Treasures!

Right off, first day working at the house, hubby, Clay, finds a "treasure".  In the back, northwest corner of the house, is a bedroom.  This bedroom, I've mentioned, had the worst damage.  Water leaking in from the roof and soffit, mold taking over, vines coming in through the windows, old, soggy red carpet turned to mush.  Clay was pulling some of the rotting wood casing off the door frame and found an old black and white photo of one of the daughters that grew up in the home, 93 years ago.  She is sitting on the porch at the home and looks to me to be about 12 years old. I snapped a picture of the old photo, and then dropped it in the mail to the past owner.  Over Memorial Day weekend, one of the grandsons dropped by and we showed him the picture.  He thought it was his aunt Doris, the oldest of the three girls.  She married Sterling W. Sill, famous author of "How to Profit from the Laws of Success," and other books, and also An Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the LDS church from 1954 to 1976.

I am actually quite amazed that it survived as well as it did, considering it has been trapped between rotting wood and damp plaster for nearly a hundred years.  I also really love that you can see the house in the picture.  She may actually be older than I thought in this picture.  I saw that she got married in 1929, and the house was built in 1921.  What do you think?

Ok... a couple of other "treasures."

WWF wrestling cards.

 

And we found this book trapped in the basement closet where we removed the dumbwaiter.

This library book was checked out in March of 1973.  There is notice of a two cents charge per day for late fees, which makes the fine nearly $300 to date.  My little one wants to keep it, but I think I will call the Kaysville City Library and see if they want it back.

More to come... Indian head penny from 1903 (also found in dumbwaiter closet), newspaper from 1923, and other stuff!

 

Original home living room and office.

The Home is OURS!  Ready to see what our money got us?

The inglenook in front living room.

As you walk in the front door, this inglenook is centered in the room on the north wall.  It has beautiful built in benches on both the east and west sides and stain glass cupboards above the mantel.  The face of the fireplace is covered in marble, however, the marble is cracked in several places.  The floor is covered in rectangular tiles (marble possibly).  The wood floors are original, as is all the wood work.  The previous owners insisted that the renters never touch the wood.  Even though it was rented for over sixty years, it's all original.  The wallpaper in between the panels, is embossed and pretty cool pattern, with cherubs. The sconces are original and look pretty funky with our modern light bulbs installed in them.  The main light fixture in this room caught fire while the last tenant was living in it.  He removed it from the house (I think it is still sitting on the porch) and never repaired it (remember he is an electrician).  

This is looking to the east from the living room.  The room forward and on the left was the dining room in the original plan and will be the master bedroom in the final plan.  The room on the right is an office and will still be an office. The french doors on the right are one of the three sets that come in off the porch. You can see in this picture the missing light fixture.  Both of the openings to these room have the large, four foot wide, solid wood with glass insert pocket doors. They are amazing, I'll get you a pic.

The office, is located in the front right corner of the house.  The stain glass windows are in pretty good condition and match the cupboards above the fireplace in the living room.  I think the last tenant covered the window on the right to keep the eastern sunshine glare off his computer screen.  I have a great story about this room.  There used to be a large buffalo head hanging above this fireplace.  The original home owner and mayor of Kaysville, John Thornley,  went hunting buffalo,with Jack Dempsy, the boxer, out at antelope island.  The cabinets, are of course built-in, as well as the roll top desk (not seen).  Don't you just love the beamed ceiling?  The fireplace will remain, but just be unused.  It has the same marble as the living room fireplace, but it isn't cracked or damaged like that one.  

This is the beautiful, built-in, roll top desk on the west wall in the office.  You can see it is right next to the pocket door as you enter from the living room.  The light fixture is also built-in but doesn't work.  We are hoping to keep this room exactly as it is except for taking down some old wallpaper and giving it a fresh coat of paint.

This is a view back into the living room, on the left, and the original dining room on the right. Also, the old knob and tube light switch on the wall. The picture below shows just a glimpse of the large stained glass window on the front of the house.  You also get a shot at the wallpaper, and the radiator.  Love this room, so cool! 

It's official. No turning back now!

We've accepted the fact that we aren't going to be able to get everything we want right off and the home is going to be a project house, something we will work on over the next several years.

We sent the smaller remodeling plans back to Kevo for another bid, and he was able to crunch the numbers down to something more reasonable.  We also passed these plans to the bank and they sent the appraiser out to see the home and scope of work.

We had to create an addendum to our purchase contract with the sellers to move the closing date back a bit. The sellers have been so patient and understanding through this process, and our new closing date became May 9th.  The bank promised us that we should have everything done in plenty of time before then.

However, the week before our deadline we get informed by the bank that underwriting is having some issues with some of our information.  I'll spare you the details, but long story short, they were requesting some documentation that was non-existant.  After much frustration and quite frankly, outrage, we were able to appease "underwriting" with some other supporting information and clear things up.  

During this same time, Hubby was dealing with a second issue of trying to arrange the builder's risk and liability insurance for construction.  Basically, no one wants to insure a home that is old and going under a renovation.  So, after many phone calls to many companies and extra help from our contact at the bank, he got it all arranged and we were good to go, and signing date was... May 9th.  Seriously, nothing like going down to the wire.

By the way, the appraisal came back more than expected and helped us feel comfortable with going forward.

When we returned home from signing, I walked in the house and told the kids, "The house is ours!"
To which our sarcastic teenage son replied under his breath, "oh great, now we own that piece of..."  The girls burst out laughing.  It's a good thing I know that he was totally kidding and actually excited about the project. Stinker... (slow blink).

Look at this... Can you blame him?

Finding a Balance

After meeting with the local bank, we decided that we would be doing our financing with them.  They would lend for the purchase price of the home as well as the cost for remodeling.  Lots of other perks like one time close, they know our builder, we can roll the loan over or keep their rate, etc.  The challenge became trying to get the right costs for remodeling.

Hubby and I had in our minds a number we felt justified the project and would allow us to keep in the market value.  We had looked at other homes last fall when we first started considering moving and there was a range of $90/sf to $105/sf.  We felt we could justify about $100/sf and the neighborhood and comparables for the appraisal would support that. So, max budget, based on our square foot became around $240k to $250k.   The purchase of the home and property (1/2 acre) itself ate up 60% of the budget leaving only $100 in reno costs.

Even though we had nixed the second floor, I had began drawing a remodel of the full house including the currently unused basement space (we really need more bedrooms).  I took this drawing to Kevo to bid, and the costs came back over double.  Many of the costs were things we felt were mandatory expenses such as, upgrading all the wire from knob and tube and bringing in a larger electrical service, running a new sewer line from the street to the house, and a new roof.  These are must haves, and were budgeted at nearly $40k.

Original floor plan

At this point, we were really in a pickle and began to question if this was really the right move for us.  The house didn't have enough bedrooms for the four children we still have at home, it doesn't have a secure garage, and it is going to cost too much to get it just functioning.  Hubby and I considered our options, again...  We could look for another house.  We could demolish the house and start over.  We could do less remodeling.  We could forget about it all and live in our UDOT rental on highway 89 forever.

Look for another house... we did actually peruse the classifieds that night just to see, but we had really decided several months ago that this was the home for us and no matter what, (this might just be the craziest thing we've ever done) we wanted this project.  We knew this was a rare find.  So much history and character and a half acre in the downtown area.  We weren't going to find something like this anywhere else.
Demolish the house... ehh... sometimes we still talk about this as an option.  Kidding!

So... we are left with less remodeling.  Oh great.  We originally had said that we would hire someone to do all the work, and just get it all done quickly and move in with it being just beautiful and perfect and everything finished and no broken nails or sore muscles or lingering projects.  Smaller scope of work means that we are going to be doing phases of work, and some of these phases might not get done for several years, if ever.

Back to drawing, and reevaluating what we really need and what we can live without.
   Must haves:  new spacious modern kitchen, a clean functioning bathroom, bedrooms for four children. Also, the above mentioned requirements of new roof, new electrical and new plumbing.  We decided we would only renovate the back of the house.  When the home was originally built, it had a porch on the back.  During the depression, the family closed in the porch and rented out rooms to make money.  When they closed in the porch, they inadvertantly closed in some bedrooms as well.  I"m not sure if they had egress requirements back then, but one of those bedrooms definetly doesn't meet code by today's standards.

Phase 1 -remodel back porch add on and new kitchen

We decided we would remodel that closed in porch space creating two bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry room.  Someday when we add a garage to the back, we will put the back door entrance through the laundry room.  We are also going to do a complete kitchen in a new location.  We don't have enough bedrooms for our four kids, but we will figure that out when we need to.

Back to Work

With life getting somewhat back to normal after the "incident", I went back to working on the drawings for the house.  During this same time, hubby and I decided we should probably move to a cheaper home to rent, considering we could possibly have to pay a mortgage and rent while we did the remodeling.  So, at the end of January, we moved east to a dumpy little house owned by UDOT right next to highway 89.

I loved the idea of adding a second floor, and figured we were going to have to replace the roof anyways because of the leaking in the back rooms.  It just made sense to me to take off the old stick framed roof and put back new trusses around the second floor.  So I began drawing again, but felt a brain cramp trying to figure out the placement of the stairs.  After several weeks of rearranging, tweaking, turning, and starting over and over again, I finally felt like I had a floor plan that I could live with.  I printed up a floor plan and met with a couple of different builders. One of them, we'll call him Kevo, I worked for in the past and we had done a similar project in Ogden.  He suggested we start talking to a structural engineer about the possbility of doing the second floor.

Kevo arranged a meeting for me with a structural engineer he had worked with in the past.  After a pretty simple conversation it was evident that adding a second floor was just a beautiful dream.  The foundation may have been structurally strong enough to hold the second floor, but it definately wouldn't hold up seismic-ly.  The second floor could only be done if we reinforced every foundation wall.

Back to the drawing board.

In the mean time, Hubby had researched a couple of options for financing.  One option was for a HUD loan that involved a ton of red tape and extra costs, and the second option was recommended from a friend and neighbor that manages a title company.  She suggested a local bank, which we contacted and arranged to meet with.  This bank will lend for the purchase and the reconstruction costs, which is awesome!  After discussing with them the process and project, we felt they had the best option.

My HERO!!

On the night of December 2, I went to bed as usual.  Except for a little cold, I felt fine.

Thursday afternoon, December 6, I wake up in Davis Hospital wondering what in the heck I'm doing there.
Apparently, at about 2am on the morning of December 3, Hubby heard me "gurgling," which is a miracle considering he sleeps with a CPAP machine.  After trying to wake me with no response, he flew out of bed (busting said CPAP in the process) and began doing, to the best of his abilities, CPR.
He gave me a breath, which I took and then released.  He did it again, but this time nothing. So, he started doing chest compressions, the whole time calling my name hoping to wake me up.  From the other room, our 11 year old heard the commotion and came in.  She dialed 911 and stayed on the line until they arrived.  She was told to tell hubby to do two compressions a second (stayin alive, stayin alive).  Within a few minutes, Davis County Sheriffs arrived  and were brought up to the bedroom. They observed while hubby continued doing CPR.  After what I'm sure must have felt like an eternity, the paramedics arrived and finally took over.  They eventually had to defibrillate and then I was transported to the nearest hosptial.

Concerned about how long I might have gone without oxygen and how that might have affected my brain, they decided to perform a treatment where they cool your body down to 89 degrees, leave it there for 24 hours, and then bring it back up.  Only, I didn't just wake right up.  Took me a little longer for some reason. Poor hubby knows how I hate being cold, so he slept by me without a blanket the first night.  Said he couldn't use a blanket knowing I was laying there freezing (induced coma, didn't feel a thing).

All I know is that when I woke up on Thursday,  I told everyone I was fine.  I felt like where ever I had been, it was very peaceful and I couldn't understand their worry.  The only lingering effects were the loss of my voice, and the sore ribs.  Apparently, on the way to the hospital, they had intubated me wrong,  so when we arrived it had to be pulled and done again.  Talking was extremely difficult.  It took a ton of air to just get out a few words.

After running quite a few tests the result was that I had a heart arrhythmia.  My heart stopped pumping and went more to a flutter.
Treatment... a permenant defibrillator.  Seriously... I am way to young for this.  I spent Sunday, December 9th celebrating my 39th birthday, and Monday having surgery to place the defibrillator. After a nine day hospital stay, made it home alive!

Do I have memory problems?  Yes, the first few weeks were the toughest.  I couldn't remember the names of friends and neighbors.  I couldn't remember what we had done the few days leading up to the "incident." I couldn't remember where stores were located which was a problem considering Christmas was just a few weeks away.  However, I wasn't allowed to drive, so as long as someone else could get me there, I could still handle the shopping.  I feel pretty much back to normal now, and at least when I have memory issues I have an easy excuse, although my kids aren't buying it anymore.

I visit the cardiologist every three months to have my defibrillator read and take my pills... potassium and magnesium.  I've gone back to playing pickleball, and also played a couple of basketball games(yes, the defibrillator registered the game I played on March 7th at 8:00 p.m. when my heart beat went over 170/min). I can't use cordless tools, and have to avoid large magnets, but other than that, life is amazing and I am just so grateful to have another day.

What does all this have to do with a Bungalow?  Well, thankfully the owners/sellers were very patient with us considering all that we had been through.  Their tenant, who was supposed to be out by the end of December, also had some difficulties.  His father passed away and so he asked to have some extra time to get moved out.  With it being the holidays, I called and put school on hold for a few weeks.  When I went back the second of week of January, it was almost like starting all over again.    

Financing and drawings

I thought that as long as the foundation seemed intact, we could renovate the home to be the most awesome thing ever.  So I called a friend of mine, a builder that I worked with several years ago to ask him to take a look at the foundation. After walking the exterior of the home and looking around in the basement, he felt like it would work just fine.  It is pretty incredible that a home built in 1921 hadn't really settled all that much. The brick course looked good and that was very encouraging.

Hubby and I started really talking about the possibilities of owning this home.  I, of course, had some really big ideas, really big.  Originally, I wanted to take the roof off and add a second floor.  The home would look amazing with a second floor sitting squarely in the roof and clarestory windows letting in light to the main level.  Go to the Houzz.com website and search for the Porter Street Bungalow by Moore Architects to see my inspiration. I would just copy the image into the blog,  but the site won't let me.  

Unfortunately, I hadn't worked on CAD since I graduated two years ago, and my computer crashed that had the software on it.  So, thinking quick, I decided to sign up for a class at the local technical college to refresh my CAD skills, learn Revit ( a 3D software program) and get the student software for free.  I started working on the drawings after getting through most of  my training manual and hubby started working on financing.

After following the process for a conventional loan and getting an appraisal done, we discovered that they would only lend for the home if an additional $21K worth of repairs were done on the roof, sewer, and mold issues.  We were planning on doing these with the construction anyways, so it didn't make since for seller to repair the roof we would eventually tear off to add a second floor.

Clay began looking at what other options we might have, and I continued trying to figure out a floor plan that made room for a new staircase to the second floor.

About this same time, disaster struck.