When I first read this my brain interpreted it as "razing the house". I couldn't figure out why you were doing all the work if you thought you might tear it down. It took a moment to figure out my mistake.

I'm interested in the house raising as well. Is it like in the Keys, where the house is up on stilts, or more like a foundation of some type (I'm thinking cinder block?).

In either case, keep in mind going up and down all those stairs as you age. Best of luck.

It is on a slab. They can (and do) do this.

I'm not really sure. I think I have the option of raising it just above the flood elevation but that would leave unusable space under the house. I believe you could build up the driveway and still be able to park in the existing garage. I think one option is to raise it high enough to create garage space underneath. One of the houses down the street has been raised really high, which looks like they are adding parking space AND another floor of living space.

If we did this we would probably go with option 1 or 2 because doubling the living space means doubling property taxes, plus we just don't need a bigger house. If we did lift it, we could convert the existing garage to living space which would be more than enough room for us.

It's all just speculation now anyway. I seriously doubt that this sort of "improvement" ever gets paid back when we sell. Doing it would just mean we intend to live here for a long time, which we haven't decided on.

hehe

Kitchen countertops are in!

The guys that installed them were real pros. They had them measured perfectly and they dropped right in. They cut the holes for the outlets and sink on site. I couldn't find even the littlest thing off.

The dishwasher was a little challenging. I ended having to get a longer water line because of the new cabinet configuration.

The drain hose connected to the disposal was not compatible with the one on the dishwasher. I tried a lot of things that I had in the garage to try to get them connected properly but everything I tried leaked. Ended up buying a connection adapter that did the trick. I really need a longer drain hose but this will work.

Super happy with how it all came together.

Buddy says hi.

happy your'e happy with the result bb
you've waded through enough siht recently to deserve a break

I like the Hoosier! We used to have one that looked a lot like yours. Had to get rid of it when we moved because we'd have no room in the new place and didn't want to haul it across the country.

My wife loves it. It's been in her family for a long time.

It survived the flood with flying colors. You can't even tell it was in water. It's really well built.

It's pretty amazing how much stuff she can put in it.

Gotta laugh at this one.

I ordered some drawers and put them together, but it was missing a part. I called and it was pretty easy to get a replacement. However, it hasn't gotten here so I decided to click on the tracking number to see if it might be on the way.

The tracking number says it was delivered on the 11th. It even has a picture of my house.

I ordered it on the 12th.

Figure that one out.

My doors came in last week and I've been procrastinating. I've never put in doors that weren't pre hung. I struggle with the pre hung ones so I'm really nervous about doing these. Just being off a little causes problems.

The doors are every bit as hard as I expected. I have three hung and it's taken about an hour and a half each. Routing the spaces for the hinges is challenging because i just don't have a steady hand. They are ok i guess as long as nobody looks at them. Every door so far has been at least 1/4 " wider than the opening. I guess that's better than the other way around. I've had to plane each one.

I don't have the right size hole saw so hardware will have to wait.

Making a huge mess that I'd better have clean before my wife gets home.

Are you freehanding mortising the hinges? They make kits for that, I wonder if they rent them at Home Depot?

Mortise kit

Yeah, I'm freehanding it. I saw those things but I thought it was for doing by hand/chisel. I wasn't sure how to fasten it if I use a router blade, and what it would do if the blade hit the jig. I really didn't look into it much.

They're easy to use. Then the only chiseling you have to do is the corners.

I did the 2 pocket doors today. I was really dreading it. I wasn't sure if I could just replace the slab. Turned out to be way easier than the regular doors. It helped that I had the old ones to line up the hardware. Much easier than I thought.

Kitchen looks nice. Like the contrast from the countertops to the cabinets.

GL with the doors going forward.

Thanks!

Doors are finished! I sort of messed one up a little but I can live with it. All in all not horrible but it's still not my favorite thing.

We ordered the cabinets for the bar area. Hopefully that's our last big expense for a while.

Put in trim around the doors i just put in. I still need to get 2 bifold doors before I can finish up the trim.

Things are coming along.

My next project is the master bedroom closet. I decided to buy a couple sets of drawers and I'll build shelves around them.

I bought 4 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood that was sanded. I cut them and we put edge bands on the edges that will show. It wasn't too hard. You just iron them on but the pieces were long and it took one of us to guide and one to iron. Came out pretty good.

We'll paint them and put the vertical pieces and top shelves in and I'll come back and put the rest of the shelves in later.

how much of this was covered by insurance?

Zero.

f

Well, that was a decision we made 2 years ago. The cost of insurance is astronomical here. We figure it's cost us about three years of what we would have spent on premiums and there's no guarantee we would get much of anything for a claim. There are so many stories of people not getting anything or very little.

Our biggest loss was the cars and we both got paid some for those through our car insurance.

Closet finished. I'm really happy on how they turned out.

bb, do you think it's likely you'll just have to redo all this stuff again in 3 years?

You got some FEMA money didn't you?

That closet looks awesome. Great job.

Yes. And they signed us up and paid for our next 3 years flood insurance with a national group plan. I don't know much about it. I need to research it.

Thanks. It's nice when a plan comes together.