Electrical - wow

During our inspection we learned that although there were three pronged outlets throughout the house the ones in the original structure were not actually grounded. This led us to request that GFCIs be put in the areas required by law as well as asking them to ground the outlets throughout the house. When the handyman showed up to give the current owners an estimate on the work to be done they were told the whole house would need to be rewired in order for the outlets to be grounded. This would include ripping open the walls which would be very costly as the tile in the kitchen and bathroom are vintage (original to the house from 1948) and therefore we could not simply replace the tiles that are damaged, but would have to retile everything. He quoted a reasonable price for the GFCI outlets, however without the outlets first being grounded they won't work the way they are intended. All this being said there was a little good news for us, there is a grounded outlet in the living room behind where their TV currently lives and the West wall of the North bedroom is also grounded.

Once we get in the house I can take a better look at the electrical myself and see if I can ground the outlets myself or if that is just not in the cards for us, this will depend on a number of things like what kind of wiring we have in the house. I'm hoping that we can find a way to ground the outlets without having to rip open the walls, because that would take us some time to be able to do. If that is the only way then we would hold off on at least the kitchen and bathroom until we are ready to remodel them since that would mean having to retile anyhow.

We are buying our first home

I thought it might be fun to blog about our first home. This way all of our friends and family scattered all over the place can watch and see what is happening with our new home, besides I thought it might be fun to chronicle the adventures involved in purchasing our first home as well as getting settled in and decorating the house.

We found our house the other week and went into escrow a few days after we put in our offer (we were 1 of 3 offers). Last Wednesday afternoon we had our house inspection and it went fairly well, there were only minor things found which were mostly due to the age of the house. The house was built in 1948. The master suite was added on to the house in 2003 and the whole roof was re-shingled in 2003.

The house is considerably larger than the one we are currently renting so I know that I will have some purchases as well as just decorating cut out for me in the future. Of course I will do a little at a time, starting with furniture that we are missing. We will have a dining room as well as a breakfast nook, while we have only had 1 dining area in the past so another dining table and some more chairs will be needed. Eventually I will most likely replace some of the current lighting as well, it's all very nice but simply does not go with our furniture or our personal style. We will also need to add a daybed or bed(s) to the 3rd bedroom to make room for company to sleep when they visit (other than the sleeper sofa we currently have). I'm sure over time I will realize that there are many other little things we are deficient in, like another bookcase. What can a say 2 geeks and a little geeklet in one house, there never seem to be enough bookshelves in the house.

Anyhow, here is a picture of the backyard of our beautiful new home, well provided that the appraisal goes well and nothing weird happens at closing. I will post other pictures as I discuss the various rooms and how I am considering decorating them.