Surviving Renovation

First Phase : Outdoor projects.

We purchased the house August 26^th, so the weather determined what our priorities needed to be. We had to choose the outside projects first, before it was too cold. We requested quotes for tree removal, new windows and doors, new shingles on the roof, and excavation for the water leak we could hear that was somewhere between the house shut off and the City shut off. When we called for price quotes we also requested time lines. This would help us schedule each contractor around what we thought we were capable of being ready for.

The tree removal company gave us a discount if we hauled away the debris so we saved some money here. Our neighbors were fantastic. They have twin boys age 11 who had lots of energy and were always looking to help us. The boys and their parents worked with Geoff for a whole day loading up the box of his truck with branches to dispose of. We were able to repay the favor by giving the logs to their father who had a wood burning stove that he heated his house with. The neighbors brother came during the week to haul the logs away. Grampa was happy, the family was happy, and we were happy. Win-win all the way! It took another couple of days of hauling and raking to clean it all up but what a difference to the front yard and curb appeal of the house.

When we were in the basement we could hear water running so we knew we had a water leak somewhere between the City shut off and the house shut off. We contacted the City who arranged for a crew to come to the house to find where the leak was in the line. They determined with their electronic scanner that there was a leak 1-2 meters from the house and another problem with the City shut off.  We were told to go ahead and fix our end, then call the City to schedule a crew to come out later to fix their shut off.

While we were waiting to have the water shut off repaired we worked on painting the outside and replacing the windows and doors, replacing the shingles, replacing the eavestroughs and adding a deck. In order to paint the back of the house and add a deck we needed to remove a lilac bush that was growing up against the house.

We called Bear Wood Excavating to dig our line trench. Our line was fine but the leak was discovered at the City shut off. We notified the City and filled our trench back in. The City sent a work crew out a couple of weeks later to dig up their shut off pipe and repair it. They also reimbursed us for the cost of excavating, new grass and the replacement of ½ of our concrete driveway, which they had to remove to make the trench wide enough for their crew to work safely. By this time it was late October so we had to wait until spring for the new grass and the driveway repair. The City was great to work with.

New windows are being supplied and installed by Denovo just in time for the cold winter weather. We covered the bathroom window using the siding that was removed where we changed the dining room window to a patio door. We installed random lengths so it blended nicely. When I say we I am referring to the guys from Burleigh Building Ltd. They built the deck and repaired the siding. The deck railings and eavestroughs were supplied and installed by Marathon Eavestroughing Ltd. The railings didn’t get installed until the following spring. The deck is an awesome addition to the house.

The outside is now done!

Time to complete indoor projects. Coming Soon!