Un-Ugly-ing the Neighborhood Eyesore

Yeah, so I know I said I wouldn't be posting for a while since we got this house around the way and there would be lots of house-fixing before I got back here. Two weeks later, and I just can't stay away, I guess. Besides, Boo and I are working on that house so much, there's lots of material, if nothing else pictures, to share. I'm shooting short videos too, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I figured I would catalog things and figure out what to do with them later.

Humble Beginnings

worked all day, still smilin'

I'll start with a description of the house, with what little history we have learned from the neighbors. First, I mentioned it is just around the way. It is two blocks away, which means it's in the same neighborhood, but it is also close enough that we can walk down there to work on it. Unlike our current home (built in the early 1990's), the one down the way (we're calling NewOld house) was built in 1948. It is a one-level 3-bed 1-bath 1250 square foot farmhouse. It was built by the original land owners in this area as they were parceling it up for suburban development following World War II.

This house and the one next door were built within 2 years of each other, and were only ever lived in by that original family. That is not to say that they were lived in often, nor well. Unfortunately, the exact opposite appears to be true. In the years between 1948 and 2022 the house was unoccupied for large periods of time, and was only consistently lived in by the original landowner's daughter (E), until her death last year. Even then, she did not live in it very often or for long stretches even when she did. E was an avid gardener at one time, and the backyard contains various fruit trees and other interesting plants, but the front was left to nature. This was true dating back as far as the neighbors can remember (early 1980's). Some of the pictures here show how overgrown the front was. I cannot describe how heavily overgrown the entire property was, and since it was private property, I could not photograph it. Let's just say that it had been probably at least 10 years since the gardens in the back were looked at and the front/sides had not been dealt with since before 1982.

before Will started

E's daughter (D) lived in the house next door, and in the last years of E's life, D vacated the house next door and came to live with E in NewOld house. Apparently, D was a bit of a hoarder, and kept both cats and chickens inside her house. She left behind a considerable pile of rubbish in her prior house and started a-new in NewOld house. After 3 years of E and D plus chickens and cats living in NewOld house, E died and D moved into assisted living. Both houses sat, filled with rubbish, for about a year before they were sold. This is about where we come in.

Is that House in Your Lap?

I mentioned that we got a puppy last fall. Tuukka, named after Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, gets a walk every day, and that walk takes us past NewOld house. Back when E and D lived there, Boo and I would bid them greetings as we were on our dog-less CoViD-health walks around the neighborhood. After the houses were sold to a flipper (Will), there was considerable activity there. Will brought with him a crew of 4 per house, and had multiple semi-trailer-sized dumpsters in between them. The crew set to cutting down the blackberry and weed-trees on the outside while removing the decades of accumulated rubbish from the inside. Of course, a post-hording clear-out is not contained to just what is inside; hording extends into the grounds as well, and there may have been more rubbish removed from the yards than yard debris, and that's really saying something.

before Will started

It was into this work-site that Boo first met Leonard, Will's dad, who at over 70 seems to be the crew morale officer, making sure everyone is in a good mood, and staying hydrated. Leonard saw Boo and Tuukka and waved them over. They walked the grounds, and talked about the house, Will's business, cars and all sorts of things. Boo was enamored with the property, warts, stink and all. The next day, she met Leonard and Will again, asking for a "walk away price". After a brief conversation with me, and another walk-around, she and Will shook hands on it. I won't disclose what we paid, but it was about 60% what the house next door sold for a year earlier. Of course, that house did not smell like dead rats, chicken poop and cat urine... and the yards look like yards, unlike NewOld house's grounds which look like abandoned brown-fields, they're just missing rusty 55-gallon drums, but all other kinds of trash remains.

What Have We Got?

before Will started

Will and his guys finished the major rubbish removal before the deal closed. Their efforts were mostly focused on the interior, but they had cut the weeds and some of the junk trees. When we first opened the front door, we were greeted with a considerable residual smell, but the house's bones are good. Will replaced the roof as part of our deal mostly because he already had the contractor lined up and the roof was really bad; the furnace and water heater were both relatively new. The house had only had one major remodel, in the early 60's, when 2 bedrooms were added to the rear of the house (making it a 3 bedroom) and an original bedroom was eliminated to expand the living room. Somewhere along the line, the wood windows were replaced with vinyl/fiberglass windows. While they were filthy, they were functional, locking and sliding easily. The original oak floors were heavily stained and appeared to have some water damage in spots, but overall they were in fairly good shape.

The kitchen had been remodeled with what looked like Home Depot cabinets, but Will's team had started demo on them before our handshake deal had been struck. As a result the drawers were gone, and most of the cabinet doors were gone or just smashed. We were not fans of those cabinets anyway, and with the degree of rat/mouse feces, we couldn't imagine them ever being clean enough for re-use. The bathroom appeared to have suffered with a non-working fan for a long time, resulting in the paint peeling off the walls. We agreed that both the bathroom and the kitchen needed to be completely cleared, and probably torn down to studs before they could be built-up and useable. This picture of the kitchen is after Boo spent hours cleaning it. The floor, cabinets and counter were disgusting. I failed to capture a before image.

The floors need to be sanded (probably stained) and finished. The crawlspace needs to be emptied and a new vapor barrier installed. All of the walls need to be washed, primed with Kilz and painted. The exterior needs to be power-washed, scraped, masked, primed and painted.

Wash Everything

As with any new-used acquisition, be it a car or a house or even a toy from a yard sale, you have to wash it before you really know what you have and definitely before you intend to use it. So, it was here that we began. I power-washed the outside while Boo started on the inside. At each step during the washing, we are finding that it is not as bad as it first looked. The power-washing exterior, for example, I had the nozzle and pressure set up like I was cleaning concrete walks, and held the tip 12-18 inches away from the siding. It removed the dirt, moss and some loose paint, but not nearly as much paint as I expected. The picture at the top with me and Boo out front was taken after I finished power-washing (I forgot to take a before picture). The house had green and black marring the paint practically everywhere, but you wouldn't know if from this picture. From what I can tell, it appears this house has only been painted twice, or one time since the original 1948 painting. It's pretty amazing how well that second coat is holding up.

Well, this got long, as it usually does. I don't know if this is as interesting as my work on cars, but this is what I'm doing right now, so this is what I'll post on. It is our hope to have NewOld house ready for occupancy before the end of the calendar year. So, it will be a busy fall. Thanks, as always, for following along-