Plumbing

We have already gotten started.  The first order of business was to replace the main sewer line from the house.  The good news was that the main city sewer runs through the edge of our property, so we didn't need to dig up the street, which saved us both time and money.  The bad news was that we needed to run the new line under all the tree roots in the side yard. You can see the size of some of the roots the plumbing company had to contend with in the top picture.  Fortunately the line is very deep, so they were able to bring it under the biggest roots and connect it with the the main.  The old tile pipe was completely blocked with roots, rendering it useless.  There is no point to installing two nice new bathrooms if you can't shower and flush the toilet without everything backing up into your house!  In the bottom picture you can see the new connection to the sewer line, and how it runs under the huge root.

We also spoke with an electrical contractor, who is coming out to upgrade the electrical service and install a new panel.  We will run the circuits ourselves.  The current service has old-style fuses and not even enough power for one older woman living alone to run her electronics without blowing fuses.  It is clearly not sufficient for a family living in the house, plus all the wiring is knob and tube, so we will be working hard to pull new romex everywhere and rewire the whole house.  Jake and Dad ran the new circuit in the garage today, so that when the electricians come tomorrow we can plug it in to the new box and have power right away.

The Black Hole of Death

Our family has undertaken a new venture. We are trying to transform this cottage in the forest (otherwise known as the Black Hole of Death) into a lovely, woodland cottage. As you can see from the pictures, the long-time resident allowed the trees to grow completely out of control. The trees are only the tip of the iceberg, however.






  Check out this kitchen! When we were buying the house, my mom asked where the dishwasher was located, and the answer was "What dishwasher?" It has about four square feet of floor space, and a cool old black wall phone out of the '60s. Both bathrooms are in dire need of help as well, but the first priority was removing all the bodies of dead cats (at least 3, plus one unknown) from the crawl space. That lovely task fell to Jake, who found himself prying the mummified body of an orange cat from the dirt under the living room.  At least we have built a nice cover for the crawl space, so the house will no longer be the black hole of death for all the animals in the neighborhood.

This house has tons of potential.  Once we get through with it, it really will be a lovely cottage in a woodland setting.