Too Soon! Too Soon! Val Blogs, The Universe Laughs.

Welp! I certainly regret sharing yesterday's views of the mostly-finished Beauty Shop half of the Double Hovel flip house(s). I normally wait until something is pretty much a done deal before I share it here. No jinxes, you know.

I typed up that Beauty Shop tale on Monday afternoon, around 2:30. Which I found out later was the time Hick was leaving there to come home and mow the acreage here with his beloved new zero-turn mower.

Tuesday morning, Hick and Old Buddy arrived at the Beauty Shop to find water all over the floor! One of the most recent things they'd done was to install a water heater. Old Buddy had done that job. I think maybe it was last week, since they don't work Friday-Sunday, and Old Buddy had texted-in sick on Monday.

Anyhoo... Hick was doing a few things there Monday. Everything was fine when he left. But between 2:30 Monday afternoon, and 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, the water heater couplings sprung a leak. Hick had to cut out a section of drywall to find the problem. Seems the couplings required crimping, which Old Buddy had not done. 

They mopped up the water with a pile of Hick's rags. Got the couplings corrected. Hick put a fan blowing on the floor, and left the air conditioner on, in hopes of drying out any remaining damage. He says patching the drywall section is not an issue, but if the floor warps, it will have to be replaced.

Oh, and with the water continuously running for however many hours, and the water heater trying to heat it, the water bill and electric bill are going to be high. Hick doesn't know how long the water was flowing. Says it could have started right after he left, or an hour before they got there. No way to tell.

Oh, well. It's only money. Not like anybody got hurt. Just a setback. I have not yet broken the news to The Pony, who will be harder-affected by his half of the increased bills next month.

Not Such a Beauty, But Surely Efficient

Hick is making progress on the Beauty Shop half of the Double Hovel flip house(s). This month he's gotten the kitchen mostly ready. It still needs some "dry mudding," and paint. Don't even ask about the dry mudding. I assume that is to patch some holes or crevices before painting.

With such limited space, Hick has trouble finding room to keep his tools. On July 2, he and Old Buddy put in the upper kitchen cabinets.

I'm sure you see what I mean about the tools.

July 11 was a productive day. The lower cabinets, countertop, and sink went in.

The lower cabinets were the right size, though not an exact match. A stain will help with the color. Also, the floor installation was underway here.

Here's the "breakfast bar" that will serve for eating, since the place isn't really big enough for a kitchen table. Not if the resident wants to have a living room. Obviously, the door to the bedroom needs paint (and a doorknob). The other stuff in there is the flooring material.

The finished floor. It's coming along. Just waiting for a stove...

At last! The $150 stove has been installed, as of July 18, and is working. The kitchen sink has its hardware, and the water has been turned on. I told Hick I think that refrigerator door is awkward, and needs to open the other way, but he said it would hit the wall. Efficiency-renters can't be choosers, I suppose.

Here was another bone of contention: stove versus cooktop. Hick originally planned on a cooktop, and a microwave. I think his reasoning was to get more cabinet space. I disagreed. Anybody who rents/lives in an efficiency unit is like to be young and single, or maybe a mom with a toddler. They need an oven, by cracky! Nobody wants pizza, fries, or fish sticks warmed in a microwave! Think about what the resident would be eating. The Pony agreed with me. So we won the stove battle. It's easier for the resident to provide their own microwave than a stove.

Hick was hoping to be finished by the end of July. Not so sure that will happen. Old Buddy "texted in sick" on Monday. Hick was going to try doing a few things himself.

It's not the Taj Mahal. It's an efficiency cottage. Making the Double Hovel property more enticing to a buyer than just a garage to go with the main house. It's an income-producer to help with the mortgage payments.

The Stove Saga Heats Up

You may recall that Hick was hot on the trail of a $150 used glass top stove that he found on Facebook. There were some inconsistencies with the location, and responses from the seller.

After a text Wednesday evening at 7:30 saying he could pick it up THEN, Hick set up a time of 10:00 a.m. Thursday to go get that stove, which was located in Sis-Town, not far from the Casey's where I get T-Hoe's gas.

At 11:42 on Thursday, Hick sent me a picture of that stove, IN THE BEAUTY SHOP KITCHEN! 

I will share that progress in a day or two.

"Stove in and it works."

That was a relief for me. One more step towards getting that last half of the Double Hovel flip house ready to sell. When Hick got home that evening, he had more to say about the stove transaction.

"I was having my lunch at the Senior Center just before noon, and that stove lady called me. She said, 'I guess you're running late?' And I said, 'No. I'm not sure what you're talking about. I already picked up the stove. At 10:00.'"

"Did you go to the right house??? Maybe you got somebody else's stove!"

"No. I went to the address she texted me. There was a man and a woman there. I gave them the money, and Old Buddy and I loaded up the stove. It was done, as far as I was concerned."

"Was it a rental house? Or maybe a flip house?"

"I don't know. All I know is that a man and woman in the house took my money, and gave me a stove."

"What if they didn't give her the money? Maybe something weird is going on."

"I don't know. But I paid for a stove, and I got a stove. She didn't say no more about it after I said I already had the stove."

Huh. A strange transaction indeed. Sounds to me like maybe the seller was selling a stove out of a rental house. Thus the changing times for pick-up, like when the residents were there. And it could explain why the seller thought Hick hadn't been to get the stove yet.

I hope nobody crazy put a tracker on that stove, and plans to come repossess it!