The house is ours now

At the auction Thursday night and again during the walk-through on Friday, I was overwhelmed. I kept noticing all these things I missed before. I looked around and thought "so much work!" After closing, when we went back to what we can officially call "our house," it all seemed reasonable and quite doable. Funny how attitude can change with ownership.

In the first 48 hours, we have spent about $300 at Lowes/Home Depot and have successfully pulled up carpet in the living and dining rooms and hallway upstairs and most of the carpet in the basement. I'd say we have about 80% of the tack strips and staples out upstairs.

The basement is interesting. Its a small-ish rec-room and a decent sized bedroom. All done in 70s dark paneling. The carpet down there is so old the closet was built ON TOP OF the carpet. I was thinking about doing stained & polished concrete as the flooring down there; however, we had a rude surprise under the ancient carpet. 12x12 vinyl tiles circa 1968. My alarm bells are going off that its probably asbestos based tile. The good news is that it does not appear friable. But, I'm thinking taking it out and polishing the concrete would not be the most environmentally friendly process. I believe out best bet is encapsulation, just not sure how. I;m thinking 1x3 sleepers and then subflooring to allow for moisture ventilation. I'm not yet sure what to put on top of the subfloor.

And speaking of flooring, I want real, honest to gosh, linoleum for the kitchen. Its harder to find than one would think. Armstrong makes a real linoleum, but the one I have read most about is Marmoleum. Marmoleum is not available in this county, while the Armstrong website tells me I can get it from Home Depot. Wanna have some fun? Go ask the folks working in your local Depot flooring department for linoleum. Just try it. When they take you to vinyl, insist you want real linoleum. Explain that its a renewable material made from linseed oil. If your Depot is anything like the two I went to, they look at you like you grew a second head.

We're buying a house today

In about another 3 hours, we will own a house again. Then we get started with our massive plans.

We went by last night for the seller's auction, hoping to pick up some good, used yard stuff. We didn't get too much, but we did get to see the inside of the house for the first time in a month. Its a bit overwhelming seeing it now. And since it was on the market, the dog has peed on the carpet several times. Make us wonder how many pee spots had been steam cleaned out while it was on the market. This is a bit annoying since our master plan included reusing the carpet that is over the hardwoods. Now seeing it in this new light, we are thinking that might not be the best plan. We have cats and they won't be happy with other animal pee smells all over their carpet. This could lead them to try to mark it themselves (not that they have ever peed on carpet before). And its just gross. So yeah, now we have to add in new flooring for the basement into our budget.

Well anyway, the good news is we will own a house. And we will spend the long Memorial Day weekend ripping up carpet, seeding the dirt field that needs to be a lawn (must be grass due to septic), and formalizing the rest of our master plan.

Future topic list

The closing on our house was delayed a few weeks for installation of a new septic system. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Its good because we know we will have a new septic system designed to newer codes and taking advantage of knowledge learned over the past 40 years. Its bad because the previous system has been slowly failing over the past 5 or so years. A failing system is very bad for the environment. So it has likely been polluting for years, and this makes me sad. But the good news is that it was caught and will be fixed. And we won't be paying for it!

So in the mean time, I'll give you a list of topics I am researching:
1) Bat Houses
2) Rain Barrels
3) Wooden Hot Tubs
4) Composite decking matieral
5) Bay Wise Landscaping
6) Pet waste disposal

Architectural Salvage in Baltimore

Today we spent the bulk of the day checking out a couple of architectural salvage stores in Baltimore.

First, we went to Second Chance Architectural Salvage. This place is GREAT! It was five warehouses of salvaged materials and antiques. Additionally, they funtion as an outlet from the semi-custom cabinetry company Yorktowne out of Red Lion, PA. You have to hunt and peck, but that is half the fun. After today's preliminary look, we will be going back to look for bathroom cabinetry, and possibly new doors for our ugly kitchen. They had hundreds of unstained cabinet doors (buy one get on free on Tuesdays). It will take several hours, but I think we can find enough to update our dated light oak cabinets with arches panels. I'm thinking a light cherry stain and painting the existing boxes and trim black.

Warehouse 3 was Wirenut's favorite, as it had mostly new materials, factory seconds, and slightly damaged new stuff. I preferred to wander through the historic materials in warehouses 1 and 2, plus all the furniture in 4 & 5. We have discovered that we are polar opposites when it comes to the value of antiques. Oh, and if you are in the market for a set of old theater chandeliers and have a spare $20,000, this is the place to go!

After Second Chance, we headed over to The Loading Dock. This store was much smaller and was mostly not-so-great stuff. Wirenut commented, "if I pulled this crap out of a house I was working on, it would go straight to the dumpster." This lead to a discussion of saving stuff from landfills, but, frankly, he was right. Beat up pressboard/melamine cabinets and rotten lumber made up the bulk of their inventory. The tile wasn't too bad (and much better priced than Second Chance), but overall we decided it wasn't worth the drive and the membership fees.

We also stopped off in Little Italy for some lunch at Della Notte. In my question to find the best gnocchi, I rate theirs at a 5. Kind of disappointing since it was expensive and highly rated. Donald Trump even ate there! My favorite gnocchi is still at a tiny place by the side of I95 in Lorton called Gennaros. If you are ever driving on I95 in Northern Virginia, I highly recommend getting off at exit 163, turning right (both north and southbound exits), and look for the little restraunt in the Comfort Inn parking lot and across Silverbrook Rd from the gas station.

Happy Earth Day

I just calculated my eco footprint. It came up as 20 acres, but I only have 4.6 acres. Ug! The biggest problem is lack of public transportation and my love of a good hunk of beef. Not that I used public transport in DC. My "living in DC" footprint was 22 acres. My overall commute has gone down, but I am traveling more.

More on septics - specifically ours

During our home inspection, the septic system backed up, indicating some problems. We asked to have it pumped, repaired, or replaced. Last Friday, we went out to meet with the seller, the seller's agent, and the septic man. We got a detailed "Septic 101" lecture from a man who married his wife in a port-a-potty. He found some roots in the main pipe leading from the tank to the drainfield. The guy with the bob cat was going to dig up and replace the pipe out to the drainfield.

On Saturday, we got the call saying the drainfield had problems, too, but not to worry about it. We have not further details, other than there is a problem with the drainfield, they will be remedied, and closing will be delayed. As of now, we do not know when we will close, but we hope to hear more tommorow.

We see some bright points to this
(1) they let us know immediatly
(2) they volunteered to fix it
(3) it looks like we will be getting a brand new septic system out of the deal. So we should be good for another 40 years.

13 Things About Septic Systems

The house has a private sewage treatment system - a fancy name for a septic system. Although I have lived several houses with septic systems, I have never be the property owner. Wirenut, on the other hand, has never lived with one at all. So we have been doing a lot of research on them. Here is what have learned:

1) The lifespan on a concrete tank is about 50 years (ours is 23).

2) For two people who conserve water, it could go 20 years between pumpings. It is, however, better to pump at least every 5 years.

3) Septic systems contribute to groundwater, which can be useful during times of drought.

4) Trees and shrubs should not be planted in the drain field, as their roots can cause the drain field to clog and fail.

5) Nitrates are the biggest pollution concern with a properly operating septic system. According to the Chesapeake Bay Journal, "In Maryland, the Office of Planning has calculated that — on average — 65 percent of the nitrogen that leaves a septic drainfield reaches the groundwater, and that 75 percent of the nitrogen reaching the groundwater ultimately reaches surface water." Nitrogen pollution is a big concern in The Bay, and since we are within the watershed area, this is a concern for us.

6) There are newer septic systems that can reduce nitrogen levels, but they are generally only installed in new systems. It will cost a lot to retrofit an older system, so its generally acceptable to wait until it fails and then upgrade to the newer systems.

7) Phosphorus is also a byproduct of septic systems and a concern to water quality, but since it tends to bind to the soil, its not a large concern.

8) Bacteria and virus can also flow from the septic system into the ground. After years of use, a "bio-mat" forms and removes these pollutants. Our septic system is almost 40 years old. I think we have a bio-mat.

9) Never use commercial additives in the septic system. Despite what they say, they are bad for the organisms that live in the tank.

10) Garbage disposals are not good for septic systems. If you use one, you should pump the tank more often. In our county, garbage disposals are against code when you have a septic system. Wirenut is very uphappy about this point. It will force us to compost more.

10) Septic systems are happier when your sump pump and laundry water is not pumped into them. Too much water coming in at once can flood the tank, causing the sludge to run down the pips into the drain field. This is bad. These should go into a drywell. But, there are phosphorus concers from that too. This demands more research by me.

11) The tank is pretty gross. My father fell into one once. I hope that never happens to me. I hope Wirenut never falls in either.

12) Its not good to have a "laundry day" when you have a septic system (assuming the washer empties into it). This can flood your tank, which is a bad thing. So we will have to spread out our laundry. We will also have a front-load washer. Since these use a lot less water than top-load washers, this will reduce the water loads.

13) A septic system is a temporary solution, albeit a 50+ year long one, to a permanent problem. Someday, it will need to be replaced.

Summary: Having a septic system is not a bad thing in general. It requires more homeowner maintainence than a public system, but it also makes the homeowner more aware of their impact. The environmental impacts of a septic system are really not that bad. Yes, you are releasing nitrogen into the groundwater, but this can be controled in new systems. You are replenishing groundwater, which is a good thing. And public sewer systems dump waste water into our rivers and streams at a single point. Like anything, there are tradeoffs. But after doing this research, I believe the septic is not the horrible environmental polluter I feared, and with a little water convervation and awareness, it no worse than public sewer. It puts us in control of our waste water pollution, rather than our impact being clouded by whatever other crap our fellow citizens flush down their drains.


sources: Wikipedia, Chesapeake Bay Journal, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Michigan State University Deparment of Agricultual Engineering, Thomas Miller with the MD Cooperative Extension Office.