weekend catch up - house and stuff.

[derien]

I should do a little catching up, here. I seem to avoid posting, lately, possibly because I feel as though all I do is talk about and think about houses. So I'll start by talking about the place we saw Friday, in Gray.

As I've already mentioned to littleredhead, it's on a long narrow strip of land that runs back to a couple of baseball fields. Neighbors are kind of close on each side, but not quite cheek by jowl. The barn and shed ARE sitting on the ground, and the sills DO need replacing - the barn is also set to fall down in a year or two if things continue as they are, because the sills on each side are going in different directions. Heating is currently with two monitor heaters, but I was incorrect when I said they were vented into an unlined chimney - it's the kerosene water heater which is vented into the unlined chimney. The bedrooms are ridiculously cold, especially the downstairs one on the... east side? I'm not exactly sure, but in the picture of the front of the house on the web page it's the bedroom in the corner closest to the camera, to the right of the front door. That room is completely isolated from the heat source because they blocked off the hall that used to run through the house and made it into a closet on the back end.

Oh, and Looks to Alaska - I can see what you mean about this house looking like the one we had in New Hampshire, even though the other was a New Englander and this is a Cape. Similar age, I guess, and the barn, just the general feel of the place.

I suspect this house was owned by generations of insane DIYers, because so much about it is messed up. That hall which originally ran from the front to the back of the house was blocked off; the bathrooms were added with a roof that's far too shallow for the weather conditions around here; the back part of the house leading back to the barn was added with no cellar (also vital for this climate or you get frozen pipes); there's no electricity in the cellar that does exist, under the front part of the house (it was wired but doesn't seem to work, now); insulation in places you can see it was done incorrectly - I hesitate to even picture what state the insulation you can't see is in. Unventilated insulation can cause rot. Someone put vinyl siding on some parts of the house - again, rot is quite common with incorrectly done vinyl siding, and do I expect that this would have been done correctly? Not for a moment. Oh, and the side door, the one with the red pillars in the picture, opens into a little area with cement floor and 70s wood paneling on the walls - dark, dank and depressing and not at all the first thing you'd want your guests to see. With an abandoned couch sitting in it.

So we put an offer in. Because considering it's current condition, no matter what we do to it in the name of renovation, we can't make it much worse. ;) I tell you what - if we get it I'll be in that back entry with a bucket of white paint, right away.

Anyway, that was Friday. Saturday was... what did we do? Oh, called our mortgage person and then waited around for our REA to come around with more papers for us to sign, and then went out to dinner and a mega ice cream sundae and two drinks at Norm's On Congress, chatted with the bartender, Jasper, then listened to music, then read for a while. Slept for like 10 hours.

This morning we got up wicked late, made a huge and wonderful breakfast with homefries, eggs and apple/chicken sausage, then went to meet Eor's friend, Doc, at the Little Dog in Brunswick. Walked around the park (not in the park because it's a mire right now) and went to Bull Moose for music. And found the CD of Hiss and Chambers, the band that Jasper the bartender is in. :) I haven't listened to it, yet.

OK, bed now.

Comments

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a fabulous looking house! Pity it had insane DIYers though. My parents' house is like that, although after so many years there they have nearly sorted out everything ridiculous the last deluded DIY guy did to the place.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Possibly your parents have the sense to pace themselves with their work, and not work on it all the time. One could get to hate a house if it took all your time for too long.