The Never-Ending List Starts Now...

The long list awaits.

If you read about any person living in an old home, he or she will tell you that the to-do list is never-ending.  Sometimes it gets done, sometimes it doesn't.  Sometimes it MUST get done (flooded basement), sometimes it doesn't get done for years (peel the wallpaper, sand the floors, restore the banister, and on and on...).

Well, this house most certainly has a list.  And while I am excited about many of the items (pulling the 1970's wood paneling off the walls!), I must say others are less than inviting (rebuild the basement cellar door steps).

But it's time for the list to begin.  I have repaired newer houses (1970's-1990's) where the list runs a few pages long.  I honestly have no idea just how far this is going to go, but here we go...

1.  Rebuild or replace the basement cellar door and stairs
2.  Install new basement windows
3.  Replace the shifting brick below a couple of the windows
4.  Tuckpoint the basement brick and limestone foundation on the interior
5.  Chip away the concrete skimcoat on the basement foundation exterior
6.  Tuckpoint the basement foundation exterior
7.  Clean the cement siding (moss on north side of home, for example)
8.  Paint the cement siding
9.  Install new shutters.
10.  Build a new (like the original) front porch

And that's just for starters!  As you can see, the main focus is the foundation.  That should be the main focus in any home, of course.  But with spring rains coming, and summer rains coming, and thunderstorms and tornadoes in between, keeping the most water out of the basement is just a must.  The foundation has lasted 153 years.  I need it to last another 50 at least!

11.  Dig a hole for a sump pump
12.  Install a sump pump
13.  Remove the old diesel? boiler tank from the basement.
14.  Remove the unattached wood-burning furnace from the basement
15.  Remove the hot tub from the basement (please don't leave that thing there, previous owner!)
16.  Insulate the water pipes or at least area underneath the half-bathroom and laundry room
17.  Remove the wood paneling from the living room
18.  Remove the wood paneling from dining room
19.  Remove the wood paneling from downstairs bedroom #1
20.  Remove the wood paneling from downstairs bedroom #2
21.  Rip up old carpet from dining room
22.  Rip up old carpet from living room
23.  Rip up old carpet from downstairs bedroom #1
24.  Rip up old carpet from downstairs bedroom #2
25.  Install ceiling fan or new light fixture in dining room
26.  Rip up plywood floor in kitchen to expose hopefully original hardwood floors
27.  Install an outlet for electric dryer (gas?)
28.  Peel paint from front door
29.  Paint front door
30.  Sand hardwood floors on bottom floor
31.  Stain and clearcoat hardwood floors on main floor
32.  Fix all plaster on all walls of downstairs rooms after wood paneling removed
33.  Remove wallpaper from upstairs bedroom #1
34.  Remove old carpet from upstairs bedroom #1
35.  Install new drywall on ceiling of upstairs bedroom #2 (remove plywood first?)
36.  Install drywall in closet of upstairs bedroom #2
37.  Tear up carpet from stairs leading to upstairs
38.  Tear up carpet from landing upstairs
39.  Remove short banister
40.  Install taller banister
41.  Patch all upstairs plaster
42.  Watch chickens at their new farm

Ya see?!  This is just a quick list!!!  With setbacks along the way, each line is going to take some time!  Hopefully some can be knocked out all at once (ripping up the carpet in various rooms), but in so doing, that adds days of work to the next project then (sanding and staining the hardwood floors).  And you don't really want brand-new hardwood floors if you are going to be tearing down a plaster wall...or patching a plaster wall or ceiling.

But as with previous projects, you just pick a number.  And do a number.  It's really that easy.  The list of 42 turns to 67 then to 62 then to 42 again then to 55 then to 51 then to 42 again then to 35 then to 42 again.  Truthfully, there is really nothing easy about it.  It's a chosen lifestyle of work, upgrades, relentless pursuits of goals.

Sand me.  Stain me.  Scuff me all over again.

But each step along the way hopefully some joy is taken in giving love to an old, faithful home, hopefully some satisfaction is seen and appreciated, and hopefully the home is to be enjoyed along the way, as well.  Hard days of work followed by simple joys of watching chickens hunt for bugs, suns setting in the distance, farm animals grow up, families coming together, thunderstorms forming 20 miles away.

Ahhhh, the country.  It REALLY is a lifestyle.