Wedensday I got the keys to my first house. :D :D To say it is a fixer upper is very much an understatment. However it fit the budget and my needs. I can fix the stuff that needs fixing. It is in Ramona CA 20 min east from Escondido and about 25 min north of El Cajon. It would take about an hour to get to downtown San Diego with light traffic.

The good things:

3 bedroom
2 bathroom
1820 sq feet
2 car garage
Laundry room
18" tile floors in 75% of the house
Road easment in to allow access to the back of the property
6/10 of an acre :D

The not so good things:

Its missing much of its cieling drywall.
It needs the bathrooms and kitchen eventually redone soon.
Needs some septic system repair.
Needs carpet in the bedrooms.
Heat pump doesnt work very well.
2 broken windows and one that doesnt match any of the other windows.

Anyway on to a few pics.
First one is from the street.
Second is the backyard. Property goes to the 3 yard dumpster sitting in the back.
Third is from the family room looking towards the kitchen
Forth is the beautiful kitchen that it came with. Complete with fauset that leaked more water then came out of the end.

Congrats Matt!!!

I think you should leave the paint in the kitchen tough... :p:

Oh hell yes! Congrats! Look at all that room!

Changes made so far:
Added 4 can lights and a cieling fan all wired up in the master bedroom.
Installed a whole house fan
Installed 4 can lights in the hall way
Pulled the rest of the damaged drywall out.
Removed the damaged r19 insulation
Pulled the old carpet and linolium out of the bedrooms.
Fixed a water pipe leak found in a wall.
Began removing part of wall in kitchen to open it up some more.
Insulated the exposed water pipes so that they dont freeze and break again.


Hopefully with an hour or two of time after work each night and if I can get the 4th off I hope to have it ready to start hanging drywall on Saturday. I am also replacing the old r19 insulation with r30. More pictures to follow later as things change.

Congrats Matt!!!

I think you should leave the paint in the kitchen tough... :p:

That paint is going to suck to paint over. There is some kind of sealer they put on it. I am hoping new paint will stick to it. Just wait till I get the pictures of the second bedroom from my mom. they are classics.

Oh hell yes! Congrats! Look at all that room!

The main reason I bought it was the lot. 75' wide 350 some feet deep. Maybe somday a nice shop back there.

Another bonus is the house has a 175 amp panel right next to the garage easy to add 220 for my welder to it :D

The fireplace is also a keeper as well.

Congratulations! What kind of plans do you have for the garage? What kind of condition is the basement in? Does it have an attic or just a crawl space?

For the garage pretty much I am just planning add a 220 outlet and maybe a few lights nothing major. Slab foundation no basement here. Just has a crawl space attic.

Congrats Matt and Tracy:thumbsup:

Let us know if you need any help down there Matt;)

I hope to join you in home ownership soon!:(

Congrats it'll be a nice pad when u get it finished:hammer:

Excellent Matt!!! So this is why you've been so quiet lately!

When's the party? :D

Awesome Matt, looks like a lot of work but you're more than capable of the repairs:thumbsup:
I think I know a good painter:D You can easily go over the existing paint job with a couple of coats paint...well, depending on the color you choose. Whites or light colors might take 3 coats or you could use stain blocking primer like Killz and then 2 coats. We've painted over murials and drawings with 2 coats and it covered no problem.
Let me know if you need any help down there:salute:

For the paint a good primer will save you a lot of work. Congrats on the house dude that is awesome!!! And it sooo cool to have a blank slate to work with. I'm thinking Monster House!!!

Maybe a Rock Crawler house!!!:thumbsup:

Keg party at the new place! ;)

Congrats, I LOVE the fireplace - that looks like a great room. Good luck!

Yeah I have been trying to get the house. That and work has kept me busy lately. Here are a few more pictures. If any of the so cal crew wants to stop by and help/check it out I will be there all day on the 4th as well as this weekend. Give me a call and I will give you directions. I am hoping to get it into move in condition by the end of the month (While still working my 50-60 hour work weeks)

First one is the back of one of the doors. I bet this would look perfect in your place in OC Froader :D

Second is of Tracy scaping the popcorn cieling in one of the bedrooms. If you forget your multiplication tables, dont worry they are written all over the wall.

Third: Whats the best way to start demoing a wall? Its to hang off of a truss and kick it :D

Last is the area I am opening up from the kitchen to the dining room/ family room area. I havent decided completly how I am going to do it yet.

Forgot the pics... :p:

Forgot to upload

I was removing some damaged drywall and came across this deal. I guess some one removed a sink or something and capped the sewer side of the waste line. However they left the vent side open so any water that came down the roof vent from rain or moiuster ran into the wall.

Off to bed. Have to get up in 7 hours.

What the heck kinda window is that behind Tracy?:confused: It's like something you would see next to a entry door, not in a bedroom:rolleyes:

Congrats on the purchase. Keep us updated.

Most of the demo is done. I was able to get glass in the two broken windows insalled for $250. Then the heat pump got recharged today so hopefully it will work fine for awhile. We also have most of the insulation in. Drywall has been hung in the master bedroom and in the hall way. As soon as I finish wiring the can lights and range in the kintchen I put in the rest of the insualtion and finish hanging the drywall. I also cut out the wall to open up the kitchen to the rest of the house.

First is my brother and dad installing the insulation.
Second is the drywall up in the master bedroom
Third is the part of the kitchen wall I am opening up (same part I am kicking out above)

You probably already know this but 'Materials' under the For Sale section of craigslist alway has nice... materials. :p: I see lots of new windows, doors, etc on there all the time. You should check it out.

Oh yeah, it's coming along dope! When does ground breaking for the shop begin?! :D

I have checked criagslist. They have tons of windows. I plan on going duel pane throughout eventually. Right now I am just trying to make it livable.

The shop is a long time away.

HELL YES
HELL YES

Man I remember that day, so awesome
congrats!

My GF has a house in a small town in Nebraska, it sat for 2 years with nothing.
We found dead birds in the house, broken pipes, gas line shut off because of leaks, bas carpet, etc etc in 3 weeks we have whipped that sucker into shape like you wouldnt believe. Fixer upper is the way to go!
]
If you need flooring let me know, shipping directly to So Cal is an option, she has a carpet/flooring business and she kicks ass :)

nice house!

Do you have any before, and after pictures of her house?

Looking good, except for one slight problem (which you can't fix now..)

The insulation was installed wrong. Seriously, do a search for Title 24 energy code, and they recommend when you staple, not to staple to the sides of the studs, but overlap the edges on the studs.

I didn't know that either till the local inspector started blabbing about title 24 lights, insulation, and other crap..

I thought it was suppose to be overlapped. I just copied how they had done it before. Too late now. The only thing I hate more then fiberglass insulation is fixing broken sewer pipes.

Are you replacing the sewer pipes with no hub or PVC? What R# insulation are you installing?

Not replacing the sewer pipes. Just hate it when I have to deal with them more than deailing with insulation. I used R30. Out west we used abs instead of pvc. Not sure on the reason why but that is how it is done.

ABS is lighter, cheaper, and might be more readily available in your area. PVC is somewhat popular here, but a lot of people prefer using no hub. Apartment building codes don't allow PVC. They've only recently passed that you could use Romex, and plastic electrical boxes, although nobody really uses it indoors. I've seen UFB outdoors, and NMB which is only suppose to be used indoors used outdoors which is not the legal code.

Congrats Matt! I know you have the skills to fix'er up right:chug:

All these posts and not one mention of the house warming party?

When's the party? :D


I mentioned it! :p:

Come by sunday. We are having a drywall hanging party. So far its myyself,Tracy, and my parents. Need to hang the rest of the cieling and a few walls. Today is to finish up the electrical.

Congrats Matt and Tracy! Looks like a great deal.

Someday I'd like to find myself a decent fixer, but the property prices in the area have doubled in the last 2yrs and it looks like its going to be a long time before I can afford to get anything.

Been staying busy on the house.

First is of the kitchen. Still need to install the pendent lights and swap out the outlets. I am planning on painting the cabinets cause new cabinets arent in the budget. I am thinking white but havent decided yet.

The second is the master bedroom. Needs carpet and blinds and it will be done.

The third is the second bedroom. It is the one that had the multiplication tables written on the walls. Needs carpet, closet doors, blinds, and door slab hung and it will be done.

The fourth is my parents dog working hard protecting us while we are working on it.

Great work Matt, looks like you've been keeping busy. No one will fault you for not working on the truck, just show up to t-haven;) :p:

Lookin good! :cool: :thumbsup:

The boss says it can't be till it is all done including the front yard. Maybe a spring time tube bending party. It still is in the request box to be cleared by upper management.

Looks great Matt:chug:

Hey if you need any kind of plumbing done, send me a pm. my brother will do it for beer and food......

Already fixed most of the plumbing problems. Right now the roof is ripped off of it and am putting a new one on. I hope to have it finished up Monday. 28 squares is alot of shingles.

I'll bring lots o tubing....

I need to get some updated pictures but these are a few I have on my laptop.

The first is of our great TV stand. Check out the 12 ga wire on the rabbit ears so we can get something. We get FOX CBS and NBC. All of them are snowy and the rabbit ears and some times the TV have to be adjusted for each channel so no channel surfing.

The second is of the dining room table in the ding room.

The third is Tracy and I cooking dinner on our new stove that we got as a gift from the guy we do a lot of work with.

Well i must ask. How much do you think you have to do till its done.


Looks good man

The "big things" left to do are patch a few drywall holes in the garage and fix a few drywall cracks in the house we also need finish sealing the grout. I have pretty much maxed the funds on upgrades right now. All the spare money now is for the wedding in less that 40 days. I need to get a hood for the cook top eventually. The trouble is sense I took the wall out behind the stove getting one that looks good is hard.

The sucky part is that now that I am self employed I am having a hard time getting refinanced. If I can get it done I could save about $300 a month.

Then there are the want to dos. Like put in a new patio cover, landscape the backyard, pour a slap on the side of the garage, widen the driveway, remodel the bathrooms, and put new cabinets and counters in the kitchen. These will be atleast a few years out.

congrads on the new house matt

Yes the want to dos are always killer. Found that out myself this year.


Well looks like its going very good.

House warming party in April/May? :D

Looking good.

Something like that. Maybe it can be a get my ranger back together party as well. Or a SAS party for RangerX.

Found a few more. Here is the old roof.

Removal and install. Who ever the dumb ass was that thought 3/8 plywood with 24oc was a good idea should be shot. I had to patch close to 30 soft spots in the sheathing that were bad. I wanted to resheath but didn't have an $800 laying around for more material. Shooting it down with some ringshank nails did help stiffen it up again.

Now all finished.

Awesome job RockRanger !! How many months until we see pictures of little "ones" running out of that front door? :)

Well my brother has one due any day now. As far as for Tracy and I it will probably be a year or two.

Look me up for the refi. We can get it done.

Any updates? House was definitely taking shape.:thumbsup:

Basically done on the inside. A few things to finish that I keep getting yelled at to do. Like put a cover plate on the switches in the bathroom and install a doorknob on the 3rd bedroom.

I have turned my spare time and money now to my ranger and am doing a few things to it instead. I am slowly doing the landscape as Tracy and I decide what we want to do. Spending $1000 a month on gas is killing me right now.

...Wow, it's been a while since I've seen this thread...You've been busy..:thumbsup:

Keep up the good work Matt:thumbsup: Arus and I may ask for you help soon;) Or at least guidance.:D

...Steve, did you find a house...:popcorn:

...Steve, did you find a house...:popcorn:

Working on it... We were out with our relator today:thumbsup:;)

...and the adventure begins...Good luck...:D