Picture Mania!!!

As requested by popular demand its the picture mania blog post!!!

Here is the house in the wonderful snow...

Best part of the formal dining room is the top of the light:

I finally have a built in bar, complete with sink

Of course I will have a shop; and the view of the house from the shop

Engineer 101

So I had wanted to get a structural engineer to look at the basement wall, because it was cracked in two and had some bowing. (Slight bowing, but never the less I wanted a third opinion). Everything looks OK and they made some suggestions for what should be done.

The problem really comes down to drainage. The front of the house does not have any way for the water spouts to drain down the hill. I have talked to a few people who have suggested that I remove the gutters (was going to do that anyway because of all the leaves that get stuck in the screen) and then replace them with a 6" and run only one sprout that will then drain down the hill.

So for starters the following structural things need to be done to the house:
Replace the gutters
Replace the roof
Stop wall from bowing
Replace the linoleum floor in the kitchen
Fix electrical wiring issues

Everything else is going to be cosmetic.

Inspection Completed

We had the house inspected and needless to say for a 43 year old it was in rather good shape. Some electric work needs to be done, there are some issues with water drainage, and one of the basement walls is bowing a little bit (from the water drainage problem).

We submitted our list of things we would like fixed and are waiting for the owners response.

On a side note, Theresa got so tired of dealing with mortgage brokers that she gave up on them. One guy actually came back 1% lower then they said they could do. Funny how that work isn't it?

Today we went to the Washington Home & Garden show. They had a guy talking about kitchen design who said more or less that the "work triangle" (meaning stove, fridge, and sink) should really be a work diamond adding garbage location to it. He also mentioned that you should have at least 2 different lights of counter tops. 36" is the normal for cabinets, but you should have at least one area (most likely a table) at 30" for baking.

It makes sense now that I think about it. I just wish he had more ideas for a gallery style kitchen.

Other good news from the show, we can get the bathtub color change from ugly updated rose to white. It takes about 3 hours, and you will have to wait about 48 hours before using. So that will save some money for the bathroom remodel.

I am currently looking into doing some smarthome technology. I am looking at security, lighting, and things like that. Haven't looked at prices yet though.

First Post!

I have decideded to start a blog about all the changes that will be going on with my house. When I came up with the idea a few weeks ago, I found out that DIY was doing something similar here. So much for my original thought on the idea!

So we have decided to buy a house in the Manassas, VA area. Its about 3,000 sq ft on 2.3 acres. It has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. I would call it traditional Virginian country. It was originally built in 1965.

I have some plans to do some remodeling, but I am not 100% sure what I will do, how I will do it, So through out this blog I will cronical what I do, how I do it, and my lessons learned.

First thing up is a home inspection. We found a home inspector through the Northern Virginia American Society of Home Inspectors . They have their own standards of practice and code of ethics. I have checked the report I got from my last house so I can look for the smae thing this time. Not to mention I can also check out the structure and see which walls are load bearing, and what I can do to change them.

So there it is. Not the best picture, but I will update it later this week.