The dust begins to settle...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Its been a pretty busy 3 weeks. We're almost done with a major renovation.

We started by tearing off all the trim on the house, replaced some dry rot and put about 8000 nails into the siding since the original construction used the wrong type of nail and not enough of them.

We then pulled all the old windows, installed all new vinyl argon filled low-e windows, and had the house stucco'd. We have the first coat on now and we're waiting about 7 more days for that to cure before the next coat. I have to water the house every night to help the concrete cure more evenly. So far despite plenty of water, the house hasnt grown at all

We pulled down both side fences and both front fences, all about 19 years old and pretty well rotted and put up a new fence using composite fence boards. After shopping around, I found a redwood composite board that looks pretty darn realistic and was only about 35c a board more than cedar/redwood.

Next week the garage doors get replaced, both fireplaces get marble, the kitchen gets a granite counter and new sink to go with the new wall oven and cooktop I put in last month, new gutters go on and anything not stucco'd gets painted. Then the stucco finish color coat goes on.

Then I'm going to dig a hole in the ground and bury all my tools.

Contractors looking for work are still falling out of the woodwork. Guys I'd have had to wait 3-8 months to get to my house are available in a few days to a week. Prices are pretty reasonable.

This is the first morning in quite a while where I didnt have to get up at 5:30, lay out the electric cords, unpack the tools, fire up the compressor and move the cars out of the driveway and then put in a 12-14 hour day.

Quite luxurious sitting around until 7.

Whadda ya do all day indeed...

 

[ls99]

Had the same feeling after prepping old house for sale, prepping new house for move in. Then fixing all the delightful stuff we discovered in the first year.

But then when you are all done, you will miss all the fun and creativity

 

[W2R]

Got to cut back on that doggone coffee!!

 

[FinanceDude]

I thought part of FIRE was hiring OTHERS to do stuff, so YOU can do well, whatever you want

I have NO intentions of fixing anything other than a squeaky door or something when I am retired........

 

[Sarah in SC]

The only part of FIRE that DH dreads is that after he quits regular work, he'll be working for me, and that is one terrifying thought! ...I can't imagine why....
I have lists to keep him going for years!

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Argon causes erectile dysfunction.

 

[Bestwifeever]

This thread is screaming for the before/during/after pictures, CFB....

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Argon causes erectile dysfunction.

So far that hasnt been a problem for either me or my 3 year old, who wants to tell everyone "My pee pee is BIG!"

I've got a bunch of photos. I'll have to take some more this weekend.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

So far that hasnt been a problem for either me or my 3 year old, who wants to tell everyone "My pee pee is BIG!"

I've got a bunch of photos. I'll have to take some more this weekend.

Aargh! don't you think you should have separated that into two posts?

About the argon thing - don't worry. It's only a problem if the argon comes into contact with vinyl, an unlikely event.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, I see your point.

 

[Sarah in SC]

All in all, I don't like the sound of this---argon connecting with vinyl causing ED and photos of my peepee is BIG. I'm going to definitely start reading the text of posts instead of looking at the pictures, CFB!

 

[bbbamI]

Whew...I'm exhausted from just reading your post. I hope all of the caulking splatters came off easily.

 

[Nords]

I thought part of FIRE was hiring OTHERS to do stuff, so YOU can do well, whatever you want
I have NO intentions of fixing anything other than a squeaky door or something when I am retired........

Note that CFB wasn't actually doing any of his own work, he was just setting up the support and then riding herd on a crew of contractors. And these guys actually cared about what he thought and about doing a good job for him, not just about getting paid.

When you find the contractors of your dreams then let me know when it's my turn. I'd be happy to fly them out here for a few months...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh if that were only true.

On most days, I had a couple of hours of site setup, moving tools and materials to where they were to be installed, getting power and air to each of two or three different locations, etc. Then the first shift of guys would show up around 7:30 and work until 2:30-3:00 on the house and fence. The second shift of lathing or plastering guys showed up around 9:30 and I had to have electricity and air to the scaffolding where they'd be working. Then supply materials and chip in an extra pair of hands until 5:00 when the stucco guys would finish up. Then 2 hours of cleaning up, packing everything back into the garage, picking up nails/screws/wire/metal shards with a magnet and loading the trailer with junk. I picked up around 4500lbs of new concrete and a ton or so of lumber and hauled it on my poor little 4x6 trailer when Lowes screwed up the delivery and then the job started taking more materials than expected. Heck, I even painted all the nail heads to match the fence color!

The actual contractors got to just show up, walk to their work site, pick up their tool belts and a nail gun and start working. The idea was to minimize the amount of time the skill workers spent doing low skill stuff.

As far as doing a good job...yeah...if they screwed anything up my wife would call their mothers and there'd be hell to pay.

As an aside, for what its worth, my $100 walmart compressor serviced the whole site for 3 weeks, often with four taps connected to it and as many as three framing nailers and a lathing stapler attached to it. Out of mercy I changed its oil about halfway through the job. This was a big plus since the stucco guys brought a big gas powered wheelbarrow compressor and the framers had a tiny electric one. We'd have been listening to both of them running in combination for 12 hours straight. I hooked up a second tank in parallel to boost the capacity to 20 gallons so mine sat in the garage and only ran sporadically. I'm sure my neighbors appreciated that, and we were able to run some tunes and actually hear each other talk.