# Just Starting



## Our-1st-Home (Apr 18, 2010)

Well here is my very first post for our project! 
I am sure that as we go along i will post questions in their right places, but my first question is rather general, so here we go. 
We just bought our little piece of dirt. It's not much, and not liveable yet, but we hope to change that. Just a brief description, it's an acre and a half ( 4 city lots) corner parcil. Half of the property is wooded, and on the other half we have a block garage, a 3/2 single wide, and a 1/1 home. The entire property is overgrown and the homes are , well, in pretty rough shape. The trailer is of little concern to us right now, and will be used as a workshop until a new workshop can be built. The home is what we are going to start with, hopeing to actually live there at some point.  
This place has been abandoned since 12/08 and the prior tenants left in a hurry I think, because most of their stuff is still there, lol, saves us a little $$ on buying plates and forks. I guess my 1st question is where to start?? The roof seems to be in decent shape, but we want to re-do the chimney, they took it down at the roof line. When standing in the basement, there seems to be a few places in the brick foundation that we need to fix as well. We were thinking that we should start by fixing the foundation 1st, then the outside, then the inside.. OH BOY, it's a lot of work, where to begin.


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## Bud Cline (Apr 18, 2010)

I would first worry about the roof. From the looks of the wallpapaer in the kitchen there may be some interior moisture issues, it's hard to tell.

How about you take a bunch of pictures inside and out and post them here so we can get a general idea of the conditions.


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## Our-1st-Home (Apr 18, 2010)

We thought so too, however, we did find that there are a few places where soffit tented shingle, and where they tried to cover the chimney, that seem to be the issue, the actual roof itself seems to be ok. Of course once we can get up into the attic ( which will hopefully be a 2nd bedroom) we will be able to see better. After doing some cleaning today, I found some spots in the floor that need work, so I'm thinking we may start from the ground up. Reinforce the foundation and then floors, then roof and walls. The other thing is the asbestos shingle outside.. not sure what to do about that yet.


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## StorageShedSmart (Apr 19, 2010)

I think your best bet is to get an accurate assessment of everything that will absolutely need to be done and prioritize from there. Don't worry about any of the cosmetic stuff until you're sure that all of the "structural" work is completed. If your roof leaks, your foundation weeps, your walls are molding, or there are any other health or safety issues then those should be taken care of in the order of what is the worst/most dangerous to the most tolerable.


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## Cork-Guy (Apr 19, 2010)

Just a quick tip; you should always work form the top down, meaning starting at the roof and ending in the basement. For example, you don't want to re-drywall the second floor and then realize you need to tear it out to run conduit or plumbing


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## Our-1st-Home (Apr 21, 2010)

Ok, so, Steven went over the house yesterday with a flashlight and knee pads..LOL. We have found that the foundation is sound, as is the roof with only 1 exception, a small spot where the Ivy from hell ripped a bit of trim, and some water was coming in there, a easy patch job. Thank you for all your comments, I agree cork-guy, we will be sealing the room with this stuff that he found to paint on, that will be there until we get the material for the metal roof. With it being in good shape we're going to move that further down the list. He found a few plumbing faux pas, so those will have to come 1st, followed by demo time, then electrical. so i'm of to the plumbing boards for now!!


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## oldognewtrick (Apr 21, 2010)

Hate to bust your bubble, but the roof is toasted. Plan on replacing it soon. When you see the edges curling as evidenced in the photos it indicates failure of the seal strips. Wind lift will occur and fracture the shingle tab. And please do NOT install a metal roof over the existing shingles. They will continue to deteriorate and lift the metal, fracturing the seams and causing major problems. Tear it off, start with a clean roof deck and install a metal and tile underlayment (Tamko makes this product), then your metal roof if you must have one. Just my 2 cents.


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## Bud Cline (Apr 22, 2010)

Damn dog, you beat me to it.

O 1st H,  That roof needs some serious attention.  How many layers of roofing on on that roof right now?  The sheathing is also toast.  It looks to be about 1/2" and is sagging terribly between the rafters.  Next time around use 3/4" sheathing.

Keep in mind metal roofs are super noisy during rain and if you get hail damage your insurance company may not be your friend for very long. Metal roofs are also hot in the summer but a great heating-aide in the winter. I'd be thinking about the metal thing.  If you want rustic mountainy warm and fuzzy...there are plenty of textured shingles available these days.


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## Our-1st-Home (Apr 25, 2010)

we looked closely at the roof, the actual structure itself, is good, I maybe used the wrong word when i said it was good..lol. There are a few places , as mentioned above, that will need repair. While we are still going to go with a metal roof, we will be fixing the exsiting one 1st. The trim around it has to all be replaced, and we need to build eves on the ends. I'm not sure why those weren't done to begin with but oh well. We are still debating on the chimney and fireplace, as those have to be done before the roof. But I think we are leaning towards taking the fireplace out, as they did not seal around it when it was put in, there is soft spots on 1 side , so also add in that I really don't want to have to de-soot the house every time we have a fire. Call me lazy..lol. So after chimney and fireplace is removed, then the exsiting shilgle will be taken off, the old tar paper, then place ti-vec wrap, tar paper and new shingle as well as building the eves. THEN we can do the outside wall. I think..lol


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## inspectorD (Apr 25, 2010)

Getting rid of the fireplace chimney is a good idea, they have a negative result on heating your house. Chimneys also loose heat throught he brick even when you are not using it.
If you need a woodstove someday, just get an insulated pipe through the roof.

Looks like fun, if you need more idea help , we are always around.


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## frozenstar (Apr 27, 2010)

That's a nice house you got there buddy..  



Cork-Guy said:


> Just a quick tip; you should always work form the top down, meaning starting at the roof and ending in the basement. For example, you don't want to re-drywall the second floor and then realize you need to tear it out to run conduit or plumbing



Agree on this one...  It could mess up your flooring or basement if you start from down to top...


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## Our-1st-Home (May 2, 2010)

Thank you frozenstar, we have been looking at houses for about a year, and up until this one, the asking price was too high for the work to be done, or it was a good price, but someone elses dream home. We did not want to buy an exsisting home that didn't fit what we wanted. When we came across this, it was a good price, (basically we are paying for the land) we decided to go ffor it. The renovations are going to be alot of hard work, we have already had a few injuries, LOL. Steven's pry bar went through a wall too fast and came back and hit him in the forehead, I had to glue it..LOL. Also me a trash can full of wall board had some words as i was falling to the ground and it on top of me.. HAHA. We will be using the zip system I think for the roof. We will eventually go metal, but I think for now we will do shingle, cost wise it will be alittle less expensive and free up some money for other projects. Our main goal is to get the house weater proof, gut it, then start the inside. I agree with everyone about the basement, I think that will be done as we are doing floors.


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## juliansellers (Aug 11, 2010)

frozenstar said:


> That's a nice house you got there buddy..
> 
> 
> 
> Agree on this one...  It could mess up your flooring or basement if you start from down to top...



I understand this but lets say you are jacking up the floors in basement to brace them, if you have done everything up top will this not maybe take things out of alignment or will the difference be negligible?


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## juliansellers (Aug 11, 2010)

Cork-Guy said:


> Just a quick tip; you should always work form the top down, meaning starting at the roof and ending in the basement. For example, you don't want to re-drywall the second floor and then realize you need to tear it out to run conduit or plumbing



This was one I meant to quote, my bad!


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