Florida Flip 2...Tearing Up The Yard And Starting Inside

Part 2 Good morning. Since I had so many good responses I decided to post another story to whet your appetite for more. My husband, Mike and I went down to Florida to work on our other house in October of 2009. We had no plans of working on this house at all until we finished the first house....but of course plans change Our tree guys finished up at the first house and while we had them working we decided to let them start on this house. He went over before us to start cutting. This is what Mike and I saw when we got to the house. The overgrowth. and One of the things Mike and I hate most about a lot of the homes we do is the total lack of maintenance on the landscaping. These houses are just too small to have jungles in the front and back yards. We always have the trees and overgrowth cleared away when they are too close to the house. Our tree man cutting and clearing: Almost done in the back. And the pretty pineapple palm the way it should be. While the guys were outside Mike and I went inside. We don't have time to work on this right now but of course Mike just "has" to do something, lol. The master bedroom...Eww!!!! and somebody lived here. Mike starting to tear up the carpet....which has to go before we can move over to this house when the first one is finished. The tree guys finished and that's all we had time for. We told the workers they could take "anything" out of the house they wanted except for the refrigerator. The only thing he wanted was the laminate flooring that was in the living area. That was one less job for Mike and I We didn't make it back to the house until November 30, 2009. The men showed up to do the curbing at our other house and then came here to do the curbing here. There are a few very important things that Mike and I do when we remodel. 1. We fix anything that is broken and can't be used. 2. We make sure the place is clean and move in ready. 3. We get rid of all the junk. On the outside of the house we always have curbs done along the entire perimeter of the house. Then we fill those curbs with rock and eventually some plants. The whole idea behind this is to keep things as maintenance free as possible. The curbing and the rocks keep the dirt away from the house...therefore keeping possible termites away. Dirt at the bottom of your house and sitting water is never a good thing. It also helps when you mow and weed eat. Your house paint can never get dirty or chipped away. So here are the steps for something I think is pretty cool. First the curbing guys have to cut out where the curbing will be poured. On the truck they have to mix the concrete and then pour it into wheel barrels. Next one of the guys will bring the wheel barrel over to the curbing location. Once there, they shovel the concrete into the hopper of the machine. Then it shoots out in the form of a curb. So cool Once the machine is empty, the men smooth out the curbs and put expansion joints in. This will keep it from cracking. Smoothing it out by hand. And the curbing around the pineapple palm. While the curbing is being done we brought a couple of our other contractors inside to see if they wanted anything. They started in the kitchen while I got my first real pictures of the inside of the house. This is the spare bathroom. and The front small bedroom. And the back bedroom. It looks like these carpets haven't been cleaned in decades. I feel bad because it was an old man who lived here and I guess no one cared about him enough to help. There was also some water spots on the ceiling which is the reason why the roof was replaced. Back to the kitchen. Mike and ones of the guys taking out the dishwasher. While they did that, I started to tear up the green indoor outdoor carpet on the back patio. Taking out the kitchen sink. I took up the last of the laminate flooring. While the guys took the things they wanted, I went to take some more pictures. The master bath. and As much as we would like to dig in and do demo, we just don't have the time right now. Although Mike couldn't resist starting on there kitchen cabinets The cabinets in the kitchen could not be salvaged. Things were just too rotted away so we will tear it all out and start fresh. Oh yeah...we will also be moving the kitchen That is all of the pictures for today. My next story will be about some real work and some real demo.....our favorite