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When you're in the middle of a remodel project that is going to cost a few 10's of thousands of dollars (exact figures coming soon, hopefully, stay tuned), saving a few hundred dollars here and there might not sound like a big deal. But it is. Two recent savings.

A fellow was selling a couple of one-year-old (but hardly used) "turbo flush" toilets. He had paid $450 per toilet ($350 retail plus $100 shipping due to no retailers on the west coast), but sold them to us for $300 total. We saved $600.

A couple days ago, another fellow was selling spools of Romex wire he had acquired at an auction. We bought two 1000-foot spools of Romex 12/2 interior wire for $400. Total. About 1/3 of retail.

So, yes, this remodel is going to be expensive, but God is providing in the little ways. Yay!

By the way, I will try to put up pictures soon of all the mold loveliness.

It's been a while since the last update, and we've gotten a bit done.

Over the past three weekends (we tooks the 15th off for our anniversary) we've accomplished the following:

• Taken out the remaining cabinets and the buffet in the kitchen, and all the sheetrock is off the walls.


• The upstairs bathroom is completely bare: all floors and sheetrock are out.


• The entire laundry room has been stripped, including the ceiling. All the cabinets, sheetrock and 95% of the floors have been removed. I'm still trying to get up the bottom layer of linoleum off the the concrete.


• Removed some 2x4's from the downstair's closets to make the closet doors larger.


• Taken all the soft furniture out of the garage and thrown it in the dumpster, due to the fact that cleaning the cloth and cushions of the mold, mildew, and allergens would not have been possible.


• Still working on trying to get up the linoleum in the hallway and office.

So, we think we'll almost done with the gutting part, but aren't sure. I'd like to pull off the rest of the sheetrock. I'd also like to rewire the house due to the old wiring, but also due to the crazy circuit layout (for instance, I'd like to take the dish washer and garbage disposal off the furnace circuit. Yes, that's the way it was wired. Yes, that's a code violation). We'll also have to replace the piping because when the house froze up, the pipes either burst, or the solder joints popped. We'll probably have to pull off all the downstairs ceilings (or at least most of them) since we have no idea where the pipes go for the outside faucets. And even though we've removed the ceililng in the laundry room (under the kitchen) we still have no idea where the pipes for the kitchen are.

The other issue is financing. We went to talk to a lender the other day, and well, they can't lend us money for the project because they want to appraise the house before they lend. Which we can't do since the house is pulled apart. Well, they said, just "seal it up," (meaning put up sheet rock, paint that and the floors), and we can get it appraised. There are two problems with that: 1) we need money to "seal it up," and 2) we'd have to tear it out again because there are things we want to do in the walls, like new electrical wire. There is also some insulation we'd like to replace due to water damage, in addition to probably replacing all of the interior vapor barrier.

So, right now we're really depending on God for the finances. Yes, we were before, but after the meeting with the lenders, it really drives home the point that it's Him that's going to finish out this project.

So, keep praying. We'll keeping working, and praying, and we'll get this thing done.

This past Saturday, June 2, Izzy and Beth Vonnahme helped me tear out more of the house.

The first thing Izzy and I did when we got there was move a 4.5 foot cast-iron tub out of the downstairs bathroom and up a flight of stairs. That will wear you out in a hurry. Shortly after that, Beth arrived and removed the counter, cabinets, and toilet out of the upstairs bathroom while Izzy and I finished removing the floor from the downstairs bathroom.

We then proceeded to the kitchen. Since these cabinets were built and installed on-site, there was going to be no elegant way to remove them, so we had fun with a sledgehammer. The counter itself, as well as the sink was saved, though because the Formica counter was simply set on the cabinets, not secured to it! And guess what! There was mold behind the cabinets that were on the floor! Surprised?

So, the "gutting to-do countdown" is as follows:

1. Rest of the kitchen (the buffet, closet, and cabinet over buffet)
2. Laundry room
3. Upstairs bathroom floor and walls
4. Laundry room (floor, cabinets, and probably walls)

We'll be working on the 9th, but taking the 16th off for our Anniversary (June 14).

Last week (May 26), Izzy and I spent most of our day tearing out the downstairs bathroom. A couple of fun stories before I mention the point of this post.

1) When I went to remove the cabinet above the toilet, one of the screws would not back out. So, as with many things, the cabinet was removed by brute force. I noticed the aforementioned screw was rusted about 1/4" from the end. When we removed the wall, we found out why: that particular screw had gone through the sheet rock and into the sewer pipe behind the wall. It didn't matter that much, since a sewer pipe isn't pressurized, but it might have leaked moisture into the wall cavity behind the wall (which happened to the area under the stairs).

2) When we pulled out the bathroom counter/cabinets we found a classic case of "Doin' what it takes to get by." The area behind the doors on the counter (center section) was painted, but the areas behind the drawers (which you would never see) was not. Nor was the area between the counter and the wall (side of the counter). So, we had (even more) fully exposed paper-on-sheetrock. And yes, much more mold.

Needless to say, the "inside" (stud side) of all the bathroom walls, as well as the walls opposite those walls, were covered with "3D" mold. Fun.

But as to the title of this post: when Izzy and I pulled up the floor, we had to stop half way because the 4.5 foot cast-iron tub sat on the other sheet of plywood (2x6 elevated floor under which pipes were run). The tub drain would not yield to any tool I had, even one I had bought to remove the upstairs tub. What did it take? Going to Lowe's and buying a tool like this. That drain came right out. Amazing how easy things are when you have the right tool.

Even in the midst of the, at times, rather discouraging process of gutting and rebuilding the house, God still supplies and provides. Last Saturday (May 26) Crystal and I "happened" upon our local Sears having a sidewalk sale. I say "happened" because we weren't planning on going there. We were at a store next door, and Sears was having a sidewalk sale, and a local church was doing a donation only hot-dog fundraiser. So, yes, the food was the draw. As we were wondering around the merchandise, after drooling over the very nice 1/2 price Kenmore Elite refrigerator, what should we discover but a brand-new five-burner gas cooktop. Did this gas cook top have a 25% discount? No, more than that. 50% maybe? No, amazingly enough, it was marked down to less than one-third of its original $990 price. $270, to be exact. Since we had to tear out the kitchen anyway (more on that in an upcoming post), we're already lined up for a kitchen remodel. And now we'll have a beautiful cooktop to go with it.

If you find any good deals on stand-alone ovens, let us know!

A couple weeks ago, one of the individuals helping us gut our house referred to our project as an "onion project." That is, the more layers you peel back, the more you find needs doing. That feels so true.

So, it seems I'm a couple weekends behind on the updates. Here we go.

Last weekend (May 5) Jason, Izzy, and Bill helped us tear out more walls. The master bedroom had everything below four feet from the floor torn out (on the exterior walls), the wall between the guest bedroom and office came out, and Bill started tearing out the downstairs bathroom. Yes, we found mold pretty much every step of the way. Izzy pulled up all the carpet tack on the stairs.

Last Wednesday (May 9) I spent a few hours cleaning up sheet rock, and also tore out the wood paneling/sheet rock below the picture window in the living room. The mold there was almost as bad as as wall between the office and the bathroom.

This weekend (May 12) saw everything below four feet from the floor torn out in the second bedroom along the exterior walls. Flori agreed to the tedious (and knee-crushing) job of removing carpet-pad staples from the upstairs floor. (Thanks Flori!) After Izzy worked on some final cleanup in the bedrooms, and tore up most of the downstairs bathroom's floor, we proceeded to tear (almost all of) the bathroom out. The walls came off, the counter and cabinets are out, and the ceiling is off (taken off last week by Bill). The amusing part was the three layers of linoleum we found. The not-so-amusing part was the amount of mold. The walls behind the drawers, and next to, the counter/cabinet units were not painted. Thus, moisture had free access to the paper on the sheet rock, and had taken full advantage of it. Once the wall next to the door was off (which was moldy front and back, even worse on the back: think 3D mold), there was mold as bad, or worse, on the opposite wall (the back of the hall wall). There was also mold visible on the back of the stair walls, as well as the back of the laundry room wall. If this keeps up, we might not have any walls left down stairs. In better news, most of the studs seem solid and mold free.

As for the pipes, there were three separate joints that had come loose behind the bathroom wall due to the freeze-up. And the sewer pipe had a hole in it from a screw used to hang a cabinet in the bathroom.

So, the project continues. Stay tuned for more.

It's time for another update from the wonderful world of the Kugler remodel.

We got a lot done yesterday, but of course still have quite a bit more to do in the way of tearing out. Our dumpster is probably about 2/3 full now.

All the wood paneling that was in the living room, upstairs hallway, family room, guest bedroom, and office is off the walls and out in the dumpster. It's what we found under the wood paneling that was the most interesting (or revolting, depending on one's perspective).

In one word: mold. More in some places than others. Under the windows in the living room there are panels of sheetrock with quite a bit of mold on it, and will have to come out. The wall between the family and guest bedroom downstairs had enough mold on it (on both sides) that the entire wall (save the studs) has already been torn out.

The worst mold infestiation, by far, has been the office. In general, the reason the mold has been so bad was simple physics and biology: 1) the previous owners vented their dryer into the house for 13 years, 2) wood paneling on sheet rock creates a very tight airspace; once the moisture in there, there is no airflow to remove the moisture or dry it out, and 3) mold likes paper, period. In the office, this problem was exacerbated for two reasons. First, the wood paneling was installed over wallpaper which covered the sheet rock. Second, the office shares a wall with the downstairs bathroom. It appears that one end of the wall in the bathroom was broken through from the office side (apparently for tub installation) and never repaired, so there was no effective vapor barrier between the bathroom and the office wall. Combined with the wall paper, what we had was, effectively, about as ideal a mold incubator as you could get. The wall paper in that corner of the room was so molded that it looked and felt like parchment paper. Pretty gross.

In other news, the kitchen floor is out, and it looks like a minimal amount of repair will be needed on the subfloor (pending inspection by qualified personnel, of course).

We will be doing more work on May 5th, and would welcome any help. There is plenty to do. Carpet tack strips to tear up; padding on the stairs; more moldy (or otherwise needs-to-be-replaced) sheetrock to tear out; tear out fake "bricks" in the kitchen; probably tear out the tub in the downstairs bathoom; removing linoleum in the laundry room, bathroom, and downstairs hallway and office. And just general cleanup. Bring tools, and a respirator if you have one. We'll provide particle masks if you don't.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend a good, honest, plumber, forward his or her name our way. We need one of those due to a few compromised pipes.

Last Saturday Crystal, Izzy, Rebecca, Fred and I went at the house and got quite a bit done. All the carpet and padding is out (except the padding on the stairs). The linoleum (all four layers of it, plus the rotten sub-floor) in the kitchen is almost all out. Some of the wood paneling is out, and yes, we did discover mold on the sheet rock behind the paneling. As a plus, so far all the insulation behind the paneling looks OK.

On Sunday, Izzy, Crystal and I spend some time at the house putting all that stuff in the dumpster we got Saturday evening.

A big thanks to Fred, Izzy, and Rebecca for their help.

But there is more to do. We'll be going at it again on Saturday, starting at 10:00AM. We have more paneling to remove, and some more linoleum to pull up. We'll welcome any help offered!

Crystal and I are almost done getting everything out of the house, and we're going to be ready to gut the house this weekend (the 21st). We'll be tearing out carpet and tearing off wood paneling. We'll even have a dumpster out front to complete the party.

So, if you like tearing things apart, drop us a line! We'd love to have help! You can e-mail us here.

I had mentioned previously that I thought our abundance of water in the furnace and laundry room was due to a pressure relief valve on our water heater giving way. Seems it was not the case. As I discovered later, even though I closed the water main as tightly as I thought I could, it was still slightly open, and water was still leaking out the pipe rupture just beyond the main valve. So, that mystery solved.

Remember the 1/2 inch or so of ice in the laundry room? Well, when we fired our heater back up, all that ice melted, and that water needed somewhere to go. And go it did, over the already soaked hall way carpet, right in to the office. Where we had books stacked. Oops. Thankfully, we didn't lose anything important.

We're pretty much convinced the previous owners had ferrets (the major cause of Crystal's and Jonathan's congestion). The down stairs--especially the family room, which got a fair share of wet carpet too--reeked today from all the moisture and whatever pet stuff was in the carpet. Great smell.

A bit of good news. One of the wood panels in the family room had pulled away from the wall due to all the moisture, and what should be found behind it? Clean, pristine, sheet rock. If this pattern holds for the other walls and rooms, it will greatly reduce our remodel cost. Woohoo!

If you go look at your water heater, it will probably have a little valve on the side connected to a pipe that goes down to the floor. That's a pressure relief valve: if the tank ever acquires too much pressue (steam, over filling for some reason, etc) it's designed to let go and release water rather than compromising the tank. Apparently it also works if the water tank freezes up.

As I mentioned yesterday, we had an inch of water (or so) in our furnace room, and about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water in our laundry room (and out into the hall). I couldn't figure out quite where all that water had come from. While the pipes did freeze (more later) there just wasn't enough water in them to cover that much area (I'm pretty sure). While water may have leaked from the outside (the wall was wet near the bottom, but that was probably from the puddle inside: the wall around the chimney was dry), it does appear the valve on the water heater tripped.

As to the pipes bursting, a pipe in the upstairs bathroom probably burst, a pipe above the hot water heater appears compromised, and the pipe right after our water main enters the house froze. So, an interesting situation. We'll have to see exactly how much of the floor and walls we get to rip up.

It started out that we thought we needed to rebuild the house. As other posts have shown, it might just be a remodel. When our chimney liner collapsed, causing our heater to stop, and freezing the house, I thought we may have escaped broken pipes since water leaked into the tub down stairs.

I might have been wrong. In the past couple weeks it has really warmed up. Our water is off, thankfully, but it appears pipes leaked. We went to the house tonight to get some things, and discovered water in the laundry room, and out into the down-stairs hallway, some icicles in the down stairs bathroom (not sure which pipe leaked in the up stairs bathroom), as well as about an inch of water in the furnace room.

So, what I know or think I know right now:

1. Water has leaked in from outside (the "well" around the chimney has water in it)
2. It appears that possibly the water heater leaked after it thawed out.
3. A pipe in our up stairs bathroom leaked.
4. A lot of repair is going to have to be done, and a lot of walls torn off.

Well, God is in control. "For I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him." Just pray for us...we need it right now.

[For more information and back-story on our remodel saga see our original page about the rebuild/remodel as well as other posts about the rebuild.]

Last Wednesday (2/28), I stopped by the house to pick up something (shampoo, of all things). When I walked in, the house felt rather cold. A thermometer confirmed it: the house was at a balmy 20 degrees. The heater had stopped running. Thankfully, one of the tubs had leaked, relieving pressure on the pipes. We don't think any pipes broke. The water is now off, and the two valves in the house that had not frozen are open.

Investigating in the furnace room, it seemed that the airflow out the chimney had been stopped or restricted, and thus the heat had shut down, but not before blowing an decent amount of soot into the rest of the house (this is a forced-air furnace).

So, time to call a chimney repair person. He came out Saturday (3/3) to take a look. Within about 20 minutes, I was back over at the house because there was nothing he could do. The entire inside of the chimney had failed (liner failure) and there was no airflow through the chimney. The only thing to do: replace the entire thing. We're currently waiting on a quote from from Patrick at Alaska Chimney Service.

The cause of failure? Improper repair by the previous owner. As Patrick was investigating the cause of failure, he found that a hole in the portion of the chimney exiting the house (before the ninety degree joint that turned the chimney vertical). This hole, instead of being repaired, was instead covered with heavy tar paper. This hole then allowed large amounts of moisture to enter the chimney and eventually cause massive liner failure. Not only was this repair very dangerous, it was also illegal (against code) and the house never should have been sold with this repair in place. We wil be investigating our legal options with this one.

This afternoon the two engineers we originally had inspected our home came over, looked around, and made their recommendations. Since their experience is based on (among other things) inspecting homes for many years (sometimes the same homes as they are sold again later), their advice carries a lot of weight, and it is advice in which you can have a degree of confidence. What it amounts to is that we may not have to do as much as we previously thought. Tearing out the carpet: yup, still doing that. Tearing out the forced-air furnace: might just be able to clean the ducts. Tearing off the walls: doesn't sound like we'll have to; might be able to seal them up. If budget allows, we would might replace the wood panels with sheet rock.

But the bottom line is that it sounds like we may be doing less than previously thought. Praise the Lord!

Thanks to Jon, Jackson, Izzy, and a bunch of heavy lifting, the furniture is out of the house. Yesterday, we moved a stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, a matress, box spring, a bedframe made out of 2x8's, three couches, a washer and dryer pair, an upright freezer, two (heavy) entertainment centers (long story), four book cases, a heavy filing cabinet, two computer desks, a dresser, two lamps, two night stands, and a partridge in a pair tree. I was sore at the end. Not sure about the others. But now we can pack up the rest of the house (books, miscellaneous stuff) and start tearing up the carpet. A productive day. Thanks to all that helped!