A Quick Remodel Update

It’s been a while since I’ve shared remodel progress with you guys, so I thought I’d do a quick update.

1. We have a garage! The garage door came a couple weeks ago, and we put it up before heading to Bend the last time. We do not have a garage door opener yet…but, it’s the little victories. The headroom is low, so we need to figure out how to actually make one fit. Problem for another day, as it currently achieves its objective of a place to store stuff.

And, we turned a falling down carport into a decent detached garage that is now built to last.

2. We had a mechanical system installed. This house was heated with radiant hot water baseboards, which were ugly as all get out. They also didn’t allow for air cleaning. So, we decided to rip them out and put in a furnace, heat pump, electronic air cleaner, and even a tankless water heater while we were at it.

It is uncommon to have cooling in the Pacific Northwest, but let me tell you, we were sitting pretty during a recent heat wave – we just turned on our heat pump and enjoyed while most people sweated it out!

The tankless water heater is just fantastic. No more worries about using up all the hot water before someone’s shower. We have had them before and it’s an investment I would make 100 times over again. It’s more expensive up front, but in the long run, it pays dividends in efficiencies and not having to constantly heat 50 or 60 gallons of water.

This particular step in the remodel is the only part we intend to hire out. As much as we’d like to be, we are not HVAC experts, so we paid to have it done. From here out, it’s on us to get everything done.

3. We’ve started the hard part – deconstruction. Now that the mechanicals are in (and our checkbook is empty), it’s time to start un-doing. First out was all the carpet in the entry, family, dining room, and main hall. We have lots of rooms that look like this – plywood with various staples that need to be pulled. Don’t underestimate how hard it is to pull up carpet staples. Yikes! It’s hard. Good thing we have experience in the area.

Last weekend, I gave away all the kitchen appliances in preparation for demolition in the kitchen (they were too gross to sell). But, that’s going to wait a couple of weeks because we are going to Bend for Labor Day. But then, I will share with you the demo, and re-building process as we get a kitchen. We haven’t used the kitchen in this house (it was really gross. I mean, really gross), and I am antsy to be able to cook – and blend!