I DID IT!

The green one is the old fence. All the other photos are the new one. It is made of green pressure treated - the other one was made of pine. Obviously not my decision, no one should make a fence out of untreated wood in a northern climate. Also the post were put 4 feet in the ground - the other one was about 2 feet, which explains the heaving. Again this is a northern climate issue. If the posts are not below the frost line, they will eventually move - simple as that.














I am very pleased with how it came out. A couple of neighbours where sniffing around asking questions. Mom and I traveled for two weeks after the fence was built. When we returned, two neighbours were obviously inspired by my success. Two new fences - exact replicas of mine were built in a 4 house radius of mom's place. Mom is made at the "copycats". I prefer to think that copying is a form of flattery. Originally, I had two friends lined up to help and I had budgeted 3 days. Both friends bailed two days before the posts were to be installed, so I figured, I'm on my own. Luckily for me, my mom has an awesome neighbour who came out to help demo the old fence and helped me for the 7 days it took to complete. That's right 7, not 3. I was off work for 7 weeks so the extra days didn't make a difference except to my aching feet and back.

But it's done, and it's awesome. And now I can tackle my 100 feet of fence in my yard this summer. And I have someone who has already volunteered to help. Giddy up!

For My Next Trick

My mom's fence is falling apart. It has been heaving - only one one side for about 5 years - roughly a inch a year. Now it is to the point where some boards are rotting and it needs to be replaced. I have never built a fence before but how hard can it be. I have offered my mom to build it for her. We have driven around the neighbourhood and looked at all kinds of different fence styles. She has had no opinion. I have told her if you have no opinion, you can't complain. I know in my head what I want the fence to look like so now we will see if my vision can become a reality.

Wow, I haven't been here for a while!

So in the past 6 months I have not really gotten anywhere with my debt. I got my roof done finally and perhaps too late. There is some watter damage on my living room ceiling. It took a long time and I fought with the roofers but they did a great job.

I also rebuilt my crap ass back deck. Me and my 64 year old mom. I took 3 days and cost about $800. My first deck and it came out great. My neighbour across the back lane came over a couple of days after I finished and told me what a great job I did and how great it looked. He was very surprised that it was built by a chick. The deck was more expensive than I expected because I decided to go with cedar for the decking but it looks awesome. So the top pictures are the new deck and the lower pictures are the rotten old one. I didn't realize how dilapadated the old one was until it only took me an hour to tear it down by myself. Mind you, I was pretty angry at the roofers so I was a little motivated.

One of my new year's resolutions for this year was to write a little bit everyday but you can already see how that went.

Debts. I haven't done well in that area. I have two high interest loans that are costing me an arm and a leg.. Fortunately one has a beginning and an end. The other however is a line of credit and I was making a fair bit of head way in the fall and then Christmas came. And now I am back where I started. So I made an application for a low interest bank loan to get rid of that. With the payments I am making now, I can be free and clear of that in two years. Less if I get really motivated.

I am waiting for the result of the application.

Oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you all get to spend it with someone you care about.

One More Day

The roof was supposed to start today but because of all the rain we have been having they are a day behind on the job before me which pushes me back a day. Crap, I was all excited about getting this started.

It's Done!

So I chose to redo my mortgage early to lock in at a low rate. I locked in at 5.55% for 10 years. I wanted the longest time period possible because when the rates do start to creep up, I don't think they will be coming down for a long time. I also took out a line of credit based on home value to get some work around here done. This summer I want to get the roof done, it isn't a want, it's a need. There is a hole and I have a little water damage on my living room ceiling. The range of estimates for the roof is from $4250 to $8300. Crazy huh?! I am going with a long time established company that gave me a very detailed quote of $6300.

I also want to get the soffit, fascia and eaves done. The eaves are also a necessity. It is like having none - they are so old and holey and I think redoing them will ease up some dampness issues in the basement.

I also want to get the three windows done upstairs. The cost will surely offset the decrease in hydro costs in the winter.

I am debating on replacing the super inefficient window in the back addition with a patio door in anticipation of the deck that will be out there. That door would also ease some hydro costs.

I am also going to replace and slightly increase the size of the little deck in the back. I have been buying the essentials piece by piece but for the wood, I will have to borrow someone's truck. Eventually a bigger deck will be adjoined to it (hence the back door). This I plan on doing myself. I have never built a deck but I think it is pretty straight forward. I will post before and after pictures once it is done.

Square One

Well, I told the window company to beat it. After getting over my anger and thinking rationally, I understand what was happening. They didn't have the money to buy materials which is why that asked for a 50% deposit. I believe they low balled the quote to hook me and then tried a bait and switch type game to try and make a little more. Or maybe they just figured I was a pain and just wanted to see if I would bite but didn't care if I didn't because I was such a pain. By a pain I mean telling them I would not be paying a 50% deposit, repeatedly asking for a written quote and questioning why it has taken so long to get to this point.

They don't know that my mom managed to hire quite a few shysters when doing home repair and that I learned a heck of a lot by watching her experiences. To my knowledge, a customer is only required a 10% deposit once the final contract is signed and that you can also withhold 10% deposit up to 30 days affter the job is completed so that you can make sure there are no problems. The idea being that the company won't disapperar if you stilll owe them money and will return to your home to fix anything that needs to be fixed if they want it at the end of the 30 days. I can almost hear the cash register sound when some of these jokers come to my house to do an estimate for windows, doors, roof etc. and see a young(ish) woman open the door. They assume I don't know what I want or what I am talking about and figure they are going to double the regular price and make some easy money. Not so, and I have asked a couple to get out of house after gettting an outrageous quote. So I am back to square one, and for inconveniencing me and wasting my time aI am seriously considering filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Wish me luck.

But right now I am going to jump in the shower. My mom and I are going to a concert tonight and are heading out for dinner before hand so I have to run.

The Window Saga Continues

So I thought everything was cool with the windows and I was expecting the final contract in the mail. And then yesterday they called. I wasn't awake when they called and called back about an hour later and no answer. I thought that was weird but so far eveything with them has been weird so . . . I know they have call display since the woman answers with my name when I call so I knew she would know I called and expected her to call me back. No call yesterday. Hmmm. So I called when I woke up this morning and this is the jist of what she told me. They have two suppliers. One American and one Canadian. The Canadian company makes better quality windows more suited to Canadian winters and the American company makes lesser quality windows. Now since I obviously live in Canada and must experience Canadian winters, it would make sense to me that this would be the supplier she would choose when we initially talked about windows. But it wasn't. I did say price was a factor but I also made it clear that first and foremost, I wanted a good quality window. So of course now she is saying that the American company is way behind in production and if I wanted a better quality window the $1800 estimate would now be roughly $200 to $500 more.

So this is of course why she would not give me a written estimate. I have a number for a guy that works at a window manufacturing company. The problems with that are (1) I would have to pay cash (which I won't have for a couple of months), (2) since it would be under the table, I can't claim the tax credit and (3) I am a little sick of all things windows right now. So now what, keep letting this company jerk me around because I don't have the cash right now or wait and pay less but up front? Sigh . . .

One Step Closer

When I bought this house, I knew there were insulation issues. It was built in 1913 after all and it was obvious that previous owners had not been taking regular care. So I have insulated the completely uninsulated addition (8 " x 8") and mud room. I replaced the window in the mudroom. I still need to replace the window in the addition but I want to replace it with patio doors so I'm not going to bother. I will just keep covering it in plastic in the winter.

I have also added insulation to the attic and have filled every gap with dozens of cans of monofoam. The basement is still not finished but this fall I am going to cap all of the joist ends to try and cut down on basement drafts.

So I wanted to get 3 upstairs windows replaced when I had two weeks off at the end of July. Obviously I haven't got it done yet. I have had about 4 estimates done in the last four years. One was way too cheap, one was way too expensive and the other two were alright but I didn't have the cash at the time. Fortunately for me now, the hydro company is giving out loans to so "green" home improvements so I applied to do it that way. The company I am going with may be a mistake. It has taken about 2 1/2 months to get to the final estimate point. But they have given me a good price and after researching and installing a window myself, I know what to look for. I can't wait. I believe the windows are the last part of the main insulation problem. During the winter, I wear layers and toques and still end up paying about $500 a month (electricity and gas) during the 3 or 4 cold winter months. That is way too much. And that is with windows covered in plastic. I can't wait to get through a winter without plastic taped to my walls.

So the measurer guy tells me I will get the estimate in the mail, I guess that will be the contract and we will go from there. I almost can't wait until winter. I plan to insulate under the addition since there is no other way to stop the upward migration of cold air. That is to be done this fall as well. Bring it winter, I AM READY!

Here we go!

I have a few goals for this blog. I want to talk about my dilemma with my housing situation. I want to talk about my quest to live a simple frugal life and a bit about my adventures at work. And mixed in there will be general ramblings and funny and perhaps not so funny events in my life. So my plan is to chronicle my journey from home owner to adult child moving back in with mommy and then to home builder. I intend to chronicle the ups and downs of all things related to this. My motivation for this is twofold. There is always someone else going through something similar so those of you having this dilemma can hopefully draw from my failures and save yourself some heartache. Also there is the added bonus hopefully of this focusing me to get my sorry butt in gear. Here we go.