House Projects

[hrj]

I keep going on and on about all the projects I'm planning for around the house, so for those who might be interested, here's the deal:

Several items exist in cascading sequences with each task depending on the completion of the preceding one. Some of these cascades are also interleaved.

Cascade #1 -- the Living Room
- Move entire contents of living room into spare bedroom (once it's again spare), except for couch and love seat which go to the dump.
- Rip up carpeting and remove warped subflooring. Possibly also remove existing tile which gets tricky because of the woodburning stove.
- Possibly replace sliding glass door with one that is properly installed and more secure.
- Replace warped subflooring. Either extend existing tiled area or re-tile covering larger area. (It's occurred to me that I'm unlikely to be able to match the tile, and it might work better just to redo the entire thing.) Install wood flooring (probably the veneer type, since people have been warning me off the plastic-finish laminate type).
- Possibly, in the middle of the above, repaint the living room, since if I'm going to do it any time in the near future, it would be easiest when the floor is bare.
- Install the wall full of cabinets that will be the entertainment/sewing center. Move contents into them (out of the spare bedroom).
- Install a wall full of bookcases. (This is a pre-requisite for part of Cascade #2.) Move the textile and costume books downstairs, plus certain other categories.
- Purchase a sofa-bed and redeem my recliner coupon. Also acquire a work table that folds down out of the way (I have my eye on a particular model). Arrange living room.
- Figure out what I want to do long-term about a computer workstation.

Cascade #2 -- The Office

- Resurface roof.
- Repair ceiling leak areas (including some in other apartment).
- (optional) Install ceiling fan/light fixture above stairwell.
- Move desk out of corner (intended location not yet determined).
- Move drafting table and art supplies cabinet out of kitchen nook and into office corner. Also remove cookbooks and book shelves from kitchen nook and reserve for later.
- Carefully saw off approx. ½ inch from bottom of two of the stacking tool cabinets. Move cabinets into kitchen nook and stack.
- Move filing cabinets out of office. (intended location not yet determined but will also involve triage on contents)
- Move approximately half the books from the office down into the new bookcases in the living room. Rearrange books. Triage books. Remove freestanding bookshelves from office (destination unknown) and remove wall-mounted bookshelves leaving only the whole-wall built-in set of shelves.
- Buy dining room table, chairs, and display dresser. Office now becomes dining room. Move nice china, etc. etc. into display dresser.

Unrelated projects
- Fix wall behind stove in downstairs apartment. (Tile?) Install vent hood.
- Paint downstairs apartment.
- Fix small broken tile in upstairs apartment (very minor project).
- Survey exterior for repairs and fix. Re-paint exterior.
- Finish installing concrete blocks in driveway tire-paths.
- Install exterior floodlights with motion sensor.

Projects unlikely to be done this season
- Install half-bath under stairs.
- Relax and enjoy my free time.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

May I suggest starting with the ceiling leaks?

It's an impressive list you've got there, and I wish you good success with it. Hours ^H Weeks of fun, by the sound of it.

She says, paintingly.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Allow me to butt in and say, if you're going to paint the living room, do it while the old warped floor is there, then you can drip carefree, rather than after you put down the new flooring.

[wulfsdottir.livejournal.com]

It's good to have a plan.

[loup_noir]

If you like the old tile, why not do some sort of border tiles down and then your new ones?

Are you planning on doing all of this yourself? My back twinges just thinking about it

And, I agree with green_knight, ceiling leaks first. We've had so much rain up here this winter that I can't imagine living with a leaky roof.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

The ceiling leak is very minor -- less than a drippy faucet -- and can be easily controlled by leaving a towel under the spot. The problem is that it's pointless to try to schedule a roof person until the rainy season finishes (which is one reason I've been so grumpy about the weather lately).

To msmemory: yes, if I do any painting in the living room, it will be when the floor is stripped bare.

On the tile issue: the current tile covers the area just inside the sliding glass door with an odd shaped extension in the corner of the room where the woodburning stove is. The problem is that the tiles stops just about flush with the front of the stove, so there really isn't a safety margin for sparks and whatnot. So the minimal option is to lay in another foot or so of tile running diagonally in parallel with the front of the stove, and this may well be what I end up doing, since there's nothing actively wrong with the current tile. I was just thinking that it might be nice not to have it look so clearly like an afterthought. But I should probably listen to my inner lazy person and go for the more straightforward approach.

I'm not planning on doing all the work myself. Things like the roofing, anything involving wiring, probably the external woodwork, and definitely the external painting will be done by contractors. I'm wavering on the living room flooring -- there are some fairly easy do-it-yourself options, but on the other hand, paying someone to do it makes it more likely to get done (well, except that one of my big delays has been finding someone to do the work).

I'm fairly handy ... I just don't have a lot of free time.

[wulfsdottir.livejournal.com]

You might consider scheduling the roofer now for after the "rainy season." That way, you get to be first in line for that.

On the tile, if you can make it look like the border is on purpose, go with the lazy person. If the shape isn't conducive to that, you'll end up hating it.