Homestead Farmhouse Update: progress is happening, slowly and steadily. The last, new, exterior door has been installed after widening and improving the frame. I finished repairing the last section of flooring that was damaged by termites eons ago annnnnd I pushed the cart in front of the horse a bit by installing an accent wall made of repurposed tongue and groove wood from the original kitchen walls. Tomorrow, I’ll start reframing and installing the new windows on the front of the house. Lot’s of movement will be happening there, so stay tuned if you dare!
Homestead Farm House Update: Where to begin? Somedays, I feel like I’m burning more of this house than I’m saving. But I look at it and realize that I’m really not. Most of it is still intact in all of its glory. Renovating an approximately 100 year old farm house that’s had many, many, many years of neglect and deferred maintenance, does not come without its moments. This little house has made me bleed my own blood several times. It is very stubborn and somewhat cantankerous at times. When it bites me, I pull out a bigger hammer, sometimes a bigger saw to put its attitude back in check. I’m making progress, albeit slowly at times. This week has seen 5 new windows moved, framed, and installed. A new front door has been widened and installed, but only after repairing a good section of flooring, sill, and rim joist due to ancient termite damage. A window has been removed and plugged up too. Soooooo much work! But I WILL make this little farmhouse our beautiful and very strong, forever home. Keep. Pushing. Forward. Always. Dreams only come true if you work hard to make them your reality.
Homestead Main House update: Finally finished getting the exterior siding replaced around the kitchen. This siding was removed to make all of the repairs/ replacement of the lower sill and rim joists. Got Michelle’s new walk-in closet framed up, and repaired the flooring in it that had been cut for the old HVAC system. I also tackled a few ceiling joists that were extremely, and stubbornly bowed. The process of straighteng those was a bit janky (utilizing a 4×4 and a floor jack), but highly effective. Unfortunately, due to poor construction, there are several more that will need straightening and reinforcing, but we’ll get there, joist by joist! Progress is happening on this little old farm house!
Homestead Main House update: Well, now that the roof is done, I can now focus my attention on the doors and windows. Two of four windows that need to be relocated are done, and the new exterior kitchen door is installed. Small progress, but progress nonetheless! Just 10 more windows to go in preparation for the new exterior siding!
Homestead update: We’ve got our brand new roof! I spent part of the day Thursday cutting through the roof to place the new Waste Line vents, bathroom ventilation fan and range hood vents. Yesterday the old roofing was removed, and the new roof installed! Big progress! Next up? Start framing in the new windows and start getting the exterior stripped of the old aluminum siding. Exterior wrapped. Windows and new siding installed! Easy Peasy?
Homestead Update: Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. I spent the day yesterday cleaning up, reorganizing and removing both the old, extremely heavy wood burning stove from the living room and all of the old HVAC ducting from underneath the house. Both were pretty big chores. Today, I was able to reframe the dividing wall for the laundry room, 1/2 bath and new walk in shower. This wall is a non load bearing wall that I framed directly on to the floor joists. NOT the traditional way to do this, but I needed to leave the subflooring out in order to run water lines and configure all the new drains. There just isn’t enough clearance to comfortably crawl under this entire area, and this wall is needed for the plumbing vents. So, non traditional it was. When you’re making a very old house do something it wasn’t originally designed and built to do, you HAVE to think outside of the box sometimes. It is what it is, and that’s exactly what makes this fun for me! This stubborn little house WILL conform one way or another…
Homestead Update: Nothing too exciting today. Finished nailing and lag bolting the new floor joists and rim joists. Removed a window and framed in and opened the new exterior door, opened the wall area for the new walk in shower and did some other miscellaneous framing in preparation for framing some walls. Nothing exciting, but progress is, in fact, progress!
Homestead Update: Wayyyy more progress on the main house in the last week. Mud sills and rimm joists are all done in the kitchen, and the new beam and floor joists are installed! Brand new roof and brand new HVAC system are scheduled for the next few weeks! We’ll be continuing on over the next few weeks framing the new walls that we need and replacing/ relocating all of the windows and exterior doors! So stoked!!!
His hard work hard work is really pushing progress forward.
“Homestead Update: Shwew! What a busy/ productive few weeks it’s been! Got the garage storage loft built and did some more moving in/ organizing. Installed lights and got most of the garage wired and new sub panel installed. Got the upper garden fencing project completed finally. Took down two small closets in the main house. Built a new bedroom wall and standard size closet. Took out two brick chimneys (One was buried in a wall) rebuilt two major sill plates that were 100% rotted, returning structural integrity to the kitchen. Finished removing all of the old water pipes and drains. Built a Chicnic Table for the chickens and celebrated harvesting our first ever chicken eggs! We’ve harvested about a dozen this past week! Pretty exciting, forward movement!”
Things have been busy this week with the mobile home remodel. Guest room and bathroom are finished and ready for our 1st guests to arrive next week. This bedroom had the worst of the water damage, mold and rot. Now, it is a clean, cute, cozy room with a great view of the property.
After a great visit with having both our boys home for Easter, we were back to work.
Shane took the lower cabinets from the main house and brought them up to the mobile. He made some modifications and installed them, plus created an island for us to install a dishwasher. It will be a great addition to the kitchen and there is so much more counter space.
Beginning of redesigning the kitchen.
We finished up the wall repair and painting in the living room so it was time to start decorating.
We found a great table and chairs set and a sofa, both on Marketplace. Then a chair at goodwill. We unpacked some pictures, hung the mantel and the tv and it is starting to feel like home.
New living room and dining room area.
We also were able to bring the cats up into the mobile since the floors were safe and we were able to block off the remaining bedroom we need to finish.
Finn and Olive enjoying the new couch.
Now that our bed is up in the mobile home and we are sleeping in here, it was time for Shane to build a closet. I was keeping my clothes in the RV and using it as a big walk-in closet.
BeforeAfter. Ready for doors.
We picked up the flooring, so it was time to tackle the last room that needs subfloors.
This room was the most damaged. The floors were badly rotted and Shane found an ant colony and a very large spider while removing the old flooring.
Subfloor damage Master bedroom and closet.
Once the subfloors were in and sealed it was time to move on to the walls.
They were covered in nicotine and mold so we scrubbed them clean to get ready for paint. There was also some insulation that needed to be removed.
Master bedroom walls before cleaning and paint.
While Shane was busy with the floors, I was working on painting the bottom cabinets in the kitchen and stripping the doors for paint.
Kitchen progress
We are excited to be coming into the home stretch on this project. We are down to finishing out the master bedroom and bath. Laying the flooring. Tiling the backsplash in the kitchen and painting the outside. We will also be building a deck off the front and adding some planters for flowers. Stay tuned to see total transformation.
The beginning of week 11, we were excited that our boys were going to be coming home for Easter. That meant getting the bedroom in the mobile home ready for us to move our bed in, so that there would be enough room in the RV for everyone to sleep. We also wanted to get the kitchen up and running so that we could cook while everyone was home.
While Shane was busy up in the mobile home, I was down in the garden. I created raised beds for the vegetable garden. I planted some corn and beans in the first bed and was watering when we had a surprise visitor.
Trenched beds for the garden
A gentleman pulled into the driveway with a tax sticker and said he owned the RV. We were lead to believe in escrow that it was detitled and was included in the property. He was a family member that had been living there previous to the sell of the property. We immediately called our real estate agent, who called the listing agent and the lawyers office that handled our deed. Shane and I got online, did some research and did find tax records indicating that it was owned by this gentleman. So, all work on the mobile stopped. Until the title was settled, we decided that it was best to not move forward. Fortunately, Shane had requested a survey to be done when we were in escrow. This would be the second time that we needed it. The first time, it showed the property was 1.99 acres, not the 3.5 it was listed as. Now, the mobile is clearly marked on the survey, so the lawyers office and the listing agent were well aware it was there and did not do their due diligence to make sure the title was clear.
So will that was getting cleared up, Shane moved onto repairing the fencing from when we had the garage installed and all the grating done. I moved forward with getting the garden planted. I planted potatoes, garlic, onion, and lettuce. I also had to run into town for more rye and hay. Then, I planted more rye grass to help control all the mud from all the rain we were getting. I also used some hay on the walkways in the garden in an effort to control the mud there.
Trenches doing their job collecting rain run off and hay walkways so I can walk in the garden.
By Friday, the listing agent finally made contact with the seller and he did admit that the other family member owned the mobile and he offered him $500.00 for it, never heard from him, so included it in the sale of the property. We gave them until the following week to resolve the issue.
Rainy weekend gave us a little down time to do some online research and order some needed supplies.
Monday, we learned from the seller he was able to secure the title for us, so we jumped into cleaning the mobile. We scrubbed and steamed all the windows and any walls that hadn’t painted yet.
We were back on track getting ready for Easter and picked up a picnic table for outside and a John Deere ride on tractor mower to cut the grass. Then cleaned and prepped the RV for our kids to visit and moved our bed into the bedroom in the mobile so we would have a place to sleep.
Once we received the title, we went straight to the DMV to put it in our names.
The week wrapped up with us filing Easter eggs for the big kids, getting our grandson’s Easter basket ready and grocery shopping for the holiday weekend.
We were ready for a few days off and some family fun!
Coffee Peace N' Homesteadin 