Well, things are moving along at our house, at a pretty rapid clip all of a sudden. Here's what's finished:

1. New water heater installation

2. Lawn rehab of bald spot from where a massive tree was removed not long after we first moved here.

3.Tree removal #1: our deck/patio was built around a tree. We thought it was charming when we moved in, and indeed, it was. But we realized that it was a hazard and also it had been slowly destroying the deck. It was removed in the most amazing process where they cut it up little by little and lifted it up over the house because they couldn't get their bucket truck/crane thingy in the back of the house.

5. New roof and gutters -- we ended up getting black gutters and I think they look awesome!! The gutter guys also relocated one of our downspouts and added a downspout to a different spot where previous there wasn't one, so we are pretty confident that will help with some of the water problems. Did I mention that the last time this house was re-roofed, they just put down new roof tiles on top of the old ones? Yeah, that was ... unfortunate. We knew about it, so it wasn't a surprise, but it made the new install a lot more time consuming!

6. Deck repair: rotted boards were removed, joists and other supports underneath were replaced, and of course the big ole hole where the tree was has been filled in with new boards.

What's coming up in June:

7. Installation of new patio door (the old one is impossible to open and the seal on the window panes has gone bad so it's permanently clouded). This is the door that leads out to the deck, so I am very excited to actually be able to go straight out there rather than to have to go out a different door and walk all the way around the house.

8. Deck & table staining -- the previous owners left a very nice picnic table but in a spot where we never used it. The table was too heavy for us to lift so the tree guys moved it for us to a nice spot in the back yard and we'll paint that the same color as the deck.

9. Installation of new exterior door in Mr. SK's office -- the old door was literally cracked all the way through.

10. New flooring for Mr. SK's office: once the door is installed, he's going to replace the carpet tiles with basement tiles that are waterproof (these are GreatMats because the ones WTG rec'ed to us no longer came in the color he wanted).

Coming up in July-ish:

9. Sump pump installation and crawl space encapsulation (which will include installation of dehumidifier in the crawl space).

I think that's it...

Well, and then I'm also getting my piano tuned as soon as my guy can get out here.

P.S. I'll share some before and after photos of the deck once it's stained.

I'm so happy to have these projects finished, and the other ones all scheduled etc.!

Wow! You’ve been busy!

Yeah it has been crazy but I am so exciting to have these improvements happening!!!

Congratulations on getting all that done (and future things too).

Wow, you've been busy! How great to be able to get the house the way you want it. We all need pics when you can...

Do you have any pictures of the house with the new gutters?

I’d like to see them.

Wow! That is a lot but you will so enjoy all your clear glass, functioning doors and new deck!

Pics please!

I’ll upload pics this afternoon.

Also thanks for the reminder, I’ll take a before pic of the door too!

Wow, That is a lot accomplished!

Is this a WTF home projects thread?

OK!

We started out 2021 with:

1) New well pump.

2) New Well Pressure Tank, plumbing, valves, etc.

3) I drained the hot water heater tank for the first time since we moved in, 23 years ago. This also drained all of the hot water circuits in the house which had a benefit of cleaning some rust deposits off the inside of the pipes. More rust and sediment poured out of our kitchen sink circuit than I have ever seen before.

I am amazed that the hot water heater has lasted this long. The pressure relief valve has not stopped dripping since I opened it during the draining process. I fear the worst. lol

I called my plumber about the rust.

The conversation with Mel always goes like this:

Mel, I need you to come help me replumb most of the house to get rid of these old black steel pipes so I don't have to deal with the rust. I am getting a new pressure tank and will be installing a sediment filter system. The pipes are the final part of the equation.

Mel, says, "You don't need to do that." Here is what you do... then he proceeds to tell me to assemble this contraption consisting of a T adapter, 2 ball valves, an air compressor fitting, a sink supply line and a 5 gallon bucket." I am to turn off the supply valve, disconnect the faucet/toilet line, etc. and thread this contraption on the supply valve. Charge up the air compressor to 100+ psi connect it, and open the supply valve. This will push the water backward against the built-up, "stalagmites" that are all facing the direction of the normal flow of the water through the pipe. By reversing the flow violently, it knocks all of rust deposits off the wall of the pipe. Then I use the valves to direct the water returning (with a crap-ton of rust and debris) through the T valve into the 5 gallon bucket.

Freaking genius.

Going to save me a couple thousand.

Thanks Mel!

Oh yeah, there is a tub faucet that needs to be replaced.

4 rooms of flooring and painting.

The steal beams in the garage need to be replaced.

The basement needs to be cleaned out. That reminds me, I need to call the guy that cleaned out my mother-in-law's house. They will have this place empty in a couple of days.

Home projects indeed!

Mark, I got nervous just reading about you plumbing stuff, yikes!!!

This morning, we took a paint sample from the soffits to get color-matched paint, only to realize once we got there that we weren't sure which was the front (correct color) and which was the back (wrong color) of the piece we scraped off.

Guess that one will have to wait till next weekend...

SK, I am amazed that our hot water heater has been so reliable. As I understand it, it is considered a 10 year lifespan appliance now. That is sad if true.

It's a Rheem Professional 50 Gallon and was installed in 1997, right before we moved in.

I think I need to at the very least, replace the leaky pressure relief valve.

quote:

was installed in 1997

Ours was 15 years old (Whirlpool). I can't remember what the new one is, I need to go look.

Mr. SK is *very* happy with the new one because he can actually take a hot bath instead of a tepid one!

Ok, as promised, here's the new roof (with black gutters!)

New Roof:

Before, front:


After, front:


Before, back:


After, back -- note the tree removal!!

And now the deck!! We couldn't do anything to the deck until the tree was removed, so once that was finished, we got started!!

Here's the deck tree, again. It's kind of hard to tell, but see where there are sunken boards around the trunk? There was a lot of rot all around the tree...


Tree gone! Missing from this photo is how they cut it up little by little and lifted it up over the house to remove it! I bet they could do grand piano delivery too...


Tree gone 2. They did a fabulous job getting the stump low! Thank you, tree guys!!!


Getting started with new boards... look at all that rot!


Getting rid of the rotten wood:


Lots to get rid of there... But we saved what we could because OMG have you seen the price of lumber???


New boards in!!!


Weather permit, it gets stained tomorrow, I'll post when that's finished!