March's Madness turns to April's Adventures
It has been a while since I have written a blog post or posted anything on twitter or instagram. To say things have been a little crazy personally and as far as the homestead are concerned the past 2 months would be an understatement.
I am going to try and catch you up without going in too much of my roommates and best friends personal life as it is personal and it is her business to share if she so chooses. For the purpose of my post, Courtney had a personal situation arise where she needed to refinance or sell the house. After a year of having gone through the possibilities of moves to other nearby cities and even other states I decided that I needed to find a place here on my own for some stability and sanity.
I found a place around the corner where the previous tenant had been evicted and that needed some serious work. I posted a video on facebook and instagram this morning of the conditions on Day 1 and what I am dealing with.
The previous tenant was a meth addict and light fixtures were ripped off the ceiling, the walls had holes punched and kicked in them, outlets were stripped of the copper wire, he even took the swamp cooler and got rid of it.
I was concerned because of the previous tenant's behavior and me having construction materials on the property with me working at night. The solution was easy, move my trailer onto the property and have a friend stay there to keep an eye on the materials and place. It doesn't hurt that this friend spent years in construction.
The owner of the property is working with me to get materials to put the place back together and he is not charging any rent for the first 4 months because of the work I am doing and the money I am putting into the house.
I am still not moved in as there is no electric yet and my friend Marc and I are still rehabbing the place. I took a weeks vacation from work hoping to be able to move some boxes and furniture in this weekend. That is not happening as I "lost" almost 4 days this week. The first day and a half that I lost was when the City turned on the water. We had a lake in the backyard and after digging down to the leak discovered 1930's water pipes so we replaced the entire water lines and the lines throughout the house.
The 2nd loss of time happened when we had to rip sheetrock off the wall and jack the center of the house up a tad over an inch. Instead of bracing the beams up with 2x4's we used 4x4 posts and osb sheets to bolster the wall strength.
Friday, the owner dropped off a new circuit board panel and some electric wire. We are working on this currently and should have power by next week along with a swamp cooler.
I will be writing posts on some of this work and the grey water system, rain water harvesting methods and the coop and garden bed builds.
Thanks for dropping by and catching up with us.
I found a place around the corner where the previous tenant had been evicted and that needed some serious work. I posted a video on facebook and instagram this morning of the conditions on Day 1 and what I am dealing with.
The previous tenant was a meth addict and light fixtures were ripped off the ceiling, the walls had holes punched and kicked in them, outlets were stripped of the copper wire, he even took the swamp cooler and got rid of it.
I was concerned because of the previous tenant's behavior and me having construction materials on the property with me working at night. The solution was easy, move my trailer onto the property and have a friend stay there to keep an eye on the materials and place. It doesn't hurt that this friend spent years in construction.
The owner of the property is working with me to get materials to put the place back together and he is not charging any rent for the first 4 months because of the work I am doing and the money I am putting into the house.
I am still not moved in as there is no electric yet and my friend Marc and I are still rehabbing the place. I took a weeks vacation from work hoping to be able to move some boxes and furniture in this weekend. That is not happening as I "lost" almost 4 days this week. The first day and a half that I lost was when the City turned on the water. We had a lake in the backyard and after digging down to the leak discovered 1930's water pipes so we replaced the entire water lines and the lines throughout the house.
The 2nd loss of time happened when we had to rip sheetrock off the wall and jack the center of the house up a tad over an inch. Instead of bracing the beams up with 2x4's we used 4x4 posts and osb sheets to bolster the wall strength.
Friday, the owner dropped off a new circuit board panel and some electric wire. We are working on this currently and should have power by next week along with a swamp cooler.
I will be writing posts on some of this work and the grey water system, rain water harvesting methods and the coop and garden bed builds.
Thanks for dropping by and catching up with us.
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