Drip, drip, drip no more!

Well, as I noted in a previous post we hooked up our washing machine only to find water leaking from the faucet when we turned on the cold water. Eek! Mr. D And I tried to fix it ourselves to no avail. So, we made our tithe to the big box store and brought home all the appropriate items to do the job ourselves. With Mr. D above and I watching from below, we turned off the water and set to work unscrewing the faucet until I bellowed "STOP!" As Mr. D turned the faucet to try to get it unstuck, the entire pipe was turning and torquing the joint below.

At this point, we decided to call in a professional to do the job. I called all over only to be told that no one could even give me an idea of cost over the phone. They said that they would be happy to send someone out to give me a quote and "only" charge me a $25 dispatch fee. Thus, in order to get a few quotes, I'd spend lots of money on dispatch fees. I finally made an appointment with a company that doesn't charge a dispatch fee and had a coupon on the Internet.

On the night before the plumbers visit Lady K had a friend sleep over. It turned out that this friends dad is a plumber! Upon hearing this, I immediately got in touch with him to ask what was a reasonable amount of money to pay for the job. As it turned out, he does commercial work and has no idea about the residential side of things, however he offered to stop by after work and take a look the next day. Naturally, my fingers super heated the glass on my phone calling to cancel the plumber that I had scheduled.

In the end he changed out the faucets (which were soldered in place despite having threads) for nothing but my undying gratitude. Wow. Of course, I got him and his wife a gift certificate for their favorite restaurant. Needless to say any plumbing work to be done in the future will be offered to him first to see if he wants the job for a little extra income. I never thought I'd be so thankful for clean clothes.

Privacy please

When we bought the place, we knew that window coverings were going to have to be one of our first projects. The biggest problem with that is simply that curtains block a lot of light and you really need all the natural light you can get in the bathroom. Our solution was to use a product called Light Effects to create an etched glass effect for about $40.

First we had to spend quite a bit of time getting off the old layer of adhesive on the window where the previous people had done something similar. This took hours. Then hubby became an expert in applying the cling mount product. I love the results.

Drip, drip, drip...

Well, we finally got the tube that goes from the dryer to the wall fixed and prepared to do our first load of laundry - towels to be exact. I now have a washer full of wet towels, because there is a leak in the pipe bringing water to the washer. Now, remember that "as is" thing I mentioned a while back? This leak was supposedly investigated and fixed by the bank selling the house as mandated by the FHA, however, as we suspected at the time, the leak was merely covered up with new drywall. So, on the list it goes...

Buying a Forclosure - What "as is" Really Means

When you buy a forclosure, you are buying a property as is. That part is obvious, but the true meaning of that statement has begun to strike home for us in the last two weeks. We, like millions of others, bought our house from Freddie Mac. The bank put some money into fixing the house up - new carpet, fresh paint, a new stove and dishwasher. While they covered some of the big picture, they sadly let some of the smaller details slip in their quest to spend as little as possible. For instance, they painted the windows - however, they only painted the downward facing parts. The tops of the window trim are not painted and are covered with years of dirt. I am left wondering if the windows were cleaned at all, or if the dirt was just painted over.

The House

So, we became homeowners this month. We bought a house that was built in the eighties and loved for a long while, but then spent the last few years being not so loved. By the time it came into our lives, it was in foreclosure and had been empty six months. With a foreclosure, you are buying as is - that means that even if the house is in good condition there is still all kinds of stuff to deal with when you get into the house. This blog is about all that stuff and the million little projects that it will take to make this house our home. Amy