When my husband and I relocated to South Bend, Indiana, we purchased a fixer-upper property.
This allowed us to afford a better location and larger piece of property.
The house was in really bad condition but provided a solid structure. The floor joists and wall studs were square and sound. Unfortunately, just about everything else needed to be repaired or removed and replaced. The windows were single-paned and many of them were cracked. There were holes in the walls and no insulation. The roof leaked, and there was a great deal of water damage. In several rooms, the ceilings were falling down. The electric system did not meet local safety codes and the glavanized plumbing pipes were badly corroded. The water heater was rusted and none of the appliances were salvageable. We had a lot of work ahead of us and needed to complete a considerable amount of the project before winter. In South Bend, the weather turns cold very suddenly. The temperature quickly drops below freezing and readings in the negatives aren’t unusual. There’s also a tremendous amount of snow. The annual accumulation regularly tops five feet. We worried about the ability of the roof to support the weight. We had concerns with water pipes freezing and ungodly high energy bills. There was no way the ancient ductwork and furnace could handle demand. Although we had hoped to handle the renovation ourselves, we decided to hire some professionals for the speciality jobs. Brining in an electrician, plumber and HVAC contractor helped to move the projects along more quickly. My husband and I concentrated on the roof, the floors, walls and ceilings.