Tales of home improvement...
The recent trials local Detroit blogger South of 8 mile had with a leaky bathtub had me alternately laughing and feeling his pain. Read about his troubles here . I've had similar problems with my humble home. I feel yo' pain S of 8!
My home was built in 1952, as a small two bedroom bungalow cottage (Sears model 400, I think). It fits in with the majority of the houses in the area, as few are over 1000 sq. Ft. In size. It's small, probably too small for my needs now (that happens when your fiancee moves in!), but I like it anyway.
The kicker about my house, or what gives it a touch of uniqueness, is the fact that my place was empty and abandoned for 12 or 15 years-- My neighbors differ on exactly how long, somewhere from the late 70's to early 90's, at any rate. Perhaps with that knowledge you have an inkling of what the place was like. An example: Even though I had driven past the house several times-- I didn't even know it was there, for it was so overgrown with box-elder and other saplings, that despite being only 25 feet from the street it was virtually invisible-- at least from a car traveling past. I thought it was an urban woodlot!
From one neighbor I learned the story of why the city never tore it down-- It seems an out of state relative of the man that built the place (deceased) dutifully paid the taxes on the place. That I guess was good enough for the city-- place boarded up and money paid-- Hey, this is the southside, remember? Different rules apply south of the 'Ave folks!
The one thing that blew my mind, and boggles it some today, was that despite that long period of abandonment; the roof on that house was solid! It held up through all those years, keeping the interior of the place rather intact-- Sure it needed a new roof and the 'house-flippers' that briefly owned the house before me did that and other 'improvements' (many of which I had to remove/redo). Still, the interior should have been in much, much worse shape.
One of the first things I had to do upon moving in was cleaning out the cellar: This meant removing old soggy drywall from equally rotted furring strips (strangely, the cellar was done up as an apartment--never mind the head-clearance is only about 6'2, a pair of hobbits perhaps?). Also removed was 12/15 years of WALNUT SHELLS from generations of industrious squirrels. In one corner the shell pile was 3 foot deep-- No joke. I had, in all, removed about 45 large 'industrial' cleanup type bags worth of shells, drywall chunks and other debris.... Ugh!
It is late now, and I want to put this one to bed, as well as myself. Perhaps I'll post some pictures of what I had to contend with-- contrasting it with what I've done, improvement-wise around here-- I am rather proud of my kitchen!
My home was built in 1952, as a small two bedroom bungalow cottage (Sears model 400, I think). It fits in with the majority of the houses in the area, as few are over 1000 sq. Ft. In size. It's small, probably too small for my needs now (that happens when your fiancee moves in!), but I like it anyway.
The kicker about my house, or what gives it a touch of uniqueness, is the fact that my place was empty and abandoned for 12 or 15 years-- My neighbors differ on exactly how long, somewhere from the late 70's to early 90's, at any rate. Perhaps with that knowledge you have an inkling of what the place was like. An example: Even though I had driven past the house several times-- I didn't even know it was there, for it was so overgrown with box-elder and other saplings, that despite being only 25 feet from the street it was virtually invisible-- at least from a car traveling past. I thought it was an urban woodlot!
From one neighbor I learned the story of why the city never tore it down-- It seems an out of state relative of the man that built the place (deceased) dutifully paid the taxes on the place. That I guess was good enough for the city-- place boarded up and money paid-- Hey, this is the southside, remember? Different rules apply south of the 'Ave folks!
The one thing that blew my mind, and boggles it some today, was that despite that long period of abandonment; the roof on that house was solid! It held up through all those years, keeping the interior of the place rather intact-- Sure it needed a new roof and the 'house-flippers' that briefly owned the house before me did that and other 'improvements' (many of which I had to remove/redo). Still, the interior should have been in much, much worse shape.
One of the first things I had to do upon moving in was cleaning out the cellar: This meant removing old soggy drywall from equally rotted furring strips (strangely, the cellar was done up as an apartment--never mind the head-clearance is only about 6'2, a pair of hobbits perhaps?). Also removed was 12/15 years of WALNUT SHELLS from generations of industrious squirrels. In one corner the shell pile was 3 foot deep-- No joke. I had, in all, removed about 45 large 'industrial' cleanup type bags worth of shells, drywall chunks and other debris.... Ugh!
It is late now, and I want to put this one to bed, as well as myself. Perhaps I'll post some pictures of what I had to contend with-- contrasting it with what I've done, improvement-wise around here-- I am rather proud of my kitchen!
posted by Rob at 10:49 PM
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