Hill Family: When it rains...you redo the house!

Once upon a time, Matt and I noticed some nasty stuff growing in the half bathroom window. Well, we got thinking and decided that we should replace all the windows in the house (they were the originals, about 23 years old). Anyway, in about mid February all the windows on the main floor and upstairs were replaced. We were so excited to have nice new windows that would eliminate the draft and help in the summer with the heat. Well, in the half bathroom there was water leaking inside the window. So we thought it was poor installation of the window, but it wasn't. When we had a contractor come over and look at the window and then step on the floor, he found a completely rotted out and moldy subfloor. So apparently there had been water leaking between the siding and the sheetrock for a long time and it had caused the subfloor to be turned to mulch.

Well, about a week later Matt and I were downstairs after the kids had gone to bed and discovered a puddle of water on the floor by the back door. Of course we thought the kids had spilled a cup of water and just didn't clean it up (that happens almost daily around here). But upon further inspection there was no cup and there was no water anywhere else besides in that one spot. So when you have water on the floor and are wondering where it's coming from the first place you usually look is up...and sure enough, we found the source of the water leak. Our bathroom upstairs was leaking every time someone took a shower. So, now we are dealing with the kitchen ceiling and the half bathroom, both with water damage. This is a few months after our fridge line was leaking down into the basement (which we still have a hole in the ceiling needing patched because of that). Anyway, that night the kitchen ceiling came down so we could get to the source of the leak.

Now, when we bought this house we knew at some point we would want to raise the dropped ceiling and put in recessed lighting. Well, why not now? The kitchen ceiling had to come out anyway, so let's do it! And then since the kitchen was already a complete disaster, I decided that we should refinish the cupboards because they were a really ugly dark oak color and our friend is a carpenter and would cut us a deal if I did some of the labor (sanding, taping everything off, etc...). So we did that, too! So now we have the half bathroom completely torn out, along with the laundry area, the kitchen ceiling is torn out and I don't have any cupboard doors. It was a mess!

Anyway, the half bathroom was covered under our insurance, so Matt didn't have to worry about doing any of that labor. We had plumbers come in and fix the pipes in both of the bathrooms upstairs and then we did everything except for the texture in the kitchen ceiling and painting of the cupboards. Whew!

After those projects (which remember all started with just wanting new windows), we have painted the girls' room, landing upstairs, living room, dining room, and then repainted the kitchen. We still have more painting to do upstairs and then the whole basement to work on, but we are making progress and getting this house back to something wonderful! Now here's hoping we stay here long enough to enjoy it all!