1) Original roof - the house is 21 years old. It's showing its age, although for an original roof, he said it's in good shape. We're going to replace it.
2) Wood siding has a certain appeal, but it is showing signs of damage, minor spots of rot, etc. in places, so we're opting to replace it with low/no-maintenance vinyl, but try to match the current look.
3) Mold (!!!!) in the basement. In a small area of the would-be "workshop" (which isn't the finished area, rec room, or bedroom) there is some mold. Inspector told us that mold, being a living organism, is tricky to remove because when it feels attacked, it can actually shoot invisible spores out which will fly around and find a new place to grow. Yuck. Either way, we're not taking our chances. We'll have it removed properly by a company.
So, the mold will be removed before we move in, and the roof and siding done this fall. Must have a safe, healthy environment for our child (and us, of course).
4) Back deck isn't in great shape. Some boards are questionable, and one even broke when the inspector stepped on it (he's a big guy, but c'mon!)...
I know, it sounds like there's more bad than good... but that's not really the case. We feel that we're still getting this house for so cheap, that investing in some of these things will certainly pay off in the long run. The interior renovations may take a little longer, but fixing up the exterior right away will do a lot, we think.
5) Lots of spiders.... ewwww. I guess that happens when a house sits empty for a year.
All in all, we still think it's a great buy. The neighborhood is really nice and the property overall has a lot of great features. We're going to be turning that house around over the next year or two to be something quite a lot nicer. I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate it.
This is a photo of the great room. We want to add stone around the fireplace up to the ceiling. Of course paint, put in new light fixtures, change some flooring...
Like I posted about before, we must have some kind of desire to renovate, since this is going to be a lot of work. I'm sure at times we will feel overwhelmed and wonder if we got in over our heads. Maybe we are taking on more than we should, but eventually we'll get it to where we want it to be.
2 comments:
Congrats on the new place! I'm sure you guys will have it looking great in no time. Is this a house you plan to be in for a while? Now that you'll be in Hudsonville, we'll have to schedule some play dates for Ella and Lucy!
Thank you! Yeah, we plan on staying there for at least 15 years... which should justify all the work we'll be doing! We'd love to get together with you at some point, especially after we get settled in. It's going to be a very crazy first couple of months.
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