Raising the Roof part 2

The roof has been removed and the walls are going up on the remodel of the master bedroom. it is going to be fantastic. The bedroom measurements before remodel were 13' x 9' the new master will be 16' x 20' with a 13' x 8' walk in closet. Wow we can't wait.

Our contractor told us that the floor in the mudroom needed to be removed and since it was not part of the contract Glen and I decided to tear it out. The floor was layered and four inches thick. It was quite a mess and a big job.

We decided that we would take on the job on Sunday Feb 15th.

For Valentine's Day Glen had a wonderful surprise for me. He arranged for the boys to stay over night at a friends, made reservations at Hotel Monaco in Denver, and dinner reservations at Panzano a 5 star restaurant nationally recognized. It was fantastic and a wonderful break from the hectic pace we have been keeping.

I will continue the story of the mud room and the 2nd floor remodel next time.

If you have questions or would like to contact us please e mail countrybear@what-wire.com

Raising the Roof

Hello again,

Things are moving along at a snails pace and after fighting with Wells Fargo, & the bottom falling out of the housing market, it is a wonder we still have a house.

The junipers are gone and the plumbers have installed all of the plumbing. We had a little disappointment in the kitchen area we had to reduce the size by a foot. That doesn't sound like much but when it is counter top a foot is a lot. It still is going to be beautiful.

Plumbing in the corner of the den.

New plumbing in the master bedroom. We will have two sinks!!! Wow we can't wait.

We are excited to see the new kitchen door being framed in. It had to be moved approximately 16 inches. We are going to install a Dutch door between the kitchen and the mud room.

The roof come off. Yes the day has come when the roof over our master bedroom is removed and extended to a full 9ft ceiling. This is the view as you look out through the roof of the bedroom. You may notice the bolts holding the roof together. We discovered that when the house was moved from Greeley to its present location they cut the top of the house off and then re-assembled it with the bolts back in the 70's.

That's all for now, it is bedtime. I wanted to post before I get my needed beauty rest. A lot of progress has been made in a month and we will post again soon.

Best wishes,

Todd and Glen

Working Outside

Captain Juniper Man To The Rescue

Well it was another beautiful day in Colorado a balmy 40 degrees. So we decided to tackle the obnoxious juniper bushes that were in front of the house. It was messy but Todd got to play with a chainsaw. A man and his toy!!!!

The below pictures are before and after Captain Juniper Man (Glen)attacked and conquered the range juniper that were taking over the house.

THINGS ARE A CHANGIN!!!!!

The new bathroom on the first floor and the two baths on the second floor are now being framed. It is exciting to see walls being put in and not being torn out.

There were four floor joists on the first floor that needed to be replaced. They were rotten and split. Ken took up the original sub floor replaced the damaged joists and is replacing the sub floor.

The second floor bathroom framing and sub floors have been installed. It looks great and now we have to pick out faucets, cabinets and wow what a big deal it is to decide on a toilet.

Today we got the first look at what our new kitchen may look like. This is the preliminary drawing of our new kitchen.

Talk to you again soon.

Let The Rebuilding Begin!!

Things are moving along. Ken is our contractor and he is doing the majority of the work on his own, although we try to do what we can when we have time. The ceiling in both the den and kitchen had to be replaced so he put in new 2x12 joists in the ceiling to provide support to the sagging second floor. Next the new bathroom wall will be installed and the plumbing will begin.

Everything Sags When It Gets Old

OH BOY IS THAT EVER THE TRUTH!!!!

I am home with a bad cold on the day our new leader took office so I thought I would give you an update. First of all Glen and I want to thank all of our friends and family who support us through all of our adventures. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Now on to the house. The livingroom ceiling had to be removed because the second floor was sagging. It has to be raised about 2 inches. If we only sag 2 inches in 11o years then I guess we'll be doing well also. Anyhow the new living room ceiling joists are now in and the 2nd floor is well for the most part level. Again it is 110 yrs old.

While this is going on Glen and need to remove all of the nails out of the hardwood floors we removed previously. Every board must be scraped, the grooves claned and the nails pulled. It is a dust nasty mess removing 110 yr old dirt, hair, and other unidentified items.

Much of the time when we are working on the house the boys are outside playing. With 7 acres they have found many ways to entertain themselves. But when it is to cold we have set up a theatre on the third floor where the boys can eat lunch watch movies and play games.

Hello again and welcome to OUR OLD HOUSE.

Things are moving along slowly but changes are beginning to happen. The inside doesn't look much like it did when we began this adventure. It is SCARY!! Walls are down, there are huge holes in other walls and we now can see through the floor. And to think that someday this will be our home. OH MY! Our contractor seems convinced that we will be moving in the first part of March but he hasn't said what year that will be. We are not feeling as confident as he appears to be.

It has been exciting; each day after school we go by the house to see if any changes have been made and only wish we could have some time to help out. Well our wish was answered. We had winter break, and when we weren't doing the holiday thing with family, we were able to put some time in on the house. The house was moved from downtown Greeley around 1978. When they moved the house onto the new foundation they failed to remove the several tons of chimney brick.

So for our first job we had the pleasure of tearing out two brick chimneys. one was two stories high from the fireplace in the living room. The other was the original cook stove chimney in the kitchen. It was a messy job.

The chimney removal left a large hole in the livingroom wall. YEA WE ARE GOING TO LIVE HERE .......WHEN?

After the chimney removal we needed to remove all of the hardwood flooring in the master bedroom, and the kitchen/den area. We wanted to keep the origional hardwood floors but they had to be removed and cleaned up first. We will reinstall them at a later date.

A new Kitchen window installed and the old one framed in. The framed in window will become part of the new bathroom.

The new celing rafters are being installed now and the roof should be torn off of the master bedroom soon to make room for the expansion.

We hope you are all doing well and we will continue to add pictures as things progress.

Best wishes,

Todd and Glen

How It All Began, Part II

So we submit an offer. Because there are multiple offers, the bank that owns the property comes back asking all parties to submit their "highest and best" offers. So we up our offer a little and submit it. The good news is: the bank rejects the other offer. The bad news is: they counter our offer. So we counter back and forth two or three times until we finally have the house under contract. We think the worst is over. Ha!

We proceed with our loan app, while continuing our due diligence in finding out everything we can about the house. Everything is going along fine until the bank sends their appraiser out. Because the house is uninhabitable, the appraiser refuses to put a value on it, and our loan falls through. The bank tells us that even if we get another appraiser to put a value on the house, their underwriters won't sign off on a loan on this house. In order to preserve our earnest money, we have to withdraw our offer.

Next step: we regroup and decide to inquire at the well-known national bank that both owns the house and that we have our current mortgage with. The worst they can say is no, right? Well, they don't say no. The lender we talk with tells us the problem we had before was that the previous bank tried to write the loan as a residential loan, when it should have been written as a construction loan. They will not only write us the construction loan to bring the house house back to a liveable standard, but will then convert the loan to a permanent mortgage once the renovation is complete. In the meantime, we will work to get our house sold, but can hopefully time it so we can continue to live in our current home until the new house is ready to move into.

The only fly in the ointment at this point is that we no longer have the other house under contract. We go through the process of offers and counteroffers again, and a couple of weeks later, we're under contract again. Hooray!

The summer progresses, school starts again, and our closing date is rapidly approaching. Everything seems to be going great, and then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac implode, and a whole slew of new regulations come down the pike. Our closing date comes, and we still don't have final loan approval. We ask for and get a one-week extension. During that week we learn the bank will no longer underwrite our loan unless we sell our existing home first. Because we had been planning to live there until the renovations were done, we had not been trying all that hard to sell our house. The extended closing date passes, and the house slips from our fingers once again; this time our earnest money goes with it.

At this point, we are both ready to say screw it. But then we realize that we also owe our contracter a substantial sum at this point for the plans that he has drawn up, so we decide to hang in a little longer. As long as the house is still on the market, we will continue to try to sell our house. If the other house sells, we'll pull our house off the market, cut our losses, and stay put. About three weeks later, we have an offer on our house! Now, what?

We call the listing agent of the farm house to tell him, and discover that the tight market has forced him to leave real estate and go back to a more steady line of work. Too bad. He's a nice guy, and he really tried hard for us. We contact the agent that brought us the buyer on our house and ask her to represent us as we try a third time to put the house under contract. Again, there are multiple offers. Again we have to bring our highest and best. And again, we finally prevail. The house is ours again.

There will be a few more bumps in the road, including our lender demanding an extra $10,000 down payment the day before closing. On November 24, nearly six full months after submitting our first offer, we successfully close. Let the renovations begin!

Let the demo begin!

What will be the Master Bedroom. The studs in the foreground are yet to be torn out.

Looking from the kitchen into what will be the den/family room.

From the other end: looking from the den into the kitchen. This space used to be four small rooms. They are being opened up into one large living/kitchen space. For perspective, this space is about 14' x 30', with 10' ceilings.

Second photo: This is looking from what will be the master bath into the master bedroom, and the last photo is the reverse shot, looking from the master bedroom into the master bath.

More Pre-Demo photos

This is one of the upstairs bedrooms that is going to become two bathrooms. Note the random lavatory in the corner with a yin and yang above it. Hmmmm.

This is the front entry. Nothing major is happening here other than restoring the floor and the woodwork.

Another view of the main stairs. looking into the living and dining rooms beyond.

Pre-Demolition Photos

Here are a few pics of the house as it was before taking a sledgehammer to it . . .

The upstairs hall and linen closet. The room on the right will become a bathroom.

Looking from the Dining Room into the Living Room. The Parlor and Foyer are beyond.

The current bath and a small bedroom. These rooms are being torn out and incorporated into the new kitchen.

The attic- this will be a guest room.

The front facade.

How It All Began

So, it's nearing the end of the school year in May, 2008. We've gotten away from school early (we're both teachers, at the same school) and are driving home, when I (Glen) decide to take a different route. We're driving along a country road when Todd spots a "For Sale" sign at the end of a long driveway, so I pull over. We can see, sitting about half a mile back from the road, a really cool-looking old farmhouse. "Let's go take a look," Todd says. "No, I don't want to go driving into someone's yard without an appointment," I say. "Just drive up the driveway; I want to get a closer look," he says. So I back the car up, and we head up the driveway. By the time we get to the top of the hill, it's pretty obvious the place is deserted, which is all the invitation we need to get out and peek in the windows. Even though it's in pretty bad shape, we can see this house is REALLY cool. "Let's call and find out how much they're asking," Todd says. "What's the point? It's so far out of our price range we can't even afford to stand in the yard," I reply. "I just wanna find out," he says.

So he calls.

It's in foreclosure, and it's CHEAP.

Of course, it's cheap, because it needs a TON of work. But all we can see is the price tag, which we can conceivably afford. We make an appointment to see the inside.

Looking at the inside, reality tries to set in. It needs new plumbing. It needs a new furnace and central air. It needs a kitchen. It needs new bathrooms. It needs a new roof. It needs structural reinforcement to lift up the sagging floors upstairs. It needs new windows. It needs a LOT of TLC.

But there are some upsides: It has loads of character. It has gorgeous woodwork throughout. Underneath all the nasty carpeting, it has vertical grain pine floors that can be beautiful again. It was moved to it's present location in 1978, so the basement/foundation is concrete block and only 30 years old, as is the wiring and the septic system. At the time it was moved, it was sided with steel siding and thoroughly insulated. It sits on 7 acres, on a hilltop with 360 degree views and lots of mature trees. It's 5135 square feet! And we are in love.

Next comes meeting with bankers to find out if it really is feasible. We have an architect look at it to see if it can be saved. We have plumbers and roofers give us estimates. The bankers give us a green light. Now we just have to decide if we are up to the challenge.

In the meantime, the school year ends, but I am taking 40 kids from my school to New York City for five days. While I'm in New York, the listing agent calls Todd to tell him an offer has come in on the property, and if we want to make an offer, we need to do it immediately. So, while my students are listening to the Lorin Maazel and New York Philharmonic perform Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony, I'm standing in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall on my cell phone deciding whether or not to commit a 110 year old house in Colorado.

We decide to go for it. It would be nice if the next line was "the bank accepted our offer and we were in," but that was not to be the case. Had we known it would be another six months before the house was finally ours, and had we known all that would transpire in those six months, we might well have thrown the towel in right then and there. But that is a story I shall save for another post.

This is it our diamond in the rough.