So . . . Here's the Plan . . .

We are nearing a time of getting serious.  We have finished out ideas on layout and have "plan."

This is the "before" (a/k/a the existing layout):

And here -- if all goes to plan, is the "after":

The only thing that cannot really be appreciated or captured on this is what we HOPE to do with the existing ceiling in the LR/DR area.

Currently, it is a "tray" that you see here:

It slopes up on the edges to become raised a bit in the center, making an upside down "tray" - hence the name.

What we are hoping for (budget permitting) is some thing like this SHAPE, sloping up from the windows to the kitchen:

With this FINISH, so that we can make some nod to the mid-century roots of the home:

Fingers crossed that we are able to pull it off.

Only Minor Destruction Today

I had a meeting -- actually, it was more like my architect had a meeting -- this morning.  Since I had to be at the house, I figured I'd tear some stuff up.

So, I focused on the den.  There were weird vinyl tiles in there, which were supposed to mimic hardwood.  We had them tested with the rest along with the mastic and they came back negative, so I decided to remove them and add them to next Monday's garbage.

Before:

Last week:

With carpeting removed and carpet tack removed.

Close up of the fake wood floor.  (the metal bar next to the register is the "safety" device for the sliding glass patio door).

And, today:

Tile removed.

Close up of baseboard removed, exposing the original, unpainted portion of the wood panel.

When discussing the fireplace, we decided (since the wood paneling was going anyway) to pull some away to see what was behind it:

Our plan is to revamp the fireplace completely, sealing off one side and giving it a much more clean and modern look.  The bare wall there will be capped with some sort of book or display case.

Who Stole My Sprinkler Thingy?

Yeah, you read that right.  My sprinkler "thingy" is gone.  Count this as an "unexpected"surprise for home ownership.

The technical term for the "thingy" that I'm referring to, is an "RPZ Valve."  It is a device that regulates water flow in an automated sprinkler system.

Some of them look like this:

When you come to MY house, it looks like this:

Notice anything missing where that red line is?  Me too.  I thought that I could just hop online and buy one and screw it in.  Turns out, its a fairly sensitive piece of plumbing equipment.  On top of that, it costs me about $100 / year to have it "tested" to comply with Village regulations!

In total, part, labor to install, and inspect (seems silly that an inspection is required on TOP of installation, but thems the breaks), is going to be an unexpected setback of about a grand!

Vinyl Tiles -- that DO NOT contain Asbestos -- Removed from Margot's Room

I'd be dying to do some more demolition since learning that our vinyl tiles upstairs are NOT ACM.  So, I got to work last night in pulling the tiles out of Margot's room. Much to her chagrin, those pink tiles are gone.

The purpose of the late-night demolition was two-fold:  (1) after she goes to bed is the only time I can really do anything; and (2) if I did it last night, I could get all the tile into a trash can and have "regular" garbage service take it away.

So what looked like this, in the listing:

 and what looked like this after pulling up some carpet:

like this after removing all carpet and tack.

Now looks like this:

One room down and two more to go.  Too busy to do anything this weekend, so I hope that one night later this week, I can get the other two rooms cleared out of tile.  Then, I'll just have the carpeting in the main living room and dining room to pull and the kitchen tile to clear out.  The latter, I'll probably leave for the demo' crew as a lot will be underneath cabinets and I just don't have the time or skill to pull out cabinets by myself.

A Steaming Pile of . . . .

. . . well, compost.  Among the things that make me happiest about being a single-family home owner with a small plot of land underneath it is the prospect of organic gardening at home.

I know I haven't missed the whole growing season looking at the calendar, but my time schedule combined with not actually living at the house yet, tells me that we will garden next year for the first time.

But that doesn't mean we can't prepare.  And, I've done some preparing all ready.  I've got my lumber for a couple of square foot boxes.  I've bought most components for "Mel's Mix." I've started my garden and landscaping tool collection (lawn mowers (one gas and one reel).  Weed whacker.  Perhaps most importantly, I've started my compost pile.

I remember that my dad used to have one, but I was too young to know or care what was going on with it. There is probably a compost pile somewhere in this backyard garden that was probably the largest in the neighborhood (my folks were hippies by financial necessity, I think).

And, if no composting here, then defintely in my Great Grandfather Rock's garden:

I'd read about composting.  I'd even tried to compost when we lived "in the City" on our back porch, but without too much success -- or, at least nothing noticeable, because I don't think that I ever looked at it or used it after dumping stuff into it.

Recently, I took out a few bushes in the back yard against the fence, where I wanted to compost and set up a small garden.  I added a few things -- kitchen scraps and grass clippings as well as some shredded bushes and trees.  But I wasn't convinced.  Then, I visited a local produce store (visited the dumpster out back, actually) and picked up old bananas, greens, and such and added that. I still wasn't convinced.  I was watering it and turning it, but it wasn't yet "steaming" as they promised.  Maybe it was too small.

Today, while waiting for the asbestos removal guy to measure the basement to provide an estimate, I went out back and took the pitchfork (yes, I now own a pitch fork) to the pile to "turn" it.  And when I turned it, I saw steam!!  I think that we have hit critical mass and we are now, officially composting!

This shot shows the pile, but I was unable to capture the steam coming up from the middle.

That pile is nearly 3 feet high now.  The green balls that you can see are broccoli flowerets from my last dumpster dive.  Oddly, the local rabbits haven't eaten those or the baby carrots that I put in most recently.

Ultimately, I'll build a "bin" to contain the one or more compost piles to sit in that back corner of my lot.  The fence is my back neighbor and my lost ends on the other side at that orange flag at the end of the fence.

A year from now, if all goes well, I'll be telling y'all how I'm harvesting veggies and cooking them up in my renovated kitchen!!

Doppleganger House - 251 Sylvan Road

Our Greta Lederer produced ranch is somewhat unique in our neighborhood, but there are a smattering of other homes that are identical or nearly identical to ours splashed around Glencoe.

One that I found before we bought was this one at 251 Sylvan Road.  Only the front photo remains on the real estate listing site.  I downloaded all of the listing photos before they pulled them.

This is their LR/DR looking at the fireplace, compared to ours.

Their front elevation, as compared to ours.

Their living room/dining room looking away from the fireplace, as compared to ours.

Their "study was really a study/office , whereas our seemed like a den/family room.

This is their back yard from the bedrooms' side of the house, as compared to ours from the other angle.

Another architect we consulted (Richard Becker) had also taken a look at this home, as he and his partner considered flipping it, but decided against.

Their den.

Another of the den.  I wonder if the parquet was real or fake -- like our fake hardwood in that same room.

This is a good shot of their old kitchen, which mirrors our own.  Their fridge is flip-flopped as compared to ours, but otherwise identical.  Looking back towards the third bath, it looks like they used the pink tile there, whereas in ours, it was in the second bath.

Nearly identical third bath, save the tile color, right down to the sink, faucet, and vanity fixtures.

Looks like they opted AGAINST the quad ovens that are in our place.

A further difference here -- their study wasn't a walk out to the back yard, whereas that is the walk out point for us (for now).

I have not yet been able to find any of the "after" pictures of this home, but Laura and I visited recently, and its stunning.  I'll see if I can dig up any of the exterior photos that I took.

Envrionmental Testing Coming Back Today

So, we have asbestos.  We know that we do, and its why we own the house (we think) in the first place.

BACKSTORY.  We bid on this house earlier in this year and were certain that we'd get it.  There didn't seem to be much other interest.  The house clearly needed a lot of work.  There weren't really any "good" renovation surprises (like hardwood sleeping under carpeting).  And, it didn't seem like folks were interested enough in putting the time and effort into restoring this diamond in the rough.

We were only about 1/2 of 1% apart in negotiations when the seller's agent told our agent that "the house is under contract" -- but not with us.  We didn't even know about the other bidder!  Oddly, the broker didn't even mention it as a way of getting us to up our bid.

In any case, the house was gone.

Cut to about a month later when we were still looking -- had already sold our house and were going to be homeless -- when my wife told me that 991EBL was back on the market.  She found it.  The seller's agent never came back to us to ask if we were still interested.  We had to contact her!!

We did.  We asked why the sale fell through.  "Asbestos" is what my agent told us.  We freaked out.  Then we researched. Then we calmed down.  Then we ran numbers.

Long story short, we bought for quite a bit less than our last offer.  Fingers crossed -- a larger difference than it would take to "remediate" the problem.

ASIDE.  If you have a home built in the 1950s or 1960s, you probably have asbestos in your home.  This was one of the things that calmed us down.  Since our price point suggested that all of our targets were going to be vintage 50s and 60s, if we didn't buy this pile of asbestos, we were just going to buy a different pile.

So, the basement tile (9"x9" vinyl tile) definitely contained asbestos as did the glue (what they call "mastic" or "cutback" in the biz).  So, we knew were were paying for that.  Here is that glorious space with most of the tile gone but the black mastic still awaiting "remediation"

This is the left half of the basement, after removing the plywood shelves seen below.

One day, this will be a glorious man cave, Laura's gym, and perhaps even an "in-law" suite.  About 1600 sq ft of space, of which about 1400 is usable (i.e., not the stairs and not the mechanicals).

The pink, light blue, and yellow tiles in the bedrooms came back negative in an initial test.  The mastic was <1%, which is non-regulated ACM (asbestos containing material). The report recommended further testing to determine with more accuracy what it contained, though.  With respect to these, there is some uncertainty.

Earlier this week, I had those samples collected and sent for testing.  Results should come back today.  Hopefully, we'll also get negatives, so that our removal / demolition costs are low.

Who Says Kids Cannot Write on the Walls?

We've not lived in our house yet, but my parents have stayed overnight.  So has my brother and two of my nephews.  So, we don't yet have the "my house" relationship with it. Couple that with the fact that we are doing extensive remodeling and you get something like this:

I told her that BEFORE we renovate, she can draw on the kitchen walls, since we'll be redoing them.  She didn't need to be invited to do so twice.

So, yeah. The Master Bathroom . . .

We are going to renovate the kitchen and flooring everywhere.  Budget has limited Phase One and we aren't including the basement or the bathrooms.  These -- much to my surprise -- were NOT move in pre-conditions from my wife.  The surprise was mainly due to the fact that THIS is what the master bath looks like:

That is my real estate agent, Jason Finn, posing in the five-foot deep, circular jetted tub (those are my legs on the toilet for the best angle shot). The tub is NOT original to the home.  I suspect it was therapeutic at some point as Mrs. Trossman had a bum ankle, which precipitated the move to single-floor ranch living in the late 1970s.

The tub is surrounded by mirrors on three sides.  Jason and I joked that this photo was bordering on disrespectful to the late owner and the Karma police would make so that we never bought the place.  This almost came to fruition when we lost the house on our first round of bidding to another purchaser.

Not to be missed also is the silver, polka dot wall paper that is on all non-mirrored walls and the ceiling, AND inside the cabinets.

Here are two more looks at the "shiny bathroom" as my daughter calls it.

The soaking tub, sans Jason.

More of the polka dot wall paper.  I need to get a shot of the cabinet interior.

I cut down a tree -- to save a gutter . . .

So, shortly after closing on our place, I followed the advice of our home inspector, Jeff Nathan -- who was fantastic -- and cut down a Juniper tree that was bumping up against my gutter.

Clearly, something had to be done.

Jeff, despite being a great home inspector, wasn't always a great photographer.  So, here is a better shot of the three in its offending condition, just slamming into my gutter without any regard for where my rain water goes!

 I don't know much about trees, but I suspect that this was planted about the same time as the house as a little sapling and since grew up and out of control into the house.  What was a bit odd about this was that Mrs. Trossman was good about landscaping -- she had a crew in every week.  You would have thought that they'd have taken this down for her.

It was one of the easiest things that I could do -- after a quick "man purchase" of this guy:

That problem quickly became this:

Margot graciously posed in the bathroom widow to show the new sense of spaciousness as well as saving the gutter.

I've saved most of this for firewood and mulch (bought a used garden waste shredder from a guy in Waukegan - more on him later).

And there is how long this sucker had been pressing up against the house with its nice indentation.  At least the gutter fought back a bit.

Probably one of the easiest and most satisfying (as well as the first) "home improvement" projects that I did.  If being a suburban dad was a video game, I think that I would have scored about three extra lives!!  Gutters, landscaping, destruction.  Its like the suburban dad trifecta!