The jacuzzi goes in today. Dean has already been by the house to make a list of whatever he needs to complete the plumbing and promises to be back after lunch today to start actually putting things together. I'm nervous. It's like we've already pushed our luck enough moving this cumbersome fiberglass tub in and out of that space too many times. It seems like a ding here or there or a cracked tile will be inevitable if we don't stop messing around with it soon.
The downside of putting the tub in today is that I'll have to put the finishing coats of sealer on the tile with the tub in place... but that's not much of a downside in the grand scheme of things.
Our painter returns tomorrow morning at 7 am to get back to work on the trim and cabinetry. We're all estimating that it will take at least two weeks for him to finish his part of the painting job... Then it will be time for Dave and I to break out the brushes and rollers and finish the walls throughout the downstairs. Once the cabinet doors are in place (possibly in another two weeks as well) - Phase I & II will be complete.
That's when Phase III will begin. *flop*
We have decided that Phase III will be an endeavor to restore our sanity. We will not have enough money from the grant to actually complete all repairs necessary since the storm... So we must choose what is most important to us right now as opposed to what we can tackle over time as we replenish our savings accounts. These are our choices:
1) Exterior repair: This includes caulking and repainting an enormous amount of exterior trim, replacing the facades on our porch columns (the facade is rotten -- the actual beams are still solid), replacing a good amount of window trim and flashing, pressure-washing the mold and algae off our brick, and replacing our garage shelving.
2) Upstairs bedroom North: The entire upstairs north wall took a lot of water damage - so there is a lot of wall to cut out and replace as well as carpet to be ripped out and replaced and some sections of subfloor that can't be salvaged. The ceiling in this room suffered as much as all of the other upstairs rooms and there will be scraping and painting or replacing as necessary.
3) Ceilings/fixtures upstairs: As stated in #2 - the damage to the ceilings upstairs is not limited to one room. The entire upstairs ceiling needs repair in various places and a good coat of primer and paint. In addition - every single upstairs ceiling lighting fixture was water damaged and has to go.
4) Flooring upstairs: The entire upstairs is currently floored in wall-to-wall berber carpet. The carpet is now badly water-stained in several areas and was also further marred by our walking around with sludge on our feet when seeking refuge from Katrina's storm surge. Attempts to clean have resulted in nothing but frustration -- and the carpet has got to go. However, we are not able to bring ourselves to replace carpet with carpet.... Therefore, replacing the flooring means a large chunk of the cost will be at our expense.
5) Game room/hallway upstairs: The game room suffered the most severe damage as it is situated directly below the part of the roof most extensively damaged in Katrina. The ceiling in that room has only gotten worse over the last 18 months and a good portion of it will need to be removed and replaced. In addition we will need to replace the attic access stairs as they were also badly damaged. The attic space above the room also needs repair and insulation needs to be replaced.
6) We need a new roof.
7) The working upstairs bathroom suffered water damage from sewage backup and the flooring and a good bit of the trim must be replaced.
We have decided to begin with the game room/hallway project. There are a couple of practical reasons for this. First, the game room is a rather poorly designed room. A huge (approximately 20 x 15) and oddly shaped room with low ceilings and no windows - it's like having a basement upstairs. And that just feels strange. If we are going to be ripping out ceilings and floors and who knows what else in there -- we feel that now is the time to correct the problems that have always been there with that room. The fact that our roof is still shedding shingles like a Siberian Husky in Miami also means that if we ever wanted to cut some holes in the roof and let some light into that room -- we should probably do it BEFORE we get a nice neat new roof.
There is a psychological factor at play in this decision as well -- especially as it concerns the hallway adjoining the game room. When we were crammed upstairs totally expecting to die within a couple of hours -- we were in that hallway stuck between the stairs and the game room wall. I have a very, very hard time going upstairs now. I haven't been able to spend more than a few minutes up there without feeling sweaty and agitated. That entire area of hallway makes me feel queasy... And that's why I have asked that the wall be removed. I feel like it's important that we do something totally radical to that space so that it's no longer associated with memories of that day.
And of course - removing the wall and opening the game room up into the hall opens a big ol' can of home improvement worms. But that's why we're leaning heavily toward making Phase III of our project the total remodeling of that space.
In the meantime - we will be able to complete the rest of the repairs on a project-by-project basis. Many of those projects we will be able to do ourselves as time permits.
So that's the plan as I see it this afternoon. I'll let you know when it changes.
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