Since we have started writing about our experiences with the house we are frequently asked lots of questions about what we’re doing, how we are doing it, why we are doing it and if we would do things differently…
The question we are most often asked:
1) What did you use to strip your woodwork?
Master Strip, Formula A Remover sold in 5 gallon drums from the McBride Company (Los Angeles, CA 818.507.8900) is our weapon of choice. Be sure to wear a respirator and to have good ventilation because this stuff is toxic. Read more about the paint stripping process. There are lots of other approaches out there (and we’ve probably tried a lot of them) but this is what works best for us.
Second most frequently asked question:
2) How much have you spent on the re$toration so far?
Are you kidding me?! My own friends and family don’t even ask me that. Although my gut reaction is “none of your business” inquiring minds must want to know. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume people want to know for planning purposes when they tackle their own restoration. Short answer: It ain’t cheap!
Our motto: Projects cost 3 times more than you think they will and take 2 times longer to complete.
. New roof: $5600
. Cedar shingles on the dormers: $1800
. Asbestos abatement: $1100
. Rebuilding front porch (including taking down the brick columns and having them rebuilt): $3000
. Refinishing wood floors: $1200
. Refinishing rooms: I estimate we spent between $5000 - $7000 per room (this includes materials, electrical work, replastering, labor, any unexpected problems we ran into, etc.). This doesn’t factor in the cost of eating out or picking up take out because everything in the house is covered in plaster dust, but that adds up. So far we have completed 3 rooms…you do the math.
. Tools: estimate between $1500-$2000
In order for the house sale to go through the previous owner paid for a new foundation and to hook the sewer line up to the main city line.
. New foundation: $18,000
. Connect to the city sewer line: $10,000
3) Do you regret buying an older house that needs so much work?
No, not at all. I appreciate all the charm and quirks of our older home. If anything, I wish we didn’t have to live in the house while we are restoring it. On the plus side, we are pushed to get projects completed.
4) What has been the most difficult or challenging thing you have faced during the restoration?
This answer might surprise you. It’s not pretty but as David likes to say, “We’re keepin’ it real.” Because parts of our back porch are currently open to the outside, it is a free invitation for bugs to get inside. I often say I feel like we are camping out with a mortgage.
For the past two summers little black mites, so small that they are barely visible, have invaded our house. They get on your skin and bite you. Right now I have huge itchy welts all up and down my arms, legs, back and stomach. After some research we learned that the mites are bird mites. Birds build nests in the rafters and after the babies leave the nests the mites come inside looking for new hosts - us!
After a week of David spraying a non-toxic bug killer, which he insisted upon despite my opinion that the more lethal the bug spray the better, he had made an insignificant dent in the bird mite population. I got fed up with feeling like I was living in a third world country and threatened to move into a hotel unless he bought some Raid - IMMEDIATELY. The mites are gone now but the scabs on my mite bitten body remain.
Every night before we go to bed I spray myself with OFF to keep the mosquitoes away. The kind without DEET thanks to David, who is as paranoid about the toxicity of bug spray as I am about bugs. I keep reminding him that Southern California just experienced it’s first case of the West Nile virus.
5) Aren’t you scared living in the hood?
For those of you who don’t know, West Adams is located in the north west corner of South Central LA. Yes, this is one of the areas where the 1992 Los Angeles riots happened.
Does this affect our everyday lives? No. Not really. Are we afraid? No. Not really. Our area is urban but I don’t see gang bangers having turf wars and shooting at any white person they see, even though that was my impression from movies and TV. It is not like that. As more young families move into this area and homes increase in value, the neighborhood changes. People become involved in community block clubs and cleaning up the area becomes important.
David says you know you live in the hood when you hear your neighborhood get a “shout out” in a rap song (which it did). I like to say our neighborhood is ghetto-adjacent. The other day someone called our area hood-storic (instead of historic) which I thought was clever.
Our neighbors have been nothing but wonderful and welcoming to us.
Have a question for us? Go ahead and ask. As long as it has something to do with our house we might just answer.
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November 28th, 2004 - 3:31 pm
Okay, this may also fall into the “none of your business” category, but you guys have made such amazing progress I am curious if one of you gets to do this almost full time. I am struggling to keep up on top of my regular work schedule and we end up fixing things in fits and starts, with long pauses in between. Perhaps we are just disorganized, but maybe I should just stop beating myself up about this and go sand some doors.
December 2nd, 2004 - 10:03 am
Hi!
Would you believe me if I told you that we basically have no lives?
We have been extra motivated because our house was not a very fun place to be in it’s rundown condition.
Plus, we hired help. I can’t stress enough how this moves the projects along. If you know that someone is coming to do a certain job it pushes you to get everything else done so you are ready for the contractor on a certain day.
We do get burnt out and don’t want to do anything on the house at times. After we finish the back porch (hopefully, before Christmas) we are done working on the house until next Spring. Definitely ready for a break.
December 4th, 2004 - 11:08 am
That’s very encouraging–though I’m not rooting for you to have no lives. Our house is pretty liveable, so I’m fighting complacency and fixing things that are less visible (looking at structural repair bids and sticking my fingers in my ears singing “la la la la la”) Enjoy the break!
March 10th, 2005 - 12:47 pm
Thank you for your website. We are just about to purchase a 1908 woodframe bungalow in Forest Park Illinois. I am terrified of the work that may need to be done. TERRIFIED! Near tears, sick to my stomach!
But I guess that we are lucky to have the orginal owner’s daughter around to show us just how everything should be.
The house is looking wonderful!
October 17th, 2005 - 8:03 pm
Hi… So excited to see your website!!
I’m trying to get ideas for restoring our home’s kitchen back to it’s 1920’s roots when i stumbled onto this site. It’s the best info. I’ve found…
Could you please share your dining room wall color and tell me, did you paint the ceiling the same color as the walls?
Thanks, Jess
October 17th, 2005 - 10:14 pm
Hi Jess. Thanks!
We picked out Shelburne Buff from the paint line Benjamin Moore’s Historical Collection for the dining room walls. We have recommended it to a few people who told us it didn’t look as yellow on their walls. After some further investigation we realized that our paint color is actually a variation of Shelburne Buff - a mistake when our color was originally mixed! A happy accident because we are very happy with the color.
I saved the paint formula used on our dining room walls:
215 Base: 2B
OY-3×12, BB-7, OG-26
Our ceiling is painted Devine Maple from the paint brand Devine Color natural blondes palette. (http://www.devinecolor.com)
I hope that helps.
Thanks again,
heather
January 23rd, 2006 - 9:13 pm
We’re starting a project and are impressed with your results! I only wish we would have come across it sooner. How tall are the ceilings in the house?
Thanks,
Keith
January 23rd, 2006 - 11:42 pm
Hi Keith!
Our ceilings are ceilings are about 10 feet downstairs and 8 feet upstairs.
Best,
heather
August 6th, 2006 - 1:30 pm
i just wanted to say thank you for putting (what must have been a significant amount of) time and energy into creating this website! my husband and i are in the midst of a very similar project on a 1911 craftsman bungalow in portland, oregon. it is encouraging to know that we are not, in fact, taking too many steps with the restoration and that the results will be beautiful. thanks and good luck!
tasha
August 8th, 2006 - 8:27 pm
Tasha,
Hi! Thanks for your message. Best of luck with your bungalow project.
heather + dave
November 3rd, 2006 - 6:47 pm
please tell me who replaced the foundation for only $18000? My bungalow is one year older and needs a new foundation as well. any info would help. thank you
November 3rd, 2006 - 8:00 pm
Christian,
Hi. I just went back through all our escrow papers. The total cost including engineering and permits was $18,887.00. This was in August of 2002. I know the cost of cement and lumber has significantly increased since then.
EGX, Inc.
Whitecastle Construction
748 North La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90088
ph: 323.937.1660
good luck!
January 4th, 2007 - 11:41 pm
My boyfriend and I are looking at buying a home in the West Adams area. (But at the earliest our lease is up in August.) How much do homes go for in the area? Basically we’re both pretty poor but very handy. Is it possible to find fixer-uppers in the 300’s or am I crazy? Your website is very inspiring.
Thanks!
-Jessica
January 5th, 2007 - 12:58 am
Hi Jessica.
Most homes in West Adams generally start at prices at least in the 400’s and higher. That’s not to say that with some diligent searching, you couldn’t find a special circumstance or a smaller house in your price range.
Take a look at the website realtor.com (that’s how we found our house, actually) to get a sense of what house around here are listing for. Type in zipcode 90018.
Or contact a local realtor. Here are two that we know personally who live and work in West Adams: http://www.1912bungalow.com/archives/2003/08/realtor.php
Wishing you the best,
heather
May 10th, 2007 - 12:19 am
Back again.
So we found a home! Couldn’t afford West Adams, but found a 1910 bungalow around 47th and Western. Plan one is taking up the carpets. (Which supposedly have been protected by carpet for at least the past 20 years.) Did you hire someone to refinish/sand the floors or did you do it yourself? Do you have any suggestions for this process?
Yay!
Jessica
May 10th, 2007 - 7:58 am
Jessica,
Congrats on the house! We hired someone to refinish our floors. They needed to be patched and had been badly damaged in several places. We used:
Dror Menashe
phone: 818.705.8799
cell: 213.798.9097
He did a great job!
September 14th, 2007 - 6:22 pm
Your website has been an invaluable resource for me in the past two weeks. I’ve been researching the West Adams neighborhoods and have pretty much become obssessed with buying a home there. You have done an excellent job in exploring the realities of home restoration, warts and all, as well as some of the basics of the neighborhood. As difficult as it will be to pry my boyfriend away from the West LA neighborhood he’s grown up in, we both agree that an old home is the way to go. Thank you for helping me see what I’d be in for if I buy an old fixer. I see there is a house on Brighton for sale, (it’s kind of a cream color two story with hideous blue columns and windows). Do you know that neighborhood/house? Would you recommend it for first time homebuyers?
September 17th, 2007 - 9:35 am
Hi Kirsten!
I am not familiar with the house on Brighton, but as someone who moved to West Adams from the West side, I can honestly tell you that I have absolutely no regrets. The one thing I would do differently if I could go back and buy our first home all over again: Spend more money upfront to buy a house in the best condition I can afford.
We thought we would save ourselves money buy purchasing a fixer and we were worried about house payments, etc. The thing is, we ended up spending MORE money fixing our house up than if we had bought a nicer (more expensive) house.
September 17th, 2007 - 11:14 am
Hi Heather, thank you so much for the tip! We think we can save more money because we’re handy but I see your point: materials and outside labor are not free. And like you guys we’d have to live in our house as we worked on it. Growing up in a house my parents remodeled 3 times while we lived in it probably has not prepared me for a major restoration as much as I think. Thank you again for sharing your experience in your blog.
p.s. your pets are adorable!