Problems With the New House
As we started moving what little we had into our new home. We noticed some little things that we didn’t see before. Like, every plug in the rooms is connected to the switch on the wall. Or that most of those wall plugs aren’t flush with the wall. Only one of the windows in the living room opens, while the other has a broken channel balance. Meaning that you can’t get it closed or opened without fighting it. And lastly, most of the window sills are loose.
But the biggest problem we have dealt with was Jameson’s room. We really wanted to get it all painted and ready to go for when our household goods showed up. That didn’t happen.
Once we got to Florida, Jameson’s new favorite show was Spiderman and His Amazing Friends. We thought it would be a theme he would like. And since his room in Vegas had a Harry Potter castle on the wall, we thought a spider web where his bed goes would be kinda cool. Before we could put up the new paint color, the room had to be primed first. To help us prime, we had my parents, sister, and her boyfriend over to help with the living room and Jameson’s room.
My dad was helping me with Jameson’s room, and he noticed how loose one of his window sills was. So, we pulled the sill out, and what did we find? The wood underneath was rotted out. We had our fingers crossed that it was only that sill plate and not the entire wall. The window on that side is one of the original 1980s windows and is in pretty rough shape, including the outside framing and siding. My dad, luckily, brought his multitool, and we used it to cut out some of the drywall so we could see if there was more rotted wood. Luckily, there wasn’t. And the one piece that was rotted was easily replaceable.
It just took a few weeks to do it.
Once it was finally all patched, sanded, and primed. I painted the room and the spider web on the wall and got Jameson’s new room set up.
The other problems we are slowly starting to correct. Besides Jameson’s room, we painted the living room and hallway(twice). They were blue and yellow, now they are a nice white color. I also replaced and updated the ceiling fan in the living since it didn’t work when we moved in.
Future Plans
Our future plans are to finish painting the interior, setting up Liam’s room, and putting in new kitchen cabinets. Along with getting rid of the dropped ceiling in the kitchen. We would like to eventually either convert the garage into a master bedroom or add a new garage onto the front of the house. Or build an addition on the back. Both plans are still up in the air.
I tried to order a new sliding glass door to replace the old drafty french doors in the living room. But, after months of delays and canceled orders, I decided we’ll wait until there isn’t a national supply shortage any longer.
None of the rooms had real closet doors, and the master closet just had a curtain. The house came with those terrible bi-folding wooden doors, and they wouldn’t even stay shut. So, I ordered slab doors that I could convert into closet doors. But, they were delayed, then delayed again, and then we were told that Lowe’s was no longer going to carry those doors. So the order was canceled. (I’m beginning to sense a pattern.)
Lastly, I need to replace the old rotted siding on the workshop in the backyard, along with the roof, soffits, and facia boards. Basically, the frame is going to be the only thing left. Bea would like to convert one side into a casita or office space. Which would be nice, but I have to see what the law says about doing that.
Lessons Learned
Hindsight is always 20/20, or so they say. And looking back, we do wish we would have gotten a different house sometimes, but have you seen the backyard we have?
I wish we paid more attention to the fact that the switches in each room controlled most of the plugs in each room. Or that the newer windows did not really open and close. Or that they weren’t installed properly.
When purchasing any home it is always recommended that you get a third-party inspection done on the property. Looking back, we should have had our own inspection team instead of the one that our realtor recommended. Not that we didn’t trust what they said, but some things are obvious now that they missed it entirely.
