Finished & SOLD!

Hi Friends!

So, my house is now finished, and sold.  Well, we plan to close on Aug. 29th. I ended up making a decent profit, so I plan to continue fixing up old houses.  It was a loooong haul, but my hope is that as I continue, I will manage time and money better, thus lowering stress.

I have begun taking better care of myself. I'm trying to balance work & play. I rode my bike at least once a week for the past 3 weeks. And, next week I'll be at the beach.  Woot!

Currently, I'm rehabbing some houses for my Realtor's friend, and now my friend too, Ray.  One on Pittsburgh's Northside and one in an area of town called Lawrenceville.  We hope to finish the one on the Northside this coming week.  Then, we'll manage the Lawrenceville house, Aunt Karen's kitchen, and looking for a new place to fix up / rent / flip / undecided (based on the economy).

Here are some finished Pictures.  If I have time, while on vacation next week with the family (in Ocean City, NJ), I'll do a "before and after" shoot which should be pretty interesting.

Light at the end of the tunnel!!! :-)

So, I have one month left (or so) and just now I realized that December 1st to May 1st is 5 months and not 6.  SO... my original goal of 6 months is to June 1st.  It is just a semi-arbitrary personal goal (6 months) but I feel good that I might be able to make it, or even come out early.

Updates:
I have a new Neice.  Catherine Block.  (suuuper cute & healthy)
I am dating Jenny (picture below).  I met her at church (Open Door).  She is currently finishing up pre-reqs and applying for Physician Assistant med school.  She has a heart for missions and Jesus.
I got a haircut after 9 months of no haircut.  It was well-needed.  :-)


House Updates:
I have made some solid progress on the house.  It feels like I can see a glimpse of what it will look like.  We finished painting most of the first floor Friday and the hard part (prep work) of painting the rest of the house is done.  We also built a deck with a roof and framed in much of the basement.

Bullet Points:

• New Roof
• Rewire Complete
• New Windows
• Plaster fixed (whole house)
• Paint mostly done (trim everywhere, first floor walls, ceilings everywhere)
• Master bathroom done (90%)
• Plumbing done for Kitchen Sink & 2nd Floor Bathroom
• Deck & Stairs Done

And... pictures:

Jenny & Me

Snow Day!

Super leak from lack of roof finishing (my fault)

But, this was before the plaster guys came through, so no big loss. :-)

 Master Bath under construction

Master Bath done (picture before plaster & paint)

My Fridge with snow in it :-)

New windows, New Roof, New Soffit & Fascia

Deck Under Construction

Deck mostly done.  Slate covers up old addition entrance.

Basement Framed in, New Hot Water Heater

Kitchen Sink Plumbing 

Plaster Done, Pre-Paint

and... Post-Paint.  Stairs going up to 3rd floor will be carpeted
and Stairs going down will be oak.

Laundry Room floor in progress

Master Bathroom Covered for paint spraying

Downstairs post-paint.  Some trim still to be installed.
(Baseboards & around walkway on left side of screen)

Some paint done.

And... that's all for now. :-)  I'm hoping to finish in 1 month, when I will post more pictures of the final gig.

2 Months in.

Well, it has been a busy 2 months.  At times, I look around and wonder where the time went.  It takes a long time to get the solid foundation laid before proceeding.

I am doing well.  Pretty tired, but I still have lots of energy and believe I am still on schedule to have everything completed by May 1st (arbitrary "end date").

I found a church nearby and am excited about getting plugged in and meeting people.  The Steelers winning the division championship was fun :-)  Too bad about the Super Bowl, but I still had a good time watching it :-)

Solid Foundation:

Heater / AC (done)

Plumbing (mostly done) ***

Whole-House Re-wire (done)

New Roof & Remove Condemned Addition (contractors are starting Monday (hopefully))

Hang Sheetrock and Fix Plaster (Contractors starting first week of March)

Next Milestones:

Roof, Windows, Soffit & Fascia --> Completed by March 14th or so

Sheetrock hung --> Completed by March 1st (hopefully)

Plumbing Fixed --> All Completed by February 20th (I hope)

Master bathroom --> All but plaster done by March 1st? (would be nice)

Looks pretty optimistic... but I'll stick with it :-)

Some Pictures & Story:

I thought that "exposed brick" would be a real nice addition to a few rooms... (kitchen and master bath) BUT... it turns out the brick Chimney was never bricked up nicely, it was always intended to be covered... so, i have to cover it back up.

A nice pretty winter picture :-)

Before i got new stairs... there were no stairs up to the first landing.

New Stairs!

 

Kitchen work:  There was a "pass through" long-since plastered over.  Pretty neat though.

I found a nice hardwood floor under the disgusting linoleum.

The Electricians just started the re-wire.  Here is the new circuit breaker box.

I decided i wanted a couch upstairs so I could relax... so I carried it up 2 flights of stairs (Four, half flights).  It was hard, but people can do amazing (strange) things when they are stubborn enough :-)

Ted and I worked to tear off a rotten deck (that also had holes leaking inside)

Deck gone!

Kitchen right before load-bearing wall is removed.

Floor has a few holes after i removed some walls.

Woo hoo!  It's nice & open now :-)

With Ted & Mike's help, I installed new glass block windows.  (5 of them)

P.S. Glass block windows are h.e.a.v.y.!!!

I'm waiting for this addition to dissapear... but my contractors seem content with any excuse not to show up.  I'm frustrated, but still think that for the time, they are my best option.
"Too cold"

"Snowed yesterday"

"Attached trailer wrong & bent something"

"Don't wanna start working on a Friday because we'll only
get one day done and take the weekend as a break"

...This lead to about a 2 week delay so far.
"We're not in Houston anymore Tomo..."

General view

2nd floor Master Bathroom with new plumbing & framing.

Tom Gets a Plumbing lesson when he thinks he is all done.  :-( I thought I was all done... and had a plumbing inspector come out. It turns out there are a lot more rules to plumbing than I expected.  The inspector knew them all though, and helped me figure out how much drain & vent I need to do / re-do.  :-(  My guess is about 30 hours & $150 in materials on top of what I had done.  Not super tragic, but a 'drain' on my energy for sure.

You can see the master shower (where it will be) off to the left side here.

 

This is a nice "pick me up." Pretty vanity for the Master bath.  We (Ted and I) carried it up the stairs in 2 pieces (thank God!).  The top weighed about 150 lbs & same with the bottom.  Mom and I carried it in from the car. (in one piece!!!) Thanks Mom!!! & sorry for making you do that... 

An example of plumbing I get to do again... Turns out you aren't allowed to have short radius 90 degree elbows on their side like I have here... Oh well.  I learn best when it hurts a little.  I hope i get it right the 2nd time.  :-)

Thanks for checking in :-)  Prayers are welcome as I journey towards a faith community & attempt to start my career playing with houses.