Summer school and other things

[Lothlorien]

Missy is loving summer school. YAY! She aksed if she could go next year! I have the morning free of drama! husband makes sure she's ready and off to the bus. I get up afterward.

She's taking that new medication (Adderall XR) which is still making her more agreeable (odd) and she seems able to concentrate better.


I went to C's house this week to clean. This is a monumental job. She wasn't a hoarder, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out why there were so many empty bottles and boxes of things. There was an empty pie box in the closet! WTheck? Funny thing is, she had a shredder, but there were credit cards, bills, insurance cards, EOBs, etc from the 90's and then some. I think she used the shredder for newspaper for the cat box and that's it. It's come in handy though. I'd hate to have to cut up all those cards and papers by hand.

C and S were heavy smokers. They never opened the windows. The walls are sticky from the tar or nicotine. The cat hair is stuck to everything. I washed the curtains and the water was brown. I asked C several times if she needed help cleaning and she said no. I don't think she cleaned since S died. S's room is perfect, but she kept the door closed to that room. The rest of the house was not good. I feel bad that I didn't just go and do it, but I didn't want to offend her, either.

 

[TeDo]

Anything "valuable" in those empty boxes?? I remember you're post about the engagement ring. It sounds like C might be getting senile. Either that or she's always been a hoarder and S managed to keep her under control when she was alive.

{{{{HUGS}}}} to you for doing this for C and kudos for sticking with it.

 

[Lothlorien]

Tedo, C passed away 2 weeks ago. We've been going through her things (and S's) and cleaning the house. We will most likely sell it in a few months.

 

[hearts and roses]

Loth I'm sorry I missed a post about C.

Sounds like you have quite a job ahead of you. When my uncle was placed in a home, my cousin had to do the same and he was a very heavy smoker and never opened a window. The walls and windows were thick with sticky tar.

Hugs.

 

[tiredmommy]

Do you think it would be easier to tear out the rugs and hang new dry wall? I used to use spic and span on my dad's walls when I lived with him, but I never could get rid of the cigarette smell.

 

[busywend]

Ok. My dad smoked in his house for years and the walls were dripping with brown tar. We washed them as much as we could and ended up paying a cleaning company to clean what we gave up on. Painted several coats and it kept bleeding through.
I bought a house that was in similar condition, but this time i knew better. Washed (with several dollar store stick mops) the walls with ammonia and water. Then primed with Zinzzner Bin paint, used in fire restoration. The ceilings had to stay only primer as everytime we tried to paint them white it bled through. Walls were better as i used colors (i like darker colors than most people) on the walls and they were washed. It worked great.

Glad Missy is enjoying summer school! What a relief!

 

[InsaneCdn]

I grew up helping Dad do renos...
Cigarette tar?
Best answer for carpets is... replace them. You can never get it out.
Furniture - re-upholster, including all the stuffing... might have to re-finish the wood, but it can be done "if it's worth the work".
Walls - if they have wallpaper on now, you can strip the wallpaper, and what's underneath is usually pretty clean (wallpaper absorbs it). If not... there are ways to clean it enough that specialized sealing primers can be used - and it will take SEVERAL coats of sealing primer.

Ceilings - just plan a mess no matter how you fix them!


Ceilings?

 

[Lothlorien]

We plan to replace the carpets. husband thinks that we can clean the two carpets that are still in really great shape, but I told him no way....we will limit the buyers if we do that. If you are not a smoker, the smell of smoke hits you the minute you walk in the door, professionally cleaned or not.

I have a Haan floor steamer. I'm going to do that on the walls, then husband uses TSP cleaner and that strips everything off. We use Bin primer next. It's like glue with paint in it. Then we'll paint. I will use a color on the walls, with a lighter tint of that same color on the ceiling. I won't use white, just in case.

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, dear, you've got your hands full! Sounds like you've got a good plan, though.

 

[Tiapet]

I wish we had summer school here. difficult child 2 was bored less then 2 weeks into summer and actually wishing school wasn't over. Of course school starts back up around 15th of August so now it's not to far off but still.

As far cleaning up cigarette smoke, on the walls try using Mr. Cleans eraser. It really does amazing things. While over all if you have a lot to clean it may be exactly cheap but they now make heavy duty ones that hold up longer. That thing is amazing!

 

[svengandhi]

Depending on what the floor underneath is made of, I would not put down new carpeting. If the floors are wood, sand them if they need it but if they have been carpeted for years, they might be in great shape. Carpet is one of those things that can make or break a deal. Bare floors on the other hand, especially in good shape, attract buyers who can visualize their preference, leaving them bare, using area rugs or carpeting but in their own style. H does real estate brokering and this is an observation that I have made in over 20 years of showing houses with him. It also saves you the money of buying new carpeting.

 

[Lothlorien]

It's subflooring Sven. We definitely need to replace the carpeting and padding. If it was hardwood under, we'd refinish the hardwood, for sure.

 

[svengandhi]

Too bad. Maybe you could look into putting down some of that new laminate flooring which really looks like wood. Even my H, who knows these things, was almost fooled at his cousin's house. I say almost because he knows she'd never spring for real wood so he guessed it was laminate. If we'd been in someone else's house, he wouldn't have been able to tell.

As for summer school, difficult child starts tomorrow. Despite a 740 verbal SAT, he managed to fail English and not graduate from HS. Hopefully, he'll enjoy it as much as Missy is.

 

[Lothlorien]

We have that stuff in our kitchen. I didn't want to put real wood in the kitchen, because of the kids and the dog. husband got these linoleum strips that fit together. It looks like a real hardwood floor. The strips are about 6 different patterns (of wood stripes). I am in the kitchen all the time and tile is just too hard. husband didn't want to do a regular linoleum, so we compromised on this.

I hope you difficult child passes his class so he can graduate. Ugh!

 

[svengandhi]

Thanks for good wishes for difficult child.

My linoleum is at least 50 years old and is now getting holes in it but we can't afford to fix it. I am planning to do the strips like you did when I can afford it.

"Fortunately" (not), my sons are saving me money by not going to college...