Next Door: A Tale of Two Fences

When Steve and I partnered with my parents to buy our next door neighbor's house, we'd lived next to our neighbor Seth for eight years, and he'd owned the house since 2001. He was quiet, odd but nice enough, and did very little work on the place. The roof was replaced recently (which we discovered was likely due to a large leak we found evidence of in the house) but that was about it. We knew there'd be a lot of deferred maintenance. A LOT of deferred maintenance. 

Back Fence

The back fence was thoroughly coated in vines. The vines were encroaching on the house, and also harboring lots of vermin. Since Steve and I had tackled a virtually identical situation on our house's back fence, we knew what to expect, but it was still a tremendous amount of work.

The tangled mass:

We were lucky to have some eager helpers. Well, Jack was eager to help Grandpa by gathering the chopped vines. Henry was more eager to dance.

Behold! The dilapidated, termite-ridden fence beneath the vines: 

We were also fortunate that my parents brought up their truck to haul away the plant matter and old fence in at least four separate trips to the dump. What a mess.

And what was beneath that old fence? More fence! Jack shows off the revealed chain-link fence:

And then the blessed time arrived to turn things over to the professionals who had built our back wall years earlier.

Foundation and rebar for the block:

Block going in:

Skim coat on:

Ta da!

Because of a bit of an elevation change between the two properties, continuing our four-foot block wall meant that the block portion ended up a bit taller next door.

All that brush clearing revealed some really nice brickwork, which we'll be able to make into a pleasant patio area.

Side Fence

The side fence separating our house from next door was also vine covered and infested with various vermin.

Look at the size of that varmint!  

The first thing Steve did was remove a few boards to allow us to go between the houses via the backyard.

Henry feasts on the eve of the fence's demise.

Tastes like...

... VICTORY!

Before, the view from our backyard:

After:

Before:

After:

Before, the view from next door: 

After:

Alas, there were casualties along the way:

Digging out the vine roots was an unpleasant task, but with Steve taking on the job in his usual inexorable way, the ivy never stood a chance.

4 Years, 9 Months

The boys got some exciting mail this month: knit stuffed animals from Aunt Jenny! 

The boys were very excited to realize the she'd picked their favorite animal in their favorite color.

The boys' preschool sent pictures home in frames the boys painted.

Henry:

Jack:

Jack doesn't take his mask off for anybody.

Jack is our resident dawdler, often lost in thought and generally distracted. When I was pestering him on one particular morning to get moving, he told me he couldn't because, as he very solemnly put it, "I can feel the earth spinning."

Henry got tired of waiting for Mom to set up a puppet theater, so he did it himself:

For this next section, I'm going to mix in some pictures from back in March that I didn't get around to posting. 

While pulling in the trash cans back in January, our next door neighbor casually mentioned to me that he was selling and moving to Florida, and that he'd be putting his house on the market in the coming weeks. Steve and I had always joked that if that house ever came up for sale, we should try to buy it. And thus commenced the mad dash to put together a deal and financing. 

With my parents going in as partners and providing the down-payment and Steve's mom contributing to closing costs (which of course we hadn't saved for since we had no idea we were going to be buying another house), we were able to get the deal done. We closed on the purchase February 19th and took possession the first week of March (after our neighbor was able to get transport for his cat Princess out to Florida). 

At 890 square feet, the next door neighbor's 2 bed, 1 bath house is a tad bigger than ours (which is approximately 860 square feet). With the houses combined, we now have a much more livable yard and room to do everything we didn't have space for in our little place... like have guests!

Having lived next door to our neighbor for eight years, we knew that very little work was done to take care of the place and that there'd be a lot of deferred maintenance to deal with. Since Steve and I really enjoy working on houses, this was actually a selling point. You can't beat an 8 foot commute to your project house.

Henry makes note of the free houseplant in the front bedroom:

Henry gets to work cleaning: 

The dirt doesn't stand a chance.

Then, my parents arrived to really kick the rehabbing into gear.

They brought along just a few things:

Among the tools, supplies and furnishings for the new house, there were also Christmas presents, since we were unable to get together for Christmas due to the pandemic.

Jack delights in the year-in-pictures book Aunt Brooke put together:

The boys give their best dino roars to show off adorable origami dinosaur ornaments from Aunt Brooke and Uncle James:

I help the boys open their magnet building sets from Grandma and Grandpa:

Then it was time to get down to work. Jack helps Grandpa load plant debris into the truck:

More to come on the fence and plant removal in the next post.

For some reason, Grandpa is doing all the work on the plumbing (for an eventual utility sink) while we all watch:

Dinner break!

Jack (always super excited when Mom is taking pictures) and Grandma:

Henry and Grandpa:

We all took an exciting trip to Ikea to pick up things for the house. Henry's favorite item (which we did not get) was this pet bed:

I guess we shouldn't have spent money on an actual human mattress for him.

My parents helped us make tremendous progress and get a lot of things kick-started. Steve has been plugging away as time allows... which is slow going given the full-time job and the whole twins running around thing.

I think the boys' favorite thing about owning the house next door is that they now can each have their own garden hose in the backyard.

The new house was home to a horrible fig tree. It dropped fruit all over the sidewalk, which got squished under the feet of passersby, making the sidewalk slippery and rotten-smelling. It dropped fruit all over the street, making parked cars sticky. It had not been cared for, so it was a strange shape and was pushing over the picket fence. Steve made me a very happy person by taking a chainsaw to the thing and digging it out.

In the now open space, the boys worked hard to clear the weeds and prepare for the eventual new tree: a dwarf lemon.

Of course, there's still work to do on our garden. The boys plant mini-pumpkins in our raised planter beds:

Back to next door, in an effort to block the rodents that had free reign under the previous owner, Steve systematically searched for ways the rats and mice were getting in, just as he'd done at our house years earlier. Here he fills a large gap behind the siding: 

There are other bits of damage and neglect scattered throughout the house. Here, a door between the back bedroom and bathroom doesn't look quite right:

The damage was exposed when Steve started poking at a small hole, and found that he was able to peel away chunks of wood from the door with his hands.

The likely culprit was water sitting on the top of the door, either from an old leak or from years of showers in a bathroom without a proper vent fan. Installing such a vent fan is on the long list of things to do.

During one of many visits to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for supplies, Steve found a power-reclining loveseat that looked nearly new for only $50. Presto, a place for guests to sit in the living room!

The boys feel it's more suitable for wrestling than relaxing. I'm not sure why they don't understand how awesome it is to put your feet up and just do nothing. I guess that's just my dream for a perfect afternoon.