early start of the day and we are back home and unloaded by 9:30! In order to level the floors and remove a few sags, Chris is shooting a few elevations in the basement. My job is easy--just hold the story pole so he can read the numbers. The bad part is I actually need to go down into the dungeon, I mean basement. It really isn't that bad, but after living in Texas for 18 years and not needing to deal with a stone-wall foundation basement, I was not looking forward to being there. Lucky for me, it didn't take too long.  Chris gets busy calculating and marking the...

If you have ever lived through a renovation, you know the dust is NEVER ENDING. It doesn't matter how well you prepare, how many plastic barriers you install, the dust still gets through. The hired crew -  Full Circle Removal  -  did an awesome job--but the clean up was a  rough  clean up. So today Chris and I are concentrating on shopvacing the second floor. The old blown-in insulation is a mess. It just keeps multiplying. Chris is knocking down the insulation that is stuck to the ceiling joist and I am vacuuming up the floors and walls.  Slow and steady, 5 hours later, we have the demo section vacuumed and the debris removed.   Next Chris removed the non-bearing interior walls. Basically, that included the old closet walls from the front and middle bedroom and the wall between the middle and back bedroom. The space looks huge now that it is all open with the exception of the hallway wall. (The hallway wall is load bearing.) The wind...

We started the day on the front porch having our morning coffee; it's about 7:30 AM. Chris had already moved our truck and suburban from the front of the house to make room for the dumpster and crew to park. About 7:55 a little black car shows up with 1 guy. We are thinking . . . oh no! Then a pickup truck shows ups with 3 more guys, then another with 2  more guys. These people are serious! Eventually a truck shows up and rolls off a dumpster in front of the house. Chris reviews what is to be removed and what is to stay with the lead worker and they are ready to get started. And so it begins. Banging and crumbling . . . our dog Copper is shaking. (He has always been a little skittish.) 3 guys are demoing the plaster and lath and 3 guys are using the bucket brigade method to bring it down the steps, out the front door, and into the dumpster. Our plastic tunnel has been working well. No dust from the crew as yet!  On the other hand, Chris could not sit by idle so he ...

Back in the day, there would have been no prep day! Chris would have had his sledgehammer, prybars, crowbars, and POW, BAM, ZAP - #DemoDay would have been underway. This time--we are all about saving the trim, keep the dust to a minimum, saving and protecting the hardwood floors on the first floor, and working smarter not harder! So today we prepped for the CREW that will arrive tomorrow! What does PREP look like? Removing the bedroom doors and closet doors Removing all the trim and jams from the doors Removing all the baseboard and window trim Disconnecting all the radiators Removing the antique light fixtures Protecting the first floor hardwood floors in the foyer Creating a tunnel of plastic in foyer to minimize dust in downstairs We had our morning coffee on the front porch--this is now part of our morning routine when Chris is home--and then we started to work around 9:30 AM.  We first worked on the trim. Chris was pretty successful with removing most ...

Chris is out on a 4-day trip and I am sitting here thinking, I should update the blog. I can't believe it has been a full month since we have closed on the house. So much has happened this past month! Where to start? Well, we finally have our belongings. Chris had a few days off at the end of July so we seized the opportunity to make a quick round trip to Rehoboth Beach to gather our belongings from the storage units. Yes, I said units, plural. Before we moved from Texas, I sold so much stuff, gave away stuff, donated stuff, and we still needed 2 storage units. With hired help on both ends of the journey, the furniture, boxes, and tools have all found their way to our new home. Our youngest son was here for the move and was a great help. He has been our first and only overnight guest. The house is not ready for company at this point, but kids--even 23 year old kids--aren't put out about the details. If you know me, you know I love a good spreadsheet. I couldn't wait t...

The day has finally arrived. Chris and I headed to the house for our final walk through at 9 am. There is a little hip coffee shop in town (yes, we can walk to town from the house) so we headed there to grab coffee since we were a little early. The coffee shop is called Baby Harry Coffee Co . They roast their own beans and have started selling their coffee to local establishments. Pretty cool! Anyway--we grab some coffee and walk back to the house. Met Joan, our realtor, and we do the walk thru. All is as expected. No surprises. We explained to her about the mattress delivery between 9-10 and the decision was made that Chris would stay behind to wait on the truck while Joan and I head to closing. Luckily, the truck arrived before 10 and Chris was only about 15 minutes late to closing. Papers signed and we are again homeowners. With all the commotion this morning with the mattress delivery, we forgot to take a photo in front of the house with a SOLD sign. So--this will have to do! I...

Closing is scheduled for tomorrow morning, Monday, July 16 at 10:00 AM. Everything is in place and should be an uneventful process. Chris and I drove up from Rehoboth Beach early this morning. (Sun., July 15). It was an easy ride. We drove separately; we needed two cars as Chris will go directly to work on Tuesday. Oh, I forgot to mention that our 2007 Yukon died 2 weeks ago. Needed a new engine. So, we sold it. We have borrowed the 2000 Chevy pickup from Chris' mom till we figure out a second car option. We are staying at the Hampton Inn in Stroudsburg/Bartonsville which is close to shopping and not far from the house and closing office. Our goal today is to purchase a mattress to be delivered tomorrow after closing. We need something to sleep on at the house. We head out shopping, purchase a mattress and request to be the last delivery tomorrow. Sounds simple enough. We continue our shopping at a few other stores for some must have items for the house since our furniture ...

You're moving to Bangor, Maine? NO, we're moving to Bangor, Pennsylvania. You will need a little background information first as to how we ended up in Bangor, PA. In 1998 we were living in Bristol Borough, PA--my hometown--small town along the Delaware River. My husband Chris was a corporate pilot for Harry and Leona Helmsley. Although he was compensated well for his services, he could be away for weeks at a time. Meanwhile, I was a stay-at-home mom to our 4 children ages 11, 9, 5, and 3. It was time for a change--for all of us. Chris made a career move to the commercial airline industry and began his career at Continental Express based in Newark, NJ. At the same time, I needed to find a job to supplement the pay cut from corporate flying to First Year-First Officer pay at a regional airline--which was significant. It must have been part of God's plan for us because everything fell into place within days. In just one week: Chris interviewed at Continental Expres...

Four days, over 1,000 miles, and we have found our home in PA! Chris and I spent from 9 am to 8 pm for 3 days straight looking at lots, acreage, new construction homes, and old farm houses. Our target area was anything WEST of the Delaware River (so basically in PA and not in NJ) EAST of the PA State Highway 33 NORTH of Interstate 78 SOUTH of Interstate 80 Our Home Search Area And I think we drove every inch of the circled area multiple times in those 3 days. Eventually deciding upon Bangor Borough, PA. Our realtor, Joan Champ , was awesome! She was patient, communicated quickly, gave us multiple options to explore, and time to decided what would work best for us at this point in our lives. We were all over the map--literally and figuratively.  We called her Sunday, June 10th, around noon to ask to see 3 properties in Bangor. Joan met us at 4:30 (first time to met in person) and she showed us the 3 properties. All three had some good qualities, but we deci...