Violet you have both my congratulations and my sympathy- LOL!
Wow- were would I start- the family who had the house were real problems in the nieghborhood and totaled the house- bullet holes in the windows and such
We had to :
rip the carpets out- in some rooms the dirty carpets where four and five layers thick
rip out the kitcheh cabinets- they had messed up the wirinig and burnt one of the cabinets (custom made and not matchable)
scap and chip wood floors in the dining room- the glue was hard as a rock and over 1/2 inch thick- this was the hardest single job
I (my crippled self-LOL) layed on the floor with a chip hammer and chipped out over 1000 feet of ceramic tile which was improperly installed- some even over vinyl tile and over carpet- wow!
I changed out 52 outlets and over 30 light switches
Some of the wiring had to be redone-
We had a new 200 amp electrical panel installed in the utility room and another 100 amp panel installed in the attic for our heat and AC
We had a new heat/AC/heat pump installed
We pulled every interior door and refinished the 5 that were not kicked in which left another 6 to replace
We replaced all exterior doors and put new locks inside and out
We pulled al the molding ( some of which was nailed on top of older molding and are slowly refininshing or replacing
Then there is sheet rock- we started out making repairs in spots but it soon became apparent that it was easier to replace it all than to strip the 4 to 6 layers of wall paper that were piled on each other
And more sheetrock- as the water heater was located in the attic and had rupture we had to change out quite a few sections of the ceiling
We had the water heater moved to the utility room
We rebuilt a wall were the studs were cut out ( they had inserted bookshelves into the joists
We removed a small closet in the hall and reincorparated the space into a bedroom behind it
We have had all the windows replaced with low E argon gas filled insulated windows
We are either refinishing or replacing all the window sills
We are changing out all the counter tops in the house
We are changing out all the faucets in the house
We have changed out one bathroom tub, toilet and cabinet
I am wating on a plumber to move the floor drains in the master bath as we are intalling a whirpool tub - that will require moving the tub drain line and the toilet line- we are also changing out the toilet , cabinet and counter in that bathroom
We have just had the ceramic flooring put in (we shoud be able to walk on it today!)
We just ordered all new carpets for the bedrooms
We have spent huge amounts of time in the yard cutting vines as big as my arm- cutting down old fencing- repairing old fencing and we are currently working on installing a new iron gate
we have (mostly) finished floating and painting the interior of the house
there are probably many more things we have done that I cannot think of to list- we still need to scrape, prime and paint the exterior of the house ( I will paint only once as later I WILL put up vinyl siding!)
I haven't even touched the pool yet ( except for ripping out all the poorly rigged wiring and puttinig in chlorine)- yes we seen to currently have a community of singing frogs!
Except for the whirlpool tub we should be finished plumbing in less than a week and have our water turned on- in 2 weeks or less we should have power- YEAH!
All of this has been accomplished with the help of my wife, my two teenage boys, my father in law and occasionally ( when he has time off ) my son in law and of course mostly God's grace- my boys laughed at me as I layed on the floor and cut to fit 11 rooms and hallways of sheetrock and have had to pick me up off the ground or a low stool 1000's of times- it has all been quite challenging and has brougth us closer togeather-we have really learned to work as both a family and a team! It has also been humbling as I have always been a hands on and do it all guy- now with my limited mobility I have to watch my family struggle with things I would gladly do- I am more than sure they have heard quite enough coaching from me- LOL! Anyway being impaired has not softened my hard head or my resolve and with His favor and grace we will get this this finished!