Author name: hunter@hlwimmer.com

Uncategorized

1243 Lancashire Dr. // Flip-flop

/

(or… When bad things happen to good Eichlers)

I've noticed a few things when photographing Eichler homes for the past five years: (1) How much I love my Canon G9 camera (even more than my much more robust Nikon dSLR); (2) How a little bit of effort in the wrong direction can make a house look passable at twenty feet, but reveal itself to be terrible at two feet; and (3) how the good bones of an Eichler combined with fairly decent photography amplifies the "passable" notion noted above.

Case in point: 1243 Lancashire. This house is a terrible flip (and I'll detail that below), but when editing these pictures, they actually don't look bad… but don't let this fool you. This is a bad flip in all the wrong directions — not just aesthetically, but functionally (and safety-based). Buyer beware. It's not unsalvageable, but it will take some effort — and funds.

This house was purchased a few months ago for about $330K and is now on the market for about $450K… with $120K, one could have done great things, but sadly, this is not the case here. The shortcuts that were taken combined with the already questionable state of the house leaves a buyer with a home that might look OK from a distance, but might be a headache later on.

First, let's start with the "stop work" notice pinned to the kitchen wall. That's always a good sign, right? It seems that every "update" to the house was unpermitted. Combined with some very obvious code violations in the house this makes for a very shady situation.

124301

…

1243 Lancashire Dr. // Flip-flopRead More »

Renovation // Transformation

Looking Back…

/

I'm helping a neighbor with a laundry-room conversion this weekend and wanted to see what we did on ours (it's been a while). I started going through old photos to see what I could find. Looking back, we've been down quite a road…

Old-den

Old-den

Old-den

Paint stripper and organic tomatoes — no big deal:

Old-den

Old-den

The front of the house was a forest:

Old-den

Old-den

We had to live in the garage for a week when the floors were laid.

Old-den

Demo party! (Christopher and Tim ripping out the old kitchen):

Old-den

When you discover that your bedroom wall is structurally unsound.

Old-den

Old-den

Old-den

Old vanity:

Old-den

Old-den

Old-den

Old office:

Old-den

Renovation // Transformation, This Modern Life

Pool Pix

/

On Monday, we passed final inspection on the pool… which means I feel a bit more comfortable writing about it. One of the side-effects of growing up in the American South is a predisposition for silly superstitions.

It's still an unfinished project, but having a final visit from the inspector is a good milestone. I have to admit, though, our inspector (Ron) was one of the most helpful folks in the entire process. Aside from the immense expense of the permit (a double-digit percentage of the budget) and the general anxiety of the process, it was generally good to see him so that I could ask questions, etc.

Oh, on to the pictures. Remember, the deck isn't finished and the white tubes in the ground are for the deck supports — worth noting, too, is that we took out quite a bit of concrete around the fire-pit, too… eventually, benches will go there. More pictures after the jump.

Pool_05

Pool_05

Pool_05

…

Pool PixRead More »

Renovation // Transformation, This Modern Life

Four Feet Deep

/

The liner went in today… woohoo — there's water in the pool (I can officially call it that now). I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the pump and filter system will hold water, so to speak. That will go live (or not) tomorrow.

Greg Ross of Vinyl Pool Systems came by to install the liner. It's the sort of thing I could do myself after seeing a pro do it, but I'm glad I had him stop by — it's the thing that you'll notice the most and it's nice to have it done right.

Next up: Deck…


Liner

Liner

Liner

Renovation // Transformation, This Modern Life

New Pool Plan: Update 8/11

/

Update 8/11

We have plumbing… well, more than that. We have a big hole, walls and plumbing. I've held off posting some of the in-process photos here, although my FaceBook friends have seen a few stages along the way. The yard is starting to look like a serious construction zone with random stuff all over: clothing, rags, duct tape, rebar… you know, the fun stuff.

A

…

New Pool Plan: Update 8/11Read More »

Renovation // Transformation

Bentley Electric

/

Today, Richard Bentley from Bentley Electric stopped by to install a new subpanel and hook up all of the electrical what-not in the pump-closet. I joked that I have more shots of people's backsides working in this room than most any other type of picture.

R4

Because of the nature of electrical codes and pool installations, things need to be installed just right (and by a licensed electrician), so this was not a good DIY job. Liquid-tight connections and bonding can get a lot more complex than just running a new lighting circuit.

Pictures of very neatly run wires are only so exciting (so I'll hold off) and he's not yet finished, but so far the job is shaping up to be as clean as Glen's work in the same location. Richard is this side of the Caldecot, so if you need electrical work in the East East Bay, give him a shout — while he can't seem to bring himself to give up his 510 number (510.367.9247), he's right here in the 925.

Renovation // Transformation, This Modern Life

Glen and Molly’s Front Door

/

Another front door install… and while they get a little blog-monotonous after a while, each is a little different and worth of pointing out a few things — and validating a few more things.

(Shameless plug: We've gotten pretty good at these and they're looking damn-fine. If you're in the market for a new door in the East Bay area, drop me a line… soup-to-nuts, these run about $900-1000 installed (depending on options) provided there's not a ton of reconstruction to do on the jamb).

D1

…

Glen and Molly’s Front DoorRead More »

Renovation // Transformation, This Modern Life

In Hot Water

/

As part of the pool install, we installed a wall-hanging, tankless hot water heater today… well, we didn't — Water Heaters Masters did. Casie discovered them through Angie's List.

We really didn't need a hot water heater, immediately — our old water heater had anywhere between 3 and 7 years left in it, but we're putting the pool equipment in the room, so (1) the space-saving will be nice, (2) we'll eventually need a water heater and pulling out the old tank over the pool equipment would be tough, (3) if we ever did want one, we'd have to upgrade the gas line (larger) and we already had a trench dug… so it just made sense to install one now and not have to worry about a hot water heater for another 25 years.

IMG_2495

…

In Hot WaterRead More »

Scroll to Top