Renovating My Old House

Rain Gutters provide a major purpose in routing water away from one of the largest surface area of a house, your roof. By channeling the water away from your house, it actually ends up protecting the siding, windows, doors, and even the foundation of your home. I pulled the following from a DIY website, which describes the many components to a typical aluminum gutter system that may be used around your home. Regardless of how it is setup, how it looks, or the material of the system, it's primary purpose is to keep water away from your home. When we first moved in, we realized after the first few rain showers, that water was spilling over the edges of the gutters in multiple different locations around the house. After inspecting the gutters, I realized that they were filled with leaves and silt so water was not able to make it to the drop outlet to drain away from my house. I gathered the following items: a ladder, heavy duty gloves, garbage bag and my garden hose with an a...

We have been very busy all winter, so busy that I have not been able to post about all the work we have done.  This project was an easy one, and can be done in half a day.  A window "cornice" is a wooden valence that goes over the window for decorative purposes.  It sits like a three sided box and hides the top part of the window frame.  You can also install curtain rods right into the wooden sides of the box instead of the wall.  Also, as was the case in our house, the cornice can have lights inside to light up the window area at night.  I suppose that would be necessary because the cornice makes the area look very dark. Although these window designs were popular at one time many years ago, today it is very uncommon.  Modern day window designs vary, but I think we all agree that curtains and curtain rods are now both functional and decorative, and leave the potential of letting a lot of light into the room. However, I did do some research online and...

It all started simple enough, we could not get our queen sized mattress up the staircase. I think the previous homeowners had a mattress with sections, so never had to confront the narrow passageway. The staircase was originally encased on all sides, with a doorway that had a removed door at the bottom. The effect was claustrophobic. Although the walls on either side of the staircase were load bearing, one would have to come down. Why? Well besides from being able to get a bed upstairs.... First, modern designed houses have larger open spaces with each room lending a welcoming view to the next room. Opening up the wall near the staircase would allow people to see that there is a second floor, and how to get there. Second, it allows you to see that there are other rooms on the first floor behind the staircase wall.  This will make the house look larger. Third, it allows heat from the first floor to flow upstairs and warm it better in the winter, improved air circulation! ...

My husband and I are officially home owners now! Moving out was very hectic because we were due out of our apartment a day before we closed. We ended up sleeping on an air mattress in our empty apartment and sneaking out in the wee hours of the morning. We did the final inspection at 7:30am and then went to sign our lives away at the reality office. I wanted to share some pictures of moving out of our old apartment in the city: The living room with city views: Here are some pictures of the new house pre-move-in, while we were doing the final inspection in the morning. This is the last time for a long time that you will be able to see the house empty: The living room: The kitchen: The dining room: The master bedroom:

How unexpected, yet expected. The previous home owner said that they had a radon test before that came back negative. Maybe it did. However, ours did not. This is Pennsylvania, the state of quarries and rock and stone. To not have Radon in your basement here is almost impossible. So it was expected. As my father told me, people who do not have a radon system in PA are in denial. What is Radon and will this effect our resale of the house? Following what the EPA website says: Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas. You can't see radon. And you can't smell it or taste it. But it may be a problem in your home. Radon is estimated to cause many thousands of deaths each year. That's because when you breathe air containing radon, you can get lung cancer. In fact, the Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States today. Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths. If you smoke and your home has high radon level...

My husband and I are still trying to finish all the paperwork on our first house. We have only just completed the back and forth bargaining with the seller (a nice older Lady ready to downsize) and settled on a price. Now all the other nuances have to be taken care of: the inspections, titles and assessment. At this point we are craving for it all to be done ASAP. My husband and I misjudged how long the whole process will take and our apartment lease ends Sept 10th, but our scheduled close date is Sept 30th. We are going to be homeless for 20 days! However, the most important thing to both of us is that we stop throwing our money down the drain to live in our high rise apartment, and start putting it into an investment that we can get a return from. Here is a picture of the house that has made all our suffering worthwhile: