702 -The clean out begins in earnest

 

Whew!  What a week of cleaning things out. 

On Saturday, I participated in a community garage sale, with some stellar extroverted help from my bestie, Katherine.  True, we didn't sell everything.  And true, Katherine might have given some things away. And true, I think we had some pity purchases.  But we did sell some things.  More important to me, there were some folks who actively wanted the stuff that looked so junky to us.  

Whatever we didn't sell went strait from the street to the car, and ultimately to Goodwill. True, I could have taken it all to Goodwill to begin with, but there's something honoring about finding someone who actually wanted that mirror with the plastic molded rose frame.  That makes me a bit happier for the stuff in the house. And did I mention that everything we put out never came back into the house? That's definitely a win. 

Tuesday, we had work done on the trees. The mulberry on the right in the picture was removed, and the sycamore that had branches threatening to go into the house was limbed up and trimmed away from the house. All of that, plus another very messy mulberry was removed from the backyard. Our neighbors said that when the tree in the back is full of berries, it's also home to raccoons, groundhogs, and skunks. Without the berry feast, hopefully, we'll begin to have fewer visitors. 

Today, we got a 30 yard dumpster delivered, and we began to fill it up. The dumpster was originally delivered to the wrong address, so we got a late start.  But we got a bunch of stuff put in the dumpster. I suspect we'll have it filled by Sunday, and hopefully be able to get out all the bagged garbage, and junked furniture.  Then we start the fun part of demolition. 

First on the demo list is removing the filthy carpets and cheap paneling. That way we can see what conditions the floors and walls are in. I suspect neither are finish-ready, so we'll likely have to to some hefty rehabbing of the floors, and probably dry-wall.  My beloved is figuring out how to run plumbing and electrical, so once we open the walls, we'll figure out what additional wire/pipes need to go where, before we put on the drywall. 

The best part for me is that once we can remove the carpets, broken furniture and garbage, I can deep clean, and then it doesn't feel like I need to take a shower after every visit. Let the cleaning begin. 

This is the living room, with bags and bags to toss. 

  

This is what the kitchen looks like after John removed a
sagging upper cabinet crammed full of dishes

Here's the second bedroom on the second floor, 
complete with tons of bags and a huge, heavy 
couch.  

To get the couch down the stairs
and around the corners, we cut it apart, 
first taking off the legs, and then 
cutting it into three pieces.  So much
easier!

This is the dining room, without the table full of glassware.
Both the table and the glassware are GONE!

And here's a switch plate, attached to 
paneling - with no switches behind it. 
Hmm. 

Still slow and steady.

 Still... Slow and steady. 

We have continued to go over to 702 daily for the past week. Our work continues to be clearing out the vast amount of debris and life-stories from the previous owner.  In the meantime, we've hired a tree company to take some branches out of the huge sycamore to the left of the front door which are brushing up against the second floor. they'll also take out a male and female mulberry tree, which are huge, gangly, and invite all sorts of critters to feast on the plethora of berries.  Apparently, there's a family of groundhogs under the back porch.  They're mostly harmless, but large, and are eating the neighbor's garden plants.  We'll get rid of their food source from the mulberries, and then tromp around enough that they'll choose another residence.  

Last week, we took 10 contractor bags full of clothes to the Salvation Army, and next weekend there's a community garage sale, where we'll hopefully unload lots more. Thanks to a friend who suggested pricing things, "MAKE ME AN OFFER".  Thanks Michael!

There are a few things we'll price specifically, like a neat panoramic photo of the Steelers / Seahawks Super Bowl game from 2006, and a host of Steelers jerseys and hats.  Otherwise, MAKE ME AN OFFER!  And I have a dear (and oldest) friend coming to help me out with the sale. Apparently, I didn't sell it too well, telling her the house is full of junk, and I just want to get rid of stuff, but she's coming anyway.  Thanks, Katherine!

After the trees and the sellable items are gone, we'll order a dumpster to start getting rid of the probably 40 contractor bags full of junk in the house.  We're able to put out 10 bags a week in our garbage, which seems like a lot, but we're definitely putting 10 bags out each week, and even bringing some bags to our main house to get 10 out there too.  

Then the fun part starts.  We get to start demolishing!  We'll take off the tacky fake paneling, stained carpet, and crumbling plaster.  Below are some pics of the junky house, and then as it's slowly getting organized.  We'll take whatever doesn't sell to Goodwill next week.  

The refrigerator/freezer full of food, likely 
18 months old.  We empty it out on garbage day.
From the fridge right into a bag to the curb.

Dining room table with the beginning of organized 
goods.  Before the table, it was all over the kitchen.

Half of the glasses and mugs, ready to put out for the 
garage sale. 

A bin full of pots, skillets and pans.

Dozens of DVDs, ready to sell.

A bucket full of balls. 

Small appliances. I think they all work. 

Dinnerware on one of many tables, also ready to sell.

Lots of books, mostly romance novels. 

Pittsburgh hats all around. My favorite is the historical steelers hat, with the guy on the beam with the hardhat. One of these things is not like the other!

702 - Slow but steady

 

 

We live about 5 blocks from this new project, the house at 702 12th Ave, which makes it very convenient to schlep garbage...We're allowed 10 bags of trash per week, so if we don't have 10 bags at our main residence, we bring extras down from 702.  So far, we've gotten rid of twenty 42 gallon bags of trash, with another twenty bags going out on Sunday. Doing some math, that's about a 20 yard dumpster full. In two weeks.

Our community is having a community garage sale in two weeks, so my goal is to get rid enough junk that I can put things out on the sidewalk, PRICED TO SELL!  So far, we have found probably 60 glasses, 100 plates, a dozen Pittsburgh sports hats and jerseys, several sets of cookware and knives, drawers full of women's and men's clothing, and some furniture. I'm not at all sure how to get it all organized, arranged and priced. But getting rid of it is a huge motivator.

It's possible I'll end up with grab bags of clothes for cheap. Or perhaps like the Goodwill outlets, price things by the pound.

In addition to trash sorting, we've gotten some things accomplished. My husband cleaned out the kitchen -everything except the overflowing refrigerator and deep freezer. We'll do that the night before a trash day. Meanwhile, I swapped out the deadbolt for an electronic version that has both a key and electronic keypad. If we ever finish this, I mean WHEN we finish this, we can give a renter an electronic code and when they leave, delete that code without having to switch out locks. We've given ourself a code too, so that's one less key to cart around. Punch in our code, and the fancy deadbolt unlocks.

Today, I started in the main bedroom. It was a mess, and it was sad.  

Here's the mess part.

I suspect the owner fell in to hoarding - in the lower center of the photo is a hanging sweater container, with each container stuffed with plastic bags.

There's also a mini-fridge in the bedroom,  full of sodas - mostly unopened.

And here's a picture of what might become a sweet walk-in closet, or nursery. For now, it too was packed with food, empty plastic bags and plaster that had fallen from the ceiling. The dresser is full of clothes, some of which we can sell, some of which needs to be tossed.

I also found name badges and conference bags full of papers.

A purse, crammed with papers and bills from 2008, and a pocket full of pens

When you start seeing things that show someone's life, thing get real and things get sad. 

I found a grocery bag full of old trophies, dating back to 2002.  Some child did something worthy of trophies, and some parent saved them. We clean these things up as trash, but this was someone's proudest moment - both mother and child. I feel for the mother, for whom things got so out of hand that she walked away from this life. I wonder about the child, who's memories and mementos we abandoned. 

We found a high school 8x10 photo of a girl. I can imagine when the photos finally came back from the photographer, and everyone was smiling and happy to see them. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hoarding Disorder is frequently accompanied by a genuine belief that nothing's wrong, a symptom shared with schizophrenia. Anosognosia is an insidious symptom that creates the tendency for people with schizophrenia to refuse medication - since they're obviously not sick. For people with hoarding disorder, they genuinely don't see their hoarding as a problem, so why seek treatment in the first place?

Combine hoarding disorder with single parent with significant health issues with financial crisis with a 120 year old house, and you have 702. In addition to this project being a way to restore a beautiful old house, and a way to eventually provide affordable housing, this project is becoming a way to pray for the lost souls with any of these trials. As I lift up another discarded item,, I offer up a prayer for anyone suffering from any of these problems.

702 Update - And so it begins

702 E 12, Homestead

Earlier this week, we purchased this beauty of a home. It's a 3 story brick home, built in 1900.  Our plan is to resurrect this home to its former beauty, in a way of reinvesting in this community.  It's in pretty rough shape, and for more info on the house, here's the link to the listing on Zillow.

A History Lesson

The home is technically in the borough of Munhall, but has a Homestead address. There was a strike at the Carnegie Homestead Steel Mill, the largest in the nation at the time, and 11 people were killed because of the heavy-handed management response to bust the unions and disband the strike. The homes nearest the Mill were originally predominantly filled with immigrant steel workers, mostly Eastern European. At some point, the Eastern Europeans gave way to African American workers, and Homestead today has a population of 3,200, a median household income of $26,500 and is 63% African American, according to CensusReporter.org. 

Meanwhile, the steel company wanted a place where the superintendents could live, away from the muck and dust of the mill. And Munhall was born.  Carnegie Land Company owned the land where this home is situated, along with my current residence. The Land Company required that homes be built with a minimum construction value, and they detailed precisely which types of homes were allowed to be built. According to the Borough of Munhall webpage, "Visitors will note the area's homes' substantial construction, the large lot sizes, the tree-lined streets, and the small Park Square Commons Area. There is a marked difference in this neighborhood compared to the nearby Homestead, just a block away; where older, frame homes and small closer set lots predominate."  Contrasted to Homestead, Munhall has a population of 11,000, a median household income of $42,400, and is 84% caucasian, according to CensusReporter.org. 

There's a steep hill up from the river and former steel plants. Munhall's area goes up the hill, and over to the other side. While these houses are both technically in Munhall, I've been told by a few Munhall and Homestead residents we actually should consider it, "Lower Munhall", you know, closer to the mills, less wealthy, less white.  So If the Post Office says its Homestead, and Munhall wants to wash their hands of lower Munhall, I'm happy to claim Homestead. It's vastly more diverse than Munhall and looks much more like Homestead - ethnically and socio-economically.  But this are has Munhall housing - big, 3 story brick, beauties that need some TLC to resurrect.

How we got here

We were supposed to close on this house back in May. But apparently, there was a 'mortgage lien' on the property. One major bank had a lien on the house because the mortgage hadn't been paid. The had never foreclosed, so it sat in limbo for years. The former owner was living in the home, and clearly was overwhelmed with her illness, and she was a caretaker for a grown child with disabilities. The mortgage was in the name and social security number of a former husband who'd long since left the scene. The bank wouldn't give the title company any info on the lien without the permission of the owner, and no one could find the owner. At some point Big Bank A sold the lien to Big Bank B.  After several extensions, the liens were finally cleared and we closed on the house. I have nothing but sympathy for the previous owner; as a caretaker of an adult disabled child, I can't imagine doing that work if I was facing serious illness, and faced it all alone.  

Today's Work

Today, we went to the house at 702 E 12 to begin the process of cleaning out. We took down the broken, dingy plastic mini-blinds on the front door, to discover a full pane of beautiful beveled glass. And when I say 'beautiful', I mean it will be, eventually.

Then I tackled the pile of mail by the front door. It included unopened bills, and magazines from 2019. 

After about 2 hours, we'd collected from the house,

An unopened microwave and  unopened mini blinds to use
 at the house while we're rehabbing. 

A box of lightly worn Nike shoes and 
a dozen new-ish Pittsburgh sports hats 
to try to sell

A Steelers/Seahawks Super Bowl framed photo,
mirrors, sand weight belt, game cube, crystal bells, 
a Turtle Wax buffer, and stuffed animals to contribute to a community garage sale in late July

A pile of clothes to donate

And 10 construction sized garbage bags of trash. 

All of this came from the front hall and living room.  Tomorrow we'll return to tackle the dining room, which includes a broken up dining set, small kitchen appliances, and lots of unopened food. 

We'll bring another box of construction garbage bags,  a wireless speaker, and a new lock for the front door.