Our house has an indoor pool

[Newguy]

Hello everyone,

Well here is a little picture of our indoor pool (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/100-0008_IMG.jpg) now let me say that picture doesn't do it justice, the water in that picture get about 3 ft deep over by the sump pump pit.
we are thinking that putting a few heated water jets in there and we got ourselves a nice little piece of heaven lol :D j/k

Here is a link to the rest of the photos (http://photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/)

The positives for this house are: Great neighborhood, new water line from the street, "newer" gas line. also has new roof, new siding and a few newer windows
No visible termite damage in the house or the garage at all. Which is amazing for a house built in 1874

Of course until the water is pumped out, our termite guy can get in there to check fully. we did offer a piggy back ride to keep him out of the water , but he wouldn't even consider it lol :).


That will be our summer project I will try to post progress pictures as we take them :)

[bmwpower]

Definitely has potential. Gotta love that knotty pine. Good luck!

[mdshunk]

Hey, that house is cute. It certainly has curb appeal. This should be a money-maker for you. TIP.... I wouldn't tell the neighbors about the flooded basement if you havn't already. Sometimes potential buyers will ask the neighbors if they know anything about the house. You can eliminate that objection be not telling the neighbors, because I'm sure you're going to solve the cause of the basement flooding. Gotta love that lime green trim. Jeeze.

[Mr T]

Good luck with it, keep us posted on progress. We are currently 6 years into restoring our repo.. a 1956 house. Not nearly as bad as yours, but it really does have a indoor pool. :D bow_1 ladyman_1.

On the other side of MD's coin. We got to know one set of our neighbors before we bought the place. They approached us as we were checking the place out one day. THey have lived here almost as long as the house has been here. They gave us alot of info about the house and some of the history including why it is in the condition it was in, and some of the repo details. We approached them as potential new neighbors, not investors. (others have come to them that way and they werent as friendly to them.).

Now having bought the place, I would get to know them very well. It will help you with restoration, plus they will have more patience with you if(WHEN) you run into problems later and they have to look at a gaping hole or other uglies for a while every time they walk out their front door. Its always good to be good friends with your neighbors.

I hope your wife/gf/other has alot of patience with this project. Our project has brought alot of stress among us at times. Unexpected things will happen that will turn your remodel schedule upside down. A few years back my wife got real burnt out with the project. (our house was in great condition on the inside when we bought, so we moved in). I sat her down with the picture book of when we bought. She didnt realize how much we have done. It brought back alot of the excitement and enthusiasm (we need a spellchecker on this thing!) for the house. Another good reason to keep a photo log of the place.

Good luck!

[Newguy]

Sometimes potential buyers will ask the neighbors if they know anything about the house. You can eliminate that objection be not telling the neighbors, because I'm sure you're going to solve the cause of the basement flooding. Gotta love that lime green trim. Jeeze.

Hmm I wish I would have heard that advice the other day, I already mentioned it thankfully its an well accepted fact of the area that the basements are "wet" lol

That lime green really goes well with the mold... errr.... I mean, the choice ceiling paint that is there, it a custom color.. its called umm Moss on a Rock™ green

Mr T: You are right about the neighbors needing to be patient, at our last house the neighbor there decided to try to get code enforcement on us. thankfully it wasn't to bad, but our relations with him were shot and I didn't talk to him after that.
He called the police on us once for noise.

It sure is easy to get burnt out on rehab projects,
Its really nice to go back and see all the work you've done. half the time I don't actualyl remember doing it, I think I block out the pain lol
I would say the most stressful thing about what we are doing is the price of materials... Lowes really likes us lol :)

Your going to have to post some more pics of your project :)

[Mr T]

Our neighbors are just happy that someone is fixing up this place. They all got sick of mowin the yard. (we all have big lots)

We have been concentrating on inside work as the rest of the outdoor stuff is just cosmetic. I have been keeping them all up todate on what we are doing so they dont get the impression that we arent doing anything.

Our one neighbor finds it interesting that I start working on the place at about 10pm. At the time I was working in the attic. I'd go up there at 10, and stay up there till about 2 in the morning (on a weeknight). Then be out the door for work at 7am. Attics are no fun when its 120 degrees up there.

I thought I had pics on the computer. I'll have to scan them in (damn film cameras) I'll get em up....

I took a closer look at your pics. Its been flooded that way for much more then 3 weeks. I hope that sump pump starts..... I'd get a 2nd one and throw the hose out a window. From what it sounds like, you NEED a backup pump.

[Newguy]

Hello everybody
We closed on our house today a day early :) , had a few bumps along the way.

The sellers real estate sent a repair guy down to check the existing sump pump, this after we asked if we could put an extension cord in to run the pump because the outlet it was plugged into did not work.
well he went over and accused us of stealing his extension cord that he "had" there lol and doing unauthorized repairs lol we plan to gut the place, but we are repairing it before lol, thankfully we had the pictures proving that the first day, we went over there, there was no extension cord.
So that was cleared up and now the water is out of the basement.
The neighbor said the sump pump ran for 1 1/2 days non stop :eek:

Its been flooded that way for much more then 3 weeks. there not a whole lot of slime or anything on the basment walls but we will probably powerwash it with some anti mold additive stuff lol

The first order of busniess will be the downspout and sump drainage rebuilt, its going to be going about 50 feet away into a city rain drain.
Then down come the insides crash_!

Attics are no fun when its 120 degrees up there what you don't find being baked alive fun! ;)
In my short time as a handyman I've had my fill of attic antics lol you realize real quick how nice attic vents are

I hope this is all coherent only got three hours of sleep and been awake for 16 hours

[Newguy]

hello all, again lol I got some new pictures compute_1
for a bit of perspective, all the work on this house is being done by me, my sister and her husband, and we are moving quicker then I expected, nine days after closing we are just a few days away from putting the electric in the house. ladyman_1

We spent the first couple of days wreaking havoc against the forces of evil.. also known as the bushes in front of the house, also the tree branches and getting the drainpipes in.
Here are the main photos of what we've done thus far (http://photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/55%204th/demo%201/)

You can see a bit of the corragated pipe we put in. it has been 90 degree range all week here, digging trenches for the drainage with the trusty ole mattock= fun fun!! :D

I don't think I need to discribe the fun of plaster removal most of which is 3/4 of inch thick..

One cool thing about old houses is finding old stuff, we found some letters from 1912 and a church newspaper from 1902, also some pictures, they were located above a lintel next to a birds nest.

we haven't found many major surprises, a few tidbits of information discovered from the neighbors is that, the previous owners had some leaking problems in the stairwell and the living room.
we found the reason the tub drain was not hooked up to the waste stack at all it just ran straight into the floor.
we were told it caused them to lose electric in half the house.

Another thing was the bank removed twelve dumpsters of trash from the house it was waist deep, glad we didn't have to deal with that!!
heres the rest of the photos we took, enjoy our pain lol
hey you get to see a dirty picture of me :p
http://photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/55%204th/demo2/

[Mr T]

Wow, you sure dont waste any time! Hell, I havent even gotten around to finding the pics of my indoor pool yet.

How is the basement (pool) draining coming along?

[Newguy]

Wow, you sure dont waste any time! Hell, I havent even gotten around to finding the pics of my indoor pool yet.

How is the basement (pool) draining coming along?
:) lol

the pool is gone its now just a stream of water from the edges of the basement to the sump pit, which is expected for the area. i'll get some pictures of the basement as soon as I get some lighting down there :)

[Mr T]

It took a few weeks for my parent's basement (over near Dayton) to stop having its own river system. Sounds like your exterior drain tile is non-existant, or not working. THey have no known drain tile around thier basement.

[Newguy]

It took a few weeks for my parent's basement (over near Dayton) to stop having its own river system.

That a good point, I guess it's really only been about 2 and half weeks since the "pool" was drained it may get better with time.

[mdshunk]

Jeeze, I know that I was making fun of the green paint, but I didn't think you tear the plaster off. Most people just repaint. :D

Say, do you guys leave the lath on and just drywall over the lath? Many people do this, since the old native lumber studs were often way out of whack. The lath pretty much shims the drywall even. Plus, you can yank out a few lath at the top of the wall and fill the cavities with blown insulation. The existing wall cavities are often odd dimensions that don't always accomodate fiberglass batts well.

[xkvator]

Wow, you sure dont waste any time! Hell, I havent even gotten around to finding the pics of my indoor pool yet.

Well,then how about getting off that pinball machine and finding them! :cool:

Have you got that brick project done, yet? What about saving that little tree?, etc...etc...etc... :rolleyes:

[Mr T]

Well,then how about getting off that pinball machine and finding them! :cool:
Alergies and my wife having surgery have kept me out of the garage....

Have you got that brick project done, yet?
You were supposed to show up 2 weeks ago, no show, last tuesday, no show, yesterday, no show.. Sorry, 3 strikes.. your out! Damn @$#%^&* contractors!!!!! sniper_1 [/QUOTE]

What about saving that little tree?, etc...etc...etc... :rolleyes:
You arent planning to come handcuff yourself to it are you? Please wait a few weeks as I still got a few other bodies to dispose of still... I can only "re-carpet" so many rooms at a time..... :rolleyes:

[xkvator]

Alergies and my wife having surgery have kept me out of the garage....excuse accepted bow_1

hope she's feeling better.....you're not staying home from work interferring with her rest, are you? :D

[Mr T]

hope she's feeling better.....you're not staying home from work interferring with her rest, are you? :D

Thanks. I have had my mom and my mother in law up here off and on over the last month puke_1 ... only person who hasnt been getting rest is me! sniper_1 smileyruno (guess there is a use for this one)

[Newguy]

Jeeze, I know that I was making fun of the green paint, but I didn't think you tear the plaster off. Most people just repaint. :D

Say, do you guys leave the lath on and just drywall over the lath? Many people do this, since the old native lumber studs were often way out of whack. The lath pretty much shims the drywall even. Plus, you can yank out a few lath at the top of the wall and fill the cavities with blown insulation. The existing wall cavities are often odd dimensions that don't always accomodate fiberglass batts well.

wait.... you mean we could have left the plaster after all!!! crash_!

we got all the plaster out of the house now yay! just got to clean the walls up and repair+lplan everything that is getting fixed.

:) yeh we leave the lath on, it definitely smooths out the surface.

Surprisingly all the studs I've come across are straight and a few are 3x4 in thickness quite beefy, and thank god because while for the majority the hosue has been taken care of, a few idiots have had there hands in there.
Case in point, in a load bearing wall someone toe-nailed a lintel for a 60 inch doorway (no jack studs) then cut a hole out at the end for a gas line to run through, that is getting fixed asap. it has cool bend too it tho lol :rolleyes:

[Newguy]

I know everyone here is waiting with bated breath for an update so here it is :)

For the past week I have spent all the 90+ degree days (it was 107 one day) hauling this (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/garagefull.jpg) into this (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/dumpster1.jpg) ......It was me against the plaster, I think it won , but I did manage to get the dumpster (22x6x5) full lol soemhow I got everything in there it is full to the brim I think next house we will invest in a bobcat rental or something. :eek:

MD: while I was hooking up our service panel, (since we are working in an area with no code enforced) all I kept thinking about was your critique in this thread (http://selfhelpforums.com/showthread.php?t=3924) and I thought I should atleast try to make it look good lol so here is my best attempt (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/electrialpanel1.jpg) and and I separated the ground and neutral wires (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/electricalpanel4.jpg) one question am I supposed to connect the bonding screw to the neutral bar or not?

Here is a rough picture of what the kitchen will turn out like :) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/Thekitchen.jpg)


I wanted to get some more pictures but the camera battery died on me.

here is a few more (http://photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/)



Mr T: did you lose your pics haha ;)

[Mr T]

Lookin nice...
Those arent zip ties in your panel are they? at the 5:00 position. Big nono

Now they just need to get a blue or so wire color to balance out all the yellows and orages. :D

[Newguy]

Lookin nice...
Those arent zip ties in your panel are they? at the 5:00 position. Big nono

Now they just need to get a blue or so wire color to balance out all the yellows and orages. :D


:confused: no they aren't zip ties, I took a bit of like colored wire and twisted it around the others, its hard to keep them clean looking. Is that not allowed within the panel?
I got the idea from the electrician who wired up the houses that the city built behind our house. He did the same thing (although not as many wires were in his box, they went bare minimum on circuits).

and yeh blue would be nice accent color lol not that drab white and grey

[mdshunk]

Looks like a nice job to me. Those aren't zip ties as it appears to me. It looks like a little loop of scrap wire to make the wires lay nicely in the panel. They're not tight, so it's fine. I do the same thing.

[xkvator]

all I kept thinking about was your critique in this thread and I thought I should atleast try to make it look good

...and there is that staple that's not in line with others:p

nice job...looks like you been hard at it

[Mr T]

Thats a neat idea... i'll have to keep it in mind.. MD (or anyone), how often do you find zip ties in panels (installed with a tight tie gun)?

XK will probably complain if you installed one of the wires with the print on it upside down. But that orange wire staple hanging from the center beam is driving me nuts... can you please remove it.....:D

[Newguy]

...and there is that staple that's not in line with others

nice job...looks like you been hard at it

arghh!!! lol sniper_1

thanks :)

I do the same thing. phew glad I didn't make a mistake sex_1

XK will probably complain if you installed one of the wires with the print on it upside down. But that orange wire staple hanging from the center beam is driving me nuts... can you please remove it.


I will remove that ASAP lol :)

[Mr T]

I will remove that ASAP lol :)

Dont bother.. While you were typing this, I came over, snuck in and pulled it. I even filled in the nail holes. Also, dont worry about the 2 beer's missing from the fridge...I gave them a good home. :D Thanks!

Now, I'll be able to sleep tonight.

[Newguy]

Dont bother.. While you were typing this, I came over, snuck in and pulled it. I even filled in the nail holes. Also, dont worry about the 2 beer's missing from the fridge...I gave them a good home. :D Thanks!

Now, I'll be able to sleep tonight.

rofl :)


and I got the staple out today so no need to fret anymore

[Mr T]

Cool. So what do we have to do to get those boards moved in the crawlspace? :D

Oh, and guess what I (finally) found.. THese are very poor quality pics taken a few days before we got posession of the place.

Long story short, the pool is as old as the house (we think, but dont know). The room was added in the early 70's (we think...never got tax assessed sex_1 ). The origional house was built very well, this room was built by the Walmart-home remodeling department. Rumor is that the roof leaked very bad since a few years after it was built. It was patched at least once every year since then. We removed over 2" of rubber/tar/ect in places when we correctly fixed the problem (I'll post pics of the roof before and during rebuilding, if people's stomach's can handle it). It rained in this room when it rained outside. Luckily the house itself stayed dry. No strucutral damage was found when the roof was repaired. Unfortunatly repairs to this room are mostly cosmetic/low priority. Not much has been done in here yet. For those of you just tuning in.. We bought this house as a repo. Origionaly built by a popular local doctor in '56, neglected by several recent owners.

The first pic is taken from the family room sliding door. THe 2nd pic is taken from where the indoor grill is. The 3rd is taken from where the living room windows are (big picture windows, you can see the edge of them in the 2nd pic). The 4th pic is a closeup of teh grill. (charcoal now, I want to convert it
to nat gas). The 5th pic is taken from the back yard. (tree and ivy are long gone) 3 notable ""features"", the interesting lights, no 2 are the same. The wonderful yellow/green fiberglass over the doors (door panels are 4' wide each). The planters, which are actualy access pits for the pool plumbing (there are 2, but only 1 is visible). Enjoy... People who help with restore, gets "rights" to the pool :D :D

[Newguy]

Cool. So what do we have to do to get those boards moved in the crawlspace? :D

:rolleyes:


I was begining to think you were just foolin us about that pool lol :D that room's got potential, it looks like it works well as the pool room.. and that pool seems much cleaner then our's was lol

I can imagine what that roof looked like, please post the pics, just tell the women & children to avert their eyes

and for some reason the palm trees are just not doing it for me, have they been changed or did ya like em?

[Mr T]

:rolleyes:


I was begining to think you were just foolin us about that pool lol :D that room's got potential, it looks like it works well as the pool room.. and that pool seems much cleaner then our's was lol
SO, should I send you the pile of crickets who though it was a good idea to jump into the pool (and cant get out?) Ive found ALOT in it....

I can imagine what that roof looked like, please post the pics, just tell the women & children to avert their eyes

and for some reason the palm trees are just not doing it for me, have they been changed or did ya like em?
I'll have to get my scanner out and dusted off.. I'll post a new thread for those pics...

[Mr T]

I started a new thread under Brag board for house remodel. There is a link to roof pics there.

We hate the "artwork" too. One of the first things to go when we attack that room.

[Newguy]

Well this thread is getting rather long but thought would show everyone how the kitchen has turned out.

Just a reminder here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/Thekitchen.jpg) is how we planned it too look and this is how it turned out (http://photobucket.com/albums/v37/rsawarhawk/rehab%20housing/ournewhouse/update/kitchen/)

everything whole thing you see there cost (material wise) $3500, that sink was a $300 special order at lowes that got returned, and we got it for a $100 lol

[Mr T]

Looks nice. I see a few changes from the 'model'...but that's expected of course.

I dont have any new pics from my 'mod's up yet, but they will be soon.

Oh, did you ever get that stray orange wire staple removed from the beam above that panel you posted on earlier?

[Newguy]

Oh, did you ever get that stray orange wire staple removed from the beam above that panel you posted on earlier?

rofl, yeah I got it lol :D