The Patient

The patient is a 1938 Spanish style stucco house. Whether its Spanish Bungalow, Mission, or Spanish Revival is open for discussion. I'm not a fan of stucco houses, but at least stucco is used here stylistically where it belongs. Reader meet... "before."

This house has great bones, great neighbors and great light, the three things that are hardest to find. There's a little water damage here and there, she needs a lot of updating, but mostly she suffers from neglect.

I'm not a contractor nor a tradesman. I'm just a mechanically minded guy with an "I think I Can" attitude (yes, I have a 2 year old) and a supportive wife (most of the time). It's a commonly held fact that home remodeling = divorce and as such, I was determined to finish a majority of the work in the 10 weeks before we moved in. The following ToDo list sounds crazy, but dear Reader I just about did it. The demo work was done by an enthusiastic team of friends and family. I did most of the rough carpentry and then sub'ed out the other trades. Wherever possible... I chose the Green alternative.

October 15,2006 - December 31st, 2006

1. Install all new plumbing (new copper pipe)
2. Install new water heater (hybrid tankless)
3. Install all new natural gas lines
4. Install all new electrical (California Title 24 compliant)
5. Remove original gravity-fed furnace and asbestos covered ducting (remediated)
6. Install new furnace and ducting (92 AFUE, 2 stage, variable speed)
7. Add insulation in the walls (Icynene foam)
8. Refinish hardwood floors (Low VOC urethane)
9. Replace 9 of 13 windows (double pane, low-E, argon filled)
10. Repair water damage and remodel two bathrooms (Low flow fixtures)
11. Demolish finished basement for later remodel (Removed rats nests...)
12. Refinish all interior plaster walls (Encapsulate lead paints)
13. Paint interior walls (low VOC)
14. New carpet in Master Bedroom (Wool loop)
15. Install garbage disposal and dishwasher in kitchen (High efficiency)The only thing we didn't change was... the kitchen sink!