Ball Ground Historic Renovation: Where did the money go?

It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated this blog so I apologize to those of you who have been asking for updates. My neighbor, Genevieve caught me in the yard one day & reminded me that I have fans and they want to see photos. She knows how behind my blog is because she sees my house every day and knows that the construction crew is long gone. She also sees me carry in cans of paint and Home Depot bags every weekend too. So, my apologies for the delay, but here is the latest:

House before renovation

House after renovation with original porch restored (screen portion was added)

As I said earlier, the contractors are gone, so now it’s all up to me. We had our final inspection for the loan in early December, so after that approval we converted our construction loan to a conventional mortgage that I will be paying for the next 30 years. But there is still much to be done. I know many of you are asking, “You spent 60k on your house, what could there be left to do?” And I would answer, “a lot.” I too, was a bit surprised when gathering the estimates and disappointed in finding out how far it would go. I was just fortunate that I didn’t have to upgrade the HVAC system, or install storm windows. But, those items were also reflected in the purchase price, so I think it evened out. So, where did the money go? Well about $12,000 was spent on upgrading the electrical system. Jody, Chris & Wesley did a great job and climbed in and out of places I would not want to go. Jody and Chris admitted that this job was one of the hardest they have had to do, mainly because of the upstairs room. This was added basically in the middle of the attic and toward the back, and the location makes perfect sense if you are going to carve a room out of the attic. But for an electrician, that room blocks everything below it and you have to find another way around to thread those new wires. So that added to the price. Converting the enclosed front room back into a porch & master bedroom was almost another $12,000. They closed in a wall, 2 doorways, purchased new shiplap siding to line the exterior walls, rebuilt 4 tapered columns, re-stained the concrete floor and built a screen porch. The new bath was

Before

After

$6700; the cabinet alone was over $1000, plumbing lines had to be run, an oversized tub and surround added, and another doorway carved out. The plumbers also did some reworking of the laundry room pipes during all of this and I’m not sure which budget line that came from. The drain for the washing machine had emptied into a sink in the basement, but the guys were able to reroute it. $9000 to refinish the floors; that gave me pause until I priced new hardwood flooring and realized that was about par. $12,000 again for the kitchen – new cabinets, appliances & granite countertops. $5000 for the new fence, which I always thought was high, but Dustin has done enough of these jobs to know where to cushion costs he can control. He admitted that he made a decent amount of money on the fence, but he broke even on the kitchen & lost money on the extras I added. He did a good job of controlling costs; we went over budget when I added things like converting the electric stove to gas or removing the kitchen soffits. The contingency of $6800 was spent on a new hot water heater, running a new gas line to the fireplace, carpeting the upstairs, rebuilding the leaking chimneystack in the master bath, and replacing and painting the exterior siding of the rental trailer on the property. Honestly, we really didn’t encounter too many surprises, and that is amazing for a house this age. The only real unexpected repairs were the minimal flooring repairs, small structural repairs to the porch, the hot water heater and the bathroom chimney. This allowed us to spend most of the contingency on my pet projects as noted above. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, there is still a good bit to do. We didn’t touch the original bathroom, and I desperately wanted to. It has been modified over the years to meet the needs of the family, but that has resulted in a door that bumps into the toilet and a shower that blocks half of the window. I will get to this, but since I have a beautiful new bathroom to use, I can just shut this door and delay the project. The windows are another hurdle I have to overcome. I have a love/hate relationship with these windows. I love, love, love the fact that this house has 24 original windows on the main level and this is one of the main reasons I bought the house. These windows are true double hung sash windows, meaning they open both from the bottom and top using ropes and weights hidden in the sashes. And to my surprise, they’re operable! Many older homes have windows, especially the upper sashes painted shut with so many layers of paint that you have to disassemble the entire window to get them to work again. Mine, fortunately, only have one or two coats of paint, but unfortunately, some of the ropes have been cut so that they need help with a prop to stay open. The storm windows also need to be caulked, and some panes or screens replaced. Then they all need to be cleaned – 2 sides of each, the original window and the storms. This will be my summer project, along with the back concrete deck which needs to be cleaned & painted. The other undone project is the hallway, which is covered in the same stippling on the kitchen ceiling. I don’t relish this job and am not sure how long I will put it off. Then, there remains the painting to be done. The contractors painted the master bed & bath & patched the living room, but it’s up to me to paint the rest of the house. Then, I want to remove the paint on the front porch column supports to expose the marble, landscape the yard...and the list goes on. But that’s why I bought an old house, because I like doing these kinds of projects. Granted, this is a bigger project than I originally wanted, but I was fortunate that the Holcomb family was willing to sell this house when my original prospect fell through. And I am grateful and proud to live in such a beautiful house and I look forward to bringing her back to life. I’m also excited to be within walking distance to downtown Ball Ground and am pleased to see the changes there.

Porch with original beadboard ceiling

Side concrete porch - a summer project

Initials of Perry Holcomb & his dog Dobie (with pawprint) in sidewalk

Stanley level circa 1890

So, what kinds of cool things did we find around the house during the renovation? Some clues to the dates when things were added: the floor furnace as noted earlier was in 1943, the date carved in the concrete in the basement was 1946 and the date written on under the vinyl siding on the side porch was 1987. Perry Holcomb, one of the sons who grew up here also liked to leave his mark – his initials and his dog’s pawprint are in the front sidewalk. Chris found the most interesting stuff crawling under the house in the basement. And I do mean crawling, because you can only stand up in the back part of the basement where the concrete is; the front part is dirt. Apparently here is where Chris found the cool stuff – an old Stanley level from about 1890, a radio, old bottles and a more recent treasure – a gold coin pack of condoms. Stuff found in the walls was more mundane, reflecting everyday life, yard sticks engraved with the names of local funeral homes, a 45 record with a song to help with potty training, license plate..........

More completed photos to come soon!