Flipping (mis)Adventures

We closed on the tiny bungalow two weeks ago and were eager to get started. Dan went to city hall to check into a building permit and we quickly encountered our first surprise: the house, built in 1943, was constructed decades before the city installed the public sewer, so it has an old fashioned cistern for waste. However, the previous owner didn’t keep up on the bills well beyond the grace period, so now we are required to connect to city sewer – and that connection must be done before we can get a building permit! Thankfully, when the city did install the sewer about 30 years ago, they included y-connections for each lot, whether they connected or not – so at least we don’t have to break up the city street and pay for concrete work, too! In the meantime, we’ve made some progress with demolition and we’ve figured out the floor plan changes.

Scarlett says the house is a little creepy, especially at night – she’s not wrong. Check out the basement stairwell – I won’t go down there by myself! But eventually, we’ll get the place bright and cheery, including new and safer stairs to the newly finished basement. Simon is having a blast working on the house (he gets paid a little, too, ha) and looks for any opportunity to go there.

In addition to the sewer surprise, we will be rewiring (everything was cut at the panel, but based on the condition of the wires we’ve uncovered, that was a good thing); replumbing (the waste stack was also cut and the system failed to hold pressure when winterized last year); residing; and reroofing. Plus all the inside finishes, ha. Our plans our big – so here’s hoping the surprises are few!