Category Archives: Renovations

High Maintenance …

Posted on September 11, 2016 by AnnieRie

… or what I did on my summer vacation.

Storm water management, and failing infrastructure. As in 29 year old patio and deck. We decided to bite the bullet and conquer our aging outdoor areas while dealing with longstanding water issues surrounding our house. Not sexy. Not fun. Not cheap. But, they had to be done.

Our house will be 30 years old next year. Columbia, right down the road, will be 50 years old next June. As in any aging area, there are always places that need attention. That old movie, The Money Pit, comes to mind. No matter how you look at it, you need to fix what is broken, and deal with design/build problems.

Our patio bit the dust last winter. Big time.

Before.

After. Well, almost after. We still have to do landscaping, and they did do sod up to the deck.

The deck contractors, who also do our maintenance cedar staining start tomorrow. Hopefully, in two or three weeks we will have a new composite deck and freshly stained siding, garage doors, porch furniture, front door, and trim. Someone please remind me we bought a brick house. Where did we go wrong? All this trim to keep up.

As for the storm water management, we decided to bury all the downspouts and tie them together, create a slit drain to carry water off our driveway, and dump all the water out into our field. So far, so good. With all the evening showers after the install, we have seen massive improvement in drainage. Finally. After many attempts to deal with keeping water out of the garage, and away from the foundation. It has been a long learning process, and we think we may have finally solved our water problems. I will know for sure this winter, when snow melt from the roof and down the drive test the limits of the new system.

Eight inch sewer pipe being laid. The system starts with four inch pipe from a slit drain. Goes to six inch around the house. Where the downspouts and sump pump hose meet, it bumps up to eight inch. It all comes out about 300 feet beyond the house, into a rock lined swale.

The slit drain.

Thankfully, our pretty much rotted deck was slated for demolition this summer. Even the pressure treated footers are reaching the end of their lives. Hello Azek, goodbye cedar.

This was not my favorite summer. We didn’t go anywhere. I just wrote checks. Many checks. Rhine did a great job with the drainage, sidewalk, patio and will finish the landscaping after our deck is done.

I hope to get the grill up and running, before it gets too cold to enjoy the patio and deck.

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Posted in Local Businesses, miscellaneous, Renovations, Weather and tagged Howard County, local businesses, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The Realities of Renovation

Posted on March 4, 2016 by AnnieRie

Did anyone notice I haven’t been posting? Longer than any absence in my four years of blogging?

Yes, renovating can do that to you. I know why people hate it and avoid it. Despite the glowing pictures shown on DIY reality TV shows. I wish we could all disappear for seven weeks while The Property Brothers make our homes perfect.

I mean, who doesn’t want their front porch to look like this? It did all get to the landfill with certain items put into the building supply trailer, where they can be used for projects. Most of the trash, we paid to dispose of it. Thankfully, with a pickup and a good contractor, we negotiated a rate that saves us money if we dispose of the materials.

As for the rest of the things happening, a big shout out to Bode Floors.

I think my husband’s study is awesome, and the carpet makes the room. I love recommending local businesses here in Howard County, when they are family owned and do a great job.

The study is done, except for drapes. The basement room damaged the most by the water leaking down the walls, is also finished, except for a new light fixture. The basement bathroom is coming along.

We still need a toilet, a vanity, and the molding. The vanity is delayed until the 22nd.

We have learned patience. Things don’t always go as planned. An 18 day job is easily turning into a 25 day job, with the delays, the bad materials, and some electrical issues. I now have three contractors scheduled for a day I was supposed to be available for a Conservancy program. I can’t leave my husband alone to juggle them all.

Doing your own general contracting saves you money, but adds stress to the job. Still, the results are worth it. I just can’t wait until Easter, when hopefully we will be done.

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Posted in Local Businesses, Renovations and tagged local businesses, renovations, Rightsizing. Bookmark the permalink.

Aging In Place

Posted on February 25, 2016 by AnnieRie

In an aging place.

Had quite a bit of thought about the whole aging process. Aging of us. Aging of our home. I don’t consider 30 to be old, but around here, it’s almost ancient. Not quite as bad as being 50, which is what many of the original homes in Columbia MD are soon to celebrate.

I worked in the UK, where 600 years old wasn’t out of the question. We are spoiled. Living in a relatively newly developed area. Still, I watched people turn up their noses at our townhouses (gasp) without garages. Ours, built in the early 80s were too old and dated for the crowd who wanted those brand new places in River Hill.

old house 002

Columbia is pretty much built out now. The county is expanding, or tearing down and rebuilding. I loved our old townhouse, right in the center of town. Too bad for us, we really wanted to follow our dreams of a big garden, and a couple of radio towers. Bucket list items. Not allowable under covenants.

That house is now 35 years old. Still looks great. Why? Because we took care of it. I see so many places now that are pretty much devastated due to lack of basic maintenance.

2011 nikon zoom 071

What is this? A pile of the cedar we were replacing in this house. Our “new” house. Built in 1987. At 24 years, we replaced almost 50% of the wood. Not fun. Not cheap. Not sexy.

But, it was the bones of the house. The basics of maintenance. I can’t figure out why collectively we don’t take care of the biggest investments most of us will make in our lives.

garden in the rain 158

We took care of our infrastructure the first 10 years. New roof. New doors. New heat pumps and appliances. Making our home a warmer, safer, more energy efficient place to live.

Now, we are working on those aesthetic things. Painting, carpeting. Keeping our house new looking, while not shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy something else.

csa and renovations 042

I think I can deal with six weeks of mess to get painted walls, new bathrooms and carpet in all but those high dollar areas. We still will have to tackle the master suite and the kitchen.

At the end of this road, a house that accommodates an aging couple. But won’t look old.

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Posted in Commentary, miscellaneous, Renovations, Retirement, Rightsizing and tagged fixer upper, renovations, this old house. Bookmark the permalink.

Controlled Chaos

Posted on February 20, 2016 by AnnieRie

It’s not easy going green, to paraphrase Kermit the Frog. I know why we procrastinate when it comes to home repairs. The chaos is sometimes overwhelming.

We just finished using Dr. Energy Saver to seal our dormer crawl spaces, and condition our attic. A world of difference in the temperatures on our upper floor. We decided to do the Super Attic. Massive difference.

Before.

After.

With a 40 degree difference in temperatures. No more drafts down the stairs. No more cold bedrooms.

We have been slowly working our way through the tasks necessary to make our house “greener”. A warmer, better place to live, while saving energy. It’s been an eleven year journey and we are almost done.

Insulating crawl spaces, too. Before we started the massive painting job. Which will go on for at least a month.

The study is close to being finished. Just need to add the new carpet, now that we insulated under the floor (above the garage).

Dr. Energy Saver in Glen Burnie is part of a national chain. They are one of the sponsors of our county Greenfest, and they do energy audits. They have no idea I am blogging about them, and I don’t take advertising dollars. If you want to go greener, and make your home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, you might want to check them out, wherever you live.

Now, for us, on to the rest of the painting and repairs.

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Posted in Commentary, Howard County, Local Businesses, Renovations and tagged commentary, Howard County, live green, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Free??? Energy Audit

Posted on November 11, 2013 by AnnieRie

Remember GreenFest in Howard County? Where you could put in your name and “win” a free energy audit? Free, being a relative term.

Because if you won, and they came out and showed you all the bad things in your house, you could either ignore them or address them.

Those pictures showing energy loss through doors, windows, ducts and telling you how bad your old appliances are.

Slowly we have been addressing what was identified as deficient in our almost 30 year old home. I can honestly say that today I really feel the difference from replacing doors and windows on the first floor of the house. It has taken us two years to get this far.

Just a bit at a time. This time, though, it was dramatic.

The view from the dining room was enhanced with no window. Let’s not talk about the dozen or so flies I keep having to kill in the kitchen. So far, they did finish the outside of living room, dining room, and garage. And, there is a new door from garage to mud room. Our garage faces northwest. The front of the house faces west. Drapes would move when the cold fronts moved in. Now, there is a huge improvement. Although they aren’t done yet.

Caulking was done. Trim work remains. And, the kitchen window will be replaced. Hallelujah! I will have windows that open! Current kitchen windows are on their last legs, so to speak.

Of course, Thursday it is supposed to be quite cold. No cooking that day, and who knows where I will be able to take my CSA pictures.

I have to admit, I truly appreciate the changes once they are done. It’s just that the mess associated with renovations, and the frustrations with how long they take, taxes my patience.

But, a word to the wise. If you ever “win” that free energy audit, you may want to decline. Unless you want to spend what would have been vacation money to fix everything they find.

I know it ‘s the right thing to do here. But, it still drives me up a wall to deal with all the upheaval.

I just keep thinking about the good parts, like the view.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Howard County, Local Businesses, Renovations, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, Howard County, local businesses, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Building Relationships with Local Businesses

Posted on March 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

An Appropriate Post for Mom and Pop Business Owners Day!

Where do you buy things? Foods. Hardware. Plants.

How about services? Plumbing. Car care. Roof. Painting. Landscaping.

There was a time when we were young that we did many things ourselves. Eventually work, and work travel, plus long commutes got in the way. We became time constrained. We needed to find people to help us maintain our home and our things, like appliances and cars.

Over the thirty plus years in Howard County, we established long term relationships with service providers and with local businesses in and around the county. Buy Local means something to us. We avoid nationwide mega centers and big box stores if there are viable alternative sources that keep more money here in Howard County. The Costco runs are only three or four times a year for things not easily bought at local businesses, like printer cartridges, computer paper, and for things like stock pantry items. If I can get what I need locally, I will.

Since 1983, British American has taken care of our cars. Since Brian’s daughters were really little, and when Brian and Rob did most of the work. Now Sandi is general manager, and Brian and Jennifer’s grandchildren cheer up the office when we see them there.

Ken Griffin does our plumbing. Has for years. When our well pump failed and we needed to replace 387 feet of wire as well, they were here in a day to get it all done. They live not far south of us, and work out of their home.

My husband has his yard equipment work done at Lawson’s in Woodbine. We get our tractor supplies from Maryland Equipment, also in Woodbine. We go to Kendall’s or Clark’s for almost all of our hardware needs. We were at Kendall’s Wednesday, after lunch at the Bridge, and a trip to the landfill to dump a truckload of pokeweed. Just the way it has become. Going to local places for food and services.

We buy annual and perennial flowers, plus many of the annuals in my herb garden at Sun Nursery. I could spend hours wandering around their nursery. My tulips, black eyed susans, cover plants and the rosemary and sage in my garden all came from there. Most of the basil each year as well.

Columbia Finishers is the painting company that did all our cedar replacement and staining. They do our difficult painting too. The type where you need scaffolding. There is no way we could do board replacement thirty feet in the air at our attic level.

We first met Craig, the owner, when they used to stain our town house community. They still have that contract, because their quality of work is excellent.

We used S&K Roofing to do our roof. They are just up the road in Eldersburg, and family owned. They did our roof between Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee last August and September. Scary having them show up when we had no power, but done before the week long rains descended upon us. Giving us peace of mind and a dry attic. Absolutely perfectly done.

From this:

To this:

They made our house look like new.

As for this year, we contacted Rhine to help with spring cleanup since I can do no work until recovery from surgery. I always helped my husband with mulching, pruning, and general clean up after winter took its toll on the property. Kept me in better shape than I was when still working at my desk before retiring.

They did not disappoint. Jay is a joy to work with. We are indeed fortunate to have so many quality family owned businesses here in Howard County and nearby.

I know I am a locavore when it comes to finding food and wine in the area, but I also am committed to supporting family operations to do as much as we can no longer do by ourselves. It only makes sense to me to be a part of my community in more ways than I did while working, and spending most of my time commuting to DC.

Buy Local. That’s my motto. It certainly has served us well.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Community, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, People, Renovations, West HoCo and tagged community, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, renovations, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Spring Has Sprung

Posted on March 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

The Grass has Riz, I wonder where the boidies iz. Remember that children’s poem? The grass hasn’t risen, but the garlic I planted late in December is making its way up.

The rosemary never died off, and some of the sage is still hanging in there. The mild winter left us with some already producing herbs, and we lost nothing to wind or frost damage. Two years ago the blizzards killed numerous bushes and damaged trees,

This year, the big spring clean up will take place this weekend. Hubby is getting help there, as I am out of commission. I get to supervise this time. This entire week is going to have warm, mostly beautiful weather just right for planting seeds of spring producers. Temps in the 70s. Sunny most days.

I have a few seeds we are going to put in where we took a tree out last year and had the stump ground out. I need to leave something there for the summer that can be replaced with new bushes in the fall, when they have a better chance to get established. Summers here can be brutal to young trees and shrubs.

I picked these up in Kendall’s the other day, and figured we would sow them right in the ground just to keep something growing in the empty space. Minimize any erosion on a corner and provide color as well as dinner. Hopefully garlic chives in front of the chards will all survive the potential critter invasion. Or at least, if they invade there, they will stay out of my good heirloom tomatoes that will go behind the deer fence in the garden.

We were going to put in concord grapes with an arbor in a space where last year we took out bushes. Maybe it will get there but not counting on it with me being unable to assist. One new project at a time.

While out and about the other day, we spotted this display of daffodils. They always make me smile. Mine aren’t up yet but look to be almost ready to bloom.

I may not like that earlier switch over to daylight savings time, because it messes up my internal clock for a few weeks, but I can’t wait for spring to finally get here for good. I want to go out and see this wonder all around us.