Five months ago, virtually all work on the house stopped once I figured out the disparity between managing our debt and eliminating it. I decided at that point. after adding a major plumbing bill for our hot water heating system update that I wanted to focus on debt elimination, meaning that any further work on the house would have to wait until we had the cash to pay for it. Our new-found fiscal responsibility was a convenient excuse for me to get lazy…. well, lazier than I already was. And I am pleased to say that progress has been made on the financial front, though the home renovation front remains unchanged from October.
On the road to financial wellness
Okay, the subtitle sounds like a late night infomercial, but the fact is that we survived the holiday season without using our credit cards. That means we were not surprised by any big bills in January. And we have automatic savings plans in place for our car insurance bills, a Christmas fund, and general savings from which we can pay for major expenses including any renovations. And we are consistently paying down our credit card debts. I should point out that our credit cards are the low-rate variety, with one being at 6% and the other at a 15 month introductory rate of 0%.
The basement
For the past couple of years, since I gutted the basement, our Christmas tree and decorations have been stored in plain site in our family room. I had started framing the workroom and planned to build closets in the work room, but I dismantled the one wall I had started to frame to use the lumber to build a wall under the stairs for the zone pumps for the heat and to support some of the sub-floor repairs on the second floor. Right now, I have a stack of 2×4′s sitting in our family room to be used for framing enough of one corner of the basement so that I can build closets to store our Christmas paraphernalia, and perhaps some of the stuff that has been stored in my dad’s basement since we moved from our old house almost five years ago.
The upstairs bedrooms
There are still some gaping holes in the sub floor upstairs that need to be patched before the bamboo flooring can be laid. At least three sheets of 3/4 inch plywood will be needed. There are also a couple of spots that will be tricky to support and I still haven’t figured out the best way to tackle them. The finished sub floor needs to be true with no more than about an eighth of an inch of variation for proper installation of the bamboo. I have already decided on professional installation of the finished floor, but I admit that my confidence level with the sub floor is very low. The cost of the plywood and now the prioritizing of the basement storage closets have allowed me to procrastinate tackling the sub floor issue.
Call in the pros?
At this point I may have no other choice. With a torn muscle in my back, handling 75 pound sheets of plywood is out of the question (more on that in a minute). The problem is finding someone who knows what they are doing, who will do the job right, and who is willing to take on such a small project (even though it will likely lead to more work in the future). I really don’t have many options if I want to stick to my time-line. I want the upstairs completely finished by the time the in-laws visit this summer.
More pros
I need to address the major structural issues with this house before much more work gets done. This is not a DIY proposition. Quite a bit of the structure has been compromised by the previous owner, and while I have a decent idea of how to fix it, I want to make sure that it is done properly. We plan on staying here for a long time, but whenever we do sell, I want to be able to sell the house with a clear conscience. I don’t want to be responsible for someone else going through the same stress that we have.
Okay…here’s the back story
About a week before Christmas, I was shoveling snow. The snow wasn’t heavy, so it must have been the way I twisted. Whatever caused it, I had a sudden pain in my back and ended up face-down in a snow drift. After some help getting back to my feet, I was barely able to walk to the car and required a wheel chair when my wife took me to the hospital. Three or four days later with the help of muscle relaxers and pain pills, I felt fine.
A week ago, I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary when I felt a twinge in my back. A couple of hours later, I was face down in the family room unable to move my legs without excruciating pain in my back. After about five hours of struggling, and with my back going into spasms, we finally called an ambulance. After several hours in emergency and a total of about 35 mg of morphine for pain, I was at least able to walk. More pain pills and anti-inflammatories have helped, though I still have a lot of pain. My family doctor made it abundantly clear to me that a contributing factor to my injury was my weight and that unless I get rid of my gut, I can expect this type of injury to recur.
I admit it. I am fat. I need to lose weight. I need to eat healthier. By some standards, I have to lose about 75 pounds. Realistically, and to equal the best shape of my life, I need to lose 40. So in addition to the added focus on finances, I also need to focus on maintaining a healthier diet and try to get some regular exercise. I’ll keep you posted about my progress.
At any rate, it will be a while before I handle full sheets of plywood.
Just a reminder about regional differences in building codes
I watched an episode of “Over your head” in which an attic was finished in the exact same way that our attic had been– with insulation installed directly against the roof without any air space. Such installation is against code where I live, but may be perfectly acceptable in California or wherever the show was filmed. Always check your local building codes.
