About a year ago, I bought my first home, and it was in really rough condition.
I didn’t have a lot of money to spend, so I found a fixer-upper that suited my budget.
In order to afford the renovations, I handled most of them myself. Since I had never done any remodeling before, I made some major mistakes. I didn’t measure the new windows properly, and they did not fit into the frames. I didn’t accurately calculate the number of tiles I needed for the kitchen floor, so I ran short of them. One of the biggest problems occurred when I tore down the old plaster walls and ceilings. I bought myself a crowbar and actually enjoyed ripping down the big chunks of plaster. I took the walls down to the bare studs, so that I could replace electric wires, inspect the plumbing pipes and add insulation. Unfortunately, I was not careful and didn’t realize that there was also a duct system hidden in the walls and ceilings. I ended up tearing down a whole section of the ductwork by mistake. I discovered that replacing ductwork is not something I am capable of. Because of the damage I caused, I could no longer operate the furnace or air conditioner. I was forced to hire a professional HVAC contractor to replace a section of the duct system. This turned into a much bigger expense than I had anticipated, and slowed my project down considerably. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing, because the HVAC contractor noticed that the ductwork was in really bad shape. He sealed the joints and the numerous holes so that the HVAC system would operate more effectively and efficiently.