After nearly finishing the first phase of our renovation just last month, I felt like I needed a bit of a mental break before diving into something else huge. I know most people wouldn’t consider DIYing a closet renovation a “break.” But it really has been that for us. (BTW, this DeWalt Gyroscopic Screwdriver has been the MVP of the closet reno. Seriously, your life will be changed forever!) It’s probably been relaxing because there’s a lot less juggling going on. No one in our house on a day to day basis. It’s just us making a few aesthetic decisions for one room that is structurally sound. Ha! Also, the budget is small which also feels like a nice break…or felt.
Our DIY-no-major-decisions-bubble kind of popped last week when our contractor came to look at the back of our house (don’t worry, he stayed outside). The back of our house has been open to the elements through the winter while we rebuilt the dining room, added new doors to our bedroom and reconstructed the big arch window. We knew we were going to have to at least make some decision about materials to cover our HOUSE, even if we only did the back right now and the rest in the future. But the news wasn’t good.
Our house is majority stucco and there were some signs of mold underneath the stucco when they did some demo last year, but it’s worse than we thought. The plywood under the stucco is completely rotted and riddled with black mold–especially on all of the inside and outside corners–which our house has a lot of. We did some research about our stucco (which had a styrofoam underlayment–why?!) under it and apparently it was a common thing in the 90s and there have been numerous lawsuits filed and the product is no longer made because of that.
We contacted our home insurance to see if it would be covered–nope. And no home warranty either, even though we have owned this house for under a year. We knew with my fragile health, we couldn’t live in a house with a decaying, moldy exterior layer. We knew that we couldn’t just tackle the back and save the rest either. But I also knew that I wasn’t in a mental state to tackle the major decisions that come with designing an exterior–we’re not doing stucco again! Our contractor has already carefully started removing and replacing the rotted wood and wrapping the house so it’s ready for an exterior whenever we decide. I know the direction we want, but ordering, supervising, actually making those thousands of specific design decisions feels like climbing another Everest and I am trying to recognize my limits a little better right now.
We’ll share more about this next week (it’s not all bad news), but for now…
Other fun things this week!
• Calling all Oneders fans!! Tonight (4.17) the THAT THING YOU DO cast reunites for a live watch party supporting coronavirus relief on their YouTube channel at 7pm EST!! Considering Faye was named after Liv Tyler’s character in the movie, you’ll know where to find me.
• This cloud study print makes me weak in the knees.
• We clearly haven’t started our master bathroom renovation yet that was slated to start April 1. It’s on hold until the world can open up again. Which has actually been a good thing because it has allowed us to revisit our plans and tweak some things. This bathroom with the arch (the arch!!) is so gorgeous.
• I just got this top that I’ve been eyeing forever for $29 (down from $75) with code VERYRARE. My perfect colors, my ideal cut. <3
• A little inspiration for Faye’s room, am I right?!
• This is me 100%. Sorry Chris. (hahaha)
• I’ve been on a hunt for the perfect desk/vanity for the closet for the last 2 months and finally ordered this desk (and this hardware to swap in!) and I can’t wait to see it in person. It’s different than what I was originally imagining, but I think it’s going to be so beautiful.
• Conklinhouse just shared a sneak peak of their customized Ikea Pax and it’s so good! Completely different than what we’re going for but so inspiring nonetheless.
I’m sure you have an awesome contractor, but be careful with just the building paper on the house. Sometimes the staple holes can weep and let water in behind it. Good luck picking out an exterior!
Absolutely love your blog and have followed along for quite some time! I’m sure the finished product is going to be a thing of beauty.
Did you have someone come out to do a moisture test with a quality moisture reader? My husband owns a stucco and EIFS company (sounds like you had EIFS, it’s a synthetic stucco). I know this house is new to you, but if you get ahold of the previous owners, maybe you can contact the manufacturer for a warranty if it was installed by a certified installer. The problems with EIFS in the 90s were mostly of poor installation from contractors who cut corrners and it has come a long way since then. Now they have many ways to moisture proof everything and they make waterproof drainable systems. The foam insulation actually has a very high R-value, along with a few other benefits. If you use a quality installer, everything is warrantable for many years to come, as long as it’s installed correctly. Of course, traditional hard coat stucco is a beautiful long lasting and timeless option, as well.
Sadly, a lot of contractors out there have used people’s fear of what happened in the 90s stucco market to profit off of their misfortune. Either way, can’t wait to see the finished product!
I have been dealing with health issues for several years. Some I think is related to having mono (Epstein Barr) when I was 19 but I also think it’s from living in moldy apartments when my husband and I were first married. I’ve also been diagnosed with Lyme disease. All of these go hand in hand with mold illness. My functional medicine doctor and my naturopath both recommended I get my house fogged from a mold remediation company. We just moved into a home that will be a big renovation project and had it fogged as soon as we moved in. See if you have the company PURE MAINTENANCE in your area and have them come fog the inside of your home. You want to make sure you aren’t dealing with mold spores flying around inside your home since it’s been going on outside your walls. If PURE MAINTENANCE isn’t out your way, ask them if there is a company they would recommend.
Also, thank you for this post. The house we just moved into was built in the early 90’s and is mostly stucco. So we are most definitely looking into mold as an issue on the exterior now.
Faye!
I love that movie so hard. Every time something goes wrong (especially these days) I say, “Looks like Lenny’s goin’ fishin’.”
Also a fave: “There he goes, off to write that hit song ‘Alone in My Principles.”
Nobody ever knows what I’m talking about.
Whenever we see a light left on, someone in our family yells “Let it burn! Let it burn all night.”
The first architect I worked for basically made his entire business on replacing and redesigning exteriors for 90’s stucco buildings that were leaking and full of mold. Definitely no good solution but to rip it all down and start clean. We could ask “Why??” but we are also the same species that created asbestos ( and used it as fake snow in movies!!), sooo….. ;-). We live and learn! Can’t wait to see where you head with the exterior!