I know the good part is coming…

So, we’re thisclose to being ready for asbestos abatement.  After more hours of hammering, chiseling, and chipping away than we could have ever wished for, the house is just about ready.  Except, of course, for the small collections of “stuff” laying around.

One of the people who gave us an abatement estimate said we really wouldn’t be saving much money by doing any prep work ourselves.  Well, who knows how much money we’re saving, but I can say this.  When the whole project is over, we will be able to look at our new home knowing we invested our sweat and tears (so far, no blood) and that will make the reward sweeter than the few dollars we may be saving.  We have learned so much about what we are capable of doing – physically and mentally – and we know how much of a team we are.

I have one morning left for prep work and then we’re off on a much-needed road-trip vacation.  We have already vowed not to think about the house in the first 45 minutes of the trip.  We’ll take it from there.

Demolition Boot Camp Day Two

The destruction continues…

We finished pulling out the sink, counter, and cabinets on the one side of the kitchen.  When I was outside talking to the neighbor (who also happens to work in construction), I heard a lot of banging and smashing.  Upon entering the kitchen, I found my husband with a grin from ear to ear standing in a pile of wood splinters.  I guess he found his calling.

We also finished packing the POD.  I can’t imagine how anything could possibly move in there now.  We have the perfect combination of wedges, bungee cords, and hope.

The family room is free of carpet and padding.  Not so long ago I said I enjoyed manual labor.  Perhaps I forgot.  Maybe pulling up the tack strips tomorrow will remind me of the good old days of two weeks ago.

The cap of the day was putting everything at the curb.  I’m sure the garbage collectors hate us by now.  Either that or they’re taking bets each week about how much trash will be on the curb.  As I was piling up the carpet rolls, I turned to see my husband pulling the dishwasher out of the house like a stubborn puppy on a water pipe leash.  My husband won.

Demolition Boot Camp Day One

Well, we’ve gone ahead and hired an asbestos abatement company.  They’re scheduled to do the work on Thursday, April 5 and Friday, April 6.  The front rooms of the house need to be completely empty, the floors should be bare, and the drywall needs to be exposed.  And so we must prepare…

We need to empty the family room so that the carpet, padding, and asbestos tile can be removed.  So, we rented a POD.  Pretty cool, really.  They drop it off in the driveway.  We pack it up and use as many bungee cords in as many creative ways as possible.  They pick it up.  Not a bad deal.  So, we spent much of the day bubble wrapping and plastic wrapping everything and puzzle piecing it into the POD.

And then the fun began.

Along with the tile in the family room, the linoleum in the bathroom and kitchen and drywall in half of the kitchen will be abated.  In order to make those areas accessible (and to save a few dollars), we have been doing some of our own demolition.  I pulled out my badass brown bandana, put it on my head, and I feel like part pirate and part demolition diva. 

Now, some people may be used to this stuff, but this is a new kind of fun for us.  We pulled cabinets off the kitchen wall – surprisingly easily.  We pulled the vanity out of the bathroom and only managed to get the floors a little wet.  We disconnected and pulled out the stove.  And we wiggled out the dishwasher before realizing the water lines were still connected.  But, we caught that before we managed to create any geysers.  However, we didn’t realize that the dishwasher was hard-wired to electricity.  Don’t these things have plugs??  So, when we got the dishwasher halfway across the kitchen and looked back, we realized there were live wires poking out of the floor.

So, at the end of a very long day, we decided we should get ice cream for dinner.  Sweet rewards!

Like Apples to Oranges

So, we have our quotes from both builders now.  It was a bit of a hassle to get the quote from the second builder, but we managed to get it.  When he didn’t call me to confirm that we had an appointment but then called and said I didn’t confirm so he cancelled the appointment, we were pretty sure this was NOT the guy we wanted to work with.  But we met with him anyway.

And then we saw the numbers.

It was like comparing apples to oranges!  At the end we’ll have fruit salad… a little of this guy’s stuff, a little of that guy’s stuff…  The first bid was generally itemized and came to a bottom line total of a lot, without a finished basement, but included cabinetry, painting, counters, carpet (or at least an allowance for them).  The second guy had a more detailed itemized list and that came to a bottom line total of a whole lot, and included the finished basement, but NOT the cabinetry, painting, counters, or carpet.  So, how do we choose?

I say we go with the guy who kept the appointment.  But, either way it’s a lot of dollars so we’ll have to mull it over while we’re waiting on the asbestos abatement.

Good old fashioned manual labor

In an attempt to be best prepared for the removal of the asbestos drywall from most of the house, we pulled up all of the carpet, padding, and tack strips from the bedrooms, hall, and living room.  We are fortunate to have some fantastic friends who were willing to get down and dirty and help us with this project.  They seemed disbelieveing when I said their help was invaluable.  But truth be told, I think my husband and I would have died, perhaps from the exhaustion, perhaps by the hands of each other, if we had to do the whole project ourselves. 

And I discovered that I really enjoyed popping off those tack strips.  It’s a good stress reliever.  If anyone needs any help with those…

We are also planning on removing some of the non-friable asbestos (like floor tiles) ourselves and just paying to have it carted away.  If you are facing asbestos removal in your house, don’t count on ever getting a straight answer about what is allowed and what is illegal.  Everyone has a different story and set of rules and procedures.  We are still waiting on two of the three estimates for the asbestos removal.  The first one (which Betsy the Asbestos Lady said would probably be the cheapest) listed line items and cost and under the total said “arm and leg.”  Perhaps the others will say ” first born child.” 

How Do You Spell Relief?

C – H – A – R – I – T – Y

Before we can remove the asbestos or tear the house down, we have to empty it of everything – things we want to save, things we want to sell, things we need to throw away, and things we want to donate.  Fortunately, the last two piles are the biggest and we have a lot of curb space for the trash.

This morning at the crack of dawn, two nice guys from Amvets came to the house with a very large furniture truck and took away the largest pile – things to be donated to charity.  I hope that someone else can find useful the golf clubs, clothes, furniture, kitchen utensils, small appliances, television sets……

And I can now see the carpet in the family room again, which will make tearing it up all the easier.

A Big Red F

We got the asbestos testing results back from Betsy and they are the equivalent of a Big Red F.  Just like in school, the greatest amount of hope and prayers cannot make you pass a test.  And that good feeling is on vacation.

As expected, the transite panels in the garage contain asbestos.  As do the linoleum floors in the kitchen and bathroom.  And the tiles (and glue and subfloor) in the family room.  And the cardboard covering the ducting in the basement.  And the drywall in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms.  Well, to be technical, the drywall itself does not contain asbestos, but to keep his family safe, my mother-in-law’s father had an asbestos skimcoat applied to all the walls in case of fire.  Sweet in the 1950’s if you’re a safe family.  Sweet in the 2000’s if you’re an asbestos abatement contractor.

So, now we await the estimates from the abatement people…

Betsy the Asbestos Lady

Well, before I could even get to step one, I had to schedule the asbestos test.  I called Betsy the Asbestos Lady to the house to chip away at any surfaces that were “suspect.”  Seeing as the house was built in 1950, there were a lot of suspects.  I started to feel a little nervous.  Betsy was able to tell me up front that the transite panels in the garage were asbestos and that some of the tile in the house was likely asbestos.  However, if the glue used to hold the tiles to the wood subfloor did not contain asbestos, the job would be much smaller.  I’m holding on to that sliver of hope.

It took about 2 hours to do a 45 minute job because Betsy was hilarious.  She told me about her husband chasing a racoon through their house – naked! – at night after it had snuck in through the garage.  She told me about getting stuck on the roof of an elementary school when the maintenance man took her ladder.  She had to wave in the big glass skylights hoping the children in gym class would see her.  I have to say, when she left, I was in such a good mood that I’m thinking the house will be fine.  A couple bits of asbestos here or there.  No need to worry about the $4.50 per square foot estimate she gave me to have asbestos removed.

And so, we await the results.

Building a house in three easy steps

So, we have our architect and we have our plans.  And they’re not just little drawings anymore.  We have vellum.  We have copies.  We have certified stamps of approval.  And we have instructions on what to do next:

1. Choose a builder and hire him.
2. Go to the bank and get some money.
3. Get a permit from Pleasantville and build our home!

Ah, the beauty and simplicity of a fantasy world.  Crash in, Reality, you old, familiar soul!

Well, before we can tear the house down, we have to choose a builder that will do it (decision pending) and sign a contract so we can get a tear-down permit.  And before we get a tear-down permit we also need to have an asbestos test to make sure we don’t poison the neighborhood when we tear down the house.  Before we get a building permit we also need to have a soil sample taken to determine whether or not the soil beneath our already-standing house can hold a house.  Really.  And permits take at least 3 weeks to get because… well, just because.  So now all of the steps have sub-steps and the sub-steps have sub-steps and those three easy steps don’t look so easy anymore.

The house that ? built

So, before we continue with the project, we have to know who’s going to be making the big bucks here.  We have to interview builders, wait for their bids, see who we like, and sign a contract.

What we’ve accomplished so far has actually been a fun and interesting process.  We invited two potential builders to take a look at our plans and see what they could do with them.  We chose two because they were the ones we got great recommendations for.  I must admit it is more comforting to think we’ll be putting money and dreams into the hands of someone with a good reputation. 

Once the builder looks over our plans, what we get back is a bid full of choices and allowances and a big fat number at the end.  The builder shows us what our bathrooms might look like and says we have a $100 allowance per faucet.  How fun!  Let’s go shopping with all that allowance money!  Oh wait, that’s my money.  Maybe a $75 faucet would look just as nice?