I think I’ve gone nuts lol
Weren’t you working on…plaster? awhile back? Same house?
Same house. I took it to brick and studs. Now I get to learn every trade!
Very neat! You need to do a video series on it.
Renovations suck more than new construction in my little experience… Renovations = usually fixing some other guy’s shotty work/planning/cheapness.
Dealing with a renovation now where there was no exhaust fans in the bathrooms- and one TIIINNNY window that these folks never opened. The house was built to be rented/for renters. IME, renters never open windows in houses, AC runs 24/7/365
No exhaust fans in bathrooms but a darn fireplace (also never used by renters) and a door bell.
Putting in exhaust fans- $70. cost of fans. Doorbell and wiring? Probably cost at least $30. Fireplace insert- probably at least a couple hundred 20 years ago even. Money and effort spent on wrong things IMO.
Yeah remodels suck. Remodels of old structures not originally built with indoor plumbing, hvac, and wiring in mind… that’s just sooo much the suck. There are rarely any “good” compromises for chases, wet walls, etc.
At least all that EMT work is good for working on your OCD. Not like in a therapeutic way or anything, but just for getting up to the “master” level. It’s also a great source of pent up aggression that you can uncork on some unsuspecting innocent later. 
Our first house was owned by a general contractor. The big stuff was generally fine but while doing little things I found some of the shoddiest work where he just went “eh”. Lots of out of sight, out of mind in his world. I was glad to see it go.
At least when you are done, it will truly be YOUR house. And better to get it all done correctly now than live with stuff that will drive you up the wall every day for the rest of your life. Gonna hit an age one day when you won’t be able to do any major corrections and nobody you hire will do the job as well as you.
OP, you might want to contact the This Old House crew. This sounds like the kind of thing that’d be right up their alley, or an interesting HGTV miniseries. “Watch this 141yo derelict be taken down to bare bones and come back better than new…”
Yep. Countless hours of blood sweat and tears. It’s a shame I’ll only be able to afford the property taxes for a few years after I get it finished. I’ll be forced to rent it which isn’t awful, but ****. The increase in property taxes has almost caused me to say **** it and do a half ass rehab. But this is a point of pride for me and one of the things keeping me going right now. I’ll end up putting 60k-80k into it (doing the work myself none the less). 3-5x return if I sold
This doesn’t even touch how bad this property was (lot of crap was concealed and inspection would never catch)
You don’t want to be the most expensive house in the neighborhood. Have your endgame in mind while working. If you are going to live in it, I get taking everything to the .01%. If you are going to use it as an income property, get it finished as safely and quickly as possible and start getting income.
Having a house owned by a contractor is like having a car owned by a mechanic. Its especially ironic considering people think anyone with a MD are God tier.
This took way too much time
Is it code in your area that wiring needs to be run in conduit for residential applications or are you just going above and beyond?
Just going above and beyond
Dude, you need a hobby. Looks good though. Old houses can be a real PITA, but so much better than MDF McMansions…
OP - I feel your pain and your accomplishment. This is a before and after photo I took of a “small” remodel I did to open up the dining room / kitchen. What I thought would be a simple cosmetic job turned into repairing floor joist, installing new sub floor, and re-wiring electrical. It always turns into more than you bargained for!
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OP, on the bright side it’s good to see that “pride in craftsmanship” is still a thing. You too, tgizzard, it may not be “period” but it looks a lot lighter in there.
I work two jobs, chase tornadoes, play competitive putt putt and work on my house. I got no damn social skills and my childhood dream is dead. It’s either I work my ass off or turn to the bottle. I’m choosing the former
As a realtor who does a lot of flips, this makes me happy.
I see so much shoddy DIY and Pro work. So seeing quality, well thought out work is refreshing.
And for the record this looks better than 95% of the pro work I pay for.
Why do you think they are called money pits ?