Starting the Rehab.

Finally made it. The drive was doable in two days by splitting it into 14 hours and 13 hours.  Only made a couple of stops to gas, bathroom, and grab a bite on the road.  When I arrived, the house was locked.  The lock box was still on the door, so I called the realtor to get the code.  He wasn’t around so left a message, went to the back, jimmied open a window, and crawled in.  Then did a quick walk around, and everything looked ok.

First thing to do was to establish a place for all the tools and supplies.  The carpet in the front room was dirty and had to be cleaned anyways, so that’s where everything went.  I didn’t want to leave anything in the car so took everything out and put it in the living room.  Then grabbed a sleeping bag, went up stairs to the cleanest room (which of all things was the game room), put down a clean blanket and sleeping bag on top and went to sleep.  Was completely exhausted and slept like a rock.

The next morning bright and early I went through the house again and made a plan.  Was going to work from the top down (dirt falls).  Starting upstairs and working my way down.  First room, the pink and green walls. 

Started by covering the floor in plastic.  Since the roof and trim where in good shape, the trim got a good washing with Simple Green and got masked off.  Then it was time to start scrubbing the walls with TSP.  I have always used TSP to prime paint since I was a kid.  It cleans all the hand grease and dirt, while etching into the old paint so the new paint can stick to it a lot better.  Mixing it with hot water helps cut grease.  Gloves go on the hands to prevent skin from melting.  And the rest is just good old fashion elbow grease.

So much has happened.  Think I have to break everything into smaller posts so it’s all easier to read.  And so will continue tomorrow…