Easter weekend

This Easter weekend we cleaned more nicotine out of the front hall (it took me 3 hours to get the fronthall closet doors cleaner), doorframes, and walls. Ward focused on the yard, and we all did a lot of leaf raking - the front yard looks somewhat cleaned up now. Ward also declared war on the groundhogs by dumping used catlitter in their holes (yes, YUCK...but definitely effective, we haven't seen them since) and stuffing the entrances and exits with used bricks that we had saved from the basement. Let's see if that will get rid of them...
Tree removal quotes for the three dead ash trees have been requested, and we made a start with getting wallpaper of the walls. Thankfully it is only a single layer, but definitely time consuming work!

Ward took on the daunting task of cleaning out the sliding bottom windows (oh... the dead insects :S)... what a difference!!

The kids were wonderful helpers. They carried bricks, collected branches, stuffed leaves into yard bags, and pulled wallpaper of the walls... all the while having great fun :)

The yard

With the snow now gone, the yard turns out to be as uncared for as the house. Years of leaves to be raked...

The grass was very tall before the winter...

But there is some sort of flower bed!

Result of three hours of hard work:

And maybe one twentieth of the property done LOL. 

Asbestos - removed!

This week, CityWide Demolition also came to remove the asbestos. Quite the operation...

But it is all out. And the basement walls look great, thank goodness (other than the repairs we already knew they needed). Whew!

old roof, new roof

Old roof...

New roof! :)

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

This lovely wood chuck (or groundhog) woke up from his wintersleep and apparently lives under our deck. I see a minor hick-up in the garden plans... 

People at work on the weekend of 25/26 March

On the weekend of  25/26 March, we had a babysitter for Ian and Louise on Sunday, so we could have a solid, uninterrupted work day. We vacuumed the carpets, removed all the doors and mirrors and stored them in the garage (to keep them safe when the real work starts), and salvaged a beautiful mid century floating shelving/cupboard unit from the basement. Ward also removed decades of cobwebs from around the electrical panel to ensure proper access and cleaned out the basement windows and hallway from cobwebs and other debris. He also ripped a once very sophisticated but now no longer working security system out to get rid of a lot of no longer required wiring.

Meanwhile, I (Maria) started washing the wood panels in what will be Louise's room...oh the tar and nicotine...😝 2 Hours, lots of murphy's oil soap and elbow grease later, one third of the room was clean(er).

This came off one of the squares:

I made an example out of a switch plate:

Thankfully, they saved a roll of the wallpaper for us!!! :)

Final contractor quotes should be in this week, the demo and asbestos removal set up, cigarette smoke remediation finished. 

Ikebana!

tar and nicotine

The smoke/odour removal company came and did a first treatment. It smells better but the years of nicotine on the walls will require some further cleaning.😐

We will get it clean! Ikebana!

Cleaning and contractors

Ward had taken the day off on Friday, to discuss projects with contractors and start cleaning. A smoke removal guy, an asbestos removal company (the basement stucco contains asbestos, so sadly all of the walls will have to be removed), and our HVAC guy (to prepare a quote to hook the place up to gas, as it is currently oil heated, and get a new airco given that the current one is some 25 years old) all came in to discuss the various projects.

And armed with dust masks, gloves, long sleeves and a lot of garbage bags, Ward further bravely undertook to take the curtains down, and started shop-vaccing the place from top to bottom to get rid of decades of cobwebs. When Maria and the kids joined the next morning, the place already looked better.

We tore out the carpet in the bathrooms and the hallway, underneath which was an underlay that was turning into powder and then beautiful narrow plank hardwood. Maria took care of the powder with the vacuum, and vacuumed three more rooms from ceiling to floor - there was a half a centimeter of dust on each of the wood panels in what will be Louise's room - and cobwebs, cobwebs and more cobwebs everywhere. Ward meanwhile cleaned windows with the kids - Ian and Louise found the whole project exhilarating and wanted to help with everything. Layers of dirt came off the windows and the windowsills. But afterwards: we could actually see the outside! What a difference.

A contractor and a demo/asbestos removal company also came by, to discuss plans and projects, and to prepare quotes. After which the kids were absolutely done, and we went home for dinner - Louise falling asleep in her food.

On Sunday morning we went back: Ward to take down the walking bars and handles installed throughout the house while Maria undertook the daunting task to try and wash some of the tar and nicotine off the doors and doorframes...

To give an idea, the result of the top halves of three panels of these doors:

was this:

Five buckets of the same stuff later... the day can be fittingly ended with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV9l-OHMobU

(Chef'Special - THANK YOU!!! :) )

Let the smoke removal guy try and do his best tomorrow... :).

Next stage: three days of smoke removal, and final decisions on which contractors to go with. Onwards, and ikebana!

Closing Day!!!

15 March... closing day! Despite the snowstorm, we got the keys.... Hurray! An impression of the house on closing day - it has been smoked in, and has not been cleaned for years, if not decades - but we love the potential!

 Front door:

Living room with fire place (carpets and a marble coffee table left behind by the previous owner - the books are all about gardening, as we had told him we are so looking forward to growing food in the yard!):

Dining room... note the beautiful chandelier.

Window in the dining room

Original 1960s kitchen:

With beautiful wallpaper:

Deck off the kitchen. The yard goes to the fence in the back, where there is a creek:

Office/Louise's future room:

Entirely covered in wood paneling (and her desk is already taken care of...):

More beautiful wallpaper - the main bathroom with lovely green shag carpet:

The masterbedroom's ensuite (the blue fixtures are in mint condition):

The master bedroom:

With large closets:

Ian's future room:

And from the other side:

Front entry way:

Our lovely swiss-chalet style basement with high end bar area:

Mid-century modern shelving units:

Apparently, this was once a media center:

Garage:

Where we found this treasure:

From a painter whose son is a friend of Ward's :)

Four days till possession... counting down...

Countdown til closing day

In December we got the amazing opportunity to buy a mid-century modern bungalow with a huge yard, closing mid-March. It'll need some work... Here we'll post about our adventures in getting this beauty all nice and sorted!