Down to One Home

We decided near the end of 2014 that we would sell our home in Gilbert for a couple of reasons.  First: there had been a few rounds of layoffs at Mike's work and, though he was assured his job was safe for another year, we did not want to be in a position of "having" to sell a home.  Second: we felt we could save money by not having upkeep on two homes.  We had already decided our retirement future would not include two homes, so getting out of our Gilbert home would allow us to focus our time and efforts on one house.

After the deck was built, we began to focus our work on getting the Gilbert house ready to go on the market in March.  We had a number of tasks and activities to complete within a short span of time, but got it all finished and on the market on March 14. By the end of the weekend we had numerous offers from anywhere below our asking price to many thousands over.  We picked one from a family we actually got to meet the same day we made our decision and then the clock started ticking.  Everything went smoothly towards the May closing date until about a week before the close.  The new owners had been misinformed about their ability to get financing and they were unable to qualify for the loan.  They asked us to consider renting to them until they were able to purchase the home in October. We decided we would leave it in God's hands by checking on the people with previous offers and if nothing came through, we would go with the rent to own option. Our realtor put in calls to two of our backup offers and found one who still wanted our house and had met Laurie when he toured the house originally.  Even though he had entered into a contract on another house, he did not like the school district.  Then just before he was contacted by his realtor about our house being available again, he received news that the other house did not appraise for the purchase price.  He was able to back out of that deal and go for ours.  We were able to fast-track the process and closed only two weeks later than originally planned. Although the original buyers were originally very sad that they couldn't buy our house, they later realized that it wouldn't have been the best time for them to purchase a home and so it all worked out in the end.

In the meantime, we had rented an apartment near Mike's work for him to live in during the week.  We moved a number of items he would need while living there and then everything else was moved to the Payson house.  We made a few of our regular weekend trips with as many boxes as would fit in the truck or car to help reduce multiple trips later with a rental truck.  Since the Payson house was already pretty full, we had to get creative with our storage.  We have quite a bit of room in the attic of the workshop, but the opening is narrow and not too many large boxes can fit through.  With the new insulation in the crawlspace, we decided to put down plastic and use it to store plastic totes (we heard it was not a good idea to put cardboard under the house).  To make it easier for Laurie to get into those totes, we removed the boards Matt and Mike put up to cover the openings many years ago to keep animals out.  Mike then reattached them using hinges and hooks as he had with the one door we have been using to access the crawlspace.  Now we have 4 separate openings and the only cost was the hardware.

We can now access the crawlspace from more than just one door

What's behind door #2?

BOXES - mostly decorations or camping stuff

Then the real moving day came and we made one Penske truck trip to Payson with most of the big stuff we were keeping (and some we would get rid of later). We did that trip in one day, packing the truck the day before and then driving up, unloading and returning in the afternoon.  The whole process went well until, near the end of the unloading, Mike fell off the truck onto his back and side.  He missed the ramp while trying to get a better grip on a piece of furniture and down he went.  Originally he felt fine enough to complete the move, but as the days went by, he started having pain that could have been from a bruised or cracked rib.  It took over a month to completely heal.

Now the Payson house was packed with boxes and furniture and it would be Laurie's task to sort through it all and choose which items to keep and which to set aside for a future garage sale.  This should have been accomplished quickly, except Laurie started a new full-time job near the end of May.  Since the clearing process could take longer now, we decided to get a storage unit in Payson to store all the boxes and give us room to move around in the house.  Luckily Mike was on a three-week work trip in Hawaii while all this was going on and, by the time he returned, Laurie had quit her job (due to a difference of opinion with her boss over the legality of deducting certain expenses).  Just when we thought we were set to move forward getting the house arranged, Mike came down with bronchitis and was sick for about a month and Laurie developed a bad infection just as Mike was feeling better.

Even though Mike was not feeling 100%, he still came up to Payson (but he did make a trip to the local Urgent Care while in town). Laurie really needed a washer and dryer since she was in Payson full-time now.  We were able to keep our front loading units from the Gilbert house and had decided to use them in Payson.  In order to fit them best into the area we have for the laundry, we had to stack them so we ordered a stacking kit that is made for our washer and dryer.  We spent the afternoon putting the units together and then into place.  We had to buy a few extra parts to complete the install, but it worked out very well.  We still had the external dryer venting in place that we had installed when our son and daughter-in-law lived in Payson for a few months in 2013, so no extra work was required there.

Our stackable front loaders

Mike also put together the expresso Ikea bookshelf we brought up from Gilbert.  It will be one of two large items we kept that will now be in our den in Payson.  It fits like a glove along the back wall with the closet in our den.  However, Mike thinks having both this and a large desk in this room may be too much.  We will see.

Stats: 6 Home Depot trips; 4 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 2/04/15-6/22/15: $161
Remodeling expense to date: $51,367

A New and Bigger Deck

When we decided to have our deck redone, we had some ideas of what would make it better.  We came up with a design that we felt would best optimize the space.  We extended the depth of the deck from 10 feet to 15 feet.  We moved the stairs from the side of the deck, by the back door, to the side of the deck closer to the concrete patio and had it be next to the deck so it did not extend into the yard.  We felt this placement would be good for when (if) we extend the deck the full length of the house. The design also had an opening in the deck to access the concrete patio.  With the current deck, to get to it from the concrete patio, you either had to climb over the railing or we had to go down into the yard, across the yard and over to the deck stairs.  This new design would gives us more freedom to go between the back patios.

A reminder of what the old deck was like

We gave Bob our design and he drew it up and gave us the supply list.  In order to maximum the promotions offered by Home Depot, we ended up placing two separate orders. They did not stock quite a bit of the wood we needed so it had to be ordered.  Laurie received the call to schedule the delivery, but, when it arrived, it only contained a few pieces of the order. Apparently the delivery person did not realize there were two separate orders. After a lot of phone calls, we got it straightened out, but the 2nd part of the order was not able to be delivered for another week. This threw the schedule out of whack and caused additional delays because Bob had to work it into his other jobs. It was also very rainy during January which pushed the schedule further behind. Not too big of a deal, but a little inconvenient living in a house, with a very active dog, when the back door is not in service.

Over the next few weeks, Laurie was in Payson to help with staining and run errands for supplies and lunch.  Part of the new build also included attaching flashing between the deck and the house as the previous owners had not done a good job installing that.  We had already replaced some wood under the house when we replaced the kitchen flooring due to the flashing issue. 

The staining begins using quite a bit of the front yard (Roscoe the dog supervises)

And some of the backyard

Delivery delays allowed bad weather, not great working conditions

Sunny days brought more staining

Then the work began in the mud

Starting to resemble a deck

Most of the snow is gone, but mud is aplenty

Even during construction, more wood had to be stain and stored

Looks even more like a deck

It looks so much brighter than the old one

Getting there, but still some left to do

At the beginning of February, we had our brand new deck. It really turned out nice and gives us plenty of room.  The access to the concrete patio works very well and the stairs are placed perfectly.  Laurie wanted some accent lighting, so she bought some solar post lights like what we have in the front yard for each of the deck posts.  It looks very pretty at night.  Now we just needed to have a party to test it out.

Now it is complete and looks fabulous,with access from the concrete patio

The color really stands out

The wider depth makes a big difference

A nice, solid staircase

It looks ginormus (yes that s a word)

The spindles turned out great

One more view from the yard

And the stairs from the other side showing the opening in the back to the patio

A great view of the stairs, railings and post lights

Laurie tried to capture the solar led post lights and you can see some near the stairs

Stats: 3 Home Depot trips; 0 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 12/26/14-2/03/15: $1,857
Remodeling expense to date: $51,206

Almost Christmas in Payson

We did not spend Christmas in Payson in 2013 as Mike was going to Hawaii for work the beginning of December so we decided to extend his trip with a 2+ week vacation with friends.  This year we decided to take a few extra days before the holiday and spend it in Payson and invited Mike's mom along for the ride. We were only planning on staying through the 25th as we needed to be back to the Valley after Christmas for some holiday family get-togethers.

There were a couple of projects we wanted to complete during these few days up north.  One was to tear down our old backyard deck in preparation for a new one Bob would be building for us in January.  He had recently done a few decks in Pine and Payson and we thought it was about time to replace ours, as well as give Bob, and his crew, some work during their winter slow time.  As with the insulation job, we decided to save ourselves some money by doing the demo ourselves.  The other project was a new hearth for a pellet stove we bought about a month ago.  This would be Mike's first tiling project since we had all the other house tiling done by a professional. He was, and was not, looking forward to it - was because he had been wanting to try his hand at tiling, and was not, because he was nervous about how it would end up.

The pellet stove is a zero clearance unit, so we only needed to have a tile base to put it on (nothing required on the walls).  Our plan was to put the stove in the front corner of the house, facing into the great room.  It would then be vented out the side of the house instead of through the roof.  Mike had done some research on hearths and decided on a 3/4" plywood base with hardie board and tile on top.  We got 16" tiles as that worked best for the size of hearth we needed (48"x48").  Mike cut the plywood and hardie board to the design we wanted and then attached the hardie board to the plywood with thinset and screws.  Then he had to cut a couple of tiles to match our design (which we purposely made simple for the tile cutting).  These were then placed on the hardie board with more thinset.  We had hoped to have the hearth completed with trim, grout and trim before going home, but other activities during our time in Payson took longer than expected (surprise!) and he had to leave those tasks for another day. The tiling went fairly well. Cutting the tiles was a little more difficult than expected. Because he only had to cut three tiles, he had decided not to rent a tile saw, instead using a tile cutting tool we bought at a swap meet and his dremel. He ended up chipping them a little bit in the front, but those areas will be covered by the trim so the chips won't show.

Our new (new to us) pellet stove

The plywood and hardie board cut and connected

Mike set the tiles in place forgetting he had to cut the small corners (green tape)

Mostly finished product, needs grout and trim (and it is heavy!)

Now we had to tackle the dismantling of the back deck.  We used screwdrivers, hammers, pry bars and a reciprocating saw to disassemble the structure.  We started with the deck planks and tried to unscrew them at first, but found that many of the screw heads were stripped.  In the end we just pried them loose from the joists underneath, which tells you what bad shape those joists were in.  Since we were leaving the header board attached to the house for Bob to deal with, we cut the joists right next to it.  Next we detached the joists from the upright posts.  The last items to be taken out were the posts and Mike was not sure how he was going to remove the concrete bases.  He hit one of the posts with his sledge hammer and the post just fell right over, with the concrete still attached - leaving a medium sized hole in the yard.  We found the same across all the posts - a little scary since those posts are what holds up the full weight of the deck as well as the people on it! We rolled the posts out of the way with the other pile of deck wood.  After tearing out the old deck, we were glad we decided to replace it as it was obviously not structurally sound and was about to fall apart.  We were very lucky we never had any injuries during all the time we used it. Now the area was ready for the new deck in the new year.  Over the next few months, our neighbor took quite a bit of the used deck wood and the rest we put on our trailer and hauled to the dump. When we went to take the extremely heavy concrete stumps to the dump, we were able to roll them up the trailer ramp on our moving dolly, but when we arrived at the dump, there was a very nice young man there who offered to help us take them out. He just grabbed them up and threw them on the pile. Made Mike feel a bit old. On the way out of the dump, we told the attendant we wanted to pay the young man's dump fees. It was only about $20, but he seemed to appreciate it. 

The last picture of Laurie on the old deck

Laurie unscrewing the handrail

Laurie posing while remove deck boards (notice how she is doing all the work!)

Down to the bare bones

No more stairs

The posts were basically sitting on top of the ground

Not much left connected to the house

All cleaned up and moved to the side yard

The posts lined up for a dump run and the neighbor took the boards not the concrete

Our own little wood pile, we decided not to burn it due paints and stains used on the wood

We had planned to go to the casino for their Christmas dinner buffet, but Mike's mom is a vegetarian and at the last minute we were not sure if they would have anything for her to eat.  As a result, we decided to go back to the Valley and catch a bite there.  As the day progressed, we started reading about possible snow in the afternoon so we decided to head out before the weather got too bad.  We got to see some snow flurries before leaving the house, but luckily did not run into anything more on the way home.  We are glad we left early as there were more eating choices available and we had a great dinner at Country Home Buffet.  Mike's mom found plenty that she could eat and, though it was busy, the staff was extremely pleasant and we were seated quickly.

Mom already for snow

Stats: 8 Home Depot trip; 6 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 10/21/14-12/25/14: $6,140
Remodeling expense to date: $49,349

A Nephew and Niece Weekend

This was another non-working weekend as we had family up from the valley.  One of our nephews and his wife recently bought a house in the Show Low area, where they have been living ever since he got a job with the police department.  They invited family and friends to a Halloween/house-warming party and we decided to attend.

Other family members were planning on going so we invited another niece and her husband (along with their adorable daughter, Mia) to stay with us since it is such a long trip to Show Low from the valley.  It was fun having them at the house again (they have been here before), but Mia was older now and our niece was pregnant with their 2nd child.  They seemed to appreciate the downtime as well as the entertainment we provided for Mia.

Just got here and already crashed

Parents getting a chance to lounge around

They brought a tricycle up with them for her to use, though Mia was still not skilled with pedaling it yet.  Mike used an adjustable hiking stick we have to push the tricycle while she was on it.  We were able to go on a long walk around the neighborhood, even up and down some hills.  Mia really enjoyed the trip.  She was very sad when it ended.

Most of the time we just spent relaxing, but we had to start getting ready for our two hour trip to Show Low for the Saturday night party.  Mia got dressed up in her new costume for the event.  The trip over was uneventful, though we had some trouble getting a computer to work for the on-the-road entertainment.  Eventually the issue was resolved and on we went.

A cute little purple witch

The party was fun and we enjoyed touring our nephew/niece's lovely new house and meeting their friends and co-workers.  One of the friends owns a Karaoke business and brought all their equipment.  Mike even got to sing a couple of songs before we left.  We could not stay too late because we had a two hour trip home and Mike is always worried about elk and deer on the road at night.  Just before we were about to leave, another family came to the party with some kids and Mia got to play for a little while. She especially enjoyed playing with our nephew's niece who was dressed up as Elsa (from Frozen). Mia was very sad to leave Elsa so we stopped off at McDonald's for her to play a little bit and to get drinks for the ride home.

The next day was quiet and relaxing and we took Mia on another tricycle ride.  She really loved getting pushed by Uncle Mike.  After that it was time for them to pack up and go home, which made us all sad.

Rocking out, but it is really quiet for the adults

One last crash before heading home

Stats: 0 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 10/15/14-10/20/14: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $43,209