OUR HOUSE

We bought our current house in the Pacific Northwest in 2016, four years after moving up here from North Texas. Because the seller is a wanted criminal (which we didn’t know until after closing, of course), we started our first week in the house spending close to $20K to replace the main circuit breaker, the sub-breaker in the basement, and about ½ the interior wiring. We knew coming in that the place needed a new driveway and some paint, but we didn’t expect the oof of the electrical repair, which the seller was supposed to have done. (Long story on that one.)

Our House, Spring 2016

But when one buys a house, there is always the unexpected.

It wasn’t until this past weekend that I had a chance to get a good look at the saga of this house. It tells a story of neglect and abuse from its former owners. In some ways, many ways, this house became the eye-sore of the street, a place where 5-6 different adults lived, ran multiple illegal businesses, and generally didn’t care about the place at all.

EVERY SAGA HAS A BEGINNING

After the electricity fiasco in 2016, we had to replace the gutters because they weren’t working, followed by the general set of fixing leaky faucets, replacing old/loose outlets, replacing the garbage disposal and garage door opener, replacing all bathroom and utility room vents, fixed some wood dry rot along the chimney, plus other assorted small things you expect to pop up in a home built in 1979.

In our fixing of smaller things, we found that the people before us watched entirely too much TLC or Bob Villa, or maybe too much YouTube. They never hired vetted, licensed professionals to do anything. Everything had been cobbled together through DIY (in a hellish manner), spit, and cheap supplies from [fill in the name of a box home improvement store here]. What had been described as custom baseboards were really cheap upside-down crown molding from said home improvement store. What was described as custom Italian stone tiles were ceramic tiles from a clearance warehouse down the road. The list goes on. Of course we had the house inspected beforehand, but 90% of what was destroying this house was missed, as it usually is.

Soon after moving in, we had to replace the water line to the fridge as it developed a leak and flooded part of the kitchen. We also had to install new screens as none of the windows had them. The fridge itself also had to be replaced as the door was being held on by Velcro. (This was a “fix” by the seller. I am not kidding. Velcro.) We also installed energy-efficient ceiling fans in most rooms to better use the temperate climate and open windows during the year.

THE FLOOD…No. 1

As 2017 dawned, we thought the worst of the home improvement and repair was over and endeavored to save up for a new driveway. The current one was made of asphalt which hadn’t been maintained. The previous owner ran an auto-shop out of the garage and various vehicles and trucks had torn it up. In the winter, it couldn’t be used without chunks of asphalt coming up, exposing dirt and rubble. We wanted to replace it with concrete, which would be pricey since we live on a hill and have a long, sloped driveway, so it was time to pinch pennies so to speak.

Part of the gutted bathroom

But then, the shower pan in the basement shower failed and flooded ½ the basement. We ended up in home improvement and insurance hell as companies rebuilt the basement shower, a closet, part of the stairwell, and part of the game room from the studs out. Because of said hell, the process took over a year to complete.

We spent 2018 doing some small upgrades with the help of my father. Things like replacing two old toilets, installing a little lending library, and countertops in the large utility room. We added caulking around all the baseboards as no one had done so ever, installed a tool peg board in the garage, patched up holes in the walls from all the electrical work, and added necessary shelving to various closets.

For once, 2019 was a quiet year. Should have knocked on wood though.

At the start of 2020, we decided to refinance and use our new home equity to replace the driveway, repaint the house, and a few other repairs that needed doing. And then the pandemic hit….

PANDEMIC

Being high risk, we couldn’t chance having anyone over to do any of the necessary repairs we’d planned. This was before vaccines and before we knew anything about the severity of the virus. So we watched and waited as prices for everything skyrocketed.

By 2021, we had a vaccine. Several in fact. The necessity of what needed to be done with the house had grown more urgent (the kind that ends in a lawsuit from injuries sustained on the property) and thus began the major reno. We quickly found out that the amount we’d refinanced would no longer cover even ½ of what needed to be done. Costs had ballooned that much. Luckily, with COVID locking us in for so long, we’d amassed a good savings. Coupled with a nice bonus for my partner, we’d figured out a way to do most of the work.

Between 2021 and the end of 2022, we’ve:

• Replaced the broken dishwasher
• Had the entire rotten deck torn down and rebuilt with new cedar
• Installed proper drainage across the lot and around the house, tying in the gutters to new drainage
• Installed a French drain aka canal drain in front of garage door
• Installed a new fireplace, which failed, and had it removed.
• Went to a second fireplace company and had another new fireplace installed (this one actually works!)
• Had all ductwork cleaned and sealed
• Had proper, energy-efficient insulation installed to attic space
• Had the entire exterior of the house and garage painted
• Installed all new custom, energy-efficient windows (16 total)
• Removed asphalt driveway and replaced with concrete driveway. Doubled the size of the driveway as well.
• Removed old brick pavers and replaced with new paver stones that lead down to the doorway. Added built-in lighting to paver steps.
• Installed ductless mini-split units to interior, giving the house better heating and proper A/C (most houses up here aren’t built with air conditioning at all)

And as of this weekend, we installed a larger, new hot water heater. One properly sized for the house size, energy efficient, and with a water circulator to help the hot water reach across the house faster.

House with new paint color, new driveway, new pavers, etc. (2022)

THE SAGA CONTINUES

Looking ahead, we already know we desperately need a new washer and dryer and a new stove, so those will also be 2023 purchases. We also need to redo the steps coming into our backyard and have the balcony rebuilt (it’s rotted), though with wood costs what they are, I have no idea when that will happen as we’ve exhausted savings. Also, this doesn’t get into the twelve trees we’ve lost due to climate change and the need to replant.

I love our house, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t love us. Still, it’s starting to look really pretty and well kept. Neighbors keep complementing us on our updates, so we’re doing something right! (Unlike the previous owner.)

This is our third house we’ve owned, and while we knew houses could be expensive, I don’t think we understood the meaning of the word expensive until this home. We’ve spent half as much on repairing it as we spent to buy it, and that’s scary considering we’ve only lived here for six years.

Of course, we had a wind/hail storm last month and are fighting our home owner’s insurance over the need to pay for the damage. The tree limbs that came down from our 70’+ tall evergreens killed our cedar shake roof. Before the storm, we had another 5-10 years left on our roof. Now? It’s shot. The cedar shakes are too damaged and can’t be repaired. (Insurance claims there’s no damage.) Sometime in 2023, we’ll be getting a new roof…one way or another.

Roof damage–you can see the circular pattern from the branch landing on the cedar shake and taking the chunk out of it. Tell me again there’s no damage Allstate. O_O

So as I said in the title, the saga continues, as it always does in this house. Hopefully the story of 2023 and beyond will be a better one for it…and for us. <3

Happy Holidays and a Happy 2023 to you all!