The movie starring Shelly Long and Tom Hanks titled "The Money Pit" should be recast starring Steve, Doreen and company. We moved to this home in June of 2005 hoping to cut our mortgage and save some money. Well, we cut our mortgage but we havn't stopped the out flow of money.
First, we have the deck problem which we knew about when we moved in, but it still doesn't make it any better. The precious owner of the house tried to get fancy and build a nice deck. It looks cool, but it was horribly constructed. He not only didn't build it to code (the railings are too low--and this is a deck that is 2o feet off the ground, just to name one code violation) but he used old timbers. He must have used some of the support beams from the old deck (we can tell becuase they are the same color as the house) which wouldn't have been horrible, but they are rotting! Then his support blocks are not resting on solid ground. In fact one is resting on a live tree. The steps are not equal and you trip walking up and own. The balusters are attached using finishing nails and remember this is deck is about 20 feet off the ground. It is a HORRIBLE deck. To replace it is about $20K.
Second, the kitchen is very old and the cabinets are very worn. Of course we knew this going in and were going to remodel it, but a few other things have cropped up. I joke you not when I say that plastic plates and cups make the shelves sag. There is also a huge lack of space! The stove is in the worse place. There is NO room around the stove to put hot pots. Not only that it is black glass top gas burners and it is impossible to keep clean! I also only have one oven, which wouldn't be too bad, but I have a family of six children.
Third, our stair railing. We knew that one baluster was broken and before we could fix it, the kids had pulled most of the rest of them out. It was so poorly put together and not to code. Our handy man is fixing them this week. He is doing an excellent job.
Fourth, our back yard. It was just a bunch of berry bushes. Those of you not from here would said, "Berry bushes a problem, what are you thinking?" Well, let me assure you they are a problem. They are classified a weed here. We have just shy of an acre and it is almost all in berry bushes so we have little grass for the kids to go play in. If the berry bushes didn't have thorns on them then we would love having "woods" to go play in, but with thorns we don't have anything to go play in. We spent a lot of last summer and fall cutting the bushes down but we are only just beginning the hard work of putting in a lawn--but that will have to wait as we have more pressing issues. (Oh and remember the Blanding Brook that runs through our back yard.)
Fifth, and probably the most maddening is the flooding we have. We have water pooring over the foundation walls. The estimate came in and it isn't pretty especially since insurance won't cover it.
Lastly, and this shouldn't be such a big deal, but it is too me, painting the inside of the house. In the house we left I had just finished painting the walls in the colors I wanted and now I'm starting all over again. That was very hard to deal with.
We are truly just waiting for the tub to fall through the floor. When it happens I think I will just sit down and have a good cry.
Doreen
First, we have the deck problem which we knew about when we moved in, but it still doesn't make it any better. The precious owner of the house tried to get fancy and build a nice deck. It looks cool, but it was horribly constructed. He not only didn't build it to code (the railings are too low--and this is a deck that is 2o feet off the ground, just to name one code violation) but he used old timbers. He must have used some of the support beams from the old deck (we can tell becuase they are the same color as the house) which wouldn't have been horrible, but they are rotting! Then his support blocks are not resting on solid ground. In fact one is resting on a live tree. The steps are not equal and you trip walking up and own. The balusters are attached using finishing nails and remember this is deck is about 20 feet off the ground. It is a HORRIBLE deck. To replace it is about $20K.
Second, the kitchen is very old and the cabinets are very worn. Of course we knew this going in and were going to remodel it, but a few other things have cropped up. I joke you not when I say that plastic plates and cups make the shelves sag. There is also a huge lack of space! The stove is in the worse place. There is NO room around the stove to put hot pots. Not only that it is black glass top gas burners and it is impossible to keep clean! I also only have one oven, which wouldn't be too bad, but I have a family of six children.
Third, our stair railing. We knew that one baluster was broken and before we could fix it, the kids had pulled most of the rest of them out. It was so poorly put together and not to code. Our handy man is fixing them this week. He is doing an excellent job.
Fourth, our back yard. It was just a bunch of berry bushes. Those of you not from here would said, "Berry bushes a problem, what are you thinking?" Well, let me assure you they are a problem. They are classified a weed here. We have just shy of an acre and it is almost all in berry bushes so we have little grass for the kids to go play in. If the berry bushes didn't have thorns on them then we would love having "woods" to go play in, but with thorns we don't have anything to go play in. We spent a lot of last summer and fall cutting the bushes down but we are only just beginning the hard work of putting in a lawn--but that will have to wait as we have more pressing issues. (Oh and remember the Blanding Brook that runs through our back yard.)
Fifth, and probably the most maddening is the flooding we have. We have water pooring over the foundation walls. The estimate came in and it isn't pretty especially since insurance won't cover it.
Lastly, and this shouldn't be such a big deal, but it is too me, painting the inside of the house. In the house we left I had just finished painting the walls in the colors I wanted and now I'm starting all over again. That was very hard to deal with.
We are truly just waiting for the tub to fall through the floor. When it happens I think I will just sit down and have a good cry.
Doreen