Spring showers... and heating pipes.

the rebuilding phase...

so, the destruction seems to be over. Walls are being built, showers and baths installed, woodwork replaced... and we actually get to put some boxes into the house on saturday, all being well.
The Parlour floor is up; it's being prepared for fresh wood and wall board.

a week has passed...

and there are holes everywhere. In the trim, walls, floors etc. The plumber patched roughly 55 split or burst pipes, and the house looks terrible as a result. However, it's up to 63 degrees and holding, and I think some of the warped wood is beginning to settle down. The Parlour floor is totally ripped out, and we're down to plywood. Patches of drywall and ceiling will need to be replaced, and the Dining Room ceiling is probably too far gone to be patched. There are at least nine separate holes in it, each 6-12 inches square, caused by the search for one elusive leak or another.
The furnace was kaput and needed to be replaced, as were all three toilets and the two vanities. The downstairs bathroom has a 'Lavatory Pedestal' (ie, a 'bathroom sink' to those in UK) and that seems to have escaped damage from the big freeze that ruined everything else. The toilet damage was 'subtle' - there's a water-filled trap in the pipe below the toilet bowl, and when the water freezes it expands to explode the trap and render the entire thing useless. You can't see the damage until you remove the toilet and invert it (don't try this without a qualified person at hand).
With a new more efficient furnace, a new high-efficiency water tank (called a 'Superstore') and all the repairs we spent just over one-third of our total budget this week. The only unexpected costs (so far) will be the new toilets. Let's hope for a slower rate of expenditure and no more surprises when work resumes tomorrow (today we got another foot or so of snow, and so we didn't get out of our digs...)

time to start work...

so, Monday at 8am I meet the contractor, Paul, and our plumber - because the first big problem we need to fix is the heating system. Let me explain...
When houses in the frozen North East US are vacated for any length of time, they have to be 'winterized' - which means drained of water and with electricity switched off - so that nothing untoward happens. Well, this property has been empty for at least a year but was not winterized, and so the unthinkable happened - the water in the pipes and radiators froze and they all (slowly) exploded!
Ok, here are the first two "inside" looks at the house. In them, you'll see 1) me standing in the kitchen (a Gourmet kitchen with a massive local granite countertop, of which more later) and 2) the lovely Dining Room window and seat, one of the features that made this house stand out from the many we saw all over Hillsborough County.

Today's the day!

Finally! the day arrives... closing has been arranged for 10.30am. It's been a while coming, and frankly I'm really looking forward to starting work. First trip, we'll drop off some tools from the U-Haul and a car load of boxes... and a couple of heaters, to start thawing the place. more later...

hurry up and wait...

so the latest news is that we'll close on the 20th of February. The insurance can't be a regular policy because the contractor will be at work for a month or two, and we'll move in sometime during that period. That held the process up by a few days. Then a query came up about needing Building Permits (I had already ascertained we didn't need them, but the Mortgage Underwriters wanted to query that). Of course, if the damage that forces us to repair pipes etc extends to the furnace, replacing that will require a permit. Similarly if we add anything new to electrics, infrastructure, each addition requires a permit. That inquiry caused the latest (and I hope last) delay. The bank (which owns the foreclosed property) and the Title Company (where the closing will happen) are both taking Monday off - it's what, back in UK, we call a "Bank Holiday'. Ho hum.
Still, as the contractor pointed out, we're slowly heading into warmer weather, so this means less money heating the place from its current state... see these pics with the snow I mentioned earlier!

Having returned from a conference in Chicago, we find that the closing has been delayed a day or two at the Underwriting stage. Hopefully nothing that will cost us too dearly (there's always a threat of penalty for this kind of delay).

Anyway, here are a few outside pics to show you what we're dealing with.

Being in New Hampshire, of course, our first job will be to remove the vast quantities of snow that now lie on and around the house. You can get in with a combination of big boots and a strong constitution, but the contractor, plumber etc will need more encouragement.

Next will be the repair of the heating system, which suffered terribly. Every single pipe has burst nor split.