the_siobhan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_siobhan) wrote2021-03-05 08:41 pm
the_siobhan) wrote2021-03-05 08:41 pm
Entry tags:
Iamwaytoostressedouttobemakingdecisionsonthisscale
For faithful readers who have not been to my house, it's a brick building in one of the older working-class neighbourhoods of Toronto, now very gentrified. I say "brick", but that excludes the kitchen, which is actually is a 107 year-old wooden shack barely hanging onto the back wall.
The kitchen is the last part of the building that has not yet been renovated. It has no insulation and no wiring, so our fridge, microwave, and coffee maker all run off extension cords. There are two species of ants in the walls and a paper wasp colony living in the ceiling. (Every once in a while a very confused wasp will fall out of the light fixture and have to be shooed outside.) The shingles on the outside are peeling off because the wood is literally too rotted to stick to and this past summer I discovered a yellow-jacket colony had made a home under one of them. So when we do deal with it, that will mean a complete tear down and rebuild, which we expect to fall into the approximate realm of 2.8 truckloads of money.
If we're doing that anyway, we figure we can make it a bit bigger (it's currently only half the width of the rest of the house) and that will mean we can do some flood mitigation in the basement while we have the walls opened up. Given that the entire back wall will be open while the work is being done, it seems likely we won't actually be able to live here while it's happening.
We've talked tentatively about the idea that the work should best happen between Basement DJ moving out and Axe's girlfriend moving in, logic-ing that figuring out housing for 2 people would be cheaper than 3.
Well now Basement DJ has announced that he and his gf are thinking of getting a place together in the spring / early summer.
On the one hand -
1. Axel's only been employed full time for about six months and we don't have nearly enough money saved up. This would mean dipping into debt
2. We're in a fucking pandemic
On the other hand -
1. If we're not in the house anyway, having workman bringing their poison breath into the house is less of a big deal
2. There's no tourism so getting a B&B for both us plus the cats for two months (or whatever) will be way cheaper.
Arrgh.
The kitchen is the last part of the building that has not yet been renovated. It has no insulation and no wiring, so our fridge, microwave, and coffee maker all run off extension cords. There are two species of ants in the walls and a paper wasp colony living in the ceiling. (Every once in a while a very confused wasp will fall out of the light fixture and have to be shooed outside.) The shingles on the outside are peeling off because the wood is literally too rotted to stick to and this past summer I discovered a yellow-jacket colony had made a home under one of them. So when we do deal with it, that will mean a complete tear down and rebuild, which we expect to fall into the approximate realm of 2.8 truckloads of money.
If we're doing that anyway, we figure we can make it a bit bigger (it's currently only half the width of the rest of the house) and that will mean we can do some flood mitigation in the basement while we have the walls opened up. Given that the entire back wall will be open while the work is being done, it seems likely we won't actually be able to live here while it's happening.
We've talked tentatively about the idea that the work should best happen between Basement DJ moving out and Axe's girlfriend moving in, logic-ing that figuring out housing for 2 people would be cheaper than 3.
Well now Basement DJ has announced that he and his gf are thinking of getting a place together in the spring / early summer.
On the one hand -
1. Axel's only been employed full time for about six months and we don't have nearly enough money saved up. This would mean dipping into debt
2. We're in a fucking pandemic
On the other hand -
1. If we're not in the house anyway, having workman bringing their poison breath into the house is less of a big deal
2. There's no tourism so getting a B&B for both us plus the cats for two months (or whatever) will be way cheaper.
Arrgh.
no subject
We kind of dove in head first when it was deemed very unsafe, so I didn't have a lot of dithering time, but I will say that the process dragged out enough that the money outgoing was spread over a few months. Pandemic wise, they've had to be in the shared front stairs though each unit has a locked door off the stairs, so risk has been minimal. I'll agree that if you're not living in the house, it's moot.
Honestly, I'd encourage you to start the process now and go at the rate that makes sense money wise - building supply chains are still fucked here so we've had a few delays waiting for wood to come in. Getting the plans drawn up and permits sorted took weeks/months which spread out the financial burden a bit as well. Looking into a home equity loan and seeing if you can wrangle one with a rate of repayment that works for you might take some time that will help in being comfortable with the process.
All that said: not an expert, I've just gained a lot of ad hoc knowledge of how a big home project can go. We're at about $30K now I think, and it's fixing a tonne of stuff that's come up on all the recent home inspections as condos have transferred ownership. Keeping the end goal in mind has helped a bit, in your case: a kitchen that you can use will be great! :-)
no subject