One Year In: The Punch List

One year of home ownership has flown by quickly, but I can honestly say I have no regrets about buying a house. I love my historic shotgun cottage even with all its quirks. When I purchased, I ensured that my monthly costs in mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc. would not be much more than I was paying as a renter. Still, a house just shy of 150 years old can require some expensive maintenance. While not exactly fun expenses, it is much more satisfying to spend money on repairs, decorating, or upgrades knowing I am improving something that I own and not providing my landlord with freebies. If you walked in my house today, you wouldn't notice many changes from one year ago, but I have made some significant headway on my inspection punch list over the last 12 months. For those who haven't been through the buying process, the home inspector often provides a list of items that should be corrected either by the seller prior to close (if you are lucky) or by the buyer at some point (which was my situation). These fixes are rarely the types of projects worthy of their own detailed blog posts or impressive before/after photo montages. So here is a run down of what's been done in Year One:

Endless hot water in a tiny box!

• Structural work/foundation repairs, including replacing an old termite-damaged sill, encapsulating deteriorating brick piers, and properly shoring up the bounce beam and joists to fix several bad DIY jobs of the past. 
• Replaced the ancient hot water heater with a tankless system. This freed up more space in the shed, saves on utility bills, and ensures I never run out of hot water!
• Vented the bathroom exhaust fans to the exterior instead of having them blow into the attic. This was not the easiest project to figure out as it required multiple types of tradespeople.
• Fixed a burner on the gas stove that would not light. This just required a very thorough cleaning, which I was able to do myself. 
• Replaced the transmitter in a ceiling fan that was missing a remote. This was an easy DIY fix once I bought a ladder. 
• Removed the sloping/damaged concrete causing water to drain under the house (the impetus behind the FYI project).
• "Un-stuck" any windows that had been painted shut and scraped away paint from the glass. I'll admit, this is not completely finished as it is very time consuming. If only someone had used painter's tape...
• Completed an energy audit. My utility company, in partnership with the city, offers this for free to residents. (Check out EnergySmartNOLA for details.) The program also offers rebates and discounts if you meet eligibility and complete the recommended improvements. Here are the improvements I completed, either on my own or with recommended contractors associated with the program:
• HVAC system tune-up
• Duct work inspection and sealing. (Turns out one of my ducts was disconnected and blowing directly into the attic. No wonder my AC bills were so high in the first few months!)
• Weatherization around doors and windows
• Attic insulation - My attic had ZERO insulation when I bought the house. Thankfully, I was able to get a pretty significant rebate for blown-in insulation through the program. Now I'm at R-30. 

And then there were the surprise projects and repairs:

My new Toto

• Replaced a leaking and mismatched toilet in the back bathroom. I had no idea that buying a toilet for an old house was so complicated! I now know more about toilets than ever expected.
• Electrical panel/subpanel repair. I found out the hard way that the heater was installed on a subpanel that was not sufficiently large to handle everything on it. When the heat kicked on, a whole section of the house tripped. Thankfully, this was an easy fix by an electrician.
• Repaired a leak above the kitchen cabinets (fingers crossed). When the HVAC system was installed, they cut through the wall to install a pipe just under the gutter, but in doing so, they damaged the gutter. They also didn't bother to seal around the pipe. With $20 of supplies, my boyfriend patched the gutter and sealed up the gaps. Let's hope that stops water from intruding into the wall! I still need to figure out a fix for the damaged wall, but I want to make sure the patch holds for now. 

If I had to wager a guess, I would say the former owners of the house chose the cheapest bid for the HVAC install and didn't bother to monitor the job. I really hope that installation doesn't present any more surprises!

All in all, the planned repairs outweighed the surprises, so I can't complain too much. As eager as I am to replace furniture and decorate, I'm glad I've chosen to prioritize the true needs of the house in this first year. Of course, I didn't completely opt out of home decor upgrades. In the next post, I'll give you a tour and show you how things are looking one year in.