The Home-ownership Thread

[Doohicksie]

There are no doors to the kitchen.  Just open doorways.

 

However you raise a valid point.  The house had been carpeted and before they put it on the market they pulled it out and refinished the floors, and yeah, you can see that the doors are more than an inch off the floor.

Edited June 8, 2018 by Doohickie

[shrader]

Any idea why they left that section of the floor without tile (or is that vinyl)?  I'm trying to think of a good reason, maybe just working around that cabinet?

[Doohicksie]

This is what it looked like when we bought the house (from the real estate listing):

 

 

The hole in the tile is where the breakfast nook table/cabinet was mounted on the floor.  The cabinets were refaced at some point in the past, so it's hard to tell how old they actually are, but they may be original.  So if that cabinet was there in the 1950s, they simply installed the (white) floor around it.  The white flooring is basically the same as modern snap-together laminate wood flooring, except the top layer is vinyl tile instead of wood.

Edited June 8, 2018 by Doohickie

[biodork]

There are no doors to the kitchen. Just open doorways.

 

However you raise a valid point. The house had been carpeted and before they put it on the market they pulled it out and refinished the floors, and yeah, you can see that the doors are more than an inch off the floor.

That's good about the doorways, at least! I'll never understand why people choose to install new floors right on top of old ones... So lazy.

[Doohicksie]

That's good about the doorways, at least! I'll never understand why people choose to install new floors right on top of old ones... So lazy.

 

Also saves removal/disposal expense.  And if the original floor contained asbestos, it contains it.

[biodork]

Also saves removal/disposal expense. And if the original floor contained asbestos, it contains it.

Good point on the asbestos!

[shrader]

This is what it looked like when we bought the house (from the real estate listing):

 

 

The hole in the tile is where the breakfast nook table/cabinet was mounted on the floor.  The cabinets were refaced at some point in the past, so it's hard to tell how old they actually are, but they may be original.  So if that cabinet was there in the 1950s, they simply installed the (white) floor around it.  The white flooring is basically the same as modern snap-together laminate wood flooring, except the top layer is vinyl tile instead of wood.

 

The picture answers the question perfectly.  I couldn't picture what you meant by a cabinet/table combination.

[Doohicksie]

The picture answers the question perfectly.  I couldn't picture what you meant by a cabinet/table combination.

 

I hear ya.  It's so unusual we knew that it would need to go.

[spndnchz]

I hear ya.  It's so unusual we knew that it would need to go.

Can that whole wall come out or is there plumbing/ductwork in it?

[Doohicksie]

The wall behind the table?  There's a bedroom on the other side of it.

[spndnchz]

The wall behind the table?  There's a bedroom on the other side of it.

Ok. Thought it might be the living room.

[Winston]

The wall behind the table? There's a bedroom on the other side of it.

That might be taking the whole “open concept” thing a little too far ;)

[Doohicksie]

Ok. Thought it might be the living room.

 

The entry into the kitchen from the living/dining has already been expanded.  It used to be a single-width doorway but the previous owner opened it up (you can see it in the middle of the picture).

 

Edited June 11, 2018 by Doohickie

[Doohicksie]

That might be taking the whole “open concept” thing a little too far ;)

 

That room will be my wife's office and early on she talked about putting a door from there directly into the kitchen.

[sabills]

My new job makes software for the insurance home inspection industry, after two weeks of training I know way more about it than I ever wanted to.

 

DID YOU KNOW: A pool, trampoline, or even some breeds of dog are considered an "Attractive Nuisance", which is something you want but which presents a potential hazard and therefor the insurance carrier will charge you higher premiums for them. It was also my nickname in college, but that's a separate issue.

[Doohicksie]

The entry into the kitchen from the living/dining has already been expanded.  It used to be a single-width doorway but the previous owner opened it up (you can see it in the middle of the picture).

 

 

Here's a picture from a listing for another house in the neighborhood that's based on the same floor plan.  I believe this is what the entrance to the kitchen was like when our house was built.  It had two entrances, one from the dining room and one from the hallway, which is odd because there was a door at the end of the hall but doesn't appear to be one between the hall and the kitchen.  A careful inspection of the wall and baseboard molding in the hall shows that our house had the same entryway from the hall to the kitchen at some point in the past.

 

(I love looking through the homes on Realtor.com; they keep the photos online that were uploaded when the house was listed in the past.)

Edited June 12, 2018 by Doohickie

[Wyldnwoody44]

I close on my house on Thursday, fly home from cusco, do the walk through and then cut a large check for closing costs :/

[shrader]

Both houses next to me have now been sold.  I really wish the people had closed and moved in at the same time.  It would be a nice social experiment to see who I could drive out first.

[Sabel79]

Just accepted an offer on my house.  , now I have to move...

[Doohicksie]

Just accepted an offer on my house.  ######, now I have to move...

 

I know the feeling.  Time to get nervous about the 1000 things that go wrong.  In our case, only 1 thing went majorly wrong, but it actually worked out better.  The first house we offered on did not do well during the home inspection, so we had to walk away from it.  The house we ended up in is actually much nicer than the first one anyway.

Good luck on your journey.

[Sabel79]

I know the feeling.  Time to get nervous about the 1000 things that go wrong.  In our case, only 1 thing went majorly wrong, but it actually worked out better.  The first house we offered on did not do well during the home inspection, so we had to walk away from it.  The house we ended up in is actually much nicer than the first one anyway.

Good luck on your journey.

 

I am, in the short term, probably going to be renting something austere while sticking as much money away as I can before pushing the boat back out on home ownership.  But, I suppose, one never knows.  

[shrader]

My nextdoor neighbor has completely neglected his lawn now that the house is under contract.  It's a real shame.  He used to water a ton and since his yard is slightly higher than mine, that side of my yard would be a little extra green.  I want more free water! :D

[Doohicksie]

My nextdoor neighbor has completely neglected his lawn now that the house is under contract.  It's a real shame.  He used to water a ton and since his yard is slightly higher than mine, that side of my yard would be a little extra green.  I want more free water! :D

 

When we sold our house, it was bought by a firm that will turn it into a rental.  There's apparently a backlog on the processing of homes that they buy, because they didn't touch our old house for at least two months.  It looked awful.... 6 ft tall weeds and all that.  I felt bad for our neighbors.

[shrader]

When we sold our house, it was bought by a firm that will turn it into a rental.  There's apparently a backlog on the processing of homes that they buy, because they didn't touch our old house for at least two months.  It looked awful.... 6 ft tall weeds and all that.  I felt bad for our neighbors.

 

The other house next to us was on the market from January through to May and completely uninhabited until last month.  It was getting really bad up until my new neighbor moved in.  I felt bad for the guy who moved in, having to deal with that mess.  He's all over it now though and it looks pretty good.

 

The one I mentioned earlier has at least been cut regularly.  It just hasn't been watered at all in probably a month (no rain in a while either).  It's completely yellow at this point.  We're getting rain all day today though, so I bet it'll perk up really quickly.  We've got bermuda here and with the heat we've been getting, that stuff greens up super fast after some good rainfall.

[Doohicksie]

Our new place has a sprinkler system and man, what a difference.

 

 

I remember the first house we bought in the 80s... it was a repo and once we offered they stopped maintaining it.  The weeds were ridiculous.