We had no real plans to remodel our house last November. Our washing machine, however, did. With upstairs laundry, having a washing machine continue to fill indefinitely is not a good thing. When it happened, it left us with ~100 gallons of water seeping through walls, running down stairs, under tile floors, carpet, in drywall, and more — fun. We had an amazing “flood remediation guy,? who responded pretty quickly (once I found a company who wasn?t in Colorado Springs ? thanks a ton for that initial recommendation, AllState). The bad news was the flood ran directly down into the furnace — shutting it down (in November). The good news is that the ?drying? equipment (consisting of high velocity fans & dehumidifiers) is more than capable of heating our 1100sqft home. We weren?t allowed to open windows (due to humidity), and it actually got TOO hot (90f+) inside. Three days later we were left with No baseboards/door trim Some missing drywall Pulled up carpet/tackstrip/pad Some missing tile floors Total bathroom tear out (downstairs ? across from the flooded furnace) partial bathroom tear out upstairs …and a lot of bubbled paint. Fortunately, we have good insurance. Rather than put the house back to

its previous state, we decided we could put in a little “sweat equity” (and maybe a little extra money) and improve things greatly. We want to sell this home in the not-too-distant future, and our hope is to set us apart from everything else in the neighborhood. Here we are 7 months later, and we are finished – finally. Hardwood flooring throughout the main living areas, 1.5 bathrooms redone, can lighting, built-in A/V shelves, tile floors in bathrooms/laundry area, and only 175% of initial budget — oops. On a positive note, I really like it. As my “handyman special” skills started becoming apparent, we hired painters, trim carpenters, & hardwood floor installers to finish up ? thus why we exceeded budget. I have learned a few things in the process: I am not a trim carpenter I should not be finishing / texturing drywall 2-4 week projects sometimes take 10+ times longer than expected Elizabeth has amazing attention to detail While we could probably buy a fixer-upper and turn it into exactly what we want (and we still may — someday), I kind of want to live in a project-free home for a couple of years.

See original here:
Home Remodeling