Home and Insurance: August 2010

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Home Renovation: Tile Repair,Grout Cleaning, Bedrooms, and New Offers!

Using $35.00 timer to run sprinkler so damaged lawn will grow back.

Well, the next door neighbor's parents have been wanting to see our house ever since the last time we were here working on it. The neighbor came over with his daughter and did a walk through as we were cleaning up the paint, caulk, and grout cleaner.

New Living Room

I told him all about the termites and the foundation repair. All he could say was "It looks great!" He said, his parents want to buy a new home and move next door to him and his family. They will be calling our realtor this week!

Rooms before being painted and having new carpet installed.

That's the second person whose expressed interest in actually buying the house since we repaired and renovated everything. I'm soooo happy! Thank you Lord! Here's an old photo where you can see what Dad's house actually looked like BEFORE...

Dining Room

Bedroom 1 (had wall paper)

Office/Bedroom 3

This was the master bedroom and had the old hospital bed in it in the photos at the top.

The new grandbaby hasn't arrived yet (poor patient Elisabeth!) and we needed to go back and cut down the dead tree in the front yard (stump on far right), trim the peach trees, install a gas stove (just purchased for $75.00 on Craig's list) and finish the repairs, painting, and renovating in the bathroom.

Tim and I decided, on Friday night, that the best thing to do would be to hunt down a stove on Craig's list Sat. morning, get the housework done, and then drive straight to Grand Prairie on Sun. morning (since our church was meeting in the park) and do the work..then drive straight back home that night.

I didn't want to stay overnight just in case there was any chance the baby might arrive. With the three teenagers helping us, we five worked five hours and got the tree loaded in the truck. We got home at 1:00am tired--but successful!

Photo by Chic Shelf Paper

The kids worked so hard! While Jacob helped Tim cut down and load the dead tree (and painted the hall and bathroom ceilings), Rebekah and Christian patiently cleaned and lined all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen and cleaned the new (used) stove. It was pretty dirty. It looks great now. :o)

Five new tiles on the bottom row.

Renovating a house is quite an education.Thanks to watching my dear hubby, I now know how to install tile!! First you dig out all the old grout from between the tiles.
Then you can break up the tiles pieces with a hammer and screw driver.

Then you spread a special tile adhesive on the wall.
The weird part is that you have to scrape the glue into lines with gaps between them. This is so the glue will dry properly.
Fill in the grout between the tiles after 24 hours to allow the glue to dry. We did the tile first thing and went ahead and grouted it right before we left.

Tile Grout Coating

It's not the ideal situation..but what else could we do? I also discovered a jewel of a product! It's called tile whitener and it turns stained grout pure white! This tile was installed in 1950 so the grout was yellow. Now, it's gorgeous. And I'm no longer afraid of caulk--my new best friend! I re-caulked the whole bathroom and boy did it ever need it!

Last of all, I painted both the towel racks and the gas wall heater (ancient and rusted) with high heat appliance paint. It worked beautifully! I tried taping it off but it didn't quite work. However, I was able to clean the tile afterwards with paint thinner. Then I hung up the new curtains and shower curtains. I think it looks fabulous now (compared with before.)

I'm starting to feel like I can truly rest now. All I have to do is sew cushion covers and a banner...and cuddle grandbabies (and pay bills-Ha!) And I've learned so much about house renovation, that when we finally get the T-I-M-E..I will be able to confidently tackle the renovation of our own home. That's such a plus!

But the house..that was really weighing on me. I think it's time to celebrate!! ...almost. :o) Hope you all are having a wonderful week! I've missed visiting you and look forward to dropping by tonight. Have you ever done tile or grout work? What are your favorite home repair products?

Happy Homemaking!

Cooker or Stove

When I was reading the British version of "Country Home" I noticed that stoves were used for heating, so you all call what you cook on a "cooker". Hmmm, sounds logical. You call them "cookers" even if they are the electric or gas turn on/turn off type? We call what we cook on a stove and we can have a stove to heat with, too, but they are not the same thing, confusing. I love reading all about it. I'm a nut on information, not anything useful mind you, just nosy I suppose. Thanks for answering my questions. Now I have another, when I watch the imported British T.V. shows I see small refrigerators, under the counter. Is this typical?