As of March 9, we will have owned our cute Portland bungalow for a year! A lot has been done in a year, but it doesn’t really seem like it as the house is not very livable at the moment. In a couple months, however, the butterfly will emerge! And our wallets will quit smoking!

I’ve included general prices from what I remember to give anyone with aspirations of buying a 90 year old house a ballpark of how much things cost in a major metropolitan area. And to show that sticking to budget never works out!

The “short” list:

• Had prints drawn up for remodel ($4000)
• Obtained city permits ($2600)
• Installed new 95% high-efficiency furnace ($3500)
• Installed central air ($2500)
• Installed new ductwork throughout house ($3000)
• Removed venting chimney from center of house ($1200)
• Stripped and refinished original front door and salvaged fir screen door (DIY supplies $400ish)
• Stripped concrete stoop and repainted (DIY supplies $150)
• Started stripping fireplace brick (20% complete – DIY $200)
• Upgraded electrical service and panel to 200 amp ($2500)
• Re-wired the entire house/decommissioned knob/tube ($21,000 OMG OMG OMG)
• Dug up concrete to pour new footings and install plumbing in basement. ($400)
• Poured foundation around existing covered porch to turn into a pantry/nook ($500)
• Upgraded the water service into house (included in plumbing)
• Re-plumbed the entire house including 2 new bathrooms ($18,000 plus fixtures)
• Installed new sewer line ($6000)
• Installed Squid-gee Dry waterproofing system in basement (DIY materials $1000)
• Installed new gutters/downspouts ($800)
• Installed new roof ($6500)
• Installed new basement windows and dormer windows ($4300 material)
• Installed insulation throughout 80% of house (a few rooms are left) ($6000)
• Installed structural beams from roof to basement (rough carpentry cost below)
• Built new dormer on back of house (rough carpentry cost below)
• Installed siding on dormer and exterior window trim work ($3400)
• Rebuilt/configured new staircase now that the dormer provided enough headroom (rough carpentry cost below)
• Gutted attic, kitchen and existing bath ($2500 incl. disposal fees)
• Decommissioned asbestos material in house ($1000)
• Completed framing based on prints (all structural/rough carpentry totals $35,000)
• Wired house for networking, cable, phone and security. (DIY supplies $1000)
• Designed custom fir kitchen cabinets and layout (on order).

To come this week:

• DRYWALL INSTALLATION ($8000)

Upcoming:

• Install salvaged doors and new windows throughout ($5000)
• Finish carpentry (trim, etc.) in stain-grade hemlock and salvaged fir ($4800 plus material)
• Salvaged fir trim, door and attic windows stripping cost ($1000)
• Tile installation throughout ($8,000 plus material)
• Refinish fir floors in kitchen, attic, install salvaged fir floors in pantry and staircase landing (TBD)
• Install custom fir cabinetry ($10,200 cabinets and install)
• Install appliances ($6000 appliance cost)
• Install carpeting in basement and staircase (hoping not over $2000)
• Painting dormer exterior and interior throughout (DIY hopefully under $1000 materials)

Even though we have a general contractor, we have been so busy up in here the past few weeks. Every night and weekend we’ve been rushing to get things done that we are doing ourselves to save some dough. Call it the best sort of DIY motivation, when you know professionals are coming in the next day to look at your work and if you aren’t done you are screwing up the whole project timeline.

Jeremy managed to run somewhere in the range of 2000-3000 feet of ethernet, cable, surround sound, and security wiring throughout the house in about a week and a half. We hope to put security cameras in strategic places around the house and wire up the basement windows and all the doors. We also put cable and ethernet connections basically everywhere they could ever possibly be needed, included bathrooms. Hey I may want to soak in my jetted tub and watch Seinfeld, so what? :) We can also set up the surround sound system to pipe music throughout the house or switch it in different rooms. We tried to think of every possible scenario so we (or future owners) won’t have to rip open walls to run more wire.

I also spent the last couple weeks staining our new, custom Marvin wood windows with vintage grids. OMG what a pain in the arse, but they turned out beautifully. Gizmodyne’s staining tips helped us get the stain on the pine fairly even and darker than I expected. I do need a manicure after all that, though. :)

We also just finished doing all the insulation installation for soundproofing, both the media room and attic and basement floors. I hate hearing people walk around above me.

Drywall starts tomorrow! Everything is going so fast. Then we have 2 weeks to paint everything before we go on vacation for a week. Can we do it in time?!

2 Responses to “One Year Anniversary”

1. Tracy says:

   March 18, 2008 at 10:43 am

   Wow! You guys have got a lot of stuff done since you have been there. That’s a lot of cash! YIKES! All that together is more than my first house cost. lol.
2. Dawn says:

   March 18, 2008 at 12:21 pm

   IF we had only known it was going to cost this much OMG. We underestimated our budget by at least 50% and ended up in many ways, rebuilding the house from scratch. All new systems, roof, foundation repairs in areas, etc. Would I do it over? Only time will tell if I love the end product enough.