Ten Year Plan: Year Eight
This year we didn't make much progress on the plan. Instead we spent six months building a concrete wall and reworking the entire front of the house. This was not really good for a renovation plan, but it has earned us some points with the neighbors. Also, the retaining wall helps keep the roses more under control than they were. But it was a huge time-suck and we didn't get much we planned on done, even though we got a lot of things done.
There are a couple of things I want to clarify: we're not going to be done with this phase of the renovation when we reach year ten. People ask me that all the time, but the simple reality is that eight years ago when we sat down and made this plan, we just chose ten years out of a hat as a nice round number for some time in the not-too-distant future. We didn't know about what the economy would be like, what our professional lives would be like, and what expenses we might have to deal with in that time. We just knew that at some point in the future we wanted to do a big renovation, and there was still stuff we could do before we were financially and architecturally ready for that.
The other thing is that if we don't get this stuff done before we're ready to do the big renovation, it's really not a problem. There's no reason why we can't wrap any of these things into the larger renovation plan, unless the thing in this list is a stopgap. So we're not in any huge rush to get the last items done, and in fact as a planning tool this list is rapidly losing relevance. While it's possible we may see year twelve of the ten-year plan, I think it's even more likely that this year we will come up with a second ten-year plan of a more abstract nature.
Anyway, this is what we had planned, and notes on what we did. (If it's stricken without comment, we finished it in a previous year.)
Paint exterior of houseFinish living roomsFoundation replacement(Yes, we're still closing the permit, but the foundation is solid)Remove Fright Box under house, redo plumbing- Redo upstairs bath and add half bath under stairs
We finally got our permits to do this work, after several months of working with the city to make it happen. Remove chimney, replace furnace thing- Install gas fireplace in living room
We decided this year not to put the small fireplace in the upstairs bedroom. Mainly because it would encroach on the living space so much, and for what? We'll already have two fireplaces in the house when we finish the big renovation, and a bedroom fireplace is not so sexy in a 12-ft square bedroom. Re-roof(Alternative approach taken)- Insulate crawlspace and attic
After some research, we've decided to do this project this year as part of the bathroom and electrical work we got a permit for. Remove fake wooden panelling, stabilize plaster, and repaint all rooms
We basically didn't do that much with this this year. The big outstanding project is the hallway, on which we made zero progress.Block air infiltration around various doors(as done as it can get)Replace window sashes(Moved off the 10-year plan because of logistics)- Strip ugly pink paint from as much woodwork as possible
Last year we thought we might hire somebody to do this, but the person we thought we might hire was then suddenly un-recommended to us. Instead, Noel has been doing small amounts of paint stripping with the heat gun. - Remove linoleum from floors/refinish wooden floors
We didn't do anything with this this year, there will be some of it in the big bathroom project. Remove the concrete driveway extension into the back yardRelated landscaping/gardeningRepair front porch/re-rebuild front steps- Repair side porch,
remove steps, and turn into a conservatory
The permit we just got includes new stairs for the side porch, and we may repair the porch deck as well while we are at it (the structure underneath has already been repaired, but the weird OSB the previous owners put down over the porch boards reached the end of its useful life a good long time ago). Draw detailed plans for the Day of Glory
posted by ayse on 01/01/12