This is turning into the year of major capital improvements.  I knew these things were coming up, but hadn't planned to do them all this year.  (And I'm not doing *everything* this year, just a major chunk of what I've planned to do.

So I already posted about the front door replacement, which is the only really visible change.  The back door was replaced the following week.  It's just a plain white door replacing another plain white door, so it didn't make for a compelling reason to post.

Then in mid-September, the downstairs windows were replaced.  Again, not a stunning visual change from the old windows, so not a reason to post.

But while I was musing on the doors and windows, I decided to check on when I had last done the roof.  The last work on the roof was a coating with a 10-year guarantee.  I thought it was done about 9 years ago, but it turns out it was done 11 years ago, so I had the roof inspected.

The first person who came out to look at the roof actually went up on top of the roof.  He is one of only two contractors who went up there themselves.  Everyone else uses a drone these days.

Because my main roof is a flat roof and the house is a twin, with the two roofs connected, the contractor posted the photos he took to a website for me to share with my neighbor, and he indicated that he would only be willing to do the project if we *both* signed on, becauses that was the only way to 100% guarantee no leaks at the join between the properties.  

I talked to my neighbor, and she's not on board for a full tear off and replacement right now.  Her roof was recoated just 5 years ago, but she will be getting it recoated again.

The initial inspector also told me that the chimney needed work and that I should get a chimney specialist to give me a quote on that.

So the past couple of weeks have been a flurry of getting quotes, three each for the roof and the chimney.  I had a couple more appointments scheduled, but I made my decision and signed my contracts today.

It was very helpful to have the photos from the one roofer.  I uploaded them to AI and Ai tagged the roof as really needing a full tear off and replacement.  It pointed out particular photographs and pointed to particular evidence in those photos.  If a roofer had said just said that to me, there's always the worry that they are saying you need a full replacment rather than a repair because it is in their self-interest, but with the AI commentary on the photos, I was persuaded that the full tear off was needed this year.  I also used AI to compare the various contractor quotes, which was helpful in making my decision.  The chimney replacement is scheduled for the 30th of this month, and the roof replacement should occur sometime in November--I'll probably have a date in hand for that tomorrow.

This has all gone on during one of my busy periods at work and in the midst of our penultimate software conversion, so it's been mentally very taxing and I find myself absolutely drained at night.  Fortunately the next two weeks are very light on meetings, so I'll have a chance to catch up, get ahead, and master the final two software conversions before the year-end onslaught of meetings begins.

My mortgage balance (21 years in on a 30 year mortgage, but I've been pre-paying some) is now at $15k.  The HELOC balance is currently $21k and the upcoming roof and chimney will double that.  We get our annual bonus the end of January, so hopefully I'll be able to get that down by a significant fraction in a few months.  So there's more debt back on my balance sheet after 8 months with just the mortgage, but at least it's all home-related debt which will add to what I am able to get for the house when I sell it in 6 or 7 years.

The front door has been completed.  This is the most impactful change that I have made in the appearance of the house in nearly 21 years of ownership.  I've done other substantive repairs and improvements in the past--plumbing, gutters, roofs, and last year we (my next door neighbor and I) replaced the shared front steps, which definitely improved the look of the front of the house, but only in comparison to how horrible the old stairs were.  They're just concrete stairs, after all.  But this new door is a substantial change from the old one. 

Since my current next-door neighbor changed her door to bright yellow before she moved in, our twin now has the most colorful front doors on a block where 2/3s of the houses are very similar concrete block twins, most (including ours) painted white. With new stairs, railings, and doors, both our houses are upgraded from before.

The door I bought has an arched window.  Most of the glass is frosted but there is a center panel where it is clear.  I did have 3 small windows at the top of the old door, but I wasn't really prepared for how much more light comes in in the morning now.  I keep on having the feeling that I've left the door open by mistake.

And that's another change.  The old door had a storm door.  The new one doesn't require one.  The company that installed the door has a lifetime warranty for the purchaser and one homeowner after the purchaser, and because they put that guarantee on their work, they don't do storm doors.  I could replace the storm door but at this point am undecided about doing it on the front.

They were supposed to put in the back door on Friday as well, but the pre-install inspector measured incorrectly, so they are re-doing the back door and I will have to have another installation day.  The back door is much plainer.  I probably *will* add back a storm door on the back with a screen that pulls up and down.  That's what I have now and typically when I am at home and the weather is right, I'll leave the back door open with that screen for venting.

In any case, they would not have been able to do both doors in one day.  The front door took 8.5 hours--he was at my house from 8 to 5:30.  It's because of how much had deteriorated behind the doors so that he had to replace the wood frame that the door is attached to.  

The house is 111 years old.  I don't know if the front door had been replaced previously but it could have been the original.  In any case, while the door itself was sturdy, someone had spraypainted a red square on the bottom and it was otherwise rather beat up and not particularly attractive.

I *know* the windows are original.  They have storm windows that and slide up and down on rope cords.  I have always loved that feature of the house.  That said, my downstairs is a bit drafty in the winter and there are 3-4 months of the year where I only stay downstairs to prepare and eat meals and otherwise stay in my bedroom (where the same company replaced the windows in 2013).

Of course there was an offer to replace the remaining 13 windows--I had the three bedroom windows and a broken dining room window done previously.  If I were going to remain in this house for another 20 years, I would probably opt for a restoration of the windows--I live right outside of an historic district, so there are local companies that specialize in historic renovations.  But I'm not planning to stay another 20 years.  I'm planning to stay in this house another 6 to 10 years at most.  And because of that, I decided to think like a prospective home seller rather than as a home owner.  And relatively new doors and windows on a house will sell better than nearly 120 year old windows (by the time I sell).  Because I made a commitment on the spot, I was able to get a price guarantee that was 28% less than what I would pay if I waited, and they made the guarantee good for two years since I agreed to have about half (7) of the windows (the ones downstairs) done this year with the remaining done next year.  That will be the costliest renovation I will have done to the house.  But it also gives me additional incentive to declutter the "storage room" upstairs, since I can't have the windows done in that room until they are much more accessible than they are now.  Also hopefully the upgraded insulation from the new windows will make the downstairs of the house warmer than it currently is during the winter, and maybe I'll go back to using my dining room in the winter again the way that I do the rest of the year.