Tag: house

A Wall and a Home Gym

Nick Momrik6 Comments

It’s been a busy few weeks packing and moving to the new house. Actually, it’s been a busy year! Building a 40 foot wall before being fully unpacked is a great idea, right? My dad was up for it, so of course I was. I’d never build a wall before, so framing was a fun challenge. This new project meant buying a couple of new tools, which I always love.

We’re very excited about this new gym area inside the house. No more garage gym for us, which was brutal in the Michigan summers and winters. There is still some organizing to do as we figure out how we use space. The wall isn’t actually finished yet either.

After I finish paneling this area I can get started on the other side of the wall. I picked up 1/2″ OSB for the shop’s wall material, to make it easy to screw small items in anywhere I want. You can’t beat $16 a sheet. Check out this cool storage space for sheet goods I gained by having the wall follow the floor joist.

I’m excited to get this mess of a shop organized, especially with all of my wood and large clamps at the other side of the basement for temporary storage. It’s going to be awesome.

A New House

Nick Momrik4 Comments

We’re having a house built!

The planning phase has a been a lot of work, but we made it to the end. The plans are finalized and the construction agreement has been signed. This photo is only a portion of the revisions.

Our first meeting with the builder, Cobblestone Homes, was on August 21st and we signed on December 11th, which was our 13th meeting. In the end, we went with a custom build, heavily inspired by their popular split ranch floor plan. Their plan was too big for us, so we moved in some walls, changed the location of the basement stairs, and made a larger walk-in closet and pantry. We saved about 200 square feet and will get exactly what we want.

I did some early drawings before passing off to the architect. Since this is based off a Cobblestone plan, I believe they hold the copyright. This was my first attempt and we ended up flipping the entire house.

This next drawing I did is very close to what we ended up with. The final plan is 1,947 square feet.

Hopefully we close on the loan in a few weeks and then the lot becomes ours. If the weather cooperates, they should be able to break ground in February. We can’t wait!

Where Have You Been Google Street View?

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The Google Street View of my house is quite old. This is what is shown now.

street-view-sept-2012.png

It was taken in September of 2012 before vinyl siding was put on the house, all of the trees were cut down, and the yard was completely landscaped.

street-view-nov-2008.png

Other than the snow this one from November 2008 isn’t much different.

Google Street View has an update schedule, but Michigan isn’t even listed.

House & Yard: Before & After

Nick Momrik3 Comments

Last fall, a big house project began with the removal of nearly 40 trees and grinding of the stumps. This is what everything looked like before any work was done.

Come spring, my yard was a mess because there were holes everywhere from the stumps. Before getting started on the yard though, it was a perfect time to get vinyl siding on the house so the contractors wouldn’t have to worry about damaging the lawn or any plants. A delay on the arrival of building materials allowed my Dad and I to tear out the deck and front walk.

I ended up with a cracked window in my office before the work on the house even got started and then a spring on the garage door busted in the middle of the project. I put in a whole new garage door, springs, and track because what I had was really old. In the office I had the entire window replaced with two big double-hungs assembled as one unit.

Once the house was complete, I had a nightmare of a time with landscapers, but after several months they finally finished up yesterday.

  • Graded the entire yard so no water will run towards the house.
  • Buried all of the downspouts.
  • Patio and front walk made of brick pavers.
  • New plants, edging, and stone around the house.
  • A tricolor beech in the middle of the front and back yards, with a stone ring around each.

I really like how it all turned out and can’t wait until the grass grows! It’s a completely different house.

Here are some close-ups of the plants. When I took these, the stones were really dusty and dirty so they look lighter than they are.

My contractor will be stopping by later this week to finish up some siding work around the steps in both the front and the back, but that’s all that’s left to be done.

First Post of 2007

Nick Momrik7 Comments

Wow, three months without a single post on the blog. That kind of sucks. I’ve had plenty of material to write about. Looking back through my calendar, here are a few highlights…

  • January 5 — Bought a house.
  • January 7-12 — Attended MacWorld in San Francisco, CA.
  • Rest of January — Cleaning, removing wallpaper, painting, and moving.
  • January 23 — Started a new job at SVSU as Microlab Technology Specialist.
  • February 11-17 — Trip to Phoenix, AZ for Altiris training and lots of golf.
  • March 14 — Saw the movie 300 in IMAX, which was AMAZING!
  • Marach 17 — Bought a road bike.
  • March 25 — Walked 18 holes here in Saginaw, MI. Had never before played MI golf in March.

January was a crazy month for me and February was pretty busy as well getting set in the new job. I love the house I bought and went with a pretty big one as a first time home owner. Go big or go home right? The new job is excellent. I don’t have to deal with the phones and stress of working at a Help Desk anymore. I’m kind of on my own which is a new challenge and very rewarding.

I’ve been working out like a mad man for the most part and really enjoying it. I feel so much better, both mentally and physically, when I workout daily. I want to “attempt” a couple of triathlons this summer, which I think will be an amazing experience and quite the accomplishment.

I still have that new design stashed away for MDV. Once I get my taxes done and a few other things done around the house I’ll try to pull it back out and get it finished because this site really needs a face lift.

Ahhhh

Nick Momrik2 Comments

Where to start?

It’s been nearly a month since the last post here at MtDewVirus. That has to be a record since the blog started over two years ago. The lack of posts hasn’t been because of a lack of activity, because plenty has been going on in my life and the world around me. I simply needed some time away from blogging. I enjoyed it, but it’s time to get back in the swing of things.

I don’t want to go back write posts about everything that has been going on, so I’ll just give a quick summary…

I went to San Francisco for MacWorld and had a great time. I will be living out there sometime in the next year or so. I want to save up a bunch of money first so that I can survive if things go down the drain. I ate seafood for dinner each night I was out there and tried a different meal each time. Everything was excellent! Visiting a place like San Fran is a real wake-up call. The world has so much more to offer than what I can experience here in mid-Michigan.

The other big event was that I just moved back to the complex I lived in nearly two years ago. I was tired of living near the bad part of town. Several shootings less than a mile away and having someone break into my vehicle are not things I enjoy. The duplex I was living in had horrible insulation so my gas bill was extremely high for how small the place was. Where I’m at now I have a nice big 3 bedroom townhouse with a basement and it costs just about the same amount. I don’t have to mow the lawn or worry about shoveling snow. I have a dishwasher and air conditioning for the hot humid summers. I’m really not sure why I ever moved away, but I’m glad to be back in the main part of town.

That’s all for now, but more to come…

Living On A Golf Course

Nick Momrik2 Comments

I’ve always said that I would like to have a house on a golf course. Today I questioned myself…why?

The view would be awesome, but other than that, there really aren’t any great advantages I can think of. The property around a “nice” golf course is over priced because of the location. You can’t walk out and play a few holes anytime you want. You have limited use of your yard for obvious reasons. You have to put up with people walking on your property to find their golf balls. Your children will be in danger of golf balls and foul language.

Maybe it would make for a nice retirement/summer home.