When we bought the house in 2005 it had a “relatively new” gas hot water tank. Relative compared to an 80 year old house and 40 year old furnace. The tank indicated that it had a 10 year warranty so we figured we were safe "for a few years”. 15 years later when we were out of town, a friend who was living with us at the time texted to say that the water coming … [Read more...] about Tankless Water Heater
Chimney
Both of us were raised in homes with fireplaces so there is something comforting and familiar to both of us about having a hearth and mantle, but in the 15 years we have had the house we have never once used our fireplace. Originally we wanted to have the chimney inspected before we used it. It looked like it could use some re-pointing and neither of us really … [Read more...] about Chimney
Financing
No one likes to talk about money but being pretty solidly middle class we always wondered how people could do big jobs like this and if it was an option for us. I wasn’t originally planning on talking about the money side because it isn’t polite but it was a really interesting journey. As a bit of background, i was self-employed for 25 years. I made a living and … [Read more...] about Financing
The Learning Curve
The whole house lift and renovation process is a learning curve because we have never tackled a job like this before. For most of our adult lives we have been too broke to hire professionals with the exception of an electrician to upgrade the service to the house, a plumber to replace the rusted and leaking iron water service and roofers to strip our shingles, re-deck and … [Read more...] about The Learning Curve