Basement Windows

We spent most of Labor Day weekend exhausting ourselves with the house but we did acheive quite a bit. We picked up more lumber from Lowes, which resulted in renting the Lowes truck to get it home. We assembled one of our basement windows to allow for space for the dryer vent. After countless trips to Lowes and a few arguments we managed to get both basement windows installed. Of course they need some finish work but they are a huge improvement. We took advantage of discounts to purchase our kitchen floor. John also worked on patching up some of our crumbling brick. And with some creativity we managed to dispose of a good amount of trash.

August

During the past month we accomplished a lot of clean up, including another huge pile of trash hauled away. We worked on gutting a few more walls. Laid the backer board (to prepare for tile) for the bathroom floor. We also had a plumber come who put in all the water/sewage drains and put a new water main from the street to the house - which gives us running water! We've purchased a tankless water heater & a very efficient furnace, both should be installed within the next week along with the water lines throughout the house and the duct work for the heating system.

Accomplishments!

Our new kitchen windows are finally in, and our contractor has finished this job and moved most of their stuff out (he'll be back to collect the ladders). We passed our electric inspection. While we are still a long way away from electric throughout the house we do have the main upgrade and new service panel in place.
The second picture is of our new bathroom subfloor. 3rd picture shows some of the joists we had repaired. And I've also included a picture of the mini closet now out of the master bedroom.

Back Door

Our back door is up! It will be finished today along with the installation of the windows. We also have our PECO (electric) inspection today. And if all goes well the contractors will be out today allowing us to get the place cleaned out again and ready for the final gutting.

Kitchen Subfloor Finished

The delays with the contractor have been continuous and expensive. In order for the contractors to do the work we needed to upgrade our electric system. This meant we also had to figure out exactly what electric power we were going to need, use, and where (I think we sort of figured this out).
We do now have reliable power and the beginning of a new circuit panel. Our kitchen subfloor is finished and level. The pictures also show the bathroom floor ready for its new floor and another bedroom fully gutted.

We have a contractor and a toilet!

We have selected a contractor to help with leveling and installing a new subfloor for our kitchen and bathroom, repairing rotting floor joists, installing 2 new windows, installing our back door and repairing the brick around the door. Some of their materials arrived yesterday and they should start work today! Our toilet arrived yesterday, which was a huge surprise as the order originally said it could take 4-5 weeks - we ordered it a few days ago!! Also our bathroom wall is finished and up.

Contractors

This past week has been the most trying so far for me. After gutting out more of the kitchen and preparing to install our new back door we discovered the water damage has affected more floor joists and brick work than we thought. One of the windows also needs replacing as the entire frame is rotted out and with a slight push I could probably push it out right now. Currently our door opening is in need of immediate repair work. I've meet with numerous contractors over the last couple of days and they all have informed me of the missing lintel on the door and that the only thing holding that brick in place is the stucco on the outside which is in its own state of deterioration. Needless to say that will be fixed shortly. The positive side is I think we are getting close to selecting a contractor to help us with the repair work.