The 2019 recap. Like Youtube Rewind, but you can't dislike it.
Stepping outside of my normal grumpy realm to bring you a wholehearted update of this blog.
It all started with Craigslist and a man named John. I was sitting at my desk as a 19 year old in my third year interning at the same company I still work for now. Later, John would become my boss and the root of my home remodel ambition.
There was a time way back in 2013 when Craigslist.org was where you bought things. I do like to buy things. Things I shouldn't have been buying for living in an apartment a stone's throw from a college campus.
Lift kits and 38" tall tires. 5 cars, maybe 4 of them. A little dirt bike thing. Oh...a pig. And a diesel tractor. I wanted to buy a diesel tractor. I mean...I did buy one. But I wanted a better one. After searching craigslist with all of my might...I found a house instead.
House and tractor may not seem like a natural progression, but that's the way it worked out. There was a house for trade for a tractor, and I clicked out of curiosity then John peeped over my shoulder and called the number while pretending to be me. Fast forward a couple months, and I have a mortgage. A truly empowering move at the time. Nineteen year old George drinking beers he couldn't even buy on the front porch of what would become a rollercoaster of...well, more than just home-ownership.
I had participated in the previous decade of home remodel that existed at my childhood home. I have the internet and Menards. One doesn't need much else to do any home remodeling. It does help to have fantastic neighbors with specialized skills and tools to loan. I started simple with the living room, some lights and paint and flooring. Then I bought a half dozen project vehicles and a couple wheelers. Things got deep. For the sake of positivity we'll say that I just had too much going on. I completed a couple of projects but generally just bought and sold half-finished projects for a few years. I think there is a blog post about most of those. And probably mentions of that period throughout some other posts.
Itwas is a weird place. I continue to believe there's logic in buying cheap and fixing. I have done the math, and there ain't much logic there. You can, if you do it right, get a cheap car that lasts long enough to be cheaper than a payment. You can, if you're me, quickly spend too much money trying to patch up a car that someone has already taken out to pasture. We'll get to that point (will we?), but I'm only marginally better at this point.
never be happy with like to fix the saggy, patched up, 120 year old floor that continued to perplex me. I had a lot of questions about the crawlspace mechanics and why the A/C sounded like there was a pond inside of it. I have an unfortunate need to know why. Across the board. Both a strength and a weakness really.
I recall the day very specifically. The brown, fake-wood-grain, peel and stick floors. Paneling. Pine trim. Caleb was over and
we opened up the crawlspace. There was a poorly dug hole big enough for a 130lb guy to sit cross-legged. I haven't been 130lbs since 5th grade, and that's also probably the last time I sat cross-legged. We quickly discovered that I do not have a crawl space. So we started digging. An army shovel and 5 gallon buckets. This process is slow. Two years it took the neighbor kids to get that done.
Once there was a crawlspace, things continued to getworse more interesting. The foundation was fucked, the floor joists were broken, everything needed fixed. So I ripped it all out. ALL OF IT. I didn't have a floor. But who needs a floor anyway?
Me, I need a floor. It took me nearly a year of not having one to make that thought though.
I fixed the foundation. Poured footings. Jacked up the whole house. Added more foundation. Added floor joists. Quit for six months. Added subfloor. Ripped out the 24ft load bearing wall. Built a new one of those. Quit for a few months. Added subfloor. Added more subfloor. Tinkered with some electrical. Added some Telco. Stabbed some drywall up to close up my bedroom again. Did the same thing to my bathroom. Quit for a while.
I did quit for a long time. But I didn't stop.
There was a pipe shoved through the corner of the foundation and a handful of just...missing cinder blocks. I pulled that whole section out, down to the footings and tried my best to put in a new section. A learning experience for sure. I did it, though.
Part II: The Middle Foundation
My house is 25ft X 25ft. Half of the house is an addition. The original 1890 one-room house was
12ft X 24ft. Someone added the addition in the 70s as far as I can tell. That is also when the house got water as far as I can tell. Having a middle foundation is great because it takes a serious amount of lumber to span 25ft.
The middle foundation was a HORROR. It wasincredibly fucked in need of serious repair.
To replace the middle foundation I added six concrete footings, three on each side of the foundation. On the south side(1970s) I jacked the house up from under the floor joists. On the north side, I jacked the house up from under the ceiling since I was replacing the floors there.
Once things were lifted off the foundation, I was able to remove all of that crumbly old pile and layer up a new one. It turned out okay. It has settled just a little, but I can live with it.
The joists went in quick. BJ showed up with a nail gun and his dad. They mostly just did it. It's just a 2X8 every 16" with a +- of 1/8". Hard to go wrong.
Part II: The Subfloor
The subfloor was pretty quick too. That comes in 4ft X 8ft sheets, so the coverage is solid.
Part I: Inside Wall Stuff
Walls do more than just...wall. There is a whole slew of things that go in there. This wall mostly just has 120v electrical and Cat6. So I added all of that. This required a new panel. Well it didn't require one, but I obvs was gonna update my service to 200amp. Added a few circuits and a half dozen Cat6. Even one for the fridge because its 2019.
Part II: Outside Wall Stuff
Drywall I think they call it. More terrified of drywall than relationships, and that really sets a precedent. I tried it (drywall), and it wasn't good. The worst part is it not going away after I fuck it up. Just see it everyday. So I found some assistance for the rest of it. Insert Drywall Dave.
Drywall Dave is an electrician.
I've tried my hand at drywall work. It's a sincere art. I can do it, in the non-art form. My neighbors ended up doing all of that, but it took a while, par for the course. After a few inches of drywall dust and 6 gallons of paint...I had walls. WALLS Y'ALL, WALLS.
I can't really remember the order of operation here, but I think it goes like this.
I saved all of the flooring that I put down in my living room for that six month period before I ripped it all apart. Stored it in my attic for six years then put it back down. I had originally put the flooring East-West, but when I put the same flooring in my bedroom, I decided to go North-South since it is much easier to match them together that way.
Part II: Tile :(
Look, guys. I cannot reiterate enough: I am not a professional. Here's The Tile Saga.
In this step, we can see all of the tile and mortar coming back up. None of it stuck. A mixture of the floor being too cold and the mortar being too dry.
Moving the furnace to the attic and the water heater outside, I was left with this still terrible space. Home to a whole bunch of plumbing, the electrical, and some gas lines, I left these walls exposed for many years. Finally covered back up with drywall (mostly), I could move to the pretty stuff. That's what we're all here for.
And the living room:
Lift kits and 38" tall tires. 5 cars, maybe 4 of them. A little dirt bike thing. Oh...a pig. And a diesel tractor. I wanted to buy a diesel tractor. I mean...I did buy one. But I wanted a better one. After searching craigslist with all of my might...I found a house instead.
House and tractor may not seem like a natural progression, but that's the way it worked out. There was a house for trade for a tractor, and I clicked out of curiosity then John peeped over my shoulder and called the number while pretending to be me. Fast forward a couple months, and I have a mortgage. A truly empowering move at the time. Nineteen year old George drinking beers he couldn't even buy on the front porch of what would become a rollercoaster of...well, more than just home-ownership.

It
Enter the serious realm of shit that was my house for actual years
Then I worked on my house for many years!
The more I poked around my house the more I knew I wouldI recall the day very specifically. The brown, fake-wood-grain, peel and stick floors. Paneling. Pine trim. Caleb was over and
we opened up the crawlspace. There was a poorly dug hole big enough for a 130lb guy to sit cross-legged. I haven't been 130lbs since 5th grade, and that's also probably the last time I sat cross-legged. We quickly discovered that I do not have a crawl space. So we started digging. An army shovel and 5 gallon buckets. This process is slow. Two years it took the neighbor kids to get that done.
Once there was a crawlspace, things continued to get
Me, I need a floor. It took me nearly a year of not having one to make that thought though.
I fixed the foundation. Poured footings. Jacked up the whole house. Added more foundation. Added floor joists. Quit for six months. Added subfloor. Ripped out the 24ft load bearing wall. Built a new one of those. Quit for a few months. Added subfloor. Added more subfloor. Tinkered with some electrical. Added some Telco. Stabbed some drywall up to close up my bedroom again. Did the same thing to my bathroom. Quit for a while.
I did quit for a long time. But I didn't stop.
Lets go over that a little more
Foundation
Part I: The North SideThere was a pipe shoved through the corner of the foundation and a handful of just...missing cinder blocks. I pulled that whole section out, down to the footings and tried my best to put in a new section. A learning experience for sure. I did it, though.
Here it is. I fixed it. |
Part II: The Middle Foundation
My house is 25ft X 25ft. Half of the house is an addition. The original 1890 one-room house was
12ft X 24ft. Someone added the addition in the 70s as far as I can tell. That is also when the house got water as far as I can tell. Having a middle foundation is great because it takes a serious amount of lumber to span 25ft.
The middle foundation was a HORROR. It was
To replace the middle foundation I added six concrete footings, three on each side of the foundation. On the south side(1970s) I jacked the house up from under the floor joists. On the north side, I jacked the house up from under the ceiling since I was replacing the floors there.
The first attempt at leveling. This is under the floor. |
Here you can see the supports going to the ceiling beams. |
Once things were lifted off the foundation, I was able to remove all of that crumbly old pile and layer up a new one. It turned out okay. It has settled just a little, but I can live with it.
Flooring
Part I: The JoistsThe joists went in quick. BJ showed up with a nail gun and his dad. They mostly just did it. It's just a 2X8 every 16" with a +- of 1/8". Hard to go wrong.
4 of the 20 or so.
Part II: The Subfloor
The subfloor was pretty quick too. That comes in 4ft X 8ft sheets, so the coverage is solid.
![]() |
Repost but that's the floor finished. |
The Wall
New floors on new foundation means new load bearing wall. This wall is what holds everything up. It's what the six house jacks are pretending to be. Well, not in the wall form. Just the load bearing part. It took about four hours to frame that entire thing up with a doorway and a slightly larger opening. It was July 4th. A fucking liberating time to be George (me).Part I: Inside Wall Stuff
Walls do more than just...wall. There is a whole slew of things that go in there. This wall mostly just has 120v electrical and Cat6. So I added all of that. This required a new panel. Well it didn't require one, but I obvs was gonna update my service to 200amp. Added a few circuits and a half dozen Cat6. Even one for the fridge because its 2019.
Part II: Outside Wall Stuff
Drywall I think they call it. More terrified of drywall than relationships, and that really sets a precedent. I tried it (drywall), and it wasn't good. The worst part is it not going away after I fuck it up. Just see it everyday. So I found some assistance for the rest of it. Insert Drywall Dave.
Drywall Dave is an electrician.
Enter the Home Finishing Stage
For context, I bought my house in 2013, and the walls came to fruition at the end of 2018. At this point, I have almost all new wiring throughout the house feeding to a new panel. I've replaced all of the plumbing, moved/replaced my hot water heater to a tankless unit, ripped out my furnace and all the duct work, put in a whole new furnace and duct work (in the attic), new gas lines throughout, new windows, reworked siding, a new door, and a blank slate of an interior.I've tried my hand at drywall work. It's a sincere art. I can do it, in the non-art form. My neighbors ended up doing all of that, but it took a while, par for the course. After a few inches of drywall dust and 6 gallons of paint...I had walls. WALLS Y'ALL, WALLS.
I can't really remember the order of operation here, but I think it goes like this.
Paint
The amount of time I spent picking out paint is slightly painful to talk about. It was nearly a month of deliberation. I ended up with a color I really love and a color that's more acceptable. I painted the darker color on the middle wall and the more normal color on the other three walls.Flooring
Part I: The Living RoomHere is the living room with paint and flooring and even trim! |
Part II: Tile :(
Look, guys. I cannot reiterate enough: I am not a professional. Here's The Tile Saga.
In this step, we can see what looks like substantial progress. Most of the kitchen floor tile has been mortared to the floor.
In this step, we can see all of the tile and mortar coming back up. None of it stuck. A mixture of the floor being too cold and the mortar being too dry.
If you're interested in the pain that led up to this floor, go ahead and read the previous house post. This is the second attempt at laying the tile and the first attempt at grout. It looks great. Or at least great enough for the house it's in.
The Kitchen
I've always called this area the kitchen, despite it never resembling a kitchen. But it does now. And here is the ever-so-smooth blog version of that process.
Moved the cabinets into place so I could play with placement.
Hang the upper cabinets.
Add crown molding. Not only because it looks dope, but you'll need that to cover the unlevel gap.
Install some countertops.
Install some backsplash.
Take dimly lit photos to make it look nicer than it is.
And here we have the mostly final result. Grouting the backsplash made it look much more finished. Properly ran the under cabinet lighting with a wall-mounted dimmer. Added some window sills with matching counter tops and some window coverings. There is still the endcaps to get to, new appliance sto be added, and a couple register covers that need purchased.
Ahh. Success.
The Laundry Room
Or maybe it's called the mudroom. Idk. I refer to it as both. But it's more laundry and less mud these days. The mudroom laundry room is a 6ft X 12ft space. It previously was home to the oversized furnace, water heater, washer, and dryer. They were all run along East wall, to the North of the washer (remind me to add a compass to the photos) and dryer seen in the photo below. This made a space too small for the door to open fully and too small to comfortably get clothes out of the dryer. It was an overall bad space.
Moving the furnace to the attic and the water heater outside, I was left with this still terrible space. Home to a whole bunch of plumbing, the electrical, and some gas lines, I left these walls exposed for many years. Finally covered back up with drywall (mostly), I could move to the pretty stuff. That's what we're all here for.
Part I: Flooring
A real lather rinse repeat here with the tile. It's the same tile, same grout, same process. This was a few step process due to the weird cuts and smaller work space.
Tile mostly laid.
Part II: The Pretty Work
Through the power of photos, I bring you this: An 80% finished laundry area.
I built a small riser to 1) level the floor 2) get the washer and dryer up a little, so I can reach in them better.
I added the same cabinets I put in the kitchen. Built an open shelf below them for some extra space. Cut down a countertop. Put up some backsplash. Added grout. And finally some under-cabinet lighting.
I wanted a nice space that matched, and my sister does her laundry here, and she deserves a clean space to do that.
I wanted a nice space that matched, and my sister does her laundry here, and she deserves a clean space to do that.
This project was tedious. All of the finish work is. Also expensive. But look at that flow!
Ignore the unfinished paint work, lack of trim, and any other detail you notice. I'll get to that part eventually.
The Bedroom
I uhhh...made a weird color choice on the bedroom when I repainted it a while back. Idk, guys. I thought I liked it. You can judge.
It used to be all white with bead board on the bottom. Then I painted it like a fuckin pokeball.
Then I did this. And it was meh. Kinda gross, looked dingy.
BUT I FIXED IT
A little bit like a bed and breakfast, but I'll take it.
With some sadness, I had to retire my highschool-era comforter. I opted for the ever-so-generic plaid and that slightly-over-the-top bear pillow.
I feel like a grownup with light colored walls and a decorative pillow on my bed.
So Here We Are
My kitchen is done as far as construction goes. The laundry room is dope and matches the house. My bedroom looks like a mostly-composed dude lives there. The living room has some couches and tables and a perfect rug. There is flooring throughout. Light switches that work, and a couple that don't. Dualling fans in the kitchen/living room. A bathroom that passes for a bathroom. The windows are new, the siding is whole.
It's a house.
Have some comparison photos.
The kitchen:
From this
Slightly expanded view: |
Removed the floor |
Added some floor |
Covered the walls |
![]() |
Put down the tile |
Put up the cabinets |
Add the final touches |
![]() |
This is what the house came with |
And here's where it is currently, after all the steps below |
![]() |
This is what a 19 year old chooses for paint colors |
This is what a 19 year old thinks is a good idea |
Fix all that up |
Add paint and flooring |
Much better. I'll get a TV at some point. |
The Next Chapter
Well, what's next? The kitchen is done as far as blogs are concerned. The bedroom still needs new windows, but that's hardly a blog post. The living room is done. Mud Laundry room is done.
Here is the remaining to-do list:
Finish the electrical: the new 200amp panel is currently fed from the existing 100amp panel. This will be fixed at some point with the addition of a 200amp transfer switch, generator, shut-off, meter base, and weather head. Boring stuff as far as blog posts go.
Finish the outside: there is still a plan to add 50 linear feet of porch around my house. An alarming amount of concrete and roofing awaits me for that project.
Wack out the details: I still need to go through and touch up drywall, paint, move some electrical, add trim, add trim to that trim, a cover here, a cover there, a vent here and a grate there. It goes on forever.
Thanks for holding onto this hopeless game for so long. Stick around for the final form of outdoor dwelling areas, structural roof work, more trim work, and even a bit lot of concrete.
It's been a wild year, and there's been a whole list of accomplishments. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, but please stick around for the next bit of Tiny House Problems.
It's been a wild year, and there's been a whole list of accomplishments. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, but please stick around for the next bit of Tiny House Problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment