709
Dorothea Drive
Home
Improvements
Since
June 1, 1999
First of
all, this page seems to get a lot of hits from people who are
looking for help with home improvement projects. As a service to
these people, I've provided these links:
The original purpose
of this page was to keep track of the home improvements that have
been completed on our house since we bought it. This information
is provided below.
Completed
- Cleaned Air
Conditioning Window Units
- Painted flat
walls in Dining Room, Living
Room, Foyer, Front Bedroom and Master Bedroom
- Had Hardwood
Floors in Dining Room, Living Room, Foyer, Front Bedroom
and Master Bedroom refinished by Dennis Person
- Replaced failed
joist under kitchen that John Hayes from Lysaght &
Associates said was "structurally
sound" (It was not). Thanks to Norm Groves and Bill
Mitchell for their help with the repairs.
- Adjusted all
doors in house to insure proper closing and latching
- Had an ADT security system installed
- Repaired rear
outside flood lights
- Repaired doorbell
- Removed
decommissioned telephone and cable TV cable from outside
of house
- Pruned trees and
bushes on both sides of house
- Applied weed killer to lawn
- Sized blinds to
fit windows
- Fixed "Fan"
feature on heating system
- Removed hanging
objects from basement
- Secured existing
basement power, cable TV, and Telephone cables with wire
staples
- Placed
dehumidifier in basement
- Rekeyed front door lock and
installed new dead-bolts and new door knobs on other outside doors
- Replaced old
terra cotta drain pipe for downspouts on west side of
house with new black PVC pipe
- Cleaned gutters
and downspouts
- Unclogged bathroom sink drain
- Repaired joists
under bathroom
- Replaced
shattered glass door knob on bathroom closet door
- Planted 4 Nellie Stevens Holly trees along part of
the fence at the rear of the lot
- Replaced water
level sensing switch on sump pump
- Replaced light
fixture in kitchen
- Replaced missing
tempered glass in heater in back office
- Planted 32 Blue Pacific Junipers along front walk
- Mulched around
Junipers and along front of house
- Replace
mechanical furnace thermostat with electronic thermostat
- Found entry into
attic (finally!)
- Replaced ceiling fans in dining room, living
room, front bedroom,and master bedroom
- Installed
electrical outlet for Christmas lights
- Installed photo-electric
switch for front porch light and electrical outlet for
Christmas lights
- Installed
Christmas light clips on front of house(urgh what a chore!)
- Replaced 2 feet
of missing quarter-round molding between roof and
flashing on west side of house
- Fixed screen on
back screen door
- Installed GFIC
electrical outlet in bathroom
- Added R25 Miraflex Owens Corning insulation in attic
- Added additional
lighting to basement (laundry area)
- Fixed soft spot
in the floor in the dining room
- Fixed soft spot
in the floor in the living room
- Removed abandoned
water mains from crawlspace
- Removed desbris
from crawlspace
- Had ~270 gallons
of heating oil vaccuumed out of storage tank by Noble Oil
and then removed it completely
- Removed heating oil
tank with the help of Bill Mitchell! Yeah!!!
(click for pictures)
- Installed 100-Base-T
network wiring and jacks in front bedroom, back bedroom,
living room, back office and basement
- Installed phone
jack in back bedroom and living room
- Pruned camelia
bushes on the west side of the house
- Installed garbage
disposal in kitchen
- Removed fence
gates from west side of house
- Installed drain
pipe on west side of the house to take downspouts water
to the backyard
- Moved electrical
outlet in front bedroom to an unloaded circuit on fuse
box (twice)
- Installed filters
in heating system
- Installed window
air conditioning unit in master bedroom (it just got too
hot to sleep)
- Removed clothes
line poles with the help of Bill Mitchell
- Had Dennis Person
of Person Construction install a more
appropriate front door that we bought from Architectural Elements in Tulsa, OK.
- Sanded and
painted front door
- Repointed
foundation bricks on east side of basement
- Repointed
portions of the exterior of house
- Waterproofed east
side of basement
- patched opening
in chimney where furnace exhast duct enters
- Installed french drain on east side of house
with the help of Bill Mitchell
- Installed drain
pipe for gutter downspouts on east side of house with the help
of Bill Mitchell. Water is now diverted to backyard.
- Waterproofed
exterior basement wall on east side of the house
- Ran ground wires to outlets as
they were upgraded.
- Ran new
electrical wire for dual switch for dining room fan and
lamp
- Installed new
security light on west side of house
- Installed catch
basin below backyard water spigot
- Installed proper
towel hangers on the bathroom doors
- Dismantled and
removed “Throne” from basement with the help of
Bill Mitchell
- Dismantled and
removed basement shower stall with the help of Bill
Mitchell
- Removed rusted-out
bathroom sink from basement with the help of Bill
Mitchell
- Removed old fence-line
on the west side of the house, cleared brush, and
landscaped that area
- Stripped, primed,
and rehung bathroom door. Sheeze what a horrible job that
was!
- Installed new
sump pump after the old one self-destructed
- Had roof repaired, old shingles
removed and new shingle installed by Dennis Person and his subcontractors
- Ran new
power,installed GFIC outlet, and repositioning power
outlet for washing machine and sump pump.
- Completed
exterior electrical grounding project
- Had
Kitchen Remodeled (click to see pictures)
- Planted 3 Leyland
Cypress (X Cupressocyparis leylandii) trees along
another part of
the fence at the rear of the lot
- Removed and capped-off
the rain water drain pipes going to the street
- Install utility
sink in basement
- Remodel Bathroom
- Install Central A/C
- Replace water
lines in house
- Rebuilding
railing around front porch
- Replace front
porch pillars
- Strip, repair,
and paint Front porch railing
- Reglaze windows
- Paint Exterior
Back to Our
House page
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Groves page
This pages
was last updated on December 17, 2007
Copyright 1998-2007, Jeffrey A. Groves
