A Year of Renovations

We moved back to Colorado from New York just over a year ago. We arrived on October 1st. The house was very much ready for renovations and deferred maintenance after having rental tenants with teenages and large dogs for the past 7 years or so.

This post will bullet list out some of the projects we undertook. Mostly I'm curious to see what it looks like assembled on a single page.

The Light Remote Field Repair

We have a little wireless remote for our bedroom lamp which started flaking out as we unpacked. I opened the case to have a look and just by coincidence I discovered the main electronics were a pair of buttons that were the exact same component I use for reset switches on my keyboard projects. So while we're still 98% in boxes, I dug out my soldering iron and keyboard electronics parts. I set up a temporary workbench on some plastic storage bins in the garage, desoldered the bad switch, and installed a replacement. The fix worked great. I was super pleased with that.

Assorted Fixes 1

• kitchen sink faucet had a slow leak from where it mounts to the countertop
  • learned a bit about faucet cartridges and got some repairs done
• scraped off old dirty caulk on basement shower and re-caulked
  • this has moved a fair amount (due to bentonite clay expansion I think) so there's some big gaps but still caulkable I think
• got a better trash can for the kitchen
• lined the basement utility shelving, added some acoustic tiles, and set up the 3D printer farm there
• got some cool workshop furniture from a commercial liquidator Industrial Lane
• found a free coffee table on the curb which Stella refinished and sold for a decent price
• dealt with a mouse infestation with a long run of wire grid along the garage wall, lots of hole filling with steel wool, and several different types of traps
• garage deep cleaning including moving the concrete step to clean behind it, and all the perimiter space which had tons of debris and grime
• repaired fence damage from apple tree limb
• set up a new network gear board mounted on the wall in the closet of Stella's office
• fixed flickering lights in utility room

Studio Renovation

The first room we did a full renovation on was Stella's studio. It was a pretty low-stakes project where we could learn by doing.

• removed closet doors and windows blinds
• covered the popcorn ceiling with shiplap & trim
• replaced the builder grade boob light fixture with a modern low profile light/fan
• removed old phone jack and patched the drywall
• general drywall dent repair & retexture
• new paint on all walls & trim
• remove closet built-in shelf in favor of free standing shelving unit
• removed carpet flooring
• fixed all subfloor squeaks
• installed new LVP flooring
• new baseboard trim
• mounted a new shelf on the wall for a speaker and ran the power cord behind the drywall
• Stella painted a geometric art piece directly on the walls in one corner

Assorted Fixes 2

• replaced a lot of door knobs with 3D printed handles
• added silent magnetic latch for bedroom
• 3D printed door stop for downstairs bathroom
• 3D printed magnetic door stops for top & bottom of stairwell
• new coat rack mounted to wall near front door
• upstairs bathroom fixes
  • new light fixture over mirror
  • re-caulked the tub
  • repainted walls & ceiling
  • new sink stopper
• replaced living room pendant lamp shades with 3D printed ones
• Stella repurposed the old paper ball lamp shades into an art piece
• built a slop sink from used parts and installed in the laundry room

Flooring Project

Probably the key issue driving most of the renovations was needing to get rid of the old carpet. It was installed in 2008 and was way past due for replacement - especially with 2 large dogs living there recently. So we were keen to get it yanked out fairly quickly. We ended up spending most of Christmas break tackling the flooring on the main floor.

We pulled out all the old carpet one room at a time. Then smashed all the staples out with a big flat metal blade tool. We fixed all the subfloor squeaks by screwing them to the joists which was a huge quality of life improvement. There were 2 sections of water damage near the bathroom which we cut out and patched with new subfloor. It was actually really hard to pull the 50-year-old nails out of the floor joists.

The goal was no transitions for this whole section of rooms: living room, hallway, and all bedrooms on the first floor. It came out really nice and I'm happy with the product we picked. There are a fewer beginner mistakes here and there, but by the end we had better tools and techniques and were dealing with doorways and obstacles pretty well.

One challenge is the kitchen and dining room were probably done with a second layer of subfloor so there's a transition of more than 1" to deal with. The carpet mostly obscured this but with the slimmer LVP, it was a big difference. We ended up getting an OK result with some quarter round that matched the floor very closely but there's no magic to erase that huge difference.

Office Renovation

We gave Stella's office a full renovation next. Mostly the same process as the studio. This did involve an annoying trip into the attic to adjust the height of the in-ceiling speakers. Only after that whole excursion did I realize the hardware was fully adjustable from below and there was no need to tyvek up and go in the attic after all. But during that attic expidition I managed to accidentally bump some ceiling drywall loose which created a whole subproject to fix that before we could cover the popcorn ceiling with shiplap.

This room get a better ceiling fan and light fixture. We also did some 3D printed trim corner pieces which worked out pretty nicely.

Assorted Fixes 3

• We built some new cabesa mesas for our bedroom
• We built 10 bird houses out of cedar fencing scraps from the fence repair
• Stella build a dead hedge "vivienda coneja" for the back yard
• Stella set up a rain barrel and water pond
• We needed a plumbing repair on the back yard hose bib, so we had to build an access panel to cover the hole he had to cut into the drywall ceiling in my closet
• We put new LED lights in the garage workshop. Huge improvement.

Bedroom Renovation

The last full renovation we hid was our bedroom in May. It was the same basic approach as the other 2 rooms. The closet was a bit trickier for flooring since the radon pipe goes through there. We also built a custom slat wall to set up as our headboard

Assorted Fixes 4

• we re-activated and repair the in-ground sprinkler system to irrigate the new garden & potted plant locations
• I built a custom CNC desktop for my work desk
• we prototyped a custom funnel for weird geometry constraints around my bathroom's trash can
• we got an amazing full set of cabinets for the garage workshop
• several rounds of fixes and enhancements for our patio umbrella
• got a park bench for the front stoop
• repaired the door jam and re-installed the storm door
  • this involved 6 total 3D printed parts when all was said and done
• we bought an pergola kit online from EROMMY and installed it on the deck
  • it has motorized louvers in the ceiling and motorized shades on all the walls
  • it's solar powered which is cool

HVAC

After a lot of research and quotes, we got a full HVAC system upgrade. The main ducts are now powered by a new heat pump with gas backup furnace. We also had an additional mini split installed to the main basement room since there's just no way for the ductwork as it exists to heat that space properly.