Ok, so maybe I am not quite loosing, but it’s getting to be a very costly war here… trying to update my electrical service and not only is it expensive it it’s a lot of hard labor, not enough help when I really need it and not getting done very darn fast.
But, after 16+ years of living here a granddaughter of the owners who bought it from the lumber company, stopped by yesterday. It was built in 1900 for employees housing and is 1 of the few left with little structure changes. Most have been turned down or burned down years ago.
That young family bought the house sometime after 1921, but before 1925, I had a history done years ago and that paperwork is here somewhere. And they raised their family and their grandkids grew up in and out of this house. The rundown small house north sold to a local couple, just married who raised their kids.
That original ‘first private owners’ passed away in time and someone across the street bought the place for a rental. That income helped put their kids through college and then it was sold to the tenants living in the place…who I bought it from in 2004. And in all these years it had Never had proper maintenance or repair work done. A lot of quick and cheap fixes, a lot of neglect and it was a mess when I got it.
Crawling with cockroaches and stinking filthy, east foundation wall coming apart and sliding into hole that first family dug under it… but I have put in 16+ years of work and $$$ and it’s improving. A solid foundation and a solid metal roof, safe wiring and a handicapped friendly kitchen. An expansion up into the space under that steep roof.
My landscaping is not what they had, and there are No big trees on my property, those were down before I bought it, old and dead or dying trees and I took out the dying maple several years back. I do have some small trees, they will get bigger and all are far enough from the house to not cause damage to the foundation or the structure.
That now older woman talked about what the house was like when she was a child and on what her grandparents did for ‘improvements’ here. And I bit my tongue and didn’t tell her all the costs to deal with the damage from her grandpa’s really crappy repair and poorly done work.
Yes, it’s an old and still shabby, still neglected looking place, but those are all new, double paned windows, and that’s a metal roof that will last years and years. It’s still got a ways to go but the internal wiring is good, I just want more, like a tankless water heater and wiring to my shop building and yes, this sun soaking house has solar coming once I have the darn electrical service upgrade done.
I am tired and hurting, but the trenching is done, the wiring is run and the shop has its electrical breaker box installed. And I have better hooks up to hang my folding chairs for guests when I invite others over and use my little grill.
It’s a 3am alarm and this week we are 8+ hour days, last week was 10’s for my day shift. The rains really have helped the grasses I moved but sure helped the lawn grasses and weeds grow also. Maybe I can get some mowing done tomorrow after work.
And yes, despite the problems, no jobs on this old house have Ever gone smoothly or easily, it’s still worth it to own this little old house. And it’s been making me a good home for the longest I have ever lived in 1 place in my entire 65 years of living. Hopefully this old house and I have a lot more years to keep working on those repairs and improvements.
