On a better front, Al changed the heating elements in the hot water heater. We now have hot water! This only cost around $35 for a repair kit and a LOT of elbow grease. If you've ever changed (or watched someone change) a heating element, you've got to have some pretty good torque to get those old elements out of there. The old heating element was completely rusted and broke off in the hot water heater. Nice! Al flushed the system. I got educated on how sediment falls to the bottom of the tank and to take good care of your water heater, it should be flushed once a year.
Work started on the ceilings. If you've been following, you know that Al removed the popcorn from the ceiling in the entire condo. Now it is ready to be skimmed and sanded to paint. Since Al is a general contractor, he knows a guy that finishes plaster on historic homes in the Charleston Battery. Hey, if it is good enough for the Battery, it is good enough for our 1100 sq. ft. foreclosure, right? All kidding aside, this guy is amazing! He skimmed the ceilings and it already looks brand new.
It still needs to be sanded, but it already looks great. Unfortunately, this premium work comes with a price tag. The quote for prepping and sanding the entire condo ceiling was 1K. I was hoping for a few hundred less for the sake of the budget. I know in the long run, it will be worth it. The ceilings are only 8ft. high and you can't hide an ugly ceiling. You can see that Al has installed recessed lights in the kitchen. I will talk more about this in another post.
Time for the weekend warriors to get back to work.
