A Victorian Renovation Project
The Porch
Well that doesn’t look good!!
The post is literally half off the porch and not above the post below it and not in-line with the other post!!
Unexpected discovery we saw on Sunday. We pointed it out to Will, the contractor and he was concerned too.
When Ken bent down to look at the metal column holding up the porch he discovered he could put his finger into it — totally rusted out.
Will got to work on it first as it was a serious safety concern and he needed to replace a window in the bathroom and THAT porch roof was his access!
Incredible work done by Will to get it done and safe.
Monday: MOVE-In Day!!
Finally, we are moving in!!
For me, the day was filled with stress. Where to park the truck, would it fit in the driveway?? Would they allow us to park on the street and block the lane? Would it interfere with the school drop off. It was ALL in my head!! It went fine!!
Truck parked in front of the house. NO, it did not fit in the driveway.
Movers arrived at 9:30 and helped us unload.
Contractor arrived at 9:00 to start assessing the house.
Electrician that was scheduled called to say he couldn’t make it. The contractor reached out to people he knew and a new electrician came later in the day!!
Plumber didn’t show, didn’t call, didn’t return calls…. I joined the local Facebook group and asked for recommendations for a plumber and called the most referenced one and they are coming out tomorrow!!
Of course, everything is piled up and we know where NOTHING is!!
Sunday Day #3: Pumping Out
The good news — the water didn’t rise!!
Pump out day!! And a bit of biking!!
Once we checked the water level, Ken went out and bought a submersible pump. The basement has no sump pump or evidence of water intrusion. But everyone has said that the area had SEVEN days of intense rain so the water table level is high. And the house has NO gutters (stolen years ago). We are hoping gutters will solve the problem.
Ken got the pump rigged up with hoses, we actually brought with us and didn’t leave in storage!! And the pumping began.
Meanwhile, we jumped on our bikes and headed out to Bike Week!! What a great event to be here for. The opportunity to learn some bike roads/trails and meet local cyclists! Ideal way to move into a new community.
Road to the ride, just a mile or so away from the house!! Joined a group of about 10 or so riders and headed down the local trail to the park, where we got to see a parachuter working with their chute. We couldn’t exactly figure out what they were doing, but it was impressive.
Bike events all week to join in on!!
And of course, the bikes are back in the house!!
Saturday: Day #2 Back to Jersey!!
Water in the Basement!!
We did a quick run to Jersey on Saturday to pick up bikes and more stuff out of storage. There wasn’t much we could do at the house. We had moved everything in that we had in the car and it was suppose to rain all day. So we decided to do a quick up and back to Jersey!!
We got back in he evening and moved the bikes into the house as one of the garage doors was broken and wouldn’t close. Our intention was to get them in the basement….
And to our horror — 2 inches of water in the basement! We’ve had wet basements and when we looked at the house we saw NO evidence of water. No water lines on the walls or appliances, no sump pump, no evidence of a wet basement and it was dry, BONE dry!! But it was no longer.
Seven days of rain and there we were new home owners with a sump pump in storage in New Jersey, where we had just been earlier that very day!!
Well, bikes moved into the dining room (where bikes SHOULD be!!), and we headed back to the hotel with fingers crossed that the water would not rise all night long. (I personally did not sleep!)
Day #1: Getting Access
Friday morning, the day after closing, we are in!!
The house, empty, looks so different. It’s big, it needs a lot of work and it is ours.
We had some cleanup to do to get ready for moving stuff in and that was the focus!!
1-800-Got-Junk came to the rescue. Within 2 hours of calling, they were at the house loading everything in their truck!! I should have gotten a picture!! But they were fast, good and got us cleaned up quickly.
The entire process was stressful. From selling to buying to backing out of the deal and going back into the deal, to almost backing out again, to scrambling to get packed to movers saying the moving plan couldn’t work to coming up with a new plan to moving a ton of stuff into storage to driving up with a BIG truck, to closing and waiting to get in. Stress all around!! It felt like one challenge after another before another.
Huge decisions all along the way, over and over!!
But we are here!! Without bikes….. but here!!
Closing
We arrived for our walkthrough on closing day to find the seller’s were not out or packed.
Closing was delayed through negotiations to come to a resolution!
After a couple of hours of lawyers negotiating with us we reached a resolution to close, seller’s to move out by 9pm and safety nets were in place if anything went awry. Well by 9:00 AM Friday seller’s were out. A bit left behind to clean up…. but moving in was possible…. or was it???
The moving truck had to be extended from Thursday to Monday as well as the movers that were unloading it. There was no way we could unload the truck the two of us. We ended up in a hotel until Monday as there was nothing in the house….
We headed back to Jersey to pick up bikes for the upcoming Bike Week and made the best of it.
The Journey
We decided to move out of our 1867 farmhouse in Stillwater New Jersey after my Mom died. We had been there 17 years. It was finally a house I loved. But it was more than we wanted/needed and it was time to make a BIG move.
When you have barns, you fill barns. That was the big challenge. How to move everything. What to move and what to get rid of. And we are still doing that. Even though we have moved a significant amount to Vermont, there remains a lot in storage in Jersey and much to still get rid of.
Rutland Vermont is where we landed, after looking across New York state — Ithaca, Utica, Syracuse, Geneva, Kingston, Hudson, New Paltz…..Pennsylvania — Allentown/Bethlehem…. and then Vermont — Bennington and Rutland.
We found a house we fell in love with. You have to see its potential to actually be in love because right now, it needs so much.
The journey getting here was challenging with offers, inspections, more work and offer pullouts. We kept prepping our house for new owners. Painting, repairing, improving…. Old houses are always a journey and the work is never done!! We are grateful for buyers that loved the house and the property and were excited to get it.
And the journey buying a house was also a challenge!! New obstacles all along the way. The initial inspection was overwhelming. And we actually backed out of the deal. But the seller’s were motivated to move on and renegotiated with us.
The house needs new wiring, new plumbing for the heat system, new walls, repair to structural issue, new porch roof, repairs to the house and garage roofs (slate). So…. contractors are lined up and hopefully ready to get started.
