What Were We Thinking
A little over a year ago Kay and I started looking for a home of our own. We went on the internet and found listings that might be interesting and then we would do a drive-by to see if the place would generate more interest, we looked all over five or six counties for five or six months. The problem was more than just finding a new home, there were other issues to consider - price range, size, location, new or old, move in ready or fixer upper to name a few.
After several months and much discussion we finally settled on a little house in Statham just four miles from where we were living in Winder. Let me preface this to say Statham is a nice small community built along side the railroad. Founded way back in the 1800's, as a mill town it has seen it's ups and downs but most recently is has been experiencing a minor growth spurt while still maintaining it's old downtown charm with quaint restaurants and antique shops. Many of the homes along the main street were built around the turn of the last century or before.
The home we found seemed to check off all of the considerations we had i.e. location - one block from downtown in a nice little community, size - it was a little small at 854 sf with 7 ft. 3 in. ceiling height but we could fix that, built in 1964 it was old - not as old as some of the homes, price - probably more than we should have paid, and last but certainly not least, it was not move in ready.
This house to say the least was a fixer upper, everywhere we turned there seemed to be something else that needed to be repaired, replaced or added. Did I mention that two contractors suggested that we bulldoze the house and build a new one?
Being old enough that we had time on our hands and the skill and knowledge to handle most of the jobs required to refurbish the house we bought it and last September we started making plans about what we wanted and how we were going to go about getting there and at this point a phrase comes to mind - "what were we thinking ? ". In all honesty we thought this ordeal would not be a problem, after all we had been watching the DIY and HGTV channels for sometime, they rebuilt homes in one hour. So off we go on our new and exciting adventure.
First things first, we had to decide what we wanted done which was simple - add 15 ft onto the back of the house and raise the ceiling height to eight feet. This required a contractor so we got quotes from a few and settled on one to start work in October. The contractor was to add on the addition, raise the roof to give us 9 ft ceilings and stub out the plumbing and replace the windows - piece of cake.
We had decided that we could do a lot of the remodeling ourselves and save money. So before the contractor started we had to tear off the brick on the back of the house, remove the old paneling and insulation and sheet rock, carpet, fixtures and etc. Well we did all of those things and more and went home every day covered in dirt, grime and grease, our bodies filled with cuts , bruises and splinters which later turned into scars which fit in with those incurred thru a long hard life. I should note here that my retired fishing buddy John offered to help out and I took him up on it, I will be buying his lunch and paying for his pool league dues for some time to come.
Everywhere we turned something popped up that usually created more work and / or expense. We found out that the framing was on two foot centers, the electric had no ground wire even though there was a new 200 amp panel, under the carpet there was tongue and groove pine flooring but it had to come up because a few of the floor joist were rotted or broken , that was when we found out there was no sub floor, behind the brick siding there was painted wood siding, there was cast iron drain lines and rotted duct work for the air handler. Maybe we should have taken the contractor's advice and bulldozed it. Bad as things looked we charged ahead tackling each problem as it came up.
Then came the contractor problems. Things started out pretty good but it didn't take too long for them to go haywire. The crawl space for the addition was dug and the blocks for the foundation were laid and the carpenter was called in ( now things are going to start to move - Ha Ha ). the two man carpenter crew shows up the Monday before Thanksgiving to install the floor joist, he discovers that the block was laid in wrong and he had set up a transit and take measurements every six inches and cut shims for each, that took all day and after showing up about nine in the morning they quit work about three. The next day they came back again about nine and started installing the joist and got down to the end and found they were one joist short so they went home early. The third day they arrived with the missing joist and installed it and the spacers and were gone by lunch for a long holiday weekend.
One of the problems with the carpenter was that he would only bring enough material for that days work rather than ordering up everything for the job. Later on he ordered the trusses too late to get them in before Christmas and he came up short one truss. The windows were installed but not caulked or sealed.
It was about this time that we found out after many serious discussions with the contractor that he was not really a contractor but rather a "Project Manager" meaning that none of the people were his employees they were subs so he had very little control over their comings and goings.
The brick layer we started with also had some problems showing up when we needed him and twice we found he was laying brick that didn't match so he was replaced with another brick layer the contractor found. The one that really drove us crazy was the plumber.
The contractor had a plumber who owed him money so he made a deal with him to install the plumbing in exchange for his debt. The first plumber to show up was a woman and two guys one of which was her daughter's boyfriend, oh and because they had no transportation the daughter drove them to the job in her Jeep Cherokee where she sat talking on her phone the whole time. They had no idea what was going on and the few supplies they brought were useless so they started tearing things out, one of those things was the water line to the meter. They started digging with picks and shovels and after getting so far along they hooked the exposed line to the jeep with a tie down strap and tried to pull it out of the ground, that didn't work so I loaned them a chain and they wound up damaging the Jeep's bumper, they left swearing to return the next day with everything they would need. We never saw that particular plumber again but there were others that showed up from time to time but never the same ones twice. A couple of guys showed up but didn't bring any tools, another arrived but didn't have any material to work with, often we would get a call saying they were on the way to work but they would never show up. Over about two months we went thru seven different plumbers before I said enough. Then one day the contractor comes in with a plumber that he had run across and the guy was looking over the job. He was a nice guy who had a game leg and his nephew as a helper. They worked hard and were very friendly, we even got a business card to pass along to a neighbor and that is when Kay noticed something strange so she went home that night and discovered that she and the plumber were distant cousins - small world but if you need a good plumber he's your man.
Things slowly progressed and we finally saw the last of the contractor sometime in May. Although we were happy to see him go it was not a happy ending, we will not be inviting him over for a cook out or send him a Christmas card.
During the contractors time we had things to come up that was our responsibility, tear our the old flooring, add studs to the wall to put them on 16 in centers, replace floor joist and add about 36 more to put them on 16 in centers, insulate and lay down new sub floor. When the contractor left we built interior walls, installed insulation in the walls and ceiling, ran the wiring, installed a new hardwood floor, painted trim and caulked it, the list of completed projects is endless but they are done.
What started out to be no more than a six month project has taken a year and we won't even mention the cost but despite all of the pain, aggravation and frustration aside we are moved in. We started with a two bedroom, one bath brick home with 7 ft 3 in ceilings and 854 sf, at one point we were down to three walls standing, exposed floor joist and no roof, people would ask if there had been a fire and when we planned to tear down the rest. We now have a two bedroom, two bath ( one yet to be finished) brick home with 9 ft ceilings and just shy of 1400 sf. There are still projects to complete ( finish three accent walls with wood, finish master bath, roof the deck, build counter tops and build a bar to name a few ) and they will not get done anytime soon but they are manageable.
If you were to ask us if we would do it all again we would probably say this was one we should have walked away from or we should have bulldozed it. From time to time we asked ourselves - what were we thinking - well we were thinking of our future together, the making of our own memories while holding on to the memories of the lives we had in a not so distant past. It's like juggling balls in the air - too many balls from the past clouds the future, too many balls from the future clouds the past. We think about us and remember those who went before us, that's what we were thinking.
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