5963 PL - the story
The story begins when we bought the house, on 11-1-81.
But everything was fine, for a long time.
On 10-1-95, my husband and I were separated.
In 8/97, we divorced.
But everything was still fine, for a long time.
He gave me the house.
Fall, 2005:
Dampness in the living room wall.
Roof leak?
My contractor recommended checking the gutters, as a first step.
New gutters installed, 10-17-05.
Then, in 12/05, my sump pump and my hot water heater shorted out, and this story really starts.
They had shorted out due to dirt falling onto them from outside my home, because the plywood board there, underneath my foyer, below the concrete front steps, had rotted away.
I immediately took out a $15,000 home equity loan, which I'm still paying off (down to about $8,000, now!).
Also, on 12-23-05, I started my company, Catalyst, a business advisory service specializing in start-ups and
turn-arounds.
My last termite inspection had been fifteen years previously, but it had been fine.
No one thought that maybe I should get one, now:
not the insurance company's structural engineer
not the insurance company
not the credit union that gave me the home equity loan
not the general contractor who I hired to do the repair
The repair was extensive, from the plywood board in the hot water heater room, under the foyer, up through a new floor for the foyer, and replacement of rotten trim, all the way up to the roof, plus the gutters were re-hung, to hopefully prevent further water damage.
Next goal: regrout the bathtub and shower in the two bathrooms.
Otherwise, water would run through the walls.
But, I couldn't afford it.
So I had to stop using them.
Since then, I've just washed up in the kitchen.
Two years went by.
The trim began to rot, again.
Also, I began to incur heavy fines from my homeowners association due to garden supports I had put up.
I removed the ones in my front side yard, but kept the ones in my side yard, next to my house.
Also, on 7-20-07, I started my company, the Potting Shed, to help me with regard to the fines from my homeowners association.
The garden supports were to help me grow food, which I needed.
Financially, I was on a very tight budget.
Another year and a half went by.
Now I could see water damage on the inside of the house, along that corner, in the living room. It was new.
My external home inspection service told me that the trim had rotted out due to termite damage.
The general contractor referred me to a roofing contractor.
The roofing contractor put on a temporary patch, and took a picture of it, for me.
Because he didn't take a "before" picture, only an "after" picture, I asked another roofing contractor to look at it.
The second roofing contractor wouldn't do a roof repair until after termite treatment.
Termite treatment, 2-6-09.
Shortly thereafter, I was fortunate enough to be stopped on the street by a Fairfax County real estate tax assessor, who was looking for a street address. She and I talked, and she encouraged me to call the real estate tax office, and request that my home be assessed at a lower level, since so much repair was needed, including the work needed in the two bathrooms.
A real estate tax assessor visited my home, and has been working with me ever since. Not only did I receive a refund of part of my real estate tax payments, for the prior three years, but also the real estate tax assessor discussed my home in detail with me, and encouraged me to just do one thing at a time, and complete that, before going on to the next thing.
She was also supportive, and even encouraged me, with regard to doing my repairs on a pay-as-you-go basis.
She and I agreed that a structural inspection would be next, to find out whether the sagging floor in the kitchen was caused by termite damage.
Structural inspection and initial report, 7-1-09.
Termite damage confirmed, with regard to the plywood board under the foyer. The sump pump may have been shorted out. However, the hot water heater is still operating, and I've covered both with an immediate make-shift covering of a black plastic trash bag. That whole repair, with the possible exception of the foyer floor, will need to be redone.
The sagging floor in the kitchen is not being caused by termite damage, though. Instead, the kitchen floor is sagging due to "the holes cut into the joists for the ducts" being in violation of "manufacturer requirements with respect to both size and location".
Per the structural engineer's recommendation, my next goal is to have poles put in underneath the kitchen and upstairs bathroom. It will be $1000, and, since I'm sending the real estate tax money into my Potting Shed escrow account (5963 PL sub-account), 100/month along with my regular monthly payment, I won't be able to have it done until late February/early March, 2010.
Termite re-inspection, 9-9-09.
No termites, but evidence of mice in the garage, due to the renter's things not yet being fully cleared out (I'm having to do that, myself) ("Any time you have things stored like this, you have mice.").
Full house and yard pesticide treatment, 9-16-09 (not from the real estate tax money).
This also took care of an ant problem that I had had, in my dining room/kitchen.
The pest management company thinks I will only need to have the house treated, in the future (they think the yard was just a one-time thing, to help with the house treatment, outside of the house), but my goal is to keep my home completely pest-free, as well as termite-free...
I continue to work to clear out the garage.
Further termite treatment efforts needed:
remove the tree at the corner of my house
put in tightly-abutting flagstones all around the house, next to the foundation
Removing the tree will be my next goal after the poles are put in, downstairs.
Solar:
Just as an extra thing, now I have two friends, in Hawaii, who also believe in the "pay-as-you-go" thing, and who are helping me go solar.
The first one has set an initial goal with me of purchasing two elapsed-time meters (not from real estate money) to put on my hot water heater, so that he can help me measure how and when my hot water heater comes on. I will be able to purchase those later this month (two months of saving up for them).
The other one thinks my first step should be to replace my 27-yr.-old refrigerator, and then purchase two or three "Kilo-What?" meters, so that he can help me further analyze my appliances. He says to reduce my energy consumption before going solar, to help the solar be able to handle the (reduced) load. Those expenses aren't funded, yet, but I'm trying to cut back on how much electricity I use, by turning off my computer and other electronics when I'm finished using them, and every night before bed, and this month my electricity bill is lower - lower even than my budgeted electricity allocation, so I can pay off a little more of previous borrowings from savings for electricity payments.
Dominion Power says that, so far, of all the reverse-running meters they have installed on homes in Virginia, not one has, so far, ended up at the end of the year earning money back (it's averaged over the course of a year). My goal is to be the first one!
My overall goal is to develop my home as a test lab for the Problem-Solvers SIG (shared-interest group), a group of Mensans who want to use whatever intelligence we may have, to help solve problems in the world around us. My two friends in Hawaii are both Mensans.
Also, Mensa has something called the S.I.G.H.T. program (Service of Information, Guidance and Hospitality to Travelers), and my goal is to develop my home into a combined Problem-Solvers/SIGHT home (one of the two Mensans I mentioned, in Hawaii, is the national SIGHT coordinator).
Plus, I have a query in, to the Arbor Day Foundation, to see if they might be willing to be part of this (they are more experienced, plus I want to develop my yard, especially my backyard, into not only a backyard habitat (National Wildlife Federation) but also an oak-hickory forest (a globally-rare type of forest, found only in Maryland and Virginia). It will have a hazelnut bush understory (and I've already begun spraying for poison ivy, which otherwise would thrive in that habitat).
temporary boarding put in, in the hot water heater room, 11-17-09
Needed for the elapsed-time meters:
an electrician to install them
the electrician can also look at the sump pump, to see if it has shorted out
(money for the electrician to come from regular budget savings for purchases,
the same way the elapsed-time meters were saved up for)
This is the story of 5963 PL, so far.
Thanks very much for listening,
and for everyone's help,
I really appreciate it,
Pat
