Fixer Upper Ultimate DIY Demo Renovations With No Experience
We reflect on our ultimate fixer upper DIY demo renovations with no experience. We have never done anything like this before! This is just the beginning and we still have a long way to go. Stay tuned for the journey ahead as there is a lot more to share!
Psalm 33:11
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
You can also watch a video about this here.
In the video we share our ultimate fixer upper DIY demo renovations that we have accomplished so far with no experience. This small fixer upper needed a lot of love and care to bring her back to life. There are of course pros and cons to working on these type of projects on your own and we talk about our experiences.
By working on our tiny house ourselves, we have learned a lot about it and know where everything is – inside and out. We are also relieved to know that all the junk that should be removed after our demo projects, was actually taken out of the house and properly removed and cleaned up after.
When you are working on your own house, it just seems like you put in extra effort to make it exactly how you want. Although that can sometimes take longer and the projects stretch out a bit more instead of a contractor finishing it more quickly. And that has definitely been the case for us. We have taken a lot of extra time in planning, working, and making sure things are just right and the way that we want them to be.
DIY DEMO RENOVATIONS WITH NO EXPERIENCE
Nate reflects on all the work he’s done as I’m filming the mess he left in the living room and shouts, “I mean, all the work I’ve done, that would’ve been like thousands of dollars.” That is true! DIY demo renovations on this fixer upper has saved us a lot of money!
I agree with him and shout back that we could possibly be around ten thousand or more by now with all the work he’s accomplished on his own. And the best part is that we know everything about the house now. Nate has pulled up flooring, torn down walls, and everything in between. Throughout this experience, he has become very familiar with the house and there’s so much more to come soon as the demo is actually just getting started.
Nate also passionately shares how nobody would put in as much detail as he has because flippers and those planning to rent out little houses like this may not care as much as we do. Since we’re going to be living in this house and not flipping it or renting it, we have put in much more love and care to fix it up. Some could argue maybe a little too much time and effort, but we want to get it right and be happy with the end result especially because these ultimate fixer upper DIY demo renovations are being done with no experience.
We just love our tiny little fixer upper house. It’s awesome and has so much potential!
The dirt in here looks wonderful. The other thing that I’m really excited about is that since we can see the dirt floor, we are able to remove all the junk and trash from it. Nate found plastic bottles, a lot of crap, and even beer bottles under the flooring. I don’t know how long this stuff has been there. Believe it or not, but he also found what appeared to be chicken bones or meat bones down there! Gross!
REFLECTIONS OF CHICKEN BONES..
“What’s that tool?” I asked Nate as I’m pointing to what I later found out was a bone of some sort actually. “That’s a bone,” Nate says nonchalantly. “Huh?” I gasp loudly! “I found several of those,” Nate adds. Unbelievable.
Oh my gosh. I can’t believe there are animal bones under our flooring! Creepy! Nate wasn’t sure if maybe contractors of the past were eating in there and then just chucked them down there. I thought they really looked like chicken bones. I wonder how old it is! Is it from, you know, the 30’s since our house was built in 1934? Is that an animal bone from the 30’s?!
Nate said he saved some more. Now we can place them on display of what we could create as our historic house museum! I wonder what else he’s found..
PLANNING AND STRATEGIZING THE FOUNDATION AND FLOORING
Nate was thinking that we could hire someone to raise the foundation. He also wanted the sub flooring from the kitchen to the laundry area to run in the same direction to make them more stronger. Since the laundry area seems to be an addition to this already tiny house, that may be why the sub flooring runs east and west in there and north and south in the kitchen.
He wants the beams from the kitchen, just as they are screwed together, to continue through the laundry room, going in the same direction. Going underneath the wall that separates the two rooms.
You can see that several of the beams in the kitchen were all rotted. We’ve got to work on this structure because it’s just sinking down.
I’m so glad that we have taken up the floor because now we can see the dirt and remove all the grimy stuff that has been down there for, I don’t know, years and years and maybe even decades.
DREAMS FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR DIY DEMO RENOVATIONS
And then I wonder if later we could build an addition behind the laundry area. Something like a sunroom. Instead of going out to a deck or patio, you could go out to an enclosed indoor outdoor space. I’m thinking something similar to the screened in back porches that many people have in our quaint historical neighborhood.
I reminisce about getting some help from contractors with the foundation and plumbing. We also discussed the limited time we had to get the house ready before moving in! Nate grabs his sketch book to get back to work and make plans for the next project.
Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic home mostly on our own.
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS
If you want to see how we make plans for our bathroom layout and a video tour of our small fixer upper after all our initial demo projects, click on the links below.
I love the detail behind this. You can tell how much blood sweat and tears went into this so far. It is do motivational to read this while we slowly work on our fixer upper. Just one step at a ime!
Oh, yes, you are so right! It has been quite the journey. I’m so excited for your fixer upper too! If you are documenting it, I’d love to follow! 🥰
I think I’d be paranoid after breaking into flooring about all the stuff under all of it, too lol… but rest assured houses that were built not that long ago have very similar things under them! If an animal can get under there, it will. Likely a raccoon brought a chicken feast under your house. I’ve been under my own house and it was pretty disturbing, especially since it’s actually a crawl space so most of the filth was left by humans, not animals.
No kidding, right! After we posted this blog and our video, we were like, must have been animal bones and maybe not chicken bones? LOL! It’s nice to know it’s all cleaned up down there.. a huge relief!
I applaud your bravery! My sister and I have just started building a new house. Much of it will be DIY and also with very little experience. Glad to know we’re not alone in this boat. 🙂 I can’t wait to see your finished results. I bet you can’t either!
You are building a new house? That is so exciting! We’d love to build a tiny house or cabin one day! Are you documenting your journey anywhere? If so, I’d love to follow along! 🥰
Not documenting it officially, but it’s inspired one blog post and no doubt will show up in more, and I will probably inundate my blog Facebook page with pictures!
I love it! I’ll keep an eye out for your progress!
I am so envious with how comfortably you guys work through this!
There have been some challenges, but I think since we’ve both lived on the missions field in third world countries, with very little comforts, we were a bit prepared for this. Otherwise, I’m not sure I could handle it. It’s also been really rewarding to learn all these new skills!