Flip House 1...Part 6

Chapter 6....November Part 1 Well the first month is done and it was a very full month of work. Mike and I took and met up with some camping friends for a few days. Now we are back and ready to go. Little by little we continue to shop for the house. It used to be much easier because I think the choices were better and also "everything" is so expensive. We did buy the sink and vanity for the second bathroom and we bought a new patio door for the back room. I also started calling contractors to get quotes for our pool, pool deck, and driveway for both houses. I called and left messages with 8 different contractors and only one called back. Guess who got the job He can't fit us in right away but he can sub the pool deck out and they can start at the end of the week. Sounds good. Meanwhile Mike and I get started in the kitchen. We prime and paint the kitchen ceiling first and then the walls. When it is dry we will be ready for the cabinets. Here is Mike hanging our new kitchen light. That Friday, Mark shows up to start the prep work for our pool deck. He goes around and does some patching before he can texture and stain over the river rock. Mike and I take the old rotted door off the back of the house and install a new door with a built in screen that slides into the door. Very cool. At least the screen won't block your view when the glass is closed. Now the kitchen is ready for cabinets. We bought the merlot cabinets at Lowe's with 25% off and then an additional 10% and I really don't think we could have done better. We paid $1850.00 for all of the kitchen cabinets. We thought it would be better spent if we did the "catch" words, granite and stainless, at least according to the local Realtor's. Not my choice but hey it isn't my kitchen. We start the installation with the upper corner cabinet and work our way out. After the top cabinets are in we start working on the bottom ones and we run into a small snag. Our floor by the sink is un level. So after some chiseling of concrete and some shimming of cabinets we finally get the bottom ones in place. I will have more pictures as we get farther along. My camera must have been sleeping that day. During the next week we started replacing doors around the house. It sounds like an easy job but when you have an older house nothing is easy, or straight, or level, lol. We replaced the doors and not the whole door frame so we had to take the old ones off, measure and cut the new ones, chisel out for the hinges, and check the fit. We spent a lot of time taking doors down and putting them back up. And to think we will most likely have to cut them again when the carpet is installed. We get the front door hung and I start to paint it. I ask Mike "what happened to the plastic coating that was on the glass?" He said he took it off Great now I have to tape it up so I can paint around the glass. I told him to not be in such a rush, lol. Here is the new front door with only a primer coat on. I will have to get a couple of more coats of paint on the door. Here is Mike chiseling the wood for the door hinges. The next day Mike hangs the new outside garage light and the new door. I'm sure the garbage men will love us when we give them all of the old rotted doors. We will cut them into thirds before we put them out by the curb. It's times like this when we really miss our burn pile. Mark shows up to start working on our pool deck. Rick tapes off the pool and the house. Mark will do the texture and spraying. It is a 4 step process. First the acrylic coating and will be rolled on, then the acrylic texture goes on, then the bonding agent, and then the stain color. Mark rolling on the first acrylic coating. The first coat is done and it already looks cleaner. Tomorrow they will do the texture and bonding agent. First the texture gets sprayed on. It's really more like the machine spits it on because it is so thick. Then Mark spreads it around and smooths it. The texture is done on the pool deck. While this is going on outside I am inside working on the windows. Some of them stick so with some WD-40 and Mike's help we get them opening and closing smoothly. Then I thoroughly clean them. Next I sand the window frames in the bedrooms and the bathroom and give them a coat of flat white paint. I tried it in the smaller rooms to see if they would look better. They do look better but it is a lot of tedious work. I don't think I will do the rest of the house because the windows are too big. Here I am painting the bathroom window frame. The next day mark shows up to do the final coat which is the color for the Cool Deck. While he is doing that, Mike and I go shopping for fencing. The pool deck is done. Mike and I start installing the fence on the first side. Poor Niki is going to miss visiting with our neighbor. They have become buddies. First we measure the posts and the panels to see how they will lay out, then we will drill in the base plates and anchor them into the concrete. Then we attach the post and cover and then the fence rail. Mike putting the post in. Next we start the panels. That's it for today. Mike talked to Mark about doing some extra work and since Mark needs the work he agrees. The next day Mark shows up with some friends, a jackhammer, and a wheelbarrow. They are going to break up some of the concrete jungle that we have on the side of the house. We will later put sod in. Mark and his crew starting to break up the concrete. While the are working outside Mike and I start painting the Living room. Mike does all of the rolling and I do all of the cut in and I haven't found a good brush here. Mike painting the living room ceiling. Be gone dingy old looking walls, lol. The guys outside got all of the concrete broken up into small pieces. They take all of the small concrete pieces and place them on our seawall. You can out them out there as long as they aren't painted and it helps strengthen the seawall. What a massive job. We are thankful we met Mark because Mike and I don't have young enough backs to do that anymore. After they finish Mike and I go out to start working a little on the front garden. Here is Mike cleaning up the front garden. The next day. Mark 2 shows up to drain the pool. While the pool is draining we go to look at some granite slabs. We find one that we think matches really well with our cabinets. The lady there says she can meet us at the house to take the measurements. Mike and I stop and buy a kitchen sink before she arrives. Once she is there she takes the measurement and schedules an appointment for the guys to come and do the template. She also came out to get some money. Back to the pool. After the pool is drained, Mark 2 re grouts the tile. We are now really moving along. Soon the pool will be done, the fencing will be done, and the granite will be installed. Woo hoo. Lisa