Remodeling projects.

[JERRY2KONE]

Some of the work that was done I do not have very good pictures of, like the door between the house and the garage for instance. By law, and local codes it has to be a 30 minute fire door that closes automatically(spring loaded). It was very small and hard to get appliances and furniture in and out of the house. Considering that this was going to be a rental home I wanted to make it easier for tenants to move in and out of the house. So I removed the old door, re-framed the opening, and put in a code ready 42" fire door. Leaving tons of clearance for just about any kind of appliance or furniture to move in and out easily.

There were also four very large sliding glass patio style doors in this house. Why I do not know. They were way too large for the house and very old and ugly aluminum frame single pain doors, and the locks had been broken for years. I removed three of these doors, framed up the openings, and installed all new large double pain modern sliding windows. The fourth and final door was removed, re-framed, and a new modern security sliding door was installed for the back porch entryway.

The final phase of this part of the project was to replace all of the remaining windows in the house with modern sliding double pain windows. Replacing these windows was much easier, because they were all direct fit windows for the old openings, or very close so that framing was simple. At the same time while replacing all of these windows I figured it would be a good time to remove all of the siding materials from teh outside of the house. I removed over 1000 lbs of old steel sears siding, two walls covered with very ugly fiberglass siding, and two walls of faugh concrete stone style stuco. Removing the concrete was the most difficult part of the entire project, because of the sheer size and weight of this material. Although I did find a tricky was to get it off of the walls using a steel 3/8" cable. I managed to get one corner of the concrete loose and wrapped the cable around it, then I attached the other end to the toe-hitch of a huge Chevy Silverado truck and pulled it loose. It peeled right off of the house like a big piece of tape. BUT because it was all lathed together I had to cut it off piece by piece and remove it to a dump site. I did manage to get a few shots of this just as I started the job and once it was all down.

I also tore down two 10' sections of privacy fencing on either side of the house and rebuilt the fence and installed new heavy duty security gates for easy owner access. I replaced all four of the outside water spickets with new 1/4 turn ball valves. And I also had to create a new cement two step cement staircase for the back door. This will stay in place and eventually we will build a 400-500 sq ft wooden deck over it. I also removed the old front door, and tore down the entire glass entryway and reconfigured the opening to center the door and install a brand new beautiful fiberglass security door with triple latching system. Which allowed us to remove the 50 year old security gate off the front of the house. I also cut a mail slot into the front wall of the garage closest to the sidewalk, and built a new mail box system. This makes it easier for mail delivery, keeps the mail completely out of sight, and makes it so the resident never has to leave the house to collect the mail, because it gets deposited into the mail box in the garage. Another home made asset that saved money and time, and yet improved the overall workings of our home.

This was a pocket door leading into the kitchen, and I never liked it, so I removed it totally and opened up the entranceway to about 5 feet.




There was a huge fireplace smack dab in the middle of the livingroom, and man was it ugly. I just did not have the time to tear it down and remove it, so I repainted it, and built a wall next to it installing a closet on the back side and created an office space or even a fourth bedroom.

[JERRY2KONE]

Overall the place turned out quite nice compared to how it looked two months prior. After I was able to complete all of the major projects I replaced every inch of door, window, and floor trim molding and installed all new 3" moldings to make the place look more modern. In the last two weeks of my vacation my wife and her family came in and painted the entire interior and cleaned the place up. We had already replaced the roof, and had a brand new furnace installed, and the last thing we had done was to have another family friend come in and stuco the outside of the house with "Arizona Sunrise" colored stuco. One of our neighbors is a landscaper so he keeps the front and back yards tip top, and for a final piece of insurance we hired a home warranty program that covers the entire house structure and all of the electrical, and plumming systems including all of the appliances. The emergency call system is through the Sears company. With us traveling around the world we just don't have the time to worry or deal with incidentals like that. The house was rented out in Jan/2011 and the new tenants just love the house.

So who else has remodeling projects out there to share with us?

[pinkpanda3310]

Your an inspiration Jerry! I wish I did get into remodelling. Ironic since I work in construction Given that your family was not there at the time is the best way to do it. There is no way my missus would go through that. Nice work mate.

[JERRY2KONE]

Yea thanks. Actually my wife loves to assist when I am doing stuff like that, and she is great at cleaning up behind me as I move along. BUT one of us has to work and pay the bills. Plus I can move a lot faster and get more done most of the time when I work on my own. While I was on this adventure I got up every single morning around 0700 and jumped right in with the next project. I worked pretty much none stop throughout the day and most nights colapsed into bed around midnight or later.

I took one day off during the entire 6 weeks to take one of our son's to the local Six Flags amuesment park there in Vallejo. It was a nice break in the action getting to ride the coasters and have some fun, and after I took him back over to his grandparents house I got right back to work that evening. The experience was exhausting, but I had goals to meet, and the overall meaning of this whole project was to improve this house and create an environment that would allow us to get the house rented out for a reasonable monthly amount to help pay the mortgage. So I had an internal pride that would not allow me to fail. There were friends and family members who stopped in from time to time to lend a hand for a few hours here and there, but the overall responsibility lay with me to get it all done. People were amazed at how much I was able to accomplish every time they would show up and see a completely new house. I kept going no matter what came up or what obstacles got in my way. My personal goal was to complete at least one major project every day, as well as working on little items along the way to break the manotiny.

So thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to look through my adventure. I never really worked in construction, but always wanted to. I took a Vo-tech class in high school "Building Trades" and learned enough to help me have the confidence to take on just about any task, and find my way to a resolution. I do love doing stuff like this so that is my ace in the hole so to speak, and I am passionate about creating things that show great quality and will last forever. So this was a fun process to go through. It is challening, but nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. The only true limits we have are those which we set in our own minds. Life is good.

[reno911]

I'm speechless, awesome job. I myself may be getting with you later Jerry, as we just wrapped up the move this weekend into the new house. Gots some projects on the horizon.