As you may recall in Project Planning – The One Way Ticket my husband and I set out on an ambitious two week renovation project plan. With the help of my stepfather we tackled a laundry list of tasks.

OK…. now I must be transparent and honest here. I use the word ‘we’ loosely, as really the work has pretty much all been done by my husband and stepfather, as for half the time I was not there, as I was back in town working. And the other half of the time…. Well let’s just say that I make a great gopher! Ok… now that’s not true either. I am an ok gopher, as I bite my tongue and do errands unwillingly. Bad sport? Probably… but my ego is not fairing well. I think I have been in leadership way too long. Great at giving direction but not great at taking it. My husband looks at me like… really, you just figured this out?

So yes the gopher theme continues. But on the bright side Tim Hortons and I are becoming fast friends. And the local grocery store is making a killing on it’s ham and cheese sandwiches.

Ok, enough about my issues, back to the house story, as this one turns into a feel good story. For once! But don’t worry there is still a little scattering of gore for effect. Because this wouldn’t be our story if there wasn’t a little sprinkle of gore factor. What would be the fun in that.

So I am sure the big question on everyone’s mind, and has been a bit of a nail biter… Did we finish the full two week project plan in the allotted time? Well… ding, ding, ding…. yes we did! Woo Hoo! Celebrate!

So what did we accomplish? Well, as per my previous post – the deck cover was demo’d in (Deck Cover Demolition – All Hands on Deck!). We also demo’d and installed new deck stairs, removed the insulation from the workshop, did the basement and kitchen framing, installed the pre-hung doors, laid the kitchen subfloor, removed the wall air conditioner, enclosed the wood box, primed the green room, and received the IKEA kitchen delivery. So all was completed, plus some. A totally satisfying experience and I think somewhat shocking to both my husband and stepfather. Score one for the Gantt chart project plan!

Unfortunately I was not present for a big chunk of the efforts. Therefore I am approaching this post a little differently than the past, where I will be telling the story from the perspectives of both my husband and stepfather, with a little sprinkling of my experiences of course!

The Interview

So at the end of the two weeks, with a series of questions in hand, my stepfather, husband and I sit down on the front stoop with Doritos and beer in hand, and I decide to interview them on their experience… testing my investigative reporting techniques, digging deep into the souls of the individuals, putting them on the hot seat, asking the tough questions. I sense they are getting nervous as beads of sweat start to form on their brows. Maybe it’s the fear of the questions to be asked. Maybe it’s the fear of reliving some of the horrors experienced. Or maybe it is just the heat of the late day sun?… Let’s stick with my interview technique. Sounds much more intriguing.

Question: Did you believe it could be done?

Both felt it was an ambitious task and were somewhat doubtful that it would all get done. Obviously no faith in my planning and my well thought out Gantt chart. Where is the positive attitude? Where is the trust? But don’t worry they learn quickly that all is well in hand.

Question: What were the most satisfying moments of the two weeks?

Stepfather: Design and install of the deck stairs.

You see the old stairs have to be demolished as they are rotting. There are two main challenges in designing and building the new stairs. First is the Canadian Building Code, which has several pages dictating the minimum and maximum dimensions of the rise of each step, the run of each step and the nosing allowed on each step. This is actually the reassuring part of the project because we are being strictly guided into the layout of the stairs. Because of these guidelines, we know the stairs will now occupy more area on the sidewalk below because our run is longer than the original stairs.

Ok… hold on a second. I do hope everyone knows what I am referring to when talking about rise over run. If not…. check out this link. If so please continue on with this intriguing read. The complicated part to the design of the new stairs however, is that they are attached to the raised deck which is eight feet high, but NOT LEVEL! The deck slopes down towards the right. Then, at the bottom, the sidewalk slopes down towards the left. So the stairs obviously have to be level, meet the Code and yet fit into two non-level  surfaces. So with a lot of brain melding and calculating, we cut four stringers to support them, allowing for adjustment at the bottom. By the time we finish all is level and solid. Visually, however, you can definitely tell that the two points of attachment are “off”. 

Husband: For my husband as discussed in Deck Cover Demolition – All Hands on Deck!, opening up the deck, was a big highlight, as it really started to change the look of the house. In addition, the two of them installed a post and beam support under the center of the deck to provide the deck better support as it kind of slumped in the middle. So transforming and supporting the deck, making sure it is safe and secure is very satisfying.

Question: Most frightening moment?

Husband: So everyone hold on here, make sure you check under the bed and in the closets before you settle in for this one, as this is where the gore factor comes in and I think we have encountered the biggest horror of this story. And this is saying a lot! I have to say the most disgusting job we have taken on to date on this project is the insulation removal in the workshop. Do your remember from Keys Please – And the Journey Begins we had identified that we had spider and rodent issues. Well let’s just say we now know exactly where they are coming from.

So let’s put this in context. The insulation we are talking about is in the ceiling of the workshop. As in Workshop – Junk Maze Leads to Rats Nest we already identified this space as leaking, soaking wet, and the spider and rodent epicentre of the house. The only way this is coming out… is down… crashing to the ground in all its gory detail. So as we remove the vapour barrier, the insulation comes down in sheets and it starts raining decades of rodent feces and spiders nests. Aghhh my skin is crawling again and nausea is setting in. All that is spinning around in our heads is… hope we don’t get hantavirus. Even though we are protected… dressed in white disposable coveralls with a hood, face mask and glasses, looking somewhat like a smurf… it still comes to mind.

We are definitely not pleased with this outcome, however, there is another creature that has made this their home and is even less impressed…. The Spiders. Yes the spiders that have called this there home for decades, are now being disturbed and in some cases killed, and are not pleased. And it has now become more like a movie of… Revenge of the Spiders. Where sadly they decide to take their revenge on my husband… and decide to repeatedly bite him on his feet and legs.

The positive outcome of all of this, is that with the removal we discovered where the rodents and spiders are coming from. There is a gap along the whole foundation wall and framing about an inch thick where anything can come in for a party in the insulation. So I swear the previous owners were living with these critters in their home for years. Ahhh. Nauseous again. We finally found the source of the rodent epicentre. However sadly this is not the end. As the worse is still to come. In the canning room of the workshop, we decide to drop the fixed ceiling. In here we find where they have making their home and find probably about two inches of feces and some dead mice. Excuse me I must go be sick now. But I will return….

So finally with decades of moisture and rodent droppings removed and the area cleaned, we decide to splurge on spray foam insulation to ensure all areas are sealed and that the house it is water and rodent proof.

Question: Biggest head scratcher?

Basement Framing: So this one came as a bit of a surprise to my stepfather where he learned my husband has total OCD with stapling, particularly when stapling sill gaskets on framing bottom plates in the basement. He just couldn’t stop himself. We almost had to take the staple gun away from him. Could the budget take any more staples?

Interior wall thickness: We quickly discover while trying to install the pre-hung doors and doing the kitchen framing that the walls were uneven and not a standard wall thickness. What a shocker! Turns out the walls are thicker than the standard 4 inches and are 5.5 inches, requiring wider framing. Also resulting in the pre-hung doors being too narrow and where additional trim is now required when we do the finishing work.

Question: Easy jobs turned difficult?

Window shutters: In order to prep for the siding install we needed to remove the window shutters from all the windows. My stepfather took this upon himself to tackle this task. The unfortunate thing is that the house is surrounded by rose bushes, requiring crawling through a thick layer of thorns. Total hazard! He is scratched, mangled and assaulted by thorns and to this day is still pulling them out. The funniest part of the story is that the window installers had to remove all of them to install the windows. So had he only waited… he would be scratch and thorn free. Unfortunately I don’t think he is laughing as much as me. But come on that is a little funny. No?

Air conditioning removal: Before the siding goes up, the wall air conditioner has to be removed. Easy right? Just push it through the hole in the wall and seal up the wall. Well this easy task takes them hours, as it is actually glued to the wall and stucco, and requires total inside wall demo and chipping away the stucco on the outside. It finally is removed, but let’s just say it is a good thing we are residing, as the exterior of the house did not fair that well.

Kitchen floor: When we bought the house, there was a funky slope to the kitchen floor, and we were not sure what was causing it. Through the demo we noticed that when they did the addition in the house, the subfloor on the addition side is an inch higher than the rest of the house. Ummm… that is a head scratcher. So instead of levelling the two floors they sloped it. But in order for us to open up the flow in the kitchen and dining room, we need to raise the kitchen floor. So a one inch subfloor is installed. It actually worked quite well and has made the kitchen floor very solid. But now there is a lip going into the kitchen from the entry. However, this should be easily rectified with a small transition piece when we install the flooring.

Priming the green room: Ok this one was my task. Given the age and staining on the walls we decided to prime and ensure a good surface for painting. The primer we used is one used specifically as a stain and smell blocker. Figuring this should be a quick and easy job.. again a total misjudge on my part. The walls are so dry the room sucks up a gallon of primer for one coat for one room. It was like a vampire that hadn’t fed in years and would turn to dust without this last feeding. I am exhausted just thinking about it. But once done, just a coat of primer totally transforms the room. But priming and painting is going to be a beast at this rate. All I keep thinking is… this is just one room. The whole house is going to take forever!

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Question: Most frustrating moment?

Enclosing the wood box: Sadly this is the most aggravating moment for my husband. There is currently a wood box inside the house that is fed from outside of the house. So given all of the issues we were having with mice and spiders, I wanted this closed off from the outside so critters can’t get in. Can you blame me? Seems like an innocent request, until he starts to work on it. I guess the task of just emptying the endless void of wood is a task in of itself and then boarding it up and sealing it is not so easy or pleasant either.

Now I wasn’t there for the moment, which is probably a good thing… as all I got through the day was some very unhappy texts and photos. Which is not my husbands typical tactics. Let’s just say the texts very clearly articulate he was not very happy with me in that moment. And that he is only doing this for the love of his wife. Fortunately he still loves me at the end of this task as well. Who knew it would be such an ordeal?

Question: Proudest moment?

Ok I am taking this one. I had recently gone to a conference that talked about positive thinking and celebrating small wins. Given what a downer this place has become, I took this motto on the two week project. Where we celebrated every small win. Door installed… celebrate. Sub floor down… celebrate. High fives, singing and dancing everywhere. Initially the family thought I was off my rocker, but they got engaged and then asked where the celebration was when I didn’t do it. So CELEBRATE!

And yes… the Gantt chart resurfaces. I knew I would convert people and they would see the value in this planning tool. My stepdad commented on how impressed he was with my project scheduling for the two weeks and that all was accomplished on time and budget. So again… CELEBRATE!

Question: Biggest highlights?

I think we would all agree on the highlights of these two weeks. Certainly seeing the progress we made each day and feeling a sense of accomplishment is great. But working in the country surrounded by the beauty of nature was definitely a highlight. Many times an actual distraction. Looking at the valley and the rolling terrain every day made it hard to focus on tasks. The sounds of the country like a symphony of nature playing in the background. One of the trees in front of the house is a bird hotel, hundreds of birds singing in it a one time. So serene. A sheep farm behind the house with adult and babies roaming the fields. Horses running and neighing in the fields. Like a meditation album playing, creating such a calm tranquil moment.

One of the coolest moments, was a neighbour practicing rodeo. Where a tracker was pulling a metal calf that imitates its movements, and a guy on a horse following behind with a lasso, practicing lassoing the calf. Now seriously you don’t see that everyday. Actually can any of you say you have ever seen that? Well we hadn’t until that moment. And it is these the moments where it makes everything we are doing worth while.

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But the biggest highlight was the time with family and sharing these moments together. Forever having these memories of this fun and sometimes frustrating experience, and building the memories around this special place together.

The end of the two week journey

So all in all a very successful couple of weeks. With bruising in odd places and lost of Advil to show for the efforts, we sit on the stoop and we reflect back on the healthy living of the past two weeks. Dining on Cheezies, Doritos, beer, wine, pop, Oh Henries, A&W burgers, Timbits, ham and cheese sandwiches, coleslaw, coffee and tea. It’s a wonder that anyone is still standing after that health extravaganza. Also sitting here sharing the experience with family, sharing some laughs of the fun times, and, sharing the shock and the wonderment of the experience.

Before leaving, my stepfather comments on how special the place is with the sounds of nature and the beauty of the surroundings. Nice to see someone can see the positives in the place, as sometimes we are so entrenched in it that it is hard to stop and enjoy how special the area is.

But before he leaves he takes off his shoes and places them in the sun as a token of his trip. We worked him so hard this trip that he wore right through his shoes. As we toast what was is left of his shoes and the life they lived, we take one more moment to appreciate all that has been accomplished and the shoes slowly make their way to their final destination of the trash bin. Thank you shoes! You did your job. You accomplished a lot and it is now time for you to rest.

As for my stepfather. Thank you does not do it justice. Without your help we would not be anywhere near where we are today. We learned so much, but most of all we shared some great moments and will always have these shared memories. Thank you! The house in this moment dips its head in a gesture of appreciation and I see the start of a big bright smile.