The money pit

We bought our house 2 years ago and everything should have been fine.  There was a house inspection, although we didn't do it, another potential buyer paid for it and then their contract fell through.  I regret not doing one ourselves but would it have changed anything?  The inspection said everything was fine and a few things were fixed.

After we moved in things started to go wrong!  The day we signed the paperwork, Jason and I were enjoying the deck.  We were outside when a neighbor asked us if we knew where some water was coming from that was flooding their backyard.  We said we had no idea but it couldn't be from us.  I looked over the rail and wouldn't you know there was a flow of water running from under the house.  I am sure the previous owner knew of this issue as they had a hose laying in the front bushes that looked like it hadn't been used in years.  Also, someone had to turn the water on before we moved in.  I'm sure they did it to pretend they didn't know anything about it.  So now we have no outside water.  =(

We called the insurance company that we bought and they sent someone out.  They couldn't do anything so we paid the guy $60 for nothing.  He said to fix the issue we would have to start drilling into the concrete slab the house was sitting on.  Well, that will have to wait until we win the lotto I suppose.

That year we had awful rain here in Maryland.  We started to notice that one of the windows was leaking when it rained hard.  The french doors in the family room also started to leak from underneath the bottom. How did the home inspection not catch this stuff??   We later had several contractors come out and they all agreed that the windows were installed incorrectly.  The previous dummies had bought some crappy window from the store, then put wood slabs around the window to make them fit.  They never caulked or anything around the windows after they installed them.  So all of our windows would eventually leak. 

The bathroom shower also had a leak that went unnoticed by the home inspection.  We noticed that after every shower the floor was getting wet and ruining the wood baseboards.  Could anything else go wrong??  We had someone come out and regrout and rehang the shower door.  Still leaked.  We then put all kinds of tape and plastic in the shower thinking we had a hole in the bottom of the stall, still leaked.  So after all that, we determined it was the caulk.  We needed a high grade caulk that would flex and bend when the shower was in use.  Problem fixed for the time.  We will eventually need to change the grout so we will be in the same boat soon. 

Let's see....soon after that the other main shower door started to leak.  They of course, had installed the shower door incorrectly.  It was just running from the end right onto the floor.  We ordered a new door online, wow what a chore to find one that was the same size, they don't seem to make them that small!  Jason was able to install a new door in the end and we now have a functional shower again! 

We had an attic fan installed soon after we moved in.  That helped a lot with the upstairs getting too hot in the summer.  The day after we had that fan installed we started to smell a sewer smell.  We called the company to see if they interfered with the bathroom exhaust and they thought maybe it was an issue with the seal on the toilet since we only smelled it from the 1/2 bathroom.  So now we have an issue with the toilet.  Jason would later rip up the toilet only to find that they installed the wax ring incorrectly.  It wasn't properly sealed.

We also had a ceiling fan installed in Lena's bedroom because her room gets so hot for some reason.  It just seems to be the hottest spot in the entire house.

So soon after all the above issues our ceiling fan also crapped out on us.  Now we need a new ceiling fan in the master bedroom!  Wow, Jason has had his work cut out for him, he has learned how to fix just about everything!

What else could go wrong you ask, let's see...   One day while I was cleaning the bedroom bathroom sink, I dislodged the putty that they had holding the drain in.  Now the water was leaking out of the sink and onto the floor.  Why would someone ever put putty into a drain in the first place?  It appeared that they were trying to put some sort of drain in but there were holes on both sides of the drain which they just filled with putty instead of buying the correct drain. So off to Home Depot we went again!  We bought a real drain and installed it, no putty needed!  wow.  So after a couple months we realized that we didn't buy the correct drain and it didn't have the hole for the overflow drain.  So back to Home Depot and we bought the right drain!  Still didn't have to use any putty.

A few months ago, we had a slow leak in the master bathroom toilet and decided to fix it.  Jason bought the new parts and fixed it right up.  A few days later I looked up at the kitchen ceiling and noticed a dark stain.  The bathroom toilet was leaking!  So once again, Jason ripped up the toilet to find that the wax ring hadn't been installed correctly.  Due to the problem we had it wasn't noticed because the toilet never flushed properly.  Now that it was flushing right it was leaking all over the ceiling.  Ugh.  Why did the previous people try to fix things when they absolutely had no idea what they were doing.  Oh and when Jason was fixing the toilet the tank started to leak.  Now back to Home Depot for a new toilet tank! 

And how did I ever forget to mention the awful front door???  The door was made out of metal and we get direct sunlight in the morning.  The door would get flaming hot and swell and shrink with the weather.  One day I was on my way out for work and I couldn't get the door to shut!  Jason had to take the middle hinge off for the door to shut.  It has acted up several times since then too! 

I think I just about have it all now.  One more thing that has crapped out on us was the light in the hall closet.  All of a sudden it stopped working and we had to buy a whole new fixture and replace the old one.

Oh wait.  I just remembered, all of the closet doors are also installed incorrectly in this place.  The kitchen closet door was broken and would swing wildly around.  Thanks to Tigger throwing her fat body up against the door, she broke the wood and we had to install a new door.  The hall closet door track also went bad (?) and the door fell off the track and we couldn't open it anymore!  How does that happen??



So, did I get everything?  Let's review:

1.  New doors (front and deck)
2.  New windows
3.  New drain in bedroom bathroom
4.  New grout and caulk in bedroom bathroom
5.  New master bedroom ceiling fan
6.  New bedroom ceiling fan
7.  Attic fan
8.  New wax ring in 1/2 bath
9.  New wax ring in master bath
10.  New shower door in master bath
11.  New toilet tank in master bath
12.  New lightbox in downstairs closet
13.  New bifold door and track in kitchen
14.  New hall closet track
15.  Still broken - no outside water!  

We should have taken before and after photos of everything.   Maybe we should call Holmes on Homes.

Wow, when you list it all out like that.....what a money pit!!  I definitely got ripped off.

 Oh, we would be happy to take donations for the outside water if you have some extra.  ;)

Big girl bed

So the time has come and we have switched Lena to her big girl bed.  Her crib actually turns from a crib into a day bed then into a full size bed when she is a little older. 

We switched the bed a few days ago and so far it is going really well.  The first day she played and played with her new bed.  She got in and then out and then in and then out again and again.  That day she had a harder time getting to sleep for her nap but she eventually did.  Getting to sleep at night went great.  She was read a book by daddy and then asked for a kiss then went right to sleep.  The next morning she woke up and knocked on her door to let us know she was ready to get up.  What a cutie!  The morning after that she woke up and yelled "daddy" to let us know she was ready. 

She isn't ready for potty training just yet but at least this part will be taken care of when she is ready! 

Birthday

Lena's birthday was on May 15th and she turned 2!  I thought and thought about what I was going to make her for a cake.  She really likes the bubble guppies but they don't have party supplies in bubble guppies yet.  So I did an Elmo and Sesame Street theme.  I made an Elmo chocolate cake and Elmo yellow cupcakes.  They looked great!

Jeni and Patrick came over for Lena's birthday.  Lena took a late nap that day so she was sleeping when the Gabella's arrived.  She woke up soon after and had a meltdown at seeing new people over.  We ate outside and Lena clung to me like a little monkey.  She warmed up pretty quickly and was playing ball with Jeni in about 1/2 hour.  We decided to eat our cake and cupcakes later and sang the Happy Birthday song which brought on a new round of tears.  I tried to hold the candle over to Lena to blow it out but dripped wax on her leg.  She now is afraid of the candles.  Bad mommy! 

After eating we went inside and opened up her present.  We got her a Princess vanity with a keyboard.  She loved it.  She played and played until she went to bed. 

It was a great birthday (aside from the wax on the leg).  Lena knew exactly who was on the cake and cupcakes which was great!  She loved the party!