the house project in Minnesota

LOOKIE THERE, MA!!!
AS I LIVE AND BREATHE!!
IT'S......
The soon to be moved into domicile of M & B in St. Paul, Minnesota. The asbestos siding has been replaced by aluminum and the colors are lovely.
Lest you think this happened all by itself.......FOLLOW THE SAGA


Hey there,
In June I finally got up to Minnesota to see the enormous project that M & B (our youngest red-headed chickadee and her likewise red-headed husband) have bitten off for themselves. We are SOOOOO proud of them!!

About a year ago, seizing the opportunities to be had by the falling economy, they set about to find themselves a foreclosed house. M. had more time to pursue the project than B. She after all, is merely a full time employee of the federal government (your tax dollars at work.) He on the other hand is a 30 hour a day, 8 day a week student, in his last year of Physical Therapy school.

Feeling that she wasn't really kicking anyone out of their home- they had long since lost it to the bank, M. set out to see if she could turn this situation to her advantage by an investment which would accrue equity rapidly once the economy turned around, while at the same time getting them out of the student apartment scene and out from under the nuisance of their skinflint landlord.

Such an undertaking is enormous! Finding a good Realtor desperate enough to actually work seriously at digging up a suitable $20,000 house is not easy. He needs to have not seen a commission check in a LONG time.

Next, there is searching through the findings. Some had clearly been crack or meth houses.-No go! In one, a squatter went out the back window as they came in the front door. Not good! In some, the ousted former owners in a fit of peak and an attempt to salvage something out of the deal, had removed wiring and copper piping one step ahead of the sheriff to try to sell for scrap. Good luck ta ya and all, but I don't want your house!

Occasionally, something good would come along. Those don't hang around long. Long before they could get all their financing hoops jumped through, some enterprising soul with a brokerage account would walk in and lay his $30,000 on the table, pick up his marbles, and leave.

Well, they finally found a house that was both good, and cheap, and no one else wanted it. Granted, it was in worse than terrible shape; but it had lot more space than they'd ever had, the potential to be made really cute, and it had a great kitchen and a huge fenced yard. It even had a double garage. Unfortunately, the door had been off the hinges long enough for every male cat within miles to have staked it out as his own personal fiefdom. " Pass the Fabreeze, quickly; and run out for about 10 crates of incense!!"

The outside was asbestos shingling (well, it wouldn''t burn down) which was broken in many places and generally friable. --definitely not OSHA approved. For that matter, neither was the wiring nor the plumbing. Since no one had shown any interest in it in the 6 months it had remained vacant (Can't imagine why!), their ridiculously small bid was eventually accepted. So, with a bank a loan for the house, a federal rehab loan for more than the cost of the house, and several months of wrangling with the bank and the city inspectors, they became house owners. Not HOME owners yet. It is not yet to the point where the city of St. Paul considers it habitable. But it is impressively close.

The first thing M&B did after they had the keys in hand was to pull up all the revolting carpeting. Yea! There was pretty good looking hardwood underneath. After all, the house is 80 or 90 years old. Cheapskate contractors had not then discovered the wonders of plywood sub flooring covered up by rugs bought in bulk from Carpet World.
Then they took down the acoustic tile false ceiling, which gave them ceilings about 18" higher than before. At the same time they wiped out years of mousie nests, the denizens of which had had free run of the space up there forever.
After that, all demolition took place wearing masks to keep Hanta Virus at bay. Think of these things if you are ever overwhelmed with a compulsion to put in a false ceiling. DON'T DO IT!

Then they took off the wall coverings- which were Masonite board pressed to look like wood paneling. Under that was terrible paint and wallpaper in perfectly awful colors.-even a border paper with the famous Raphael cherubs. Well, that was no worry, because a lot of the ancient plaster (this house predates drywall) was so decrepit that it came off right along with the paneling. So, they sighed and took it all off. They were down to lath.

Their contractor was less than ecstatic, because he had not planned to take off the walls. Too bad fella! Besides, it's easier to get to all the jury-rigged wiring.

If you wish to see more of the gruesome details, with closeups of the awful paint and wallpaper, plus the bathroom which had had the window closed off and painted deep aqua on all surfaces to make you feel you were inside an aquarium looking out, Click M.'s blogsite and scroll around ......

http://madnesseveryday.blogspot.com/






Ms Whiskey inspects the non-OSHA approved stairway

All this they did themselves.

AND THEN THEIR CONTRACTOR TOOK OVER.

M. looks over progress on the second floor





Uncle B. and the Adorable Niece inspect the contractors work.

" Hmmmm..... that lath was cute, and it added texture; but the drywall does look better."
















Can't you just imaging curling up and reading the day away on a cold winter afternoon? And look at all that insulation! All that warmth and tax credits too! How could it get any better?!? "....... What! You say it's 6pm already?! Well I'm NOT movin' !! Call out for pizza!"


Since the linoleum of the kitchen and bathroom floors was not awful enough to be included in the original rehab contract bid, they took it up themselves, bought tile from Home Depot, and laid it themselves. The grouting is done and it is ready for the sealant. ~~~~ Want to rent a tile saw at below market prices? Contact B.

I think they are just the greatest most enterprising pair of people I know! Congratulations M & B!!!!!

Momcat and the Adorable Niece (who in this case is also the Adorable Grandchild) sitting on the front steps. We can't wait to see it in a month or two! We been invited to stay there on our next visit to the Twin Cities. So stay tuned for finished product pictures and prepare to be DAZZLED. We can't wait!!