Ever since we closed on our home two weeks ago today (wow that went fast) we've been breaking our backs getting it move in ready. I took 7 days off work. We cleaned, cleaned some more, used a grinder to remove soft mortar and some unstable bricks from the basement wall and repointed them, wire brushed the brick to remove chipped, loose paint, cleaned the walls really well and brushed on a couple of coats of waterproofing paint. (Mark says we know karate now.)
Man, does it make a huge difference down there... the photo grid shows various stages to complete.
Then we took on paint. Since the house is 110 years old, it has lead-based paint in it. Just to be on the safe side, we tested all the areas where paint was chipping. Most of it was okay. But, for the areas where the test was positive, we abated by removing the loose with a gel that traps the yuck into your disposable cloth and hit it with a special, thick sealer paint. Then, for best measure, we are coating everything with yet another coat of fresh paint between our babies and the yucky stuff. It took us three straight 18 hour days of two people working to get the painting this far, where the major areas have at least 2 coats and we just have to hit the edges and trim.
Despite the fact that the house is still pretty torn up and needs at least two more days of cleaning and prepping before we move in, we decided that it's about time we start filling boxes and working on exiting the old house. Mark already packed over 15 boxes and thinks he needs at least 30 more... so much work.
Who needs to go to the gym when you have a house?
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1 comment:
It looks so good! One of my dreams is to have stained glass in my house someday. We are in the moving boat with you, albeit a much crappier one since we are going to another apartment not a house.
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