Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.
March 18, 2008
There is nothing more satisfying than making a big decision – like whether to buy a house – and just knowing that it’s the right decision. It’s something I can gauge with my gut, my trusty woman’s instinct, and the fact that Roger feels it too? That’s called confirmation.
After researching the removal of popcorn ceilings and then meeting with a host of general contractors, asbestos abatement companies, home builders and remodelers, we’ve decided to buy the house.
When I think about it, my stomach flutters and my mind races with a list of changes we want to make so that the house is exactly how we want it to be. I think to myself: I can’t believe we’re this fortunate, that we get to own a home in this particular neighborhood. I would sleep in a cardboard box if it meant I got to live here, I love it so much. And I can’t believe we got it for such a low price – even considering all the updates needed – or that we lucked into locking in an interest rate not long after it dropped, and just minutes before it started rising again.
Yes, there are reasons the purchase price is low: the popcorn ceiling needs to be scraped, the kitchen appliances are the original mustard color from the 1970s. But even with the changes we're planning, we’ll still come out ahead. We’re confident about that.
When meeting with the asbestos abatement companies, several different contractors independently told us we could do the job ourselves. Of course, they’d be happy to do the work and take our $10,000 for scraping 2,000 square feet of ceilings, but if we were on a budget, we could do it ourselves. It was something to consider, they said.
One of the contractors told us, point-blank: “If you were my brother, I’d tell you: This is a great house - buy it! I don't want to minimize the seriousness of removing the popcorn asbestos carefully, and you certainly can hire us to do the job, but the issue of removing the popcorn shouldn't be a deal breaker for you." He explained exactly how to prep the house, how to remove the ceiling, how to protect ourselves from the dust and how to get the same results his company would get for us. Then he told us he'd rent his air scrubber to us for only $200/week. He said, "If you were my brother, I’d even offer to come help…but, you know. You’re not my brother.”
[Note: An air scrubber is a massive fan that churns through the air and literally “scrubs” it clean. The machine is fitted with a triple-HEPA filter (the same HEPA filter masks that we’ll be wearing), which catches microscopic dust particles with 99% accuracy. The machine we are borrowing is capable of cleaning 2,000 square feet of air in one hour, so we figure if we leave it on for seven days straight, it’ll do the job. But we’re not stopping there! After we’re entirely finished with the project, we’re hiring an air quality hygienist to come take samples of the air in and around our home, just as an extra precaution. Obviously, we’re serious about clean air. And pretty ceilings.]
We plan on following the abatement contractor’s instructions explicitly, and I will create a how-to post when we remove the popcorn so that you, too, can benefit from his expertise.
All that is to say that we’re buying the house, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! (Well that, and I’m also already planning our massages. I figure we'll need them once we finish scraping the ceilings until they’re as smooth as a Southern drawl. We are in Texas, after all.)
Comments
Congrats!
Of course, I am devastated that you won't be moving to SF anytime soon. But so it goes. I'm happy for your new abode!
Posted by: abbersnail | March 19, 2008 01:04 AM
Yay for big decisions made! I bet you will be really happy once all the work is done and over with. Think of the stories you'll get to tell!
Did you ever think of asking your parents to adopt an abatement contractor?
Posted by: Lia | March 19, 2008 06:56 AM
That's great news. I'm glad its all going well for you.
I'm curious. Why scrape it . It looks like it's a sheet rock ceiling. Why not just take the sheet rock down instead of scraping it and put new sheet rock up?
~Jef
Posted by: Edge | March 19, 2008 08:02 AM
Wow $10,000? And you'll have some seriously spiffy shoulder muscles after it's all said and done.
:-)
Posted by: Jayleigh | March 19, 2008 08:15 AM
Being the research hounds that we are, Roger and I have considered multiple scenarios on how to remedy our popcorn problem.
If we were to simply rip out the drywall ceilings throughout the entire house (including every closet), all the blown-in insulation in the attic would fall out.
As do-it-yourselfers, after the additional clean up we would have the added expense and headache of using a drywall jack and trying to install sheets of drywall on vaulted ceilings in the living room and dining room and the additional cost (about $800) to blow 15 inches of new insulation back into the attic.
We figured it would just be easier (and less expensive) to scrape the popcorn.
Posted by: chirky | March 19, 2008 10:56 AM
Congratulations! Good luck with Project: Popcorn Walls Begone.
Posted by: Moose | March 19, 2008 11:23 AM
Congrats!
Posted by: brid | March 19, 2008 12:35 PM
SO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS!!!! YES! YES! YES!
And I will help scrape the ceilings and lend my expertise as well in this area. Plus I have a small ladder and a 6 foot ladder you can borrow, plus a shop vac and paint rollers! Isn't good to have a friend close by that already has a house!
Posted by: eddeaux | March 19, 2008 12:58 PM
Very exciting! Very very exciting!
Posted by: Leah | March 19, 2008 05:57 PM
Those design shows always make scraping popcorn ceilings look EASY. I hope the same happens for you!
And CONGRATULATIONS! Now go over there and take some pictures for us.
Posted by: Emily | March 19, 2008 08:03 PM
Yay! How exciting that you've finally found a house after all of your searching. Sounds like there will be some work involved, but with the money you're saving it should definitely be worth it. Congrats! :)
Posted by: Zandria | March 19, 2008 08:44 PM
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so excited for you!
I think it's great you're doing it yourself. Not only will you be able to save money that way, but when it's all done, you can lie on your floor and breath in your super-clean air as you stare at your ceiling together saying, "We did that!"
If you need help painting, I'm not even kidding, give me a call. I love painting! And I'm super OCD, so I'm really good at it!
Posted by: my life is brilliant | March 19, 2008 11:12 PM
Congratulations! I personally think you made the right choice ;)
And why did people even build with toxic asbestos and lead in the first place? Geez.
Posted by: rosie | March 20, 2008 01:49 PM
Popcorn ceilings are asbestos?!? Man, that makes me want to un-popcorn our guest room ceiling even more than I did before.
Posted by: Average Jane | March 20, 2008 05:02 PM
Hi there Chirky,
I've been reading you for a while and just now fell compelled to leave you a comment! :) I think of my self as a DIY-selfer but your project seems huge in comparison to anything I've overtaken before. Also with a high factor of "you'll screw it up" haha. No, but seriously, have you considered hiring this guy to maybe do one room? then you can learn from seeing it done and do the rest yourself? I can't tell you the number of projects I've done and learned the hard way (and expensive way). This project sounds big and important enough that you really don't want to mess it up. I would at least hire him to guide through for a couple hours. Surely he wouldn't mind getting paid for nothing but providing his expertise... right?
good luck with the project!
Posted by: Jorge | March 24, 2008 10:19 AM
YAY! Sign me up for work detail. After remodeling our building I'm a pro at cleaning, painting, and general destruction.
Posted by: Katie | March 25, 2008 11:33 AM
When I was growing up we renovated many houses and I've my share of popcorn ceilings. In a couple of the houses we simply put drywall over the popcorn and encapsulated it in place. While there is the added cost of some drywall you'd not disturbing the asbestos content which is when it becomes dangerous a dangerous material.
Scraping is messy and tedious, you'll be very surprised, so you might want to consider this as a backup plan in case you don't like how things are tracking. Also keep in mind that some states have substantial fines for not disposing of a hazardous material in an approved manner. Good luck with the project.
Posted by: Bruff | March 28, 2008 11:37 PM
We have popcorn ceilings in our house and we sent off a sample to a lab to see if there was asbestos in ours and it turned out there wasnt. What started out as scraping ceilings (starting in the guest bathroom) turned into stripping the texture/wallpaper on the walls, pulling down the mirror, ripping out the medicine cabinet, taking out the tile on the floor and in the tub- beware the little projects that turn into HUGE projects lol our bathroom and guest room are a COMPLETE mess right now.
Posted by: Sara | March 30, 2008 03:20 PM