Another one!

This one’s in tax sale for … 2 years.  Taxes haven’t been assessed in the past 2 years, nobody wants to buy it, the bank owns it, tax balance of some $2800, in foreclosure for almost 5 years.

Going to try to get it off the bank for $1000 + taxes + transfer fees later.  Have to close on my house, pay off my cards, move, and save up some money first.  The bank won’t pay the taxes because it won’t sell in its current state.

This is just a little supplemental income.  $180k in original state, but I’ll have a tile bathroom, tile kitchen, hardwood floor, and make sure everything’s done right (the previous rebuild was terrible, floor joists in the kitchen are all wrong, etc).  Weekend project.

good luck with this one.  it looks better than the firebombed meth row house 8)

Meth sucks so bad.  Every time you take it it destroys part of your brain and body (your brain is part of your body, but most people don’t consider the MENTAL DAMAGE that comes with physically destroying it…).  I know hard-core druggies that take LSD and mushrooms for “introspection” and they’re horrified by the very concept of meth… can’t imagine what insanity drives a person to start on that stuff.

This one was built poorly and never maintained, then walked away from by the owner.  It’s now simply falling apart.  The entire kitchen is a rebuild–save/clean the siding, take down the walls, duplicate the frame, correct the joists, subfloor, mortar, half-inch Hardiebacker concrete board, more mortar, tiles, cabinets (salvage these?), wiring, plumbing (gas, water), insulation, walls, trim.  This is going to involve a LOT of checks and rechecks with a carpenter square and some other stuff to make sure the room is actually squared and not lopsided, not to mention a level to make sure the floor is level and planed properly at the joists, subfloor, and floor.

Bathroom is going to be a gut job–remove toilet, sink (salvage?), bathtub, floor; mortar, concrete board, mortar, tile, same with the walls in the bath, new tub, shower door and curtain rod, new Toto toilet with a Toto heated seat and warm water bidet, new sink, vanity.

Rest of the house will just be general repair, hardwood floor, fresh drywall, paint, fresh outlets, wiring if damaged, insulation, repair or replace any damaged windows.

Basically this is for fun, but I might walk off with $150k in pocket… which would be interesting.  If I wind up with no debt and over $200k in the bank at some point, I’m going to take my job as part-time and just do this until it slows down.  I doubt that’ll happen, but if it does it’s probably more interesting than what I do now.  More work but, well.

There’s a dispute between using nails and screws for the frame and floor. To be honest, the frame must be done with nails:  screws under stress hold better, and then fail catastrophically (they snap).  Nails bend and flex and shift slightly in the hole and thus don’t damage the frame if it expands and they DON’T break.  Absolutely everything else is done with deck screws (except drywall, done with drywall screws).  That means I have to decide if I want to do this with a framing nailer or an Eastwing hammer; honestly I have no idea how to handle a nailgun, so I’m probably going to be faster and better with a hammer (Eastwing hammers are so freaking balanced, even a nice weighty one is easy to swing straight for someone like me who never handles a hammer).

Looks like a gut job.  Good luck I hope you do well on it! Where is this gem located?

Not as bad as the one next to my house, which I haven’t decided if I should flatten or rebuild in place, and which I haven’t decided on rebuilding or turning into a yard.

Baltimore county, east of the city.  Decent neighborhood, not a location I want to be in.  It’s a nice place to live, but… access is limited.  No public transit.  Not as bad as some places in Deleware (Wilmington is notably great, anything near Milford requires you to drive 20 miles to go to the nearest store of any sort).

Baltimore city has that going for it… can bike or walk to the light rail if you’re in the center column.  In a lot of the habitable areas (Mount Washington, Bolton Hill, Fells Point) there’s a ton of shopping to be done within a mile or three.

Are you planning on making this a very nice brew shack?

Nah.  Weekend project.  Fix it, sell it, pay off my mortgage, look for something else to fix.  I bought a DeWalt impact driver to put the floor in my new place, I figure I should burn it out so I get my money’s worth.

i have  rebuilt and extensive part of my house over the last 2 years, inside and out.  i burn most of the old stuff so literally i have been telling people i have been burning my house down

Really?  A gut-job rehab as a weekend project?  If you’ve really never used a nail gun and you rarely swing a hammer, this sounds like maybe more than you’re ready for.

IMO, that shack in the photo looks like a tear down.

I would piece it out. Sell the A/C unit, bricks, studs, windows, etc. on Craig’s List. Take some of  that money and have the rest hauled off. Sell the empty lot.

I’ve done it before.  Haven’t rebuilt framing, but I’ve done the drywall and flooring.  Aside from the kitchen, it’s pretty much pulling carpet and laying floor.

My dad built an extra floor(!) on his house with an additional attic and everything in 2 months as a weekend project.  Framing didn’t take much.

This is a hobby.

Piece it out and sell the lot so you make a few bucks. What I see is roof, foundation and exterior. This house has got to be 50 years old at least. I would plow it under and sell the lot. You could fix it to get by and rent and start your way on being a slum lord. If you get about 20 of these places, you could make some dough.

House is 12 years old.  It was completely stripped and rebuilt from the frame out in 2001.

I’ve seen worse fire damaged houses rehab’d. Depending on the extent of the smoke and fire damage to the other part of the house you can tear it down the the frame- replace what need replacing and cover it with fresh material. If you are willing to do it on your own with maybe a friend or two at key times it shouldn’t be insurmountable.

You need to buy a compressor and nail-gun though. That’ll save you about 100% effort and time because you’ll be putting in 200% otherwise. 8)

Is it pier and beam or on a slab?

Crawl space, not slabbed.  This one’s not fire damaged, the one back next to mine is fire damaged to hell.

Not sure about the air gun.  A frame nailer’s all I’ll use from that, the rest is screws + impact driver.  Problem:  no experience with nail gun, it’ll probably be slower than using a hammer and a LOT more dangerous.  Everybody has a story about nailing two fingers together and they’re all well past that stage because they’ve built 5000 roofs since then and they don’t nail their fingers together anymore and they’re fast.  I’ll probably not build too many frames in my life, so I don’t have a real desire to be that guy…

You can rent framing nailers.  You would be amazed how much faster things go with them.  I’ve been using air powered tools for 30 years and have yet to nail any of my parts to each other or anything else.  Accidents happen when you are tired, rushed or both.  You just have to be aware of your surroundings at all times.  If you do decide to use one do not disable the safety features.  Bump nailing speeds up big jobs but also nails feet to floors.

I typically nail shingles by hand since I normally work alone.  No point in rushing when every pack of shingles gets moved by one guy.  Sitting and driving nails gives me rest breaks.  8^)

Have fun with your projects and good luck on both of them.

Paul

Got myself a Bostitch F21PL framer (non-sequential “no bumping” kind) and a Bostitch N62FNK-2 finishing nailer with a switch for either sequential or contact. I LOLd at a review, though, where a guy said, I would not want to employ the carpenter who bumped his finishing nails.

Have not yet got a compressor for them (they just got here via Air Dad during vacation a few weeks ago) but there are some projects that need-a-doin.

Paul what size compressor do you use?

Easy to use.  Follow basic safety procedures (safety glasses, don’t point it at yourself, keep your hands out of the way).  Fast.

No one with a hammer is faster than a nail gun.  Best tool purchase I ever made.

The compressor has many uses.  Buy a cheap nailer from Harbor Freight if you’re concerned about cost or ever using it again.

Well I’m sure some have heard the saying that what will keep a man in everlasting ignorance is “contempt prior to investigation”.

i actually now have bought nail guns and table saws from home depot RENTAL.  they only use them for so long and sell them cheap.