Overview:  The 1.5 Storey Cape Cod

Real Estate Copy Highlights

Charming Cape Cod style, terrific view from family room, whirlpool, mostly new replacement windows, addition (10-12yrs) and entertaining deck.

Clarifications: The house is not a true Cape Cod in that it has a brick exterior and lacks the Cape Cod's characteristic symmetry.

We wanted this house....  So much so that we did not have a proper home inspection done.  Instead, we hired someone who used to be a home inspector to take a look at the house with us.  In his defense, most of the problems we found after moving in were covered up.

Time line

2003

Attended the open house in March.  Took a second look with the "inspector" early the next week.   Submitted our offer (after some impressive negotiation on behalf of our agent, our first offer was accepted).   Put our house on the market almost immediately.  Our house sold within a week with 30 day closing.

Had the roof and eaves troughs replaced.  Cost was about double what we had originally budgeted.  Had an air handler installed in the attic.  Discovered that the insulation was installed directly against the roof decking, with no room for ventilation.

Discovered issue in the den / computer room with some questionable wiring and improper vapour barrier.  Gutted the computer room and beefed up the insulation, installed new vapour barrier and drywall.

Had a few windows replaced and the back dormer re-sided.  Discovered issue with wood rot in the back dormer.  Beefed up the structure as best as I could (this was a "Mickey Mouse fix").


2004

Completely gutted the second floor.  Discovered issue with the way the windows were installed in the back dormer. 

Hired a professional contractor (recommended by our real estate agent) to fix the structure of the back dormer.  After talking for a while, we decided to hire him to finish the second floor for us, including building a dormer on the front of the house.

2005

All renovations are chronicled in the blog from this point on.  The contractor built the dormer, removed the chimney, finished all the framing and insulation on the second floor.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time roughing in the wiring for the electrical and for telecommunications.

Installed a new railing on our back deck.

Repaired water damage in the main bathroom.

2006

Contractor returned to install the drywall on the second floor.

Gutted ensuite bathroom, started gutting the basement.  Replaced floor joists that were cut to "sink" the tub in the ensuite.

2007

Called in a plumbing specialist to re-pipe the entire gas hot water heating system, including installing new radiators in the upstairs bedrooms and a new indirect hot water tank in the basement. Total cost of the project was over $12,000.

All work on the house ground to a halt while we went into "starvation mode" in an attempt to pay down our credit card debts which were quite significant with the addition of the plumbing work.

2008

My father passed away unexpectedly in March. I spent the following 3 months cleaning out the house which my parents had bought in 1964, and where I grew up to get it ready to sell. The house sold within a month of being on the market, but the whole experience left me physically and emotionally exhausted.

In the fall of 2008, we decided to hire an architect to help us address the structural deficiencies of our house and assist with the design of a new layout.  The first step was to measure and draw the existing floor plan.

2009

We met with the architect on several occasions and finalized the floor plan for the renvovation.  In March, demolition and construction commenced with a new bathroom in the basement, new bedroom, laundry room bathroom and kitchen on the main floor, and the completion of the bedroom on the second floor. The contractors completed most of the work in three months, but there were still a few "finishing touches" for us to complete. We ran out of money and they had other projects lined up and, the "finishing touches" were not beyond my capabilities as a do-it-yourselfer. However, our first priority was to get our financial house back in order.

2010

The first several months of the year were devoted to other priorities. Family stuff. And getting out of debt took longer than expected. Tentative plans call for the following projects:


The House from Hell!

It seemed at every turn, we would discover another problem with this house.  And like any old house, the majority of problems are hidden, and many of the necessary repairs required big bucks.  Virtually all the work done by the previous owner was done incorrectly.  Simply put, the guy butchered this house.

The electrical was a mess:  overloaded circuits, hidden junctions, improper junctions, poor organization and no aesthetics.

The plumbing was a mess:  radiators had been improperly added to the heating system, and hot water piping to the second floor was undersized (fixed in 2008), water supply pipes poorly organized, main vent stack moved improperly, affecting functionality and compromising the structure of the house.  Bathroom sinks vented into attic.

Structure was compromised when larger windows were installed in the back dormer (no headers, lack of stud support).  Structure was compromised when a portion of the floor in the ensuite was lowered to allow for the "sunken" whirlpool.  Structure was compromised when the top plate of a supporting wall was cut to allow the waste vent stack to be moved.  Structure was compromised when a large window was installed in the basement without a lintel.   

Nothing about the addition-- not the wiring, not the structure, nothing--meets code.

After almost 6 years, we still had not completely moved into the house.  Everything was so interconnected, that it seemed impossible to completely finish one project at a time.  It has been a nightmare and a financial disaster, but we are really left with no other alternatives than to bite the bullet and fix things up as we can afford to.  It's either spend a lot of money now, and maybe recoup some or most of our investment down the road, or else lose our shirts and start over with nothing.