Crazy House part 1

In order to forget about the impending demise of several of my sewing machines, I am focusing on my crazy kitchen.  As a little background, I live in a 1976 stick-built trailer with hurricane strapping.  I call it a "trailer" after my neighbor's run-in with the mortgage company who refused to believe it was a real house because it was "too small" to be considered a house.  I was called in to attest to the structure and ended up offering to contact the nephew of the builder before the company would believe me.  Yes, really, a thousand square foot -- 1,000 sq ft -- house is automatically considered to be a trailer by some mortgage companies.  Even my 1460 sq ft house (including the garage which was turned into a room) is considered a trailer on a crawlspace.  Sheesh.

So when Mr. C bought this place in 1999 (with me failing to talk him out of it),  he got a house that he was excited about because "it didn't need any work."  I really shouldn't harass him about saying that, but you really had to be there to see him say it.  I still laugh when I think of how excited he was.  (In interest of full disclosure, the other houses in his price range were worse, with one in particular having 1940s wiring hanging out of the walls in the closets.)

This is what he got:

~over $6,000 (in 2001 money) for a roof (half of roof was rotten with 3 layers of shingles to stop the leaks and not enough roof vents or ventilation);

~ 3 types of siding that leaked in the Fall 2001 winds and rainstorm, and soaked all the drywall on the south wall around the windows;

~ "newer" windows that were neither properly put in nor square, which the siding guys discovered when the siding wouldn't line up right;

~a big gaping hole in the foundation where someone "installed" air conditioning by using a sledge hammer (and yes, the house inspector missed that), and the joist there not only not supported but rotted from inside water damage;

~indoor/outdoor carpet glued to the kitchen and laundry room floors (see water damage);

~washer and dryer and stove and fridge sitting on said joist with no support and rotted from water damage;

~a front door that wouldn't keep the snow out (not square, held by two nails);

~no insulation in most of the outside walls, and only Celotex with holes on it under the siding.  The story is that a tornado came through and damaged the house right after it was built.

This is only a partial list.  No one can say we haven't learned about fixing others' mistakes.  (Main beam, anyone? Or the never-ending mice issues? The alcohol bottle collection under the house?)  We've learned that lesson to the tune of $40,000, and we're not done yet. 

So here we are, 20 years later, having lived with stuff most people never would (like original carpeting), and now we can do some more much-needed work because he doesn't want to move after the "Event."  Now it is time for the kitchen and laundry room to be dealt with.  That story will be the next post.