The Next Project

The Stairs Story and Hardwood Floors Begin

2012-09-30T09:00:00.001-04:00

So after the drywall was installed and the painting was mostly finished, the deal with the stair guy from Colorado went through... of course it did... I serve a God who cares about the little things.

Here's the story, so I have always known the type of stairs that I wanted for this house from the first day I purchased it... spiral. And having looked at hundreds of log cabins over the years, I knew the type of spiral staircase that I wanted... logs. Duh! :) So after many, many, many phone calls to companies all over the US, I realized that this would be a very expensive set of stairs and way out of my budget. But one of the last phone calls I made to StairMeister Stairs gave me some hope. After talking to Bill Schwartz, one of the owners, and his announcement that these stairs start at $12K, I informed him that this was way out of my budget. However his response was, "well, I might have something that will work out in the shop." ...music to my ears! He proceeded to tell me that he had a set of stairs that he'd had for a while and that he would not sell them because they did not meet his standard of quality. He said he would sell them to me at less than his cost if I was interested. Of course I was and he said that he would send me a picture to see if I was ok with the "flaws." Upon seeing the picture and not even being able to see a flaw, I called him back and said yes, I was interested. So the next BIG problem... would it fit??? You see, this set of stairs was custom made for an entirely different house with different dimensions. The floor to floor height, the turn of the spiral (direction), the number of treads, and the size of the spindles, all had to work in my opening, something that could not be changed.

These three pics are what Bill sent to me to show me the "flaws."

And wouldn't you know it, it fit perfectly! How do you explain this?? I have a way. G-O-D. Oh yeah, and I didn't tell you about the price... all for under $5K. So I ordered the stairs and had them shipped from Colorado.

But before the stairs could be installed, I had to get the hardwood floor finished in the living room. So here are pics of that project.

My neighbor's son, Scott, helped me get the floor started. What a blessing!

Katie was trying not to freeze while overseeing my work... ha ha!


BTW... it was COOOLD while I was laying these floors. My little heater warmed me up for a minute at a time :)

The final piece of the front room!

An Update

2012-09-20T19:26:00.000-04:00

So, this is the first post I've had in a looooong time, let me explain...

I moved out of my apartment February 2, one week after I had to put my cherished dog of 13 years, Ty, down. After this, I realized two things: 1) living in that apartment which I HATED without my companion would be miserable, and 2) I didn't want to keep paying rent when I had a house that I could live in and save some money. So, I finished packing up everything that I had actually unpacked (which wasn't much) and moved it into the house. I threw a mattress on the floor in my loft, bought a heated blanket, and started camping out in my house.

Ahhh, camping... so I had two extension cords strung from a temporary power pole that supplied the only electric in the house, this allowed me to run my blanket at night to stay warm and I had a port-a-john for bathroom... oh yeah, I didn't have the plumbing on yet. I am blessed to be in a profession that relies on locker rooms, so that's where I took showers mostly. My colleague and friend, Sara, invited me over quite frequently for supper and a hot shower too... what a blessing she and her husband Shawn have been!!!

So without power, there is no computer or Internet, and hence, there have not been any blog posts for several months. But the good news is that I have power and plumbing, and yes, the Internet now. Most of you know that the house has passed the final inspection, however, I want to continue updating the blog in the order in which the construction took place. So I am going to continue posting as my time permits to show you the construction phases and projects until I have my open house (sometime soon, I hope).

I hope you are all well,
In Him,
Shonna

here's what happens in a month...

2011-12-25T11:54:00.000-05:00

So, since last you heard from me the drywall has been hung and finished, a new roof has been put on, the siding is done, and painting is75% finished... hopefully that will be finished in the next day... and then we begin laying the hardwood floors. My goal to be in by Jan 1 probably will not be met, but I won't be too far off. I ask that you continue to pray for safety for me and my helpers, that the insurance company will come through on the roof claim... that has put me way behind budget, and that the guy in Colorado who has a set of scratch and dent stairs will be able to get them here within my budget. Thanks in advance for all of you who have been praying for this project. God continues to bless me in ways and with things that I have no other explanation for, except He loves me and people are praying for me.

septic pipe before...

finally got my tractor from Ohio!!

septic pipe after...

drywall truck arrived... now to get it in the house.

now that's what I'm talking about... I need a crane!

about a half day into it, half of the house has drywall up

starting the finish mudding

oops... a pipe that didn't get framed in... so now I get to drywall too!

another oops... a bathroom closet that got closed in... more drywall for me.

closet with drywall removed

headed to the dump with the scraps

a dump trailer is the best!!

ok, this is not my best drywall hang ever, but I was piecing it together with scraps... you'll see the finished product eventually :)

framing and drywalling the pipe

and two spots upstairs that didn't get drywall... not sure what these were meant to be... but I framed them in and will finish.

but I couldn't forget a very important thing... my gun safe!!!

the message.... don't walk in uninvited if you expect to walk out!

taking off the old ridge vent

people were worried about GREEN...

I'll put some finished pics of the roof on my next blog...

and the painting begins... this is primer.

Katie... Patrick's girlfriend... came out for a night... lots of fun!

I get to do the fun stuff! :)

Patrick is telling you how high it is... he's not daring it, he's afraid of heights (although I have pushed him out of that comfort zone a bit... he he!)

hanging on while Patrick moves the whole scaffolding... see next

this is as high as Patrick gets... and this is pushing it! He's telling me I'm CRAZY!

Daniel, from Romania and owner of Carolina Wood Flooring (I recommend), wrapping the first bundle of hardwood because it is pouring down rain... nice!

you get a better deal with cash... and yes, this project costs money... LOTS of it!

after 10,000 pounds... yes, I said 10,000... of hardwood floor over two trips, two days, 70 pound box at a time... WE ARE BEAT!!!

Patrick wanted to see what it felt like with his shoes off... not quite the same as it will be when its out of the boxes and nailed down... ha ha!

hat's coming off, hands are shot, forearms like rubber... I need a break... you can't see the other half of the boxes that are in the back of the house.

MORE TO COME IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS!!

Progress is AWESOME!

2011-11-20T12:59:00.000-05:00

Since I last posted, I have passed the rough-in plumbing, gas, electric, HVAC and insulation inspections!! Woohooooo! Drywall should be starting Monday (should have started last Wednesday 11/16, but my guy dropped the ball on getting it stocked in the house... but it's all good!) There have been tons of little, mundane things that I've been doing to keep the process going. So here are some pics...

had to take the temporary post down from when we restructured the front wall of the house. Yep... I'm about 20 ft in the air :)

also had to remove a beam that the previous owner had put up. It had a metal plate in it that he was going to use hoist up materials... ha ha ha! He was not a good engineer.

had to fix some insulation upstairs that the insulation guys weren't going to install because it was already there

plumbing is all finished! this is the outside cleanout and line to the septic.

so while the insulation guys were going on the inside, Patrick and I were putting the extra insulation that I took out of the ceiling in the floor (under the house)

my attempt to take our pic under the house.

after dropping the leftover insulation out the back door, this is what's left

insulation on the ground, now to drag it under the house.

just a little insulation :-) and I had to go get more (see truck pic)

the insulation crew. they did a good job.

baffles installed

front is almost done... ready for it!

this is what we do at my house when three doe run by!

small details before drywall... left over from where we resized the door.

finishing up the taping of the front wall... duct tape will cover anything!

vacuuming the upstairs knee wall

all clean with new insulation :)

my student Matt finally got to come work for the day... he's been student teaching this semester!

Cole got a hair cut since the last pics. Cutting siding here.

hole has been covered.

Patrick dropped a board and decided he would drop down and get it... the hard part was coming back up the same way. It's about a 10 foot drop.

but after a workout, he made it up in one piece.

bye-bye hole in the floor!

funny story, that would take too long to tell here, but in the middle of working the power went out. The GFI breaker started smoking!!! but Duke came out and it was fine... a little water got in the box.

siding is almost finished!

need a new tire on the wheelbarrow!

yes, the front wall looks like a Christmas present :)

finished hole through the outside for the bathroom vent

drilling through the floor so the bathroom vents can get outside

sealing with foam after it got through the floor

Patrick learning how to tape a window!

HVAC was able to put my drain pipes through the wall instead of out the wall to drip on my siding... LOVE this!

foaming all cracks in front wall

so I moved the laundry chute to a different spot so that it went into the laundry room... smart, huh?!

looking into the laundry room

A bullet list and pics :)

2011-10-30T11:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, so not a lot of description from me this time, just a bullet list of what's been happening and some pictures.

The plumber is calling for inspection Monday.
The electricians should be calling for inspection by the end of the week.
A friend of a friend who owns a construction company stopped by and has a drywall crew that will be doing my drywall and saving me lots of money.
The siding continues to go up... between other jobs and hunting season, I can't get my contractors to stay on the job site for more than a day... UGH! So that may become an issue in the next week.
I've put the boot jacks on the plumbing vents... you'll love those pics... BEWARE if you're afraid of heights!
We put a new door in my upstairs bedroom.
And I'm not sure what else, but here are some pics...

Windows, Plumbing, Snakes... Oh My!!!

2011-10-11T23:05:00.000-04:00

Well, the past few days have been quite productive. The plumber has been working hard at figuring out this puzzle of a house. It is not a square house and so there have been some conundrums! :) But I think we have it all figured out after my visit today. I will probably have to put in a soffit or cabinet of some sort over my fridge in order for the drain in the upstairs shower to be centered where it needs to be. But I'll figure that out later... it's an easy fix. The pics are a little blurry, it was dark and rainy out. And don't mind the dirt, it will get cleaned up before move-in.

The top windows in the front of the house have been installed and look excellent! I am patiently waiting for the windows for the bottom to come in.

Patrick and I have also been cleaning up the debris outside... this has been quite an adventure. Patrick grabbed a snake while we were moving some old OSB to my truck to take to the dump. I'll embed the video if you promise not to laugh at how ridiculous I sound! LOL! I hate to hear myself on these types of things. But our adrenaline was pumping to say the least... we first were not sure if it was poisonous or not. It was quite comical after we both decided to walk back to the pile after we ran for the hills. :)

God is good and God is great... He can't be one without the other!

2011-10-05T22:47:00.000-04:00

First, let me start by thanking the Lord for all of His blessings. (God is good!) After a year of patiently waiting on financing and having a guy who was interested in buying the place come out to take a look, I decided to give it one last shot with the credit union. After praying, "Lord, if this is your will, you have to do this because it is definitely out of my control," the credit union had my loan approval and closing within three weeks. (God is great!) For those of you who know anything about banking... this is miraculous and definitely something God did. And He continues to do things that I utterly cannot explain in any other way except... He did it.

So since you last heard from me, I had the house surveyed, my loan closing and we began work. I have some "good ol' boy" contractors working for me and they are great. Cole is the skinny one and he is the boss who has the license. :) We have totally reconfigured the front wall as per the structural engineer. We have also framed in and framed out some things that I wanted changed. We have house-wrapped the house and put some build-outs on the corners that were trouble spots. We also jacked the house back up where the previous owner had put a post with no support... DUH!! And the guys have installed the soffit.

I have also purchased my cedar siding; we unloaded it by hand at 9:00 PM one Friday night... only took me and three students 45 min.! Yeah!! That was a delivery mess up but it all came together in the end. I will be installing my windows for the front of the house this week and the plumber will start Thursday. The electricians have started their work to finish what the previous owner had started and I spent four hours in Lowes yesterday designing my kitchen. We also took out the insulation in the ceiling that was the wrong R-value and put the bolts through the LVLs we installed last fall. We also put some concrete block piers in under the house as per the structural engineer. Here are some pics of the progress:

These are the surveyors at work.

here's one corner of my property after the survey :)

this is Patrick. One of my students who has been working for me. Here we're drilling the holes through the LVL to insert the bolts. We almost started a fire a few times the drill bit got so hot. Ha Ha Ha!

100+ bolts installed :)

Took the insulation out of the ceiling... we'll re-use it under the house in the floor.

gas, water, cable, phone are all marked so they can bring gas to the house :)

starting our piers under the house...

Cole and his guys are tearing the front wall apart so we can reconfigure it. Can't see it well in this pic, but the center beam has been replaced with an LVL beam.

taking off some old molding.

front wall is reconfigured and house wrap is tacked up... waiting on windows

the front wall from the inside... you can see the new configuration from this view.

this is an LVL that we had to install and wrapped a beam with 2x 6s for support

you can see the bottle jack at the bottom. we had to jack the top floor of the house up because the beam next to the bottle jack beam was not sitting on the correct support and it was sagging.

supporting the bottle jack and the floor from below.

windows removed so we can re-tape and put house wrap on appropriately.

this is the corner add on... looks seamless!

house is wrapped and soffit is framed in.

still need to wrap the top

soffit color

soffit and metal is on

told you they were good ol' boys!! :-)

electric panels are in!

unloading the cedar siding.

Patrick, Katie, and Brandon :)

some of the cedar siding

The Boat Chronicle

2011-08-19T23:58:00.000-04:00

Well, my posts on here have been sporadic because the work on the house has been very stagnant for the past several months (but I'm hoping that's all about to change), so I have decided to give you all a glimpse into my latest project.

After several years of saying to my best friend, Doodle, and her husband, Chad, "when are you guys gonna sell me that boat," they finally gave in. I have always wanted a boat but could never afford a new one, so this was the next best thing... something relatively inexpensive that I knew at one time had been take care of... did I mention at one time??? The following pictures and explanations will explain this comment. :)

I purchased the boat and drove it from Ohio to North Carolina without a tag, title, or good tires, but I made it nonetheless. This is the boat before it left Ohio (see the flat).

Once she made it NC, the project truly began. Here is what I was dealing with:

here, I have removed all of the seats. As you can see, it was quite dirty and water-logged.

there was actually vegetation growing up through the floor of this boat... NOT GOOD!

I also took it to the local boat shop and they completely overhauled the engine replacing several worn out parts, hoses, and wires. I didn't get any pics of the guys who worked on it, but a big shout out to McCraken Marine- Mitch, Mike, and David! Thanks, guys!

God is always good to me what can I say. At the end of my street is a guy who owns a body shop. So I went up to ask him how much he would charge me to fix some of the large chips in the fiberglass that you see above. He fixed them and then didn't charge me a dime. Awesome! Thanks, Bobby Hunt at Hunt Auto Body!

Next, I had to clean it, put in a new floor and carpet, and then replace the seats. These projects were going on simultaneously, so I'll just let you see the pics.

First, the seats:

you can see what the old seats looked like when I took them out of the boat (bottom of the pic). I'm making the new seats at the top of the pic.

making the new seats, using some of the old seats as templates.

bottoms are ready

old seats are in the burn pile

my friend, Jessika, helping me cut out and make the cushions and covers

The local fabric store cutting our foam.

lots of hard, hot, dirty work! Thanks, Jes!! You're one of my few friends who isn't afraid to work and get dirty like this! It pays to have some farm-girl blood in ya! ;)

The pile was getting bigger... closer to being finished... and a shower!!

had to try it out!

put the finishing touches on at the apartment... sealed the back for more water-proofing

all finished and installed

and now for the floor:

The old rotted floor and carpet were removed... There was still a little left, but it was sturdy enough to leave since this was a tedious job.

The next part was for me to take off the edges of the solid surface countertops that I purchased at auction. I bought an entire Carvel Icecream shop's cabinetry to make a workstation in one of my rental houses.


This job definitely needed ear plugs. Construction Tip: When using a circular saw to cut solid plastic, take your blade off and turn it backwards. This causes a clean cut and no chipping of the plastic.

not the best sawhorse, but it worked!

After I laid the new flooring in position I filled the holes with expanding foam... PROBLEM: I put too much in...ha ha ha!

as you can see, it was coming out of the sides and actually pushing the flooring material up...

... so I had to pull the piece up and scrape some of the stuff off and then put it back down

small drill bit, drills the pilot hole; large drill bit, drills the counter sink hole (this allows the screw head to lay flat on the surface)

with both pieces in place it was time for the caulk... A LOT of it!

drilled the drain hole

not a great pic, but I am laying the carpet

finished product!

reconditioning the fiberglass:

With what you might ask?? Well, my body shop friend told me to use, of all things, Vaseline. This actually brings the old, brittle fiberglass back to life... who knew!!!

It actually only took 3/4 of one jar... not bad!

you can see the old vs new... makes a big difference!

I wasn't even finished yet and a bird pooped on it... GEEEEEEZE

Next, I reinstalled the windshields:

Put on my new registration numbers:

Installed a new jack:

this is the old one which you will see below why it needed replaced... oh boy!

old one is off... I am hooked up to my truck in order to keep her in the air and steady.

all shiny and new... yay!

Along the way we had a small fiasco. After buying brand new tires from Walmart, one of the tires would not stay inflated. So after several air fill-ups, I decided it was time to take the tire back to Walmart. After jacking up the trailer and boat and removing the tire, I headed out to get the repair, only to return to this...

this is why I bought the new jack!

so the fun began... not only did I have to jack up the boat and trailer for the tire, I had to jack the trailer up enough to get the tongue off the ground to get a new jack on. This was not an easy feat. Those of you who know anything about fulcrums, balance, geometry, and finesse, would be extremely impressed by my engineering abilities. ha ha! Here are a few pics of how I did it...

first, a new jack!

there's more than one way to skin a cat!

here you see a bottle jack, an upside down tongue jack, a 2 ton jack, plus bricks and a large piece of firewood.

got it up enough to put the tire on finally!

after I could hook it up to the truck with the tire on, I was home-free.

Last, but not least, I had to clean up the chairs and life vests:

After all of this, here is the final product:

And this is my first trip to the lake:

putting in

docked, waiting for me while I parked the truck

DORK ALERT!!!!! If it looks like a dork, sounds like a dork, guess what... it's probably a dork... welcome to ME :)

Looking forward to a great fall fishing and tubing season! You're welcome to join me anytime!

workin' again finally!

2011-05-21T23:00:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,
Well, it's been a loooooong time (last October) since I updated this blog. Boy, a lot has happened since then... unfortunately not a whole lot on the house. But I will give you a quick run down and get you up-to-date on the important stuff :)

The deck has been completely removed and is now being reinstalled. It was removed because the deck is 37 x 16 ft... IT'S HUGE!... and there were five supports! Yep, you heard it five... not enough to say the least. So needless to say the deck was out of level and definitely unsafe.

Here, all of the decking is off and stacked, ready to level up and secure the structure. We nailed off every board, leveled the entire structure, and installed many more braces. This is a student of mine, Matt, who does construction work on the side while he's getting his teaching degree.

And now, I am putting the decking back on. I'll give you a few shots here, but I'm not finished. I'll post the finished deck on my next post.

Other than that, not much has happened with the house. I did have a clean up day inside. This is one of my favorite students, Patrick (Roll Tide!), who came out and helped me. (Yes, I said favorite! I have a few!) :o)

We have also had a few bonfires out on the property and have had a lot of fun!

Welp, that's all for now... until next time!

Sunroom is gone

2010-10-09T23:21:00.000-04:00

Well, I met my goal to get the sunroom demolition completed by this weekend... now to clean it all up!! :)

This is my friend Shawn. He helped me finish taking off the flooring and piled up the joists as I cut them down.

All cut off!

Saw dust from head to toe... very itchy!

had to remove these bolts off the house side. (this is where an LVL still has to go.)

the triple 2x10's are bolted into these steel beams

first set I had to cut to get started. they are free but sitting on the concrete column... but not for long :)

1 down- 3 to go

the steel beams are bolted to a concrete pad. So unbolt the bottom and the top and guess what you can do???

however, this beam was nailed to the house itself. so after literally hanging on it, beating it with a sledge hammer and prying until I was wore out... I decide to go another route.

after I took the ledger board off the house, the final beam came down with ease :)

and there you have it! I wish all of my sheeting looked as new as the spot where the sunroom was. Oh well, hopefully it will pass the sheeting inspection.

It's Been A LOOOOONG Time! and this is a LOOONG blog :)

2010-10-05T22:07:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, I know it has been a long time since you have heard from me and received an update on the house, so I figured it was time to give those who are following an update. The house has been in turtle-gear since August. As most of you know, the renter that I had in July, decided she couldn't afford the rent and moved out after one month. So I have been trying to figure out how to sell or rent my house in Greenville for several months. The economy (and our government) is not helping the middle class any that's for sure. My house is worth $25K less than what I owe on it and I have lived in it for 4 years... how's that for depreciation?? So it's not a good situation. But the Lord has provided me a renter who moves in October 15...BLESSING!! He will be paying a majority of my mortgage and I will have to supplement the rest. But pray that he can get a loan in the next few months, because this would be a win-win for both of us. And some good friends went over and finished the painting that my original renter had started and left unfinished and fixed my fence that mysteriously fell down. So I have not had to make a trip to Greenville yet. What a blessing!! Thank you Holy Horses Amazing Race Team from Discovery Church and the Monday Night Lights small group!

Although we've been in turtle-gear, there has been progress made on the house, so here goes...

I finished digging the holes under the house and poured them with concrete. This was long, hard, laborious work, let me tell you...but I try to be as safe and efficient as possible when doing my construction projects, so while it took more time, I accomplished it with just a bit of ingenuity.

so under the back of the house, I carried in the dry concrete in buckets after I opened the bag in the wheelbarrow... I couldn't carry an 80 lb bag of concrete! LOL! I only have about 20 lbs on the bags! :) And under the front of the house, I slid the bags in my foundation vent holes where I had a "slide" for the bags to get to the floor. From there it was a 20 ft drag to get them in the holes... not too bad. Then I put the hose under the house and filled the hole with water as I dumped in concrete, leveled, and smoothed it off.

The next project is still underway but I'll give you the rundown in this blog. So I have to put in eight 30 ft long LVL (these are extra strong laminated beams) under the back of my house as per the structural engineer's request. This is to make sure that there is enough structural support to hold the house up. LOL... I guess its important. (although almost everyone but the structural engineer thought it was unnecessary!) Anyway, here are the pics...

We have 4 LVLs installed with 4 more to go. As you can see, we have to use a bobcat to lift and push them in because they are so heavy. Each floor joist has to be cut and a temporary wall built before we can slide them in. Also we have also done some grading, but we still have more to do.

My plumbing fixtures have also come in but are not installed yet. But I like the color and style a lot.

I also cleaned the upstairs loft.

We framed in the unsightly windows that were in the most inconvenient spots and were very weird shapes and would have cost me an arm and a leg to buy. The top two are in the knee wall upstairs where the AC units are... don't ask! Dumb!

Lastly, I have been tearing off the floor of the sunporch that we tore off a while back. I am half way finished and should get this project completed by this weekend.

And if you're interested, this is my friend who visits me outside my office window :) and I have been to a few sporting events at GWU. Go DAWGS!!

Latest Progress

2010-08-10T22:57:00.002-04:00

Well, I have to say, I love the heat. Sorry to those who hate it. Always have been a summer girl. I have been amazed at how much water I have been drinking however. I can normally drink one bottle of water a day in addition to other normal drinks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc and be perfectly hydrated. But I have actually been "downing" an entire bottle in one sitting in like 30 seconds out in this heat, I have impressed myself. LOL. Seriously, though, I sweat so bad that my clothes are as if I jumped in the lake... it is HOT out there. So if you are thinking about a weekend yard project, be sure you are staying safe. No joke!! I will put a lecture up here about heat stroke if I hear that you all are out in this stuff and are not taking precautions. :o)

Anyway, had to let the health educator out for just a minute.... but on to the fun stuff... since you last heard from me, we tore off a majority of the sun porch, removed a door, I had a mess to clean up, and we dug the holes for the piers under the house that I have to build. ... a very dirty job, as you can see in the pics :) Oh yeah, and I found out today that... good news: I have water running to the house (saved me $350), but bad news: the pipe is broken. So I will do some more digging in the dirt on my belly at some point in the next few weeks... should be loads of fun (I am definitely being sarcastic on that one!). But here are the pics...

so first we tore of the shingles. They came off in huge sheets because they were not put on properly. (and don't mind Brian pulling up his pants... LOLOLOL!) Then we took up the sheeting.

next, the rafters came off and the door came out. By this time, I was on the ground throwing the shingles in my truck to go to the landfill.

then the walls came tumbling down... wait, isn't that a song?? anyway :), I'm saving any salvagable material as I go to save some money. So we'll re-use the door on the back of the house that will eventually have a deck on it and the sheeting and other boards that didn't have 1,000 nails in them will be re-used as well.

And just in case you thought I was kidding about this being dirty work... before and after a shower:

Hey, I guess I could have found an all natural tanning method. :)

The sunroom is going bye-bye!

2010-08-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I have started to get rid of the sunroom... that awful looking eye-sore! It is actually laughable. The guy who owned the place did the construction on this, which you can definitely tell because it is nothing like the construction in the main house. It is terrible. I do not know how the roof has not collapsed. The only thing I can say is that we don't get much snow in NC, otherwise, it would have been gone by now. And he used fiberglass bathroom wall paneling as his siding... LOL! And not even the shiny, nice side out... no, the dull, ugly looking side. So I have just cracked up the past few days as I have been disassembling. I'll post more pics tomorrow when it is totally gone. I have my new contractor friend working for me tomorrow and we are going to finish de-construction.

And of course along the way, I have my little friends to contend with...

I counted over 30 that I killed in one nest (not shown), so these things are a nuisance that's for sure. These were already sprayed a few minutes before I shot the pic. But they were behind a board that was covering this whole window and I almost put my whole hand right in the nest... Thankfully I didn't!!!!!!

Oh yeah, and I also went and bought all of this stuff from the previous owner (why I had to buy it, I'm not sure except he needs beer money... SAD!) for $20 (as least he was cheap). But it is all of the vent covers, fan covers, house wrap, return grills, and concrete block for under the house. So things I needed for sure.

Catch ya next time!!

New Master Bath and Closet and Temporary Electric

2010-08-03T22:57:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone!
Well, I had a great day yesterday. Had some framers come in and help me move the bubble tub from a downstairs bathroom to my upstairs master bath and the small shower that was in the master down to that same downstairs bath (it was a switch). Sounds easy... and the downstairs bath was... but the master, that was another story. As you can see from the pics, the upstairs is a loft, so framing has to be carefully thought out. But the guys were patient with me and we mapped it out as we went, saved the lumber from the tear out and re-used it, and now I have a new master bath and master walk-in closet and spent less than $100 on materials. I know it is hard to see when there are only see-through walls, but basically there will be a walk-in tile shower, a bubble tub, toilet, and double vanity in the master.

I also passed my first inspection... the saw inspection. I put this temporary electric pole up and the city inspector passed it. Then they send a note to Duke Energy and they give me electric. I can plug an electric cord into the box on the pole and run it into the house.

I didn't take a picture with the meter in yet. :) I'll take one for ya for next time! LOL

A few slow days

2010-07-23T22:26:00.000-04:00

The front of the house with a ton of old boards, tarps, and shingles that needed removed. Here's the process.

and in the middle of my debris removal, this is what I killed... (I think it is a king snake, non-poisonous...but still dead in my yard!)

Then I went to the dump. This time they let me empty for free. It was a nice, easy place to pull up and empty the truck... unlike the second time (those pics are below).

Then I had my Mexican friends come back and help me finish the outside clean up. They weedeated and helped me remove a bunch of debris.

Here's what it looks like all mowed. Not bad! You can actually see the front porch and sides of the house.

The guys helped me clean up around the front of the property as well. Look what we found...

And then I went to the dump with my second load of debris and this time was a little different... first, I had to pay and second I was sent to the middle of the actual dump where I went bah-ha-ing with my truck on accident... its a long story that I'll tell ya sometime if you remind me. :)

Oh yeah, I had the house sprayed for termites and all other bugs too.

All Clean

2010-07-18T12:39:00.000-04:00

So Friday night and Saturday were big cleaning days. Friday night the cleaning began with the exterminator meeting me out at the house at 8:30 pm to get the wasp nest. You have to wait until night time so that all of the wasps/hornets come back to the nest and you get them all in one shot. We tried to save the nest so we could have it as a souvenir but it was too stuck to the honeysuckle and it ripped when we tried to get it out. This nest definitely could have killed someone.

Here is Neal getting his gear on. He has one of the bee keepers head nets in his hand and 4 cans of wasp spray in his back pockets.

He started spraying around 8:45. He is only about 3 ft from the nest.

The spraying continued until dark. I can't believe my iphone was still taking pics with no flash.

Here is the nest after he tried to pull it out of the brush. It ripped, but you can see the eggs (white part) and the holes where eggs have already hatched. In the bottom are all of the dead wasps. I have a better picture below that I took Saturday morning in better light.

Saturday morning started bright and early with my crew of international workers :) LOL. They were a good group of guys and worked very hard. Their job was to clean out all of the grass that was left under the house when the foundation was poured, remove all debris, and level out the entire area. Here are some before, during and after pictures and a few shots of the guys.

if you want to see more photos check out the Snapfish link on the sidebar. I also installed the mailbox so I can now officially receive mail and I have uprooted some blackberries to replant so that the neighborhood doesn't lose the blackberries. (All of my wonderful neighbors have been coming on my property for the past several years to pick my blackberries, but they will all be gone after I have the property graded.)

Oh yeah, while the guys were cleaning under the house, I was cleaning inside. Before...

After...

And I removed a tree that was growing out of the foundation... NICE...

things are going well, now for some bigger stuff to come...

Bushhogged!

2010-07-15T22:20:00.000-04:00

Well, today was a big day. I moved my stuff from storage to the apartment and the house with the help of a gracious Gardner Webb basketball player, Matthew Maden. I'll get his picture on here for you to see soon. He was a tremendous blessing and a HUGE help... and no, that is not referring to his 7' stature :) LOL.

I also got the house bushhogged! YAY! Now you can walk around the property somewhat without worrying about getting snake bit... well almost... there are still some piles of debris laying around that I will need to get cleaned up soon and so there is still a chance that they could be in the piles. So I will be working very, very carefully when it is time to do that. They are copperheads mostly. The bigger threat right now however is the HUGE hornets nest that is in the blackberry/dirt pile. Chris, the guy in the orange shirt, almost got swarmed by them today. Needless to say, the exterminator has a voicemail waiting for him for the morning.
later,
Shonna

Project Update

2010-07-14T19:55:00.000-04:00

Hello to all of you who are following this project! Here's a quick update: I have moved into an apartment in Shelby. I still don't have all of my stuff from storage, just an air mattress, my bags of clothes that I packed for the move, my hanging clothes which road around in my truck for a week :), my TVs (which originally went to my office which is why I had access to them) and the few boxes of food that I could get to in the storage unit. Tomorrow I have a basketball player from GWU helping move the rest of the stuff that I still need from storage (e.g., washer and dryer and a bed, at least...oh yeah, and pots and pans)... He's a 7'er from Australia... should be able to throw the w/d in the truck!! LOL

I closed on the house Monday... it's all mine!! The attorney could not believe what I was purchasing the house for and thought there was some sort of Catch 22 to it. But assured him all was above board and that I was just getting a good deal (God does things like that!). I pulled my permit on Tuesday and was all cleared to begin construction. I have met with a plumber who will help me do the job for half of what I had in my bid to the bank... again, God is good!

Today I went through the whole house with the pest control guys and we will get everything treated next week. There were some small indications of termites, so the WHAMMY will be put on when I see the bug guys next. Oh yeah, and we went on a wasp war today, killing probably over 20 active nests in the house... the main guy got stung 3 times when he accidentally touched a nest. OUCH! After that I went and bought my first round of materials to begin the first project... extra support for the back of the house. I'll keep you posted on that project in my next post.

Coming soon: international workers to remove grass, piers go in under the house, bush-hogging and grading (unfortunately there go the blackberries, fortunately so do the snakes), and much, much more.

till next time,
Shonna

"By perseverance..."

2010-07-03T15:20:00.000-04:00

"By perseverance the snail reached the ark."- Charles Spurgeon

Boy, do I feel like a snail these days... but I finally reached Shelby, NC with my shell intact. It has been a long, hard week, but I am officially moved to Shelby. This week I am staying in a hotel with my dog and I will hopefully move in to my apartment late next week. I sure could not have done it without my great friends in Greenville... Faith, Nancy, Rich, and Stacy, thanks guys for helping me pack a Budget truck, drive for a million hours and unload that same truck, clean my house, and all of the food along the way. I couldn't have done it without you.

And I will continue to persevere in my house project as well. I will be venturing on in this project without a licensed contractor. God has closed all of those doors and so I have clear direction on where I am heading without them. It may go at a snails pace... but hey, those snails eventually boarded the ark for one wild ride. I'm ready!! and I'll continue to keep you posted as I go.

2 weeks and counting

2010-06-16T09:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I officially have 2 weeks until I move to western NC. Wow, time has flown by. I have my storage unit rented, the extended stay hotel reserved, and my Budget moving truck on hold. Now to find some people who want to help me pack it... LOL! Actually, I have great friends here in Greenville who will come to my rescue I'm sure. God has blessed me with great friends who have been my family for four years. I will truly miss them in my day-to-day life....but we have some fun planned in the mountains!! so no worries on seeing them often.

So in the next two weeks here's what still has to happen on the house: the contractor has to get me his bid, the attorney has to do the title search, the appraisal has to be done, the disclosure signed.... then we will set a closing date. Pray for all of these things to go quickly and smoothly!

After closing, the fun begins. Here are some more pics of what we're working with for those of you who are following:

all of this grass has to be removed from under the house... any volunteers??

while the previous owner thought this would be a pull through garage... I DON'T THINK SO! :)

This window and door configuration will be completely different when we're done.

Bye Bye to the sun porch!

Tyvek here we come!

on a positive note... composite decking... OH YEAH!

well, more pics to come...thanks for all of you who are praying for this project!

Update

2010-06-10T16:11:00.000-04:00

Well, I met with the structural engineer yesterday and basically we are good to go. There are some things that will need to be fixed but no "show-stoppers." So I am very glad. I am working with a different bank as of this morning, so pray for that. The first bank changed some things on me midstream. The licensed contractor and project manager are also on board. So, now we await the bank and the bid. More to come...

My life is MORE...

2010-06-04T23:17:00.000-04:00

So yesterday a friend said she loved the scripture that is the theme for my blog. As we were discussing it, it hit me (and I'm pretty sure I even said) but I already have MORE... more than I ask for that's for sure. My life IS more. I have MORE than a house, MORE than a car, MORE than an education... I have MORE...more of everything. This conversation, verse, and concept kept running through my head all day as I made a 4 1/2 hour trip to see a contractor for 1 1/2 hours and then drive 4 1/2 hours home. On my way home, I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that God has already fulfilled this promise in my life. I have MORE... And yet He continues to bedazzle me with MORE. But why? The only answer I have is that He loves us MORE... more than our human brains are capable of understanding.

This "new project" looks as if it may actually happen (although there are still many steps to go before we actually do any work) and if it does, there's no doubt that it is MORE than I ever asked for (the place is huge!). I liked the contractor that I met with today... but God may have something MORE in the works. I'll update you on that next time.

The Reveal... Am I crazy??

2010-06-02T10:09:00.000-04:00

Well, I am far enough along in this venture to give you all some more details. I didn't want to "jump the gun" and just say... I'm buying a house that is in an UNKNOWN condition for $10K... when in fact, I had no idea if 1) the guy would accept my offer and 2) if the building inspectors would even let it sell because of its condition. But it appears that this journey might continue after all. I am putting in an official $10K offer today on this house. This is after speaking with the building inspector yesterday who said, "It's ironic that you called. I just pulled this file two weeks ago and sent this guy a letter, saying he needed to get something done with this house or he was going to be in trouble." Ironic... I don't think so... I call it divine providence. Although to some, after seeing these pictures and hearing that we may have termites, the house has been sitting vacant for three years, and that there needs to be a structural engineer inspection, it might look like a nightmare. But to me I see divine providence... Am I crazy??

Sorry to the old followers

2010-05-31T12:03:00.000-04:00

Ok, so my first two posts were on a different blog site that I had created (http://thenextproject.wordpress.com) but after doing some research, I'm switching hosting sites. Sorry to my old followers... I'm not sure I even had any (LOL), but just by chance I did, sorry for the technological uncertainty. I know that two friends commented on my old blog and hopefully they will follow here (wink, wink to Amy and Laci). I think this site will be a bit more user-friendly, but bare with me, I'm still new at this and there may be lots of changes as we go. I will re-post my posts that are important from that site to here for any of you who want to catch up.

Have a great Memorial Day!
Thank you Grandpa Jones and uncles and friends who sacrificed or served for my freedom!