End of the month

We've owned the house about six months now and what do we have to show for it

1. Amazing ideas from Sara at 4 Over 1 Design. She helped us figure out the nooks we couldn't wrap our heads around. We worked with Heather Wagner on the tax credits for Oakwood (fantastic by the way) and were happy to have the opportunity to work with Durham's other Preservation Leading Lady.

2. Tax Credit application is very close to finished. We need to give it another once over (Harris), finalize descriptions (Natalie), fit the pictures to the rooms (Natalie), complete drawings of the proposed exterior (Harris), complete the existing cad (Natalie), complete interior proposed cad (Natalie), and then copy everything from the federal application and paste it into the state (Natalie)

3. Lot of Lizzy, Lizzy 2, yard etc is coming right along. We hope to finish the trash pick up at Lizzy 2 this weekend. We will then go to the scrap yard and use the money we make to create the Bottle Count Prize! We've also gotten great estimates for tree care from Cormac and Erica at Aerial Innovations. This is the same company that takes care of our trees at Oakwood and we've got a lot of faith in their honesty and ability. They also don't use spikes or take other short cuts that damage the trees and just love climbing and playing in the trees. It's their playful professionalism that is just so cool. We've got to work out with the property owner next door about the tree situation as the ones that need to come down stradle the property lines.

4. Estimates- We're still waiting for estimates...
This is sort of frustrating but not really frustrating. Since Harris is on the Dole it's not like we'd qualify for any loan (short version, I'm at 50% debt/income ratio because I am responsible for all of our mortgages and student loans, none of Harris's income counts, and the income from Q St rental doesn't count. I look very bad on paper right now even with my high credit score and money in the bank.) We are also being very cautious so that we can claim the federal tax credits. I can totally understand why estimates would be slow coming when the contractors know we won't start work until the tax credit plan is approved and we have the cash to pay them.



Lucky for us it's light at night again and we can start spending dates playing in our little non-electrified shell.

Bamboo removal

Harris signed up for yard waste service for the remainder of the year. The cart rental plus service agreement set us back $19.50. This also entitles us to two free bulky brush pick ups. We have requested one for the bamboo that the city tells us will be complete by Saturday. We'll see on that one.

It also enables us to fill 10 lawn and leaf bags a week with bamboo leaves to be picked up for free at the curb by the city.


You might wonder why there are so many posts about bamboo and so few about...you know...the house.

First, the bamboo is something we can actively work on and make progress, ergo it is satisfying to do this work. Additionally, it is realtively inexpensive to go and hack/haul/curse the bamboo.

Second, the bamboo lot had previously obsured the sidewalk, making it impossible to see the connections between this section of Elizabeth St and the hill. Now that we've cleared it, from the sidewalk you can see straight on to Dowd St. It is also less likely that the lot will be cited by NIS for code enforcement.

Third, the overgrown and trash filled lot makes the place feel abandoned and un loved. We want to instead make it seem a little loved.

Fourth, Natalie is tragically afraid of snakes. As it gets warmer, there is less of a chance that she will go anywhere that she cannot see the ground...so we better get it clean before the critters emerge.

Fifth, we're still planning the interior of the house. This isn't our full time job by any means. Since we don't have the loans lined up yet to do the work or the tax credit application submitted, there's not much we can do inside of Lizzy other than clean.

We've set up a meeting with Sara of 4 over 1 to chat about the house next week and are excited to hear her thoughts!

Lizzy Proposed

Harris and I were brainstorming this past weekend about what Lizzy was missing and what we have not decided on.

We have a really tall crawl space. We're currently investigating whether or not we can pour concrete and finish part of this space for a laundry room and climate controlled storage. This would also enable us to put the water heater here if we decide to go with system with a tank and let us keep the panel box there. We have to investigate code for these decisions.

We're going to ask the preservation office if we can remove the fireplace that has collapsed. This has been a plan for awhile now, but we had been thinking that if we are able to remove the fireplace we would then place a half bathroom in that space. Now we are thinking that if they let us remove the fireplace, we'll put a staircase to the basement nee' crawl space in that location.

We still have not resolved where we will put closets. The house has been...altered...in such a way that there are really no straight lines or consistent walls. Once we remove the existing closet and full bath off of the bedroom, we'll have a better idea as to the dimensions of the hallway. However, we will also then have a house with no closets.

Then there is the question about access between the bedrooms. Do we want all access through the hallway or to retain the access between the two bedrooms? This access point was originally the rear door, so I think we have a lot of options.

So before we submit the proposal to the preservation office for comment we have some details to work out on our end. Thoughts and opinions appreciated...

I give you Lizzy Proposed!

Land! Take two!

We signed the papers this AM and if the snowpocalypse stays at bay a little longer they will be filed at the courthouse this pm.

We paid $3,520.65 for the bamboo jungle next door (inclusive of fees). It is formally known at 503 N. Elizabeth St and clocks in at .088 acres. It is unbuildable without permission from the board of adjustment and then, you could only put a very small single family house on it. We purchased it because we were concerned that the yard for lizzy was very small and did not want to have a rental house or for sale house next door to an overgrown bamboo jungle next to the former shooting gallery.

It is currently covered with bamboo, ivy, and empty King Cobra and Budwiser bottles.

We will be clearing the lot and using it as a side yard for Lizzy. There are some beautiful trees waiting to be liberated from this jungle. Pics to follow shortly.

Plans :
Clear sidewalk in front of bamboo forrest
Hack Bamboo
Count bottles
Clear trash

Lizzy Current

And since the last post was rambling and only half related to Lizzy, I give you

LIZZY CURRENT



There's a little fine tuning of this to be done; After those changes are made I can create Lizzy Proposed.

Lizzy needs a good cleaning

We went over to Lizzy with a contractor right before Christmas. We asked him to provide us estimates for fixing the foundation, restoring the roof to its proper shape, and replacing the non-historic windows with the goal of having an exterior tight and structurally sound house. He was hopeful after seeing the foundation, as, apparently from the inside, he expected it to be much much worse. He worked on our Oakwood house and we have a great deal of confidence in his work, professional ethics, and billing.

He did caution us against jumping in the kitchen/hallway as there is a joist that is about to break.

While we were there I was saddened yet again by Lizzy. I know it's just a house. But here, this house is standing in for human suffering taking place for the profit of others. This house was rented out in this shape. Children made their home here. While we were in the back bedroom that will eventually be the kitchen, we found a hypodermic needle. While in the crawlspace we found those plastic sharps-esque stoppers that used needles are placed in. A lot of them.

It was then that I noticed the upturned barrel in the corner, the lights above, and realized that at some point, the crawlspace of this house was a shooting gallery. Who knows how many people have gotten high on that earthen floor while kids were playing inside on moldy carpets in a fire damaged house. Who knows how much money people made on that house, sucking every last useful cent out of families through the structure.

So for a little while at least, we'll not be going inside Lizzy unless it's broad daylight. We'll clean up and quietly sleep and let some more of the sadness of the place dissipate through the cardboard siding and cracks in the walls. Harris created a drawing of the house and I'm going to be digitizing it this week in the hopes that we can get our application submitted.

Proposed Timeline -
Have plans approved (or very nearly so) by May.

Wood Ceiling!!!!

Ceiling cat? Are you there?

There's a wood ceiling!!!! Pictures coming soon.

Harris has been sick and the weather so cold he hasn't been able to get over there to get good pictures. By the time I get home, the light is minimal and pictures just don't capture the beauty.

It's beautiful in a charrded why did they leave it but so happy they did way.

Wood ceilings are a fantastic find. It means we most likely won't have to go with smooth surface ceilings in all of the rooms since we have evidence that there were wooden ceilings.

delays

Sometimes it's the smallest deals that take forever.

We're trying to get a final deal completed, but are running into normal family drama.

Thankfully, though we've experienced drama of this type before, this particular drama is among another family and not ours.

Hopefully this week our costs will increase by 33%.

We're still investigating dumpsters as, with our work so far and the time change, we can't really move around and do much in the house right now. Hopefully we'll have the place cleaned out, the lot cleaned up, and the plans for the renovation up in the next month.

We did run a very nice scheme though. We traded 1.5 hrs of babysitting for some of the reusable materials in the house. We have less to dump and were able to have Madeline play with someone else one morning! Great trade!

Preservation folks

We had some folks from the State Preservation office out to the house last week to help us figure it out. To give due credit- they are the ones that discovered the evidence of the previous fire. Harris and I had been looking at the walls going, damn, it's odd for a slumlord to paint the wallpaper black, but hey, we've seen weirder things.

Yeah...that was soot.

They did point us to the Sanborn maps for Durham. In 1913 the house appears on the maps in a different form than what is there now. The preservation folks were also able to point out that the room we were in with the dropped ceiling- yeah, that was an addition- couldn't we see the wallboards behind the drywall?

And the drywall, they can look at the wall and in under five seconds tell if it's plaster or wallboard. I thought I was good; they are amazing.

Nothing really new this weekend. We had a fun guest in town and hung out with her instead of working on the house.

What's wrong with the house

Currently, our little Elizabeth St house has no name. After we're free to pull down walls and get rid of the nasty, I'm sure her special character will reveil itself to us and a name will flow.



Since we're discussing the problems, it's probably best that we're not associating a name with her yet.



We did not have a home inspection done on the house. Why? Because we know that the house is utterly fucked. If it wasn't why were we able to buy it for $9,500? If we are buying it for $9,500, why waste $500 on an inspector who will tell us what we already know.

We anticipate having to do the following:

1. Demolition - Removal of carpets, vinyl, and plywood flooring. Removal of dropped ceilings, removal of fake walls and smaller doorways.


2. Install new roof - fix the inadequate roofing and replace all shingles.


3. Fix the foundation- build new piers, replace and shore main girders and floor joists where appropriate, rebuild portions of exterior skirt wall.


4. Yard infill- slope soils so that water drains away from foundation instead of TO the foundation.


5. Rebuild front porch


6. Replace broken replacement windows- some of the original windows remain (YAY!) however, some of the replacement windows are crappy and will need to be replaced.


7. Replace fake siding with German profile siding - A previous owner ripped and painted plywood instead of installing siding...


8. Gut bathrooms.


9. Create new bathrooms.


10. Check on electrical wiring.


11. Build new kitchen.


12. Fix plaster or drywall