About Jack's new house

So, Jack bought a 1980 2-bedroom 1 bathroom, 1 car garage house, around 980 square feet, sitting on a half-acre of land at the back of a culdesac.  From the front, it looks a little aged, but really doesn't look too bad.  That of course is where someone covered up all the problems to improve street appeal :-)

We have a couple of friends who live on this street, they report that at one point, at night, one could see light coming through the walls around this front window, if lights were on in the house, from damage to the siding and trim around the window.  Evidently the roof was replaced around 2 years ago, so that is good.  Jack did hire a structural engineer to look at the foundation, as several cracks are present.  The engineer assured us the house is fine, no remediation is required.  The total shift in horizontal elevation from diagonal corners across the foundation is around 1 inch, well within tolerances.

The house came with a pretty nice shed, it too has some problems but they are minor.

And, the house sits on a half acre

Now for the down side:

House maintenance has been severely neglected, so paint is very bad, and the underlying trim, siding, and soffets are all pretty rotten.

This side of the house shows the worst damage.  This window is particularly bad (in addition to being broken, I mean :-)  One can see a repair attempt to siding was made at some point, where the beige siding is showing.

Some longer views of the wall that contain the broken window, this one shows the front half of that wall, and the front window.  Also shown is the sliding glass door, which happens to be open.  that is not a hole, that is an open door :-)

Going inside the house, the front door opens onto the livingroom:

The classic 2-bedroom tunnel kitchen.  From a distance it doesnt look so bad.  up close, several cabinets are missing trim on the doors, and the cabinet bases are somewhat rotten.  But, it does have a nice stainless steel sink.  The refrigerator is gross, but works.  The stove is gas and leaks like a sieve, so it has to go.  The dishwasher probably needs replacing as well.

There is a utility area behind the kitchen.  Thats an odd arrangement, but the house is not deep enough to put the utilities elsewhere.  A pantry would have made more sense here if there were room for washer/dryer elsewhere. Maybe a stackable on the washer side, and a pantry where the dryer is now, would make sense. The washer and dryer don't work.

 Dryer

Washer

Growth marks from children, with dates.  This made me sad.  Someone may have been happy here once, but it does not show in the care taken of the house itself.  I wonder what happened to everyone.

Two bedrooms, each with a window.  In this first bedroom, it is pretty obvious where the bed was.

This second bedroom stinks very badly.  The carpet probably was holding moisture from water leaks.  It doesn't smell like cigarette particularly.

The bathroom... Filthy tub, and the sink does not fit into the vanity.  but the toilet flushes which is convenient. Note the classic vice-grip faucet handles :-)

So that is where we begin with a remodel of Jack's new house.