Housing

We have finally decided on the housing situation. For a while we had the notion of updating our current house with new windows, insulation, maybe tear out a wall or so. You may remember the post a while back where we had photos of the ceiling and floor that we tore up. Well, when we tore into those spaces we discovered some shoddy building practices. This house is over a hundred years old and I doubt it was built to last this long.

So, we started thinking about other options. Most of them included tearing down the house and rebuilding something in the same place. The problem with that is that we would then need a place to live and store our crap for 6 months. Then my boss had a brilliant idea. Tear off the roof of our garage, add a second story and make the garage the house. The garage was built 5 years ago, so we know it is built well. (Cause we did it) So we talked to a couple of builders and others in the know and they said it was doable. We have been talking to a local builder who has done some alternative and energy efficient building. We have a game plan and hope to start in a few weeks. We plan to use used materials, fewer materials, and local materials as much as possible.

Our proudest score happened last week. We were in Cleveland for Kent's high school reunion. There is a Habitat for Humanity Restore near his parents house. Restores sell new and slightly used building materials. We bought 13 used Anderson windows for $200. They had been in the store for a month and the guy wanted them gone. This will almost completely supply our house with windows.

I can't say enough about Restores. They are found all over and have great stuff. If you are building or remodeling, you are sure to find something to use.