The original home on the property was a doublewide in need of massive repairs. The roof leaked, the floors were ruined, the 70’s style wallpaper was moldy and torn, and the place reeked of uncleaned litter boxes.
The old woman who owned the place gave it to her neighbor, who immediately started making repairs, but he wasn’t a professional contractor and he already had his hands full with a business based a full hour away.
He did his best to supervise a local crew of workers, who needed jobs but didn’t have a lot of skill, and the repairs on the house showed it. Instead of tearing out the floor, a new floor was installed right on top. Instead of tearing out a moldy wall, a new wall was built in front of it. It’s understandable why the owner was eager to find a buyer to take the project off his hands! I could see the house needed a lot of work, but the owner was loathe to sell it to a scrawny woman and her daughters without doing as much as he could to make the place livable. Although we closed the deal in June of 2020, it took another six months before I was finally able to convince him that I was eager to do the work myself and to have him pull his workers out.

I took possession in January. I knew I’d have more work ahead of me undoing some of the work the men had done, but I certainly felt up for the challenge. Part of our original agreement was that the plumbing and electrical would be completed, along with a new roof. The roof was finished, but the only working plumbing was the toilet, and the electrical was a mess. Still, the house looked a little better and was a bit more airtight than it had been. Or so we hoped.
The very first week we stayed in the house, we realized that the north wall in the kitchen was completely soaked through. If you tapped it with your toe, the paneling fell apart like wet cardboard. We spent that first week tearing the whole wall out and rebuilding it properly. We then went on to tear out additional walls, because we needed access for the plumbing and electrical. Although I was once married to an electrician, I wasn’t prepared for those bizarre old electrical outlets. They certainly don’t make them like that anymore and it’s probably a good thing. I only wish I’d taken pictures before I’d thrown them out.

It’s taken us months and we’re still working to get things done, but it sure looks a lot better now!