The Summer Fun of 2010

Two and a half years ago when we sold our townhouse were on a mission to find our dream house. Too bad our dream house was out of our price range so we looked for a house that would work for our family. Shortly after looking, we found it. It wasn't the biggest house we looked at, or the nicest, or the biggest yard, or best finishes, but it had a lot of what we were looking for. Good yard for the kids, the school we wanted, same ward, great location for Eric's ever changing job sites. It was great for our family without pushing our budget. There was some cosmetic updating that we planned on doing but nothing extensive. One thing we knew for sure that we didn't want to take on was siding. The neighborhood our house is in has houses with LP siding. This siding was recalled shortly after this neighborhood was built because it was failing. There were other houses with a floor plan we liked, but if it still had the LP siding we didn't even entertain the thought of buying them. Sure my talented husband could reside the house, but we didn't want to have to put in the time that would require because the guy is busy enough as it is and you just never know what you might find. So the house we bought had "the great hardiplank siding" as our realtor stated. And hey we even thought the paint color was ok.

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If only our inspector had truly inspected our house, which after all is what we paid him to do, we would have been saved so much time, effort, money, tears and heartache and more tears. See these next two pictures clearly show that there is damage going on with this window. This lovely window was in our master bedroom. The inspectors contract states he will inspect all windows. Yeah I am guessing he didn't do that. Turns out there was A LOT he missed.

Then while dealing with all the pet damage inside the house we found out why that window looked the way it did. To get rid of the damage from the horse, er, cat they had living in their house, Eric had to cut Sheetrock 2feet up throughout much of the house. One night we were at the house late working and he cut open the wall in the master bedroom. As he did this HUGE carpenter ants came pouring, and I mean pouring, out of the walls. It was like a creepy movie and a really bad nightmare in one. We started stomping on them as fast as we could. Eric ran to the garage to get some pest spray and starts spraying away. Finally when the dust settles and the ground isn't crawling anymore Eric shines the light on the wall so we can figure out what is going on. Turns out not only was the interior of the house a mess because of the previous owners cat, but when the house was resided, new hardiplank was put right on top of failing LP. This led to continued water damage, mold and carpenter ants with plenty of soft wood to feast on. NOT a happy day for us. Soooo after 2 years of owning the house we were in a position to take on the huge task of residing. Since Eric had inspected all of the interior walls (thanks to cutting out Sheetrock) we decided only one side of the house needed to be done. So in August the fun began.First up, tear off all the hardiplank, tar paper and LP siding. Not an easy task since before putting the hardiplank up they drove a million screws in the failing LP siding.Next: Remove the rotting window and replace the framing that was rotting and damaged.Then realize that the house gets wider at the top so Eric had to cut strips of plywood for the studs on the bottom half of the house. Add some new insulation, figure out how to deal with the utilities on the side of the house and then get ready to put up the plywood. Finally it is ready for new hardiplank siding. Results: New bathroom window stemming from rearranged master floor plan,
new side door into the garage, because just our luck the old one was rotten,
and new siding and paint

Finally repaint the front of the house because it was so faded that even with color matching the sides looked too different. And because my husband is a perfectionist. And I say that in the nicest way. :)

We couldn't have done this without the help of family and friends and especially Eric's determination to figure out how to get a job done and do it right.