This is the DIY history of the house that won’t get finished. Chapter links at the bottom of the page.
Stories of the challenges of DIY home maintenance are in DIY Projects.
When a Real estate ad describes a property as a “handyman’s special,” it translates loosely to “big pile of junk.” But This House was all we could afford. Plus it had a really big yard.
We bought This House in October, 1980. It wasn’t actually advertised as a handyman’s special. Perhaps it was too far gone for that. I don’t remember how we came across it other than maybe mentioning to a Realtor that we could spend $45,000. Everybody in 2020 have a big laugh, or cry.
We were overcome by the half-acre of land and overlooked many things. I can probably walk into your house today and spot any unevenness measured in a fraction of an inch of the molding or even a wall paper pattern that runs at an ever so slight off slant, but, with our own house…
What we overlooked
We were overcome by the half-acre of land and somehow:
- We were several months into ownership before we noticed the floor at the front of our new house was nearly six inches lower than at the back. I guess we never dropped a marble or a pencil.
- Also, we never noticed how much of the drywall in the ceilings of the two rooms on the north end was taped with silver duct tape, painted like the rest of the walls. Drywall is supposed to be taped with paper or plastic tape which is coated with a plaster-like joint compound.
Shoulda bulldozed
Then there was the neighbor couple who stopped to introduce themselves and said they were pleased that someone had finally moved into this old house. What were our plans, they wondered. Did we intend to bulldoze it and start from ground up?
And not long after, we made our first visit with remodeling plans to the building department. The plan checker of that era, a 5’2” wizened old man, seemed intrigued with 5’0” Judy. I guess she was the first person that day he could look eye to eye with.
After he had looked at our plans for a bit, he looked up at her, and said, apropos of nothing, “You know, I’m a leprechaun?”
Getting no comment from her, he looked back at my single sheet of hand- drawn plans. “Have you ever thought about bulldozing and starting over?” In the end bulldozing would have been easier, and saved money, but the story would have been less interesting.