Installing a New Septic System

Having to install a new septic as part of the purchase of this property was not something we considered lightly.  It is a HUGE investment and something we knew nothing about.  It is also a costly item to have done on a property, and we were lucky (and innovative) enough to roll it into our mortgage payment to have minimal out-of-pocket expenses.

The other important part of our property purchase and the necessary septic replacement, is that the sellers agreed to contribute some money towards the new septic as an incentive for us to remain the buyers.  They weren't contributing a lot, but it was enough to offset the cost of the soil perc test and design fees.

In February 2015 we had the perc test done.  It was 9 degrees that day and the first backhoe seized up because of the cold and the guys had to drive in another backhoe from a couple towns away.

The purpose of a percolation test provides information on the drainage capabilities of the soil.  Since a septic system is designed to have the liquid seep back into the soil through a leech field, the land engineer needs to show it's possible.  In this particular town, there is a lot of fractured shale in the ground surrounded by a clay soil, so we weren't expecting a good perc test.

In order to find a spot where they could dig down at least seven or eight feet, they had to dig around the yard and by the sixth hole, they were satisfied.

Bill getting a lesson on perc tests from John. 

So at the end of the day, we had a hole with the desirable depth and they were able to perform a percolation test.  They then needed to show the percolation test to the township in order to get the approval to design the new septic.  At some point before installation Mike and the design engineer actually had to go to a town meeting to answer some questions about the design.  But, we finally had our approved design and were just waiting to schedule the installation of the system after we closed on the house.

We bought the property in April 2015 and by the middle of May, work on the septic started.  They install the system from the "end" moving up towards the house.  So, that means that they install the leech field first, which is where the liquid leeches back into the soil.  Since our perc test was less than desirable, we had to pay for extra gravel and sand to create the proper conditions for a leech field.  Below you can see the beginnings of digging out for the leech field.

This was the day when a bunch of dump trucks had to drive across our lawn to the back of the property to dump the sand and stone for the leech field.

As they got closer, they had to install the tanks.  Our system is large because we have two houses sharing the same septic system.  So the system includes two septic tanks and one central pump tank that sends the liquid back to the leech field.  Here you can see the septic tank for our house and the pump tank right behind it.

And just on a side note -- having your entire yard torn up to put a septic system in is not for the faint of heart.  There were certain things that we were not happy about, like how all the dig lines were not seeded afterwards, so now they are all still visible in the yard, or how I had to badger the installer and designer to get a finalized map of everything.

But at the end of the day, the project is done and we can use the bathroom.  If we take care of it properly, this system could last for the rest of our lives...

Half Bathroom Facelift

The third important space on our second floor that desperately needed renovation was the half bathroom.  Of course if money and space was no issue, we would have loved to make it a full bathroom, but with the limitations of space (we tried and tried to figure out how to fit a shower stall in) and the changes that would have to be made in plumbing, we decided to do a "quick" facelift.  We adore the 1940s sink and medicine cabinet, so we kept that; and the toilet was fairly new and in good working order, so we kept that as well. 

After removing the awful pink plastic sheet of "tile," we discovered that the walls were pretty beat up and had some residual crusty 60 year old glue on them.  We had to make the decision whether to rip out the sheetrock (or at least he mid-century version of sheetrock) or to make do.

We also debated heavily whether or not to leave and refinish the rustic wood attic flooring or to cover with tile.  Since we wanted something classic and clean, we decided on this mosaic tile below.  It looks very impressive when installed, but it's much easier to lay out because it comes in sheets like these.

I've never tiled anything by myself, so I laid out all the sheets and marked where I had to trim the tiles around the toiled and sink.  Then I watch probably half a dozen YouTube videos about how to mix thinset properly.

Here you can see that we did NOT tile directly on the wood floor.  We put down a cement board sub-flooring.  To lay down all the tile it took about two and a half hours.  In hindsight, I shouldn't have started it at 9pm, but once you start tiling you cannot stop!

For the walls, considering all the glue damage, we decided to put up wainscoting and trim to achieve the classic look we wanted.  Mike is the carpenter, so he had the task of cutting all the trim to size and installing it with our finishing nail gun.  We originally bought the nail gun to make center piece planter boxes for our wedding, but it really came in handy for this project.  You can't use a finishing nail gun to put a roof on or frame a house, but for putting up trim it is perfect!

Next came paint and installing a toilet paper holder and towel rack.  The best part about the paint is that it was an "oops" can of paint heavily discounted from Home Depot -- we paid only $8 for an entire gallon.  Now to figure out what else to paint yellow with all the left over paint...

Below is a before and after picture of the project.  Total project cost for materials: $275.  Labor: free!

It should also be noted that we didn't have any of these skills starting out -- we really learned "on the job" and figured things out as we went.

Upstairs Bedroom

When we first moved in, we knew that in a few short months we would begin renovations.  One of the main goals of that renovation was to move our bedroom upstairs.  Initially, this bedroom was a stinky mothball room with weird stains on the walls and far too much laminate on the floors.

One of the features we really liked in this room were these cute white painted paneled closet doors -- very country cute.  However, the one thing we needed to accept was that all the beautiful trim was painted white.  Maybe one day we will replace all of the trim, but considering our timeline we decided to keep it as-is.

Obviously the first part was ripping up and out all the laminate floors to prep them for refinishing.

For months and months before we got this house, I watched far too many episodes of Rehab Addict and watched Nicole Curtis obsess over hardwood floors.  We were pretty certain we had hardwood floors throughout the entire house, so it's all I dreamed about for sixmonths it took us to close.

Even though there isn't any furniture in this picture, it's by far my favorite because of the floor/wall contrast. (*swoon*)  Also, I would recommend installing the air conditioner before you begin painting -- I did a lot of renovation work upstairs in my bra and shorts.  At least there's no dress code for this kind of work!

The day we got to "move in" to the upstairs was a special day because it meant that upstairs renovations were done and we could move down to the rest of the house.

Refinishing Tongue & Groove Subflooring

From watching too many episodes of "Rehab Addict," I was quite excited about finishing some hardwood floors.  The day after school ended, we started demo on the second floor.  We thought that taking up the tile and subflooring was going to take a long time, but honestly we had it all pulled up in about a day and a half.  (Thank goodness my brother came to help!)

Here I'm still in my pajamas and slippers.

Underneath the tile was wide plank tongue and groove attic decking.  It was never really "meant" to be sanded and finished as a hardwood floor, but the great thing about owning a home and doing your own renovations is that you call the shots.  This flooring was beautiful and rustic and exactly the character that we like to surrounded ourselves with.

Since the floor was never "meant" to be finished, all the boards were nailed in place using top nails.  And to run a sander over the floor meant that every single nail needed to be driven below the surface of the board.  With the help of some coffee and a good weighted hammer from the wood shop, we worked for about three hours just driving nails.

Because there was no previous stain or poly on these boards, we didn't need a heavy duty sander.  So we went to Home Depot and rented the buffer sander with some rather rough paper.  That combination did the trick of smoothing out the boards without being too harsh.  After a rough sand paper pass with the sander, I moved up to a finer sand paper to finish off the sanding job.

The first sander I had the pleasure of renting.

There's a clear difference, even with a light sanding.

The next step was staining, which I did by hand, with a rag.  After a day or so of letting that dry, I put on two coats of polyurethane (non glossy finish).  And, voila! the first refurbished hardwood floors in our new place!