House Purchase & Start Remodeling
2012年 04月 30日「お知らせ」に書いたように、4月3日、無事「マイホーム購入」手続きが完了しましたが、なんせ超古い(1959年築、しかも屋根以外ほぼリモデル・リフォームされていない)家なもんで、すぐには住むことができず、現在、夫がほぼ毎日、(仕事のある日は仕事が終わってから!、そして火・金は私が代わりを務めているので仕事を休んで1日、土曜は仕事の後、日曜の午後もたいてい)家の改修作業に時間と労力を費やしている状態です。
As some of you heard from us, we bought a house in Bothell. It took us a month to close, but finally we were able to close on April 3rd! Ever since then, Mike(Inmin)'s been working very hard on this house, cos it's such a FIXER. From April, I started covering for Mike at our store on Tue & Fri, so that he could work on this house whole day. Also he often stops by the house after work and spends a few hours sometimes to do more work even when he works. Of course on weekend afternoon, too...It is a big project and needs hard works for a long time.
Since Mike's too busy to record what he's doing right now, I decided to update his milestone monthly (I hope...) If you are interested, check it out and if you can give him some encouragement next time you see him (if you are far away, you can leave a comment either here or on FB if you want), I'll appreciate it!
-1959年築。すべて超古いまま。前のオーナーがその後新しくしてくれたものは、屋根くらい!それも古くなって雨漏りしてしまってからどうしようもなくて変えたそう。それでもVentの部分から雨漏りがいまだにしていた・・・。
Built in 1959 and most stuff weren't remodeled, except a roof which they had to fix cos of the leak a few years ago, but even the vent of the new roof had a leak so we had to fix....
(1月29日 初めてこのうちを見に行った時の写真)
This picture was taken on Jan 29th, when we saw this house for the first time
Red brick house, 2 story, each floor has a fireplace. We are gonna live in the main floor, and Mike's parents will live in the basement after we remodeled.
(正面から見たところ) これは上記したのと同じく、1月29日に初めて行った時に撮ったものです。
From the driveway
From the backyard
From the side yard. We got a huge tree next to the house, good for Christmas?!
Main Floor: 3 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom
-1階はリクリエーションルーム?のようなものが一応あり、その部屋に暖炉もあり、リモデルすればきっと広くていいお部屋になるので、ここがハルモニ・ハラボジの寝室になる予定です。
Basement: 1 Room (used to be a Recreation room? will be remodeled and become the in-law-Bedroom, 1 Toilet (will be a bathroom with a shower after remodeling.
(1月29日にハルモニ・ハラボジと一緒に見に行った時に撮った写真) もっと素敵にリモデルしてあげますよ、ハルモニ・ハラボジ!
Other part of the basement is "UNFINISHED", so Mike has to make walls, kitchen, dining room, etc. to make it livable for his parents. Also we don't have a laundry room in the mail floor so we have to make the laundry room here in the basement soon.
-正直、アメリカの基準で考えれば家の大きさは「普通」なのですが、この家は何が広いって、土地が広いです。私達の私有地は3.67 Acres(4512.6坪、約1.5ヘクタール)もあります。 その半分以上が今は「やぶ、しげみだらけの荒地」状態ではありますが、家のすぐ周りのフロント&サイド&バックヤードはきれいに芝生があるので、今家族の一番好きな場所になっています。
The house itself is pretty small, but the land of our property is 3.67 Acres, which Mike loves the most. Actually most part of the land is just bush... But we still have a decent green area around the house. So fare our favorite spot of this place is our Front, side and backyard!!!
This picture is the bushy land which is our property. I would never imagine buying such a huge land, but this is what Mike really wanted, and he has tons of ideas how he want this space to be. We just hope that we will finish remodeling the house so that he can start making a great garden soon.
We even have this old barn in our property, which will be Mike's dad's workshop in the near future.
We have a Septic tank here, but hopefully we can change to use the public sewer lines in the near future. (We have a line in front of the house, I guess, so it wouldn't be too difficult to do, it is just a matter of our finance.)
-セントラル・ヒーティング、料理やお風呂には今まではオイル・ファーネス(灯油窯?)を使っていたようですが、私達は今後オイル・ファーネスをガス・ファーネス(ガス炉マタハガス窯?)に変えることにしました。
Gas Furnace: The former owner used to use the Oil Furnace, but we'll replace to Gas Furnace before the winter comes.
-スノホミッシュ郡(Snohomish County)になります。また、学校区はNorth Shore Districtになり、この学校区の範囲で家を買いたかった、というのが私がこの家をOKした一番の理由かな。(ワシントン州は比較的学校区が良いのでまあどこでもそれなりだったとは思いますが、特に学校区がいい、ということもあって。)
Snohomish County (that Mike wanted), & North Shore School District (that I wanted!)
(4月中にできたこと)
Things got done in April
① 電気工事の一部(アップグレード): プロに頼みました。
Upgrading the Electricity Panel/Meter: For this, we needed to hire the professionals.
-配電盤(Panel)を新しくしました。もちろん電気メーター(Meter)も新しいものにしてもらいましたが、下の写真はその時にできてしまった穴を、夫が見栄えをよくするために、とりあえず周りを固めたところ。)今後もちろんもっと見栄えがよくなるように直します。
Gas Line: For this, also, the gas company came and did that for us.
(ガスの新しいミーターが設置されたところ)
New Gas Meter
New Gas Pipe in the house: Same here, we hired the professionals.
④ キッチンの解体: キッチンのキャビネットや古いコンロ、オーブン等を全部取り壊しました。
Demolish the Old Kitchen: He demolished everything in the Kitchen.
(1月29日 最初に撮ったもの)
BEFORE
So old and nasty...
Everything had to go...
We made a big decision to get rid of literally EVERYTHING!
(4月8日 解体開始)
Started demolishing
(4月10日)
He even got rid of the drywall.
To make the new kitchen cabinet bigger, he even demolished the soffit, which was a tough work.
He also cut and made the wall of the entrance from the living room to the kitchen (which had a inside door) bigger.
And he got rid of all the vinyl and subfloor, and placed the new plywood.
(旧ビニール・フロア)
Old Vinyl Flooring
Getting rid of the Vinyl Flooring
Placing the new plywood
All done with placing the new plywood in the kitchen and dining area.
Getting rid of all the Popcorn Ceilings and most of the Drywalls: A lot of popcorn ceilings installed as late as 1986 contain asbestos in the mixture, and this house had popcorn ceilings in the living room, kitchen, dining room and hallway. For getting rid of this popcorn ceilings, of course we hired the professionals.
(4月5日: ポップコーン・シーリング) わかりにくいと思いますが、リビング・ダイニング・キッチン・廊下の天井がみなそれでした。
Old Popcorn Ceiling
After the popcorn ceiling was gone
Also we needed to get rid of most of the drywalls for renewing the electricity wires & plumbing, as well as installing Wall Insulations, so Mike started demolishing the drywalls, too.
(4月27日~28日 キッチン・ダイニング・リビングのドライウォールを剥がしているところ) 各寝室、バスルームは5月に持ち越しです。
Demolishing the drywalls of kitchen, dining room and living room. : And he'll continue on doing each bedrooms and bathrooms in May.
Demolishing the garage ceiling and its insulation: He did it all by himself. The former owner didn't maintain this house well, so for a while, they lived with rats inside the house!! I guess those rats made a nest inside this ceiling insulation, so this place had a lot of rat poops. Although he didn't find any rat itself or even dead body, he said the rat poops were showering down to him when he was demolishing the ceiling...(He was wearing the protection mask...like a gas mask...) Of course it smelled bad here, and I heard it was the most disgusting job he'd done in his life....Poor My hubby...but it shouldn't happen when we live. Now the smell got much better by the way.
Refinishing the hardwood floors of the two small rooms (one will be the kid's bedroom and one will be the guest room): For this, he paid and let the professionals do, cos he got the coupon. But other hardwood floors (master bedroom and living room) were kept as it was, cos those were less dirty and my husband will do by himself later.
⑨ ラット・虫駆除: ラットは今は見当たりませんが、前のオーナーが住んでいた時に、相当の期間家を古いままにしていたので、ラットが入りこんでいた形跡が・・・。主にキッチンやガレージの上の天井の断熱材の中などに、相当なラットの糞などが残っていた・・・これを夫が一掃してくれたので私は見ずにすんだのですが、ほんと、見てたら「絶対買いたくない!」と言ってたかも・・・。なんにせよ、お疲れ様なのです。
War to Rats and Bugs: As I mentioned earlier, the former owner didn't take care of this house well, so that rats started living in. Thankfully we didn't see any rats after we bought this house, but my husband had to deal with tons of rat poops while he was demolishing the kitchen drywalls and garage ceilings. (I would probably stopped him if I knew they would be this much damages to this house....)
まだ5月に、1階のレクリエーションルーム(将来のハルモニ・ハラボジの部屋)の天井板と断熱材、ドライウォールを剥がす作業が残っていて、そこからもきっとラットの糞がかなり出てくると思うので、もう少し夫には苦労してもらわないといけません。
He still has to deal with much more rat poops when he demolish the ceilings and drywalls of the old recreation room and bathroom of the basement, cos we knew from the ex owner's son. (who lives very close to this house still now, so he already visited us twice, explaining he used to live in this recreation room and heard a lot of rats' running noises in his younger days....Cannot believe he didn't do anything about it...)
そして、夫は私達が住んでからは一生ラットの出ない家を目指し、夫がラットが入り込みそうなところは全て入れないようにし、その上にプロの駆除業者の人にも一度来てもらいもしました。その人が屋根の換気口(Vent)一部、その昔ラットがそこを噛んで入ってきたと思われる部分を修復してくれて、他は「ガレージのドアを開け閉めする時以外」ラットが入り込む隙はない、と断言してくれました!なので注意事項としては、「長期間ガレージを開けたままにしない」ことを教えてもらいました。また、ラットなどの動物だけがその音を聞き取れ、その音が嫌でうちの周辺によりつかなくなる」という音の出る装置も、説明書では1階、2階それぞれに1つずつおけばいいというものでしたが、うちには1階、2階それぞれ2つも置きました!
So my husband declared the WAR! against the rats! He got many kinds of rat killer items (rat trap, something makes noise to prevent rats come inside the house, etc.), found any place possible for rats to come in and fixed so that they cannot come in. He evened hired the professionals to make sure we won't have rat inside.
後は、なんといっても土地が広いので、小さい虫が家の外にある電気の近くに集まったりするところもあり、夫がそういう虫が集まって光に触れると死んでしまう、という電気も買ってきて、夜にはその電気をつけることにしました。
We also have to have some solutions for having bugs' problem, since we got a huge land. It is not as serious as rats' problem, but he's still preparing some items so that we won't have many bugs near the house, either.
⑩ 屋根の換気口の修復: 少し雨漏りしていたので、夫が修復、その後、上記したように、ラット駆除のプロが来た時に、屋根裏(Attic)からも昔ラットが噛みちぎった部分があったそうで、それを修復してくれました。
Roof Vent Maintenance: We had a small leak from the Roof Vent, so he fixed it. Also my husband figured out Rats used to come from the attic, when there were big tree next to the house which probably had a branch, through which rats could come in the attic through the small vent. And the rat removal professional agreed and also found the part which Rats chewed and cut the hole, so they fixed that part, too.
-バック・ヤードの大きな木に、子供が遊べるようにSwingを作りました。
Made a swing for kids.
(Swing)
Made a place for firewood.
Cleaning up around the stone stairway.
(1月29日)
BEFORE
Getting rid of the old table & chair and making a new one.
(1月29日)BEFORE
AFTER①
AFTER②
Gardening: He planted several fruits trees in our front and side yard. Plum, Asian Pea, Blueberry, Cherry, Grape Vine, Strawberry....
(プラム)
Plum Trees
Cherry & Asian Pea Trees
Strawberry Plants
Apple Trees?: We already had this tree, which seems like an apple tree. Hope we can get apples here, but we'll see...
???: We also have a couple of this kind, but we don't know what this is.
Wonder what it is and if it will have some fruits, but it looks like some kind of cherry tree, so I like it!
Blueberry Bushes and Blackberry Bushes:Mike planted so many blueberries, yeah! And about blackberries, we have too many blackberry bushes in this land!!!
Double Weeping Tree and Grape Vines: As my request, Mike planted this Double Weeping Tree in the grass area of the drive way. He planted some vines around it, although I don't know if it looks good or if the grapes from here will be good to eat....cos it's around the driveway. But Mike insisted having vines here, and I got my wish (to have a Sakura Tree), I won't complain any more...
He got a lawn mower, and mowed the lawn already. It will be his or his dad's routine work from now on.
-正面玄関前にある階段の横に、前のオーナーの時、新しくした木の手すりがあったので、それにきちんとコーティングして、木が腐らないようにしました。
This rails for the door steps were recently renewed by the former owner, but it wasn't sealed, so my husband sealed it.
-なくなっていたのでポストを設置し、錆びない効果のある黒いペイントでペイントしました。
We didn't even have a mail post! So my husband bought one, set it up, and seal-painted black.
Trimming the tree (by his friend)
And we finally moved everything from the Self-Storage. (We kept those ever since we moved from California in Sept, 2009.)
① バスルームのリモデルのため、新しいトイレットは2つとミラー・キャビネット付の洗面台(バニティ)は購入済み。床と壁に使う予定のスレートとマーブルのタイルを買い貯めているところ。
We already bought new toilets and vanities (2 sets for mast bathroom and main bathroom.) Also we started buying marble tile and slate tile for the bathroom floors.
And we got a new door (for the mail door so far, with the new lock) to replace with the old one. (The former owner was using the "Inside" door for the main door....)
We started buying some lighting, too.
③ リビングとダイニングのフロアに新しくしく予定のハードウッド(竹材)を買い集めました。長いものを何セットも買わないといけなかったので、バンに乗って何度も何度も買いに行かないといけなくて、やっと必要分買い揃えたところです。
And we bought hard wood floors for kitchen and dining room.Thanks for Mike's parents' old van which is still driving well, we didn't have to rent a truck to buy all those big stuff, but still Mike needed to do many round trip for this woods. Finally we think we bought enough for entire kitchen and dining floor.
④ その他いろいろ: 細かいことを言えば、「雨どい」用のフィルター、「床下換気口」のカバー、ヒーター関連、等いろんなものをCostcoやHome Depot, Low'sといったところでちょくちょく買い貯めています。もちろんツールもたくさん。
We've already bought so many other small stuff like Gutter Protection Filters, Floor Registers, etc. and many remodeling tools.
① 1階のレクリエーションルーム(将来のハルモニ・ハラボジの部屋)の天井板と断熱材、ドライウォールを剥がす作業: 全部夫がすることになります。(ハラボジもお掃除はお手伝いしてくれています。)
He still needs to demolish the ceiling/insulation & drywall from the recreation room of basement (which will be his parent's bedroom after remodeling.)
② 電気の配線とプラミングを新しくすること、家の壁に断熱材(インソレーション)をきちんと入れ、新しいドライウォールをつけること。
We needs new electricity wires, new plumbing, new insulations, new drywalls.....
書き足りないこともたくさんあるとは思いますが、取り急ぎ、4月の進捗状況の報告でした!アッパ、5月も頑張ろうね~。
I might be missing other things my husband's already done, cos there are too many thins going on! I hope he will do well without losing his energy from now on, too! And hope I can do well supporting him, too!
(最後の写真は、たまり出したいろんなゴミが山積みになっているところ。今なんてもっとひどいです。5月に一度大型ゴミ収集車(公共のじゃなくプライベートのプロのもの)を呼んで引き取ってもらうことになっています。)
(We already have so many junks to go away!)
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by mikis1128
| 2012-04-30 00:00
| 5.Remodeling