Earlier last week an acquaintance at work asked me, How much longer do you think it will be before you open the B&B? Hasnt it been about 10 months since you bought that place? My initial response was to feel as if I am not doing enough, not working fast enough, or simply will never get this place finished. So I decided I would post the major things we have completed since December 12, 2013. 1. Bought the house. 2. Hired an attorney for the Board of Zoning Appeals hearing. 3. Personally met with all my neighbors within a three block radius prior to the zoning board hearing, and gave most a tour of the house to discuss our plans. 4. Worked to get the requisite environmental impact letter from the City Wastewater Department. 5. Removed 200 sq/ft of wall mirrors in the living room and replaced with drywall. 6. Contracted for the design and engineering of a fire suppression system. Acquired building permits. 7. Met a retired Chicago executive and purchased almost his entire house of furniture. Hired a moving company to fill a huge van of his stuff, move and store it in the house. 8. Pulled out the carpet, padding and endless carpet staples from the living room, parlor, sun room, six hallways, and six bedrooms and five staircases. 9. Replaced five (huge) plate glass windows and then had to hire a second glass contractor to redo the sub-standard work of the first contractor. 10. Steamed off something in the neighborhood of 20,000 sq/ft of wallpaper. 11. Hired three painters (after firing the first, and the second walked away) to have the walls of the entire house cleaned, sanded, prepped, and painted (still ongoing). 12. Hired a fire consultant/engineer who will need to petition the State Fire Marshall for variances to the fire suppression system and get our change of use permit approved once construction is completed. 13. Tore out five bathrooms down to the floor joists and studs. This filled four (5) 30 yard dumpsters with over 14 tons of debris. 14. Raised the attic floor a couple inches in order to tear out and replace a header and sill plate that had rotted in an exterior bathroom wall. 15. Had a 100 foot tall (4.5 in diameter) tree taken down in the back yard. Then had the stumps ground down. The stump was so large, the grinding took two days. 16. Cut out the overgrown shrubs along the front and side of the house. Had all the stumps ground. 17. Installed a new fence around the back yard. 18. Installed new drainpipes below grade from all the downspouts to move runoff away from the house. 19. Had 30 yards of screened topsoil delivered, put down, graded and then seeded the entire yard. Watered continuously for a month to get the seed started. 20. Completed the rough plumbing for two bathrooms. 21. Tore out endless old galvanized water supply lines and replaced with PEX. 22. Tore out all of the existing galvanized gas lines and replace with new black pipe that serves three furnaces, four fireplaces, the kitchen stove, two water heaters, and two laundry rooms. 23. Installed three new air conditioners, and two new furnaces. 24. Had the third floor sanded and stained. Had the entire first floor replaced with new oak, sanded and stained. Tore out the front second hallway floor. Replaced with new oak and then had the second floor sanded and stained. 25. Rewired as much of the house as we could. 26. Designed and contracted for a historic style slate sign in Virginia. Drove to VA and brought the sign back home. 27. Drove to an estate sale in WI to purchase and bring back my Viking stove, refrigerator, and exhaust hood. 28. Installed two new water heaters. 29. Moved out and rented of our Crown Point home. 30. Worked my full time job.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 12:34:40 +0000
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