On Oct 5, 8:16�pm, PB2 wrote:
Hi,

Thank you all for your useful responses. A few comments:

1) Yes, I would love to buy a house where the work is already done. If
I could have spent some more money to get a house where everything is
new, I would have gone ahead and done that. We weren't able to find a
house that met that criteria (or the ones that we did find were too
expensive). To be fair, this house is completely liveable as-is, just
dated (c. 1983 when the house was constructed)

2) I appreciate the gravity of time and cost required to undertake
these projects. My hope was that we could get these projects completed
for $80K-$100K and that the work would be done by the end of January
(leaving ~3 months for the work). �Please go ahead and correct me if
these numbers seem completely off.

3) Here's what we specifically plan to do:
- Kitchen: New cabinets, appliances, counter-top, and floors. Not
structurally changing things, except that we're moving some electric
appliances around (refrigerator moves to where the dual-oven is,
countertop stove replaced with a range/oven/microwave and placed where
the refrigerator is). We're thinking mid-range quality.
- Bathrooms: 2 bathrooms, each 8x8 - completely replacing everything
and ret-iling, but not changing where things are
- Walls: Lots of wallpaper around the house (which we don't like), so
removal and repainting.
- Hardwood floors: Sand and refinish (we'll do at the end, as
recommended)

4) We stopped by Home Depot today and according to them, they have
general contractors that are a) reliable and b) affordable. Any
thoughts on that?

5) Size vs # of bedrooms: Yes, it's strange. The bedrooms are large,
as are the family and living rooms.

6) I hear the comments about slowly doing the work. We have a 15
months daughter who has severe food allergies. Not having a kitchen
for a few months would not be tolerable, hence the desire to complete
the work before moving in. We could probably wait on the bathrooms,
but the thinking is that some of the bathroom work could go on in
parallel.

Thanks,
PB

lots of people set up a temporary kitchen in say a basement with a
existing wastub as a sink, a hotplate for cooking microwave and
fridge. inconvenient but livable.

home remodeling tends to uncover new unknown issues that can add
months to repairs and thousands to costs.

rather than everything at once, better to do a floor or are at a time.

have a friend who bought a camper, set it up in yard and lived in it
while major woir was going on.

currently all our 1950 hardwood floors need refinished, my wife has
asthma, and we have dogs.

we are looking for a cheap camper for use during the floor project
perhaps next spring.

do odors cause troubles in your family?