Got the home

[96superflow]

Well, my wife and I were able to secure the home and closed on it last Thursday! We are very thankful for our lender and Realtor working everything out. There were not really any major hiccups, but it did not look like we were going to be closing on the scheduled date due to a few things, but the main one being that we were awaiting the return of the loan and approval from USDA. I don't think I posted up any pictures yet, The only ones I have on the computer are from the Listing. We started some minor updating in the home first. It consists of 1st removal of popcorn ceilings (in process), 2nd paint, and 3rd carpets in the down stairs bedrooms.

Specs on the house
- 1800 sq ft
-1.5 stories
-3 Bedrooms (all on main)
-2 Baths (main floor
-Bonus Room
-1.3 Acres

Here are some pics of the house and yard. I will put up some of the ceiling removal. The popcorn was on every ceiling downstairs, including the vaulted 16ft peak in the living/family room. But we finished that one last night. Just the Kitchen and bathrooms left!

PICS! Included in the pics are the rendering of the future Garage that will be set back a bit but also have a covered walk way up to a deck off the house. Its specs are 24x36 main doublewide bay with 16x24 singlewide bay w/ 14ft ceiling (for the future lift!)

And the full Album

http://s262.photobucket.com/user/jah0721/slideshow/House Stuff

 

[930dreamer]

Congrats on the home purchase.

 

[Glenn M.]

Congratulations on the purchase, and welcome to the GJ from VA!

 

[SteveCh]

Way to go! Looks like a very nice place.

 

[Chaznsc]

You're going to need a goat! Congrats!

 

[NUTTSGT]

That's a nice looking place you have there along with a nice sized yard.


One thing to keep in mind with your future garage build, you'll hear it many time here @ GJ is the depth of that garage. 24' is shallow if you have a full size pick up. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[nit2wn]

What NUTTSSG said on that garage. My Superduty is parked under a 18wx20d shed. It barely fits under it and it's just extended cab. A crewcab would hang a few feet out. I also see a zero turn in your future. Commercial, if you hate to cut grass or prefer it to get done in a hurry.

 

[crepr12]

Nice...enjoy the 1.3 Acres and in Cary NC....

 

[justanengineer]

Congrats. Looks like a nice place in a nice area.

Just a word of caution tho - since you mentioned needing a house loan, dont be in too much of a hurry to get into renovations or garage building. Live in it awhile to figure out what you really love/hate, pay it down for a few years, and when youre really money ahead then start making it your own. Houses take a ton of work and a ton of money just to live in them and keep them going, so you really do need a sizable "emergency" fund. Im $2k into mine this year just for "maintenance."

 

[Pat Brady]

Wow!! What a beautiful home!! Congratulations!! I bet you and your wife will love it!!

 

[JCQuick]

congrats is this your 1st home

 

[Outlander]

Nice spread...great opportunities abound with that house and your property!

 

[Krash Kadillak]

Congratulations on your new home purchase! That looks like a beautiful piece of property.....

Just out of curiosity, what method are you using to scrape the popcorn ceilings? Wifey and I have done this quite a bit in the past, and developed a fairly easy method....messy, but easy.

Marshall

 

[mrodgers]

Very nice, I like that. Love the setting. I don't know how most people can stand living so close to one another in HOA neighborhoods and the like.

Funny how there is always something immediate to do. Ours was the 2nd day we moved in, my wife was in the shower and I was in the basement under the bathroom area and I got dumped on with water. The tiles in the shower leaked. So I tore the whole bathroom out. I was putting the toilet back in with my 8.5 month pregnant wife standing there "asking" me to hurry so she could use it and CRACK! The entire toilet cracked in half! I looked at her with eyes like a deer in the headlights and asked, what time does Lowes close (she worked there)? 9:00 and it was 8:30. We live 45 minutes away!

I made it to Lowes in 25 minutes, got a new toilet, got home with her prancing around needing to use it, and got the new one installed. Not a good idea to mess around redoing the bathroom when you have an 8.5 month pregnant wife, LOL.

 

[96superflow]

Thanks everyone! This is the 1st and it is in Holly Springs, NC and its just outside of the town limit, so no city taxes! I grew up far east of here and basically did all the home maintenance on my parents home. Still do most of it! I missed the yard work!!!!

As far as the popcorn, a garden sprayer with water and good set of scrapers has taken it off pretty good. Got most of the house completely finished awaiting the dry wall guys to come in and smooth it over (I know where to hire, and this was definitely one of those times!) In our kitchen/dining room area, there is popcorn up then a semi-gloss paint on top of it. This is by far the worst. Where the rest of the house was begging to come down in layers, the kitchen is having to be done with a stripper, let sit, and then scrape and it is still very difficult.

With the garage, my sister in law is a builder and her company has been in business for years. I wouldn't consider the garage right off the bat, but at the price we are going to be able to build it for, we would be crazy not too. All that the company will really be responsible for is the foundation slab, framing, exterior sheathing w/ roofing shingles, windows, doors, siding, electrical, HVAC rough-in, and plumbing rough-in. I am sure I am forgetting some but thats the major ones. I can step in and do any of it as I was previously studying to be a construction contractor and have plenty of buddies in the field.

Gotta love all the 1st that are coming with it! I have some more pics I will be posting in a bit!

 

[NUTTSGT]

With the garage, my sister in law is a builder and her company has been in business for years.

. . . . wait for it. . . .

 

[GTA Matt]

Congrats from just up the road. Just bought my first home in December. You mentioned a covered walkway between the garage and house. That was one of the main selling points for me when we bought this one lol

. . . . wait for it. . . .

Need pics of sister in law...

 

[j p smith]

Great looking place. My brother lives in the New Hill area, I try to get back there once a year. He has this saying, "A happy guest is a working guest" he always adds for my benefit, we are just going to work half days. The second time I was back there I figured out he meant 12 hour half days.
Jeff

 

[96superflow]

Lol. She is a happily married newlywed to my wife's brother! Excellent resource! We looked at some houses in the New Hill area as well. I loved it but it was a little far out for my wife. Where we are located, it is about 10 mins to anywhere (if not less). Here are some of the progress pics!

Oh and I installed a storm door on the front, and the rear will be here in a couple weeks.

 

[Albiemanmike]

Sweet we just bought our first home and it only took us 49 years to do it...LOL! I am sure there is much work in my future as well. Thankfully I don't have any popcorn ceiling to deal with!

 

[bigman68]

Congrats on the new house! Like you I am in the middle of removing the popcorn **** off my ceilings and replacing with a knockdown smooth coat. It does come off very easy, you mentioned waiting for someone to come in to do the knockdown smooth coat, you might give it a try, I think it it easier to do than scraping the old **** off.

 

[96superflow]

Sweet we just bought our first home and it only took us 49 years to do it...LOL! I am sure there is much work in my future as well. Thankfully I don't have any popcorn ceiling to deal with!

Good luck with everything!

Congrats on the new house! Like you I am in the middle of removing the popcorn **** off my ceilings and replacing with a knockdown smooth coat. It does come off very easy, you mentioned waiting for someone to come in to do the knockdown smooth coat, you might give it a try, I think it it easier to do than scraping the old **** off.

Thanks! This really wasn't on our initial to-do list, however its what happens when you give my wife access to pintrest and a testing area in my mother in laws house (the popcorn removal was put on last weekend)! My wife and I talked about it and we got a really good estimate for the crew to come in and do it. He is one of the sub contractors for the sister in laws company, does all their drywall and paint work. The part of the ceiling over the dining area was badly gouged and is going to take a lot of work to get right. They are also painting the vaulted ceiling in the family room/living room.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Smart move doing it before you move in. Not much worse than trying to work around all your stuff.

 

[donnie]

Hi from Cary.
Holly Springs is a nice area.
I removed a popcorn ceiling this weekend from a bedroom.
All I can say is it *****. And I only did one room, but I have mine all mudded and painted.

 

[96superflow]

The kitchen is terrible. Very slow work in there. We are hoping to be finished with it today. We will see!

 

[jonathan75]

The house looks great. Welcome to the neighborhood! NC is a great place to live.

 

[96superflow]

Thanks! I grew up in Eastern NC, so NC is the only place I know, and wouldn't change it for the world!

We finished the popcorn today! The Drywall crew is coming tomorrow morning at 8am to get started!!!

 

[Scrambler]

Congrats on the new home! At least you got the popcorn all done. That must be a relief. Hope everything turns out great with the drywall crew. Keep us posted.

 

[96superflow]

Thank you! And will do!

 

[96superflow]

Drywall crew has been working really hard, and very long hours! Makes me glad I didn't have to do it! Pics!

And this was one of the worst rooms for gouging the drywall when we removed the popcorn because of it being painted over.... Dining area... (hence all the joint compound) Pre sanding as well!

Pics are blurry, I blame it on the new phone I was taking them with.... Ill get some high quality ones today with the camera!

 

[NUTTSGT]

You're making progress which is good. When do you plan on moving in ?

 

[96superflow]

We were hoping for the all the painting to be finished by the end of this weekend, however that isn't likely, and we are tearing up the carpets in the 3 bedrooms downstairs to replace it as well, so that will push us out a little bit. Hopefully we can start by next weekend...

 

[NUTTSGT]

You have a good game plan, keep up the hard work. In the end, you'll be glad you spent the extra to do it before you moved it.

 

[96superflow]

Well a lot has happened since the time that we bought the house. The main one being that I had my contingent offer of employment recanted. And to think I was being as honest as possible and they still recanted it... Oh well time to start looking again.

The house is coming along great progress is moving forward! Ceilings are painted and a lot of the rooms are painted that we immediately need. Also had new carpets installed. Here are the pics!

Ceiling is still wet in these pics.

The guest Bath Pretty much finished....

Master Bedroom Before and After carpet

Bedroom 2 before and after

Bedroom 3 Before and After

 

[96superflow]

Been working like Bees on this house! Finally moved our stuff in on 7/21/2013 (heck of a birthday present to myself!)

My wife and I both thought when we saw the house for the first time that the front porch was missing something. So we decided to add rails and balusters to it and boy did it make a difference!

Also installed the back storm door. Wanted to wait till we moved in to do that one.

Its still coming along! I have to finish the side porch, but other than that, the balusters and railing will be done.

I do have another question for the electricians out where, what do you need to make an extension cord for a welder that operates on a 210-240 volts at 22amps? I want to build this initially to run from the laundry room dryer (right by the back door) to my drive way (50-75' away). So I can start building some things for my project that I have been neglecting... Heres the welder that I am going to be buying (in the future).

http://www.sears.com/eastwood-mig-welder-175-amp-220vac-welding-spool/p-SPM6723307704?prdNo=5&blockNo=5&blockType=G5

and a Pic of the rig...

 

[bjkulawi]

Been working like Bees on this house! Finally moved our stuff in on 7/21/2013 (heck of a birthday present to myself!)

Nice house and property you have there... good work so far. I went to school in Raleigh and we plan to move back up that way eventually...probably Apex/Holly Springs area (in Florida now). It really is a great area and i miss the seasons. I see you moved in on my birthday too (7/21)

 

[96superflow]

Thanks! I am not from here, my wife is though. I love the Holly Springs area!