March 12, 2019

Projects for Our House 2019

Stephanie Kamp Blog: Projects for Our House 2019
Hey guys,

So as I've said before, my sister and I bought a fixer upper! Our house was built 1976 and the previous owners pretty much didn't update a single thing in the entire house since it was built. I think the only thing they really updated was the fridge and I'm guessing that was because their old one broke. 

Electrical Panel
One of the things we need to work on is getting our electrical panel redone. Apparently it's no longer up to Florida building code and could potentially cause trouble for us in the future. Our washing machine and dryer are also right next to it which is another big no-no when it comes to the Florida building code. I'm hoping that if we do get it redone we'll be able to figure out which switch goes to which light/room because currently we're just hitting and missing most of the time. Whoever did the wiring in our house was not very good. It's something we really need to fix.

Pool
Our pool also needs to get fixed because it has a leak in it. It's a very small leak but we're guessing that when hurricane Irma hit last year and the ground shifted a little bit that our pool might have settled a little and created a small leak. We had a company come out and test it and thankfully we don't have a crack in our actual pool it's just in one of the vent thing's that pools have. Don't ask me what they're called because clearly I don't know! But it's something we need to get fixed because we were constantly having to refill up our pool. Thankfully when the company came out they did a temporary fix but we're not sure how long it will last before it starts leaking again.

Garage Door
We really need a new garage door. Ours has a lot of gaps in it and a lot of bugs and stuff get in and it's just time for a new one! Our current one is actually kind of neat though because the panels look like wood but they're metal. So in theory if the garage door was newer and didn't have the problems I already listed then I think it would be nice to just stain it but we need a newer up to date door. Also they make them now so they are hurricane proof and they come with like these special bars that you install whenever a hurricane is coming just to add extra protection for your garage.

New Windows
I don't think that the windows in our house have ever been replaced. Which is a really long time for windows to go without being replaced especially when they are no longer up to code either. Basically most of the things in our house are no longer up to Florida Building Code because we have these wonderful things called Hurricanes. I would really like a window for my room particularly because our windows are so old and thin that you can hear pretty much everything that goes on outside and I can always here our next door neighbors whenever they are outside on their dock or even sometimes when they are standing and talking in their driveway. It's crazy! The only downside to needing new windows for an entire house is that you could basically buy a new car for the amount you will spend on new hurricane impact windows. The other reason people recommend new windows is because they are tinted nowadays and they will supposedly reduce the amount of heat that gets into your house which can in return lower your electric bill but our electric bill is already pretty cheap so I don't think it would really have much of an effect on our bill.

New Driveway
Our driveway is currently like the normal size that can fit four cars which is fine considering only 2 of us live here but we kind of wanted to be able to host family events and other random parties throughout the year and that's kind of hard to do when your driveway only holds 4 cars and your family is huge! Eventually my goal is to redo our current driveway and then expand it by adding on a circle drive. This will hopefully allow us to fit at least 2 or 3 m ore cars depending on the size of the circle drive. We could potentially park a car in our garage but it's currently has a the trailer that we put our jetski on if we want to take it out of the water and go somewhere with it. We have to figure out where we want to put that eventually so we can actually use our garage as a garage!

As you can see most of the projects that we need to have done right now are things that we can't really do ourselves. We have to hire contractors or companies to come out and install or repair certain things. I wish we could some of it ourselves but I definitely don't want to get electrocuted nor do I know how to pour concrete for a driveway! The only other downside is that all of these projects will cost more than $1,000 each so we basically just have to wait until we can save up some money.

My first goal is to have a few different companies for each problem come out and give us a quote so we can get an idea for how much we need to start saving. I honestly think it would be so awesome if all of these things could get done by the end of the year but I don't think they will. But I will definitely be posting more about the house and updates that we've done to it. It's currently a big mess because we're working on organizing our office/guest/craft/workout room! We're also planning on having a garage sale sometime this month or next month so there is stuff everywhere! Anyways, keep checking back for more updates on the house!

Talk to you soon!
XO, Steph

3 Comments:

  1. wow! I didn't know they could sell a house with so many things not up to code! That is crazy!

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    1. Yeah they just have to make sure that they aren't like damaged or anything and that they're aren't any expired permits. Otherwise they would never sell any houses because a lot of people's houses wouldn't be up to certain codes.

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  2. Oh good to know! I always thought you had to make everything up to code before you sold it! The more you know!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! I love talking with you guys and getting to know you better! If you leave a question I will most definitely try to answer it! XO, Steph