The $20k Homestead - Part 10 - Final Push & Moving In!
With our official blessing to live in our home, we had three things to do before moving in: Painting, Bathroom Remodel, New Flooring.
Painting
Just about every room in the house was going to get painted before we moved in. The previous renters that lived in the home before we bought it were absolutely bonkers for color... and for writing on the walls! The only rooms we skipped at that time were the kitchen and dining room as they were free of graffiti, easy to paint while we living in the home, and would take some time to paint with the amount of trim work around cabinets. We purchased a 5 gallon bucket of Kilz sealer/primer paint and gave the home a good coating; ceilings included. Here's a before and after of the living room. It's amazing what a clean wall does for a place!
Bathroom Remodel
The front bathroom in the home was in rough shape! The floor was rotten and had to be replaced, and the entire sink/vanity was missing--only the pipes remained. Goodness only knows under what circumstances that happened! Under the carpet (yuck), we found another three layers of flooring before reaching the original press-board flooring which was pretty rough from the decades of moisture and water leaks. Let the work begin!
We picked up the vanity from a local used building material store. Kind of like a thrift store for house materials. If I recall correctly, it was less than $30 USD, too! The bathroom was then painted white like the rest of the house. So much better!
New Flooring
The living room floor wasn't rotten, but was very uneven from years of "patching". I decided to tear out the entire floor--all the way down to the joists, and replace it with all new sub-flooring. I wanted a strong, secure, and level floor, and knew this was the only time to get it done without major headaches of trying to live in a construction zone later. The only part of the living room not replaced was the section near the front wall. It was perfectly good plywood of the same thickness as I was laying down and was strong and undamaged.
After the new sub-floor was laid, we put down Pergo laminate flooring. We were looking seriously at some solid bamboo flooring, but the extra cost for the installation tools and it being a soft wood flooring made us choose otherwise. Later down the road we may do differently. However, to date (nearly 2 years down the road) it has held up great!
The dining room, kitchen, and laundry room sub-floor was good overall, but had a few less-than-stellar spots. Rather than spend more time and money replacing the whole floor for these spots, I laid down a layer of OSB sub-flooring on top to lock the two together and raise the flooring to the same height as the new living room floor. This worked wonderfully well and made the floor rock-solid! Some day when we rebuild our kitchen we will replace the entire floor.
For the kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and the front door entryway/hallway we chose a peel-and-stick tile that you then go back and grout in between. This was a new-to-us flooring option, but was appealing for the ease of installation and great final look. It looks a lot like real tiling with the grouting. However, it's not been as durable as the Pergo flooring so far. It's easily scratched, then noticed.
Moving Day
These were the final projects holding us back from moving in! We rented the biggest U-Haul truck that would fit in our current and new home driveways and enlisted the help of family to help! As luck would have it, this happened over Thanksgiving holiday. But, just as lucky, all of our families--both mine and my in-laws--all live in the area and it wasn't a great disturbance to help for a day. That's right... we moved in one day! Okay... we moved 98%. The distance from old to new house was about 20 miles, so not too bad of a drive for everyone.
The End... Nearly
That's it for the building of the $20k homestead. I have one last post planned that will show all the costs added up to see if this home really cost $20k or not. Look for that in the near future.
Wow the before and after pictures are just amazing.
Pretty cool, huh? Always nice to see them. Thanks for commenting and upvoting.
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Thank you, Steemit is a great platform!
And probably used every last ounce of it.
Oh you know it! And that was after bleaching the walls! We're not clean-freaks, but while cleaning out the old renter's junk (before moving the home) there were some... uhhh.... questionable bedroom items all throughout the house in various locations. 0.o
Congratulations! We are in the middle of our project, but seeing your story gives me hope we will get there too :)
You will! And... the projects never stop, but that's the fun of it! 😀
Wow! just found you through @farmstead! I'm gonna have to start following you. My husband and I are looking to do something similar here. Exciting to live vicariously through you taking the plunge yourselves. Can't wait to see what comes next! Unbelievable how much better you made that house (your new home) look (and you're not even in it!
Awesome, thanks for the follow! It's been a fun adventure to say the least! :) Check back on my blog to see Parts 1 - 9. I cover the COMPLETE building process from raw land. :)
I will ( :
Well done on the frugal finds.
My parents had a bamboo floor, but it dented really easily. If you want tough wearing it's probably not the way to go anyway.
If only I had a sawmill and the trees.. I'd make my own! LOL We're talking about renovating one of the bedrooms next and I'm sure we'll have the flooring discussion again. :-)
Nice work @greenacrehome ! The photos look great. Congrats on the new homestead and I hope it serves you well.
Thank you! We've been in here for almost two years and are still working on it weekly. :)
I remember the remodel days, done 3 and it can get really tiring. Living in one area while working on another. The stuff you find is just plain bizarre! Good for you for having the tenacity to take it on, we all have a dream!🐓
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