For Sale

The IP has a "For Sale" sign in the front yard and is listed on the MLS.

The past several weeks have been absolutely intense. I was working 12 hour days, 7 days a week for at least a month to get things finished and finalized. I even suckered Kathleen into working late with me, but she laid down the law when at 9 PM one day, she had a container of kerosene fall on her as we were loading up the truck. Needless to day she was mighty irritated. And stinky.

In construction, we use "punchlists" which are huge lists of things that need to get fixed, here's one page of my punchlist for the past two weeks. But in addition to the punchlist, I have endless daily lists of things to get accomplished.

Finally last Friday the electrical and plumbing inspectors from the city came and gave me final OK. And Chris came with a listing contract. We discussed the price and agreed on a number (as before, I won't be giving details that can let a potential buyer pinpoint this blog... too much liability, if you know what I mean. However, I'll be happy to give you those details in an email, just send me a note). And on Monday the Final Inspector came and signed off the permit.

Now that it's done, I'm still working through a min punchlist. For example, today I will

> put no-grow film and bark chips on the bare spot in the back yard where the old flowers were

> clean the gate (I had painted it and cleaned it. Then the bozos from the powerwash company blew dirt all over it)

> Move the sprinkler controller. The choice was to move the controller, or run a new wire to it for power. Moving it is much easier.

> Tidy up the boiler room

> Get the gick off of the tub. American Standard had put some sort of label over the on-off switch. I took the label off and the adhesive they used left a gross residue on the tub. Wonderful.

> Paint the pantry door

There's others, but they are pretty minor. I'd like to get those minor things wrapped up this week, I don't want to have a potential buyer come in while I'm still running around with my toolbelt.

I'll try to take some pictures today and post them.

White flag?

Got lots done this last week, including:

> Installed the wetbar counter in the family room

> Roberto tiled the new bathroom and the counters. This turned out to be a major headache, as I didn't read Elysia's instruction and told the tile guys to use the wrong stuff. Needless to say, they ran out, and had to tear it out and re-install with the right stuff

> Frank installed sinks in the new bathroom. Another headache, as we used the wrong template for the sink and the opening wasn't big enough. Had to buy Frank a special grinding wheel to make the holes bigger to install them.

> John finished, but didn't install the access doors in the downstairs bedrooms and the master bedroom closet

> John mortised the 13 new interior doors for hinges and hung them. Didn't paint them yet, but began drilling them for locks and handles

> Frank installed the pedestal sink downstairs. If Frank weren't a preacher he would have let loose with many explatives. As it was, he only said "dag burn it" a bunch of times (Don't worry, the avocado green commode goes next week).

> Installed the heater covers, and only had one missing piece. Not sure what I'm going to do about that.

> Walter installed the granite countertops in the kitchen. Installed the new microwave and the stove.

> John installed door handles for the four exterior doors

> Installed the baseboard. All 196 feet of it. I had to contend with all the existing carpet tack strips with their hundreds of very sharp tacks. I only punctured myself about four times, but now I know how a swimmer feels with that first piranah bite. Only make one serious error when I installed some door casings backwards and had a wierd gap. I doubt anyone will notice

> Paul choped down the ugly two trees in front. That left a huge pile of pine needles which I was just going to bark over. Today I noticed Kathleen raking and digging them up. How was I supposed to know that you're supposed to get rid of them first??

> Kathleen also uprooted about 125 iris bulbs from the back yard. I'm sure glad she likes doing yard work, I find that part of the property to be a big mystery.

> Tore out most of the basement carpet, and all the carpet from the stairs.

> Applied clear polyurethane to the banisters. Now they're all nice and shiny.

This week I hope to finish up with the sinks, install the lights (I should have done that weeks ago), finish installing the stove and begin the dishwasher, put casings around the freedom doors, and get the carpet installed.

Heater covers

Today I put the covers back on the heaters. I'd been dreading this, as I just knew I would lose at least once cover. This usually isn't such a bad thing, as Depot sells pretty much everything. Except, of course, covers for the kind of heaters at the IP.

Well, I got them all on and no covers were missing. I am missing a corner piece, but I'll figure out a way to wing it.

The appliances arrived today and Walter began installing them. Microwave went in fine, but the stove interferes with the gas supply line. Yep, the gas supply line that Frank put in for me a few weeks back. Per my directions. Per what the stove manufacturer said to do.

I guess Frank will be re-routing the gas line tomorrow.

The kitchen is almost done. All cabinets are in, the appliances are almost in and the slab got installed today.

John has mortised all the new interior doors and they're all well hung. Just need to add handles and paint them.

Kathleen came over today and measured the windows. She'll be dealing with the shear curtains to hide the ugly windows.

Tomorrow I'll start with the baseboard and the casings.

The camera was out of batteries, hence no new pictures for this post.

Week of June 4th

(This is the third of three posts from Sunday night)

I expect to get lots of progress this coming week:
> Pickup and install the wetbar counter in the family room
> Tile the new bathroom and the counters
> Install sinks in the new bathroom and the two wetbars
> Finish the access doors in the downstairs bedrooms and the master bedroom closet
> Mortise the new interior doors for hinges. Paint the doors, drill them for locks and handles, and hang them (sounds like a movie parody)
> Install the commodes
> Install the pedestal sink downstairs, once the workmen are done with cleaning their paint and mud brushes
> Figure out how to reinstall the heater covers (of all the tasks, this is the one I fear the most)
> Install the granite countertops in the kitchen and install the plumbing
> Get and install door handles for the four exterior doors
> Get power to the sprinker system (currently using an extension cord)
> Begin putting in the baseboard
> Chop down the ugly two trees in front

Obviously more than I can possibly do myself. Walter and his crew of professionals will be helping, as will Frank and John. I'm still eager to be finished on the 15th.

I'm still shooting for June 15 completion. It'll be tough, there's numerous tiny details still left.

June 3

We made great progress last week and got the following accomplished:

> Painted the exterior body color in a cream/yellow shade. Began the secondary color (deep navy blue)

> Installed the kitchen cabinets

> Installed the master bath vanity and prepared the surface for tile

> Tore out the cast iron tub in the second upstairs bathroom. Only weighed about 250 pounds. Kathleen managed to get rid of it on Craig's List, so I didn't have to deal with taking it to the recycle place.

> Build plumbing in the upstairs second bathroom for the second sink. What a nightmare, I'm so glad Frank did the work.

> Installed all shower and tub faucets

> Installed and wired the recessed light cans in the master bedroom

> Got measured for carpet

> Repaired the fence gate

> Built the access for the sprinkler valves in the downstairs bathroom

> Drywalled the upstairs bathroom

> Installed the two patio Freedom doors (ever hear of freedom fries?)