Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
House #1: Found out how expensive it is to landscape a backyard from scratch.
Oh, me too! I didn't start from scratch, but had some very major landscaping work to get done. My tiny lot was covered with gigantic rotted trees with trunks as much as 6' in diameter, surrounded with a runaway jungle of huge bushes. I had everything torn out... every tree, every bush, and all the stumps ground down. Then after 2'-3' deep of stump grindings were hauled off I had the lot re-graded, sidewalk and back yard cement re-done, the sprinkler system removed, and new topsoil and sod put in. The cost was staggering.
I knew when I bought the house last summer that I was going to need to do this, to get the yard the way I wanted it. But what I didn't know was how much of a Big Deal it is. I watched from inside and they earned their money and more. It was just a very difficult operation.
On the bright side, the interior of the house needed no renovations or upgrades to satisfy me so I did save money on that compared with some new homeowners.
Not a fan of wall to wall and there was supposed to be hardwood floors under the carpet. When I pulled up the nasty carpet it revealed that someone had pounded hundreds of nails into the floor (to silence squeaks?) as well as numerous pet accidents. There was no way to repair/refinish that and had to put down all new hardwood floors.
The nails could have been from a board put down to put tile on. When we were redoing our kitchen in our old house, we had vinyl tile down that I hated. We knew there was the original hard wood flooring underneath that we were hoping we could use. When we pulled up the tile, there was a board under that. When we pulled up the board to get the original floor, there were nails all over the place from when they nailed down the board to put the tile on. We couldn't use the original floor because there was no way we could have taken the nails out (the heads kept breaking off) so we had to buy new wood flooring.
The nails could have been from a board put down to put tile on. When we were redoing our kitchen in our old house, we had vinyl tile down that I hated. We knew there was the original hard wood flooring underneath that we were hoping we could use. When we pulled up the tile, there was a board under that. When we pulled up the board to get the original floor, there were nails all over the place from when they nailed down the board to put the tile on. We couldn't use the original floor because there was no way we could have taken the nails out (the heads kept breaking off) so we had to buy new wood flooring.
Cat
I had all that, and a layer of black tar paper glued to the original hardwood floor under the plywood. Took me a year to scrape that off. My poor knees
Found out the previous owner w.as a DIY guy; projects look great on the outside but he was very cheap and did questionable work without pulling permits. On the other hand, our neighbors all know each other and we have two get-togethers a year. Great place to live
That the crawlspace leaves a lot to be desired, especially coming from a previous house with a wonderful basement. Also, the light switches are all different measurements from the door frame. One is almost arm's length away from the frame. But, on the plus side, it is beautiful here with the 4 seasons, great neighbors, and 8 minutes from the big city. We are home.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
