So it begins!!! I have no name yet :)

[Viriiguy]

We have our closing date!! 3/19!!

Well my wife and I are in the process of closing on our home! And it comes with a nice big (but not big enough) garage!

Here are a couple Realtor pics of the house, garage and my office over the garage!

And this... Is my Birthday present! My loving wife bought this for me to hang in my retro garage!!

Stay tuned! Once they finish repairs to the sun room... We start fixing up and moving in!!!

 

[Tjc]

Im jealous of the top room. cool house btw. Can we see some inside pics of the arage?

 

[Sunbimmer]

Looks very nice the house, the garage....well heck everything, i'm very interested.

Greetings and good luck 2 u

from the Netherlands

 

[Kevin54]

Pool table in the upstairs room

 

[Mmfh]

Very cool looking spread you've got there! Now lets see more of it!!

Mm

 

[Viriiguy]

The pool table is going in the upstairs room, along with my Gun safe and my Desk.
I don't have a lot of good pictures of the house or garage atm...
But here we go...

This is the basic layout of the office.. We taped out the table and safe..

This is just a shot of the garage with the car in it... I plan to double the garage size in a couple years...

The house is all but invisible from the road...

I just LOVE that security gate!!!!

This is the back door to my office.. It opens to the landing at the top of the stairs.. This is how the Pool Table will go in..

The stairs, concrete stoop and deck will all be ripped off this summer for a rebuild.. They did a HORRID job!!

And this is a shot down our driveway, which is 1/10th of a mile long and all paved!! There are even power outlets all the way down it!

They are currently repairing the slab the house sits on... It seems that the house had a major addition done to it and NONE of it has any footers. So a restoration company is in the process of fixing that... $15k on the bank's dime!

Sorry I don;t have more pics of the garage... But it is in BAD shape right now.. The last owner had a very large dog locked in there day and night. He ate the garage doors, tore up the shelves that were in there and all kinds of stuff.

I was planning to buy RaceDeck flooring for it, but am buying a 0 Turn mower instead
Racedeck will come later!

Thanks for looking and I am tickled you guys like my house! It was a foreclosure, so we got it for a SONG.. and a dance!

 

[CreteCoater]

Nice score!

 

[colt zantop]

Nice garage! that sign is pretty sweet too!

 

[ckadams00]

Congrats! Looking forward to the progress.

 

[Viriiguy]

Thank you! I am going tomorrow to look at a zero turn mower with only 6.5 hours and some 1950's kitchen cabinets!! Still installed in a kitchen!

 

[Steve91T]

Is that house in Knoxville? Or is that where you are moving from? We almost moved to Knoxville when I got a pilot slot with the Air National Guard at TYS. We visited the area and absolutely loved it. Downtown was a lot of fun too! But then I had a medical issue and lost the pilot slot, so we moved to Charlotte and are happy here.


Beautiful house!

 

[Viriiguy]

Thanks The house is actually 3/4's of a mile.. as the crow files, from the back airstrip at TYS. The house is in Louisville. However, we have more airplane noise at our current house.. which is 20 miles from the airport.... Go figure

It is actually rather silent at this house.. It is erie in a good kind of way! I work in downtown Knoxville and just LOVE the artistic atmosphere they have been adopting.

I have spent MANY days in Charlotte at the Dyno Tuners when I had my 700 rwhp Miata Love that town!!!

 

[Nick@HPM]

Was looking through this thread and you live 15 min from me... House looks like fun!!

 

[Viriiguy]

Thanks Nick! It's going to be great once we get in it!!

I finally found a great deal on my carpet for the office. Blue Grey commercial peel and stick carpet tiles for a buck a foot! And best part, they are local, no shipping. Now to figure out what to do with the stairs!

 

[Fast914]

Love your home and grounds! Your sign is a hoot as well. It is always neat to see how small this world is that we live in. Your sign speaks to a small town re Pictou about two hours from where I live here in Nova Scotia.

Once again Congratulations on your new home and of course Garage!

 

[Viriiguy]

thank you!

I spent a decade as the main IT guy around that part of NS and lived in Pictou! I took care of pretty much ALL the Canada poste's, three Michelin Plants, several nursing homes and a couple hospitals, tons of small businesses and some government work.

All out of a small shop in Stellarton.
I miss the people, but not the cold!!

 

[Red Leader]

Wow, great purchase. Very happy for you! Now once you get all settled in, lets see you start tearing into it!

 

[Viriiguy]

Thanks Red Leader! Your garage is one of my inspirations!

 

[Viriiguy]

Just a little update, I went to the house today to check on the foundation work and get a few pictures.

Here is the current state of the garage...

Needs some work... But nothing a pressure washer and some paint won't fix... Well that and new doors and door openers.

This used to be a wooden patio.. The room on the right is my master bedroom. When they finish the foundation work, they are pouring me a nice new concrete patio

This is the void in the foundation that started it all...

See that hole... Yea... So after some exploratory digging and what not by the engineer...
We came to this conclusion The original house was about 1/3 the size it is now. All of the single story portions were added later. I had my suspicions. The original part of the house is on an 8 inch slab. No footers. It, they assure me needs no repair and will be fine. The rest of the house.. The great room, master bedroom, and sun porch were added some time later. They are on a 4 inch slab with no footers. This portion is under repair.

Now the kicker... The garage, 8 inch slab with footers. The house was built in 87. The garage was plumbed for electricity in 89. Anyway..

The guys are hard at work to have it ready for me ASAP!!
This room had a bow in the floor.. It is the master bedroom. We were under the assumption it was from the major plumbing refit the house had, because it was almost perfectly in line with a sewer pipe outside. Turns out the house had sagged. They already almost have it shored back up and level.

They hope to start pouring the cement Monday. The house is being shored up using Steel beams and then cement packed in.


All on the bank's dime.

 

[Viriiguy]

My wife and I decided to get rid of the little green strip where the new concrete patio is going.. and just do wall to wall concrete in it. So while I was at the house I snapped a progress pic. They are about half way done with the leveling of the house.

Then I decided to walk the grounds again. I noticed a lot of fresh holes...

Most of them were a little bigger than a quarter.. Some were about twice as big as a quarter. All of the pretty fresh. Not really sure what it is, but... We will cross that bridge when we come to it

I also bought 540 sq foot of Carpet tiles today

 

[info2x]

Looks like this will be a really nice place once it's fixed up.

 

[dave in tn]

Nice place. I'm up in Greeneville. Dave

 

[Viriiguy]

Thanks guys! I am really REALLY happy to be almost ready to move in!

I don't have any garage or house updates today... So i thought i would share a couple pictures of one of the garages that has to be moved into the new one.... With MUCH better organization.

Here is .... The mess.

My grandfather used to have all his tools in a big shop, when i was a kid, we made all kinds of stuff in there.. As he got older, they bought a condo.. The shop became a garage and not much else happened. He kept on buying stuff, but most of it just collected dust.

Speaking of which, the dust collection system, never been set up.

I have my work cut out for me.. That is for sure. Then there is my garage and tools to move in as well.

 

[Viriiguy]

They are going to be pouring concrete tomorrow.. So I went by today to see what all had been done.. Oh My!!!!

The sun porch has had some excavation work done!

And they managed to NOT get concrete dust everywhere! Only found just a little on the floor around the hole.

Here you can see the rebar work that goes everywhere they have trenched.

And MUCH to my surprise, the back patio has had the same treatment. This job is more extensive than I had thought it would be. Sure glad the bank is paying for it!
I NEED to replace this threshold. It is rotten.

This would be the perfect time to while it is all dug out.. But I am not allowed to do a thing yet.

And this is where the original house ends and the new begins.

I will be anxious to see the end results. It does not look like they are going to get the floors completely level. But I did not think they would get all the bow out. But they are a lot better.

 

[Viriiguy]

Provided the rain holds off, my footers get poured today!!!!

 

[Viriiguy]

The cement has been poured. Tomorrow they come back and finish and clean up.. Then termite treatment.. And we SHOULD be able to close next week!!

So here are a few more pictures...

This is taken thru the window.. So the glare makes it look worse, But they did make a heck of a mess of my trim work and my sliding glass door..

Now this... This erks the heck out of me!!!
The threshold was rotten, I need to replace it.. But they cemented it in place.. And it is a half inch below the bottom of the door!!!!

So I am not sure how I will fix it now.. Likely have to take the entire door out and grind the wood out of the cement.. Patch it back up, then replace it..

Aside from the mess they made of my trim, and the threshold, I am pretty happy with their work! Well that and they drug their friggin water house all the way thru my house!!!
I showed them to run it from the laundry room out the dryer vent.. That was right where they were working.. But no.. They drug it all the way thru my home..... *sigh*

 

[Viriiguy]

WOOOHOOOO!!! We close Monday!!!!

The foundation company is finished with their work and here are the results.. Given how it looked yesterday, I am VERY pleased!!

 

[jhelrey]

You will be able to get the threshold out!

 

[Kanticoy]

You will be able to get the threshold out!

Yep, I've had to do similar before too. The wood will release from the cement with a little coercion and will pop out. Likely it will be even easier since it is rotten and will basically crumble out. It won't be near as bad as you think!

 

[UN4GTBL]

Wow, this is going to be awesome!

 

[Viriiguy]

Thanks guys, that is a relief to hear... I tried a little to pull it out before it set, but no avail. However, with the metal threshold plate out of the way....

And thanks UN4GTBL! I am SOOO looking forward to getting some work done myself!

 

[Viriiguy]

Just my luck....
I signed off on the final inspection prior to closing.. And NOW my friggin gate dies...

One of the linear actuators just makes a horrible noise when you try to close the gate.. The other one makes a horrible noise, but still moves. They were working fine the other day..

So anyway.. This is my dead actuator..

It seems the only place I can find it for sale.. has it for almost $1100 bucks EACH!?!?!?!? What are they? Made of gold?

So it looks like I can buy a complete new system, install it in the brick columns where my current gear is and save well over $1k.

My gates are NOT that heavy, they are not real wrought Iron.

Any suggestions?

 

[Kevin54]

With the dirt up against the wood, you're asking for trouble there

 

[BMacD]

And this... Is my Birthday present! My loving wife bought this for me to hang in my retro garage!!

Nice sign...I grew up one town over from Pictou, NS!

 

[Viriiguy]

With the dirt up against the wood, you're asking for trouble there

Yea we know, We are removing the dirt, replacing the rotten boards and putting crushed brick back in it's place.

BMacD, That is cool! My wife and I got married there

 

[BMacD]

Yea we know, We are removing the dirt, replacing the rotten boards and putting crushed brick back in it's place.

BMacD, That is cool! My wife and I got married there

Very Cool!

 

[Viriiguy]

Wooohoo the gate turned out to be an electrical issue!

 

[Viriiguy]

Today is the big day!!!
We close at 1pm instead of now..10am. The papers were running just a bit late.

I hired my dad today to install VCT on the garage floor, so that will be happening this week/weekend. Going with a black and white 2 foot by 2 foot design, just to keep it simple.

And as soon as we close, we are headed to the house to change all the locks and door knobs, install two garage door openers and whatever else we can finish today.

I can't wait!!!!!

 

[UN4GTBL]

^ Sweet!!

 

[Viriiguy]

Yay!!! I am a home owner!!