Restoration of 1000 Hanover
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Path to Renovation
Never having tackled a renovation project before, we felt totally unqualified with no idea as to how to begin.
Fortunately, our Realtor, Bill Holmes, came to the rescue. He was very experienced in restoring older homes and
was himself with his lovely wife Kathy, at that time, restoring their own beautiful Victorian in the Historic Fort
Wood district of Chattanooga. Also, to help us understand what we were getting into and what could be accomplished,
he introduced us to several people who restored older homes for a living. Geoff and Amanda Tarr had moved from
Atlanta and chosen Chattanooga as their home because of the abundance of beautiful older homes that were available
at very reasonable prices. They were investing in the Fort Wood district and the up and coming Highland Park area.
Amanda's parents, Pete and Diane, had also moved to capitalize on the affordable housing and wonderful Chattanooga
life style.
Geoff and Amanda welcomed us with open arms. They were wonderful. They showed us their mission style home, which
they were in the process of renovating. In addition to their investments in Chattanooga, they were also involved
in renovation in the Grant Park and Kirkwood areas of Atlanta. Amanda worked as an international flight attendant
while Geoff did restorations full time. Both were involved in a side business selling corn dogs and lemonade at
the abundant festivals in and around Chattanooga.
The Tarr's introduced us to Amanda's oldest and closest friend, Jo Beth Kavanaugh, who had taken that leap of faith
and purchased a run down home in the Highland Park area. Where Geoff and Amanda's home was in the early stages
of renovation, Jo Beth's was done and done beautifully. After seeing her home and viewing the pictures of the house
as it was when she purchased it, we realized that she had totally saved the home. It was beautiful, spacious, functional,
and it had personality. That, seeing her home, more than anything reinforced our desire to have an older home,
with personality.
The Sunday morning after the annual Micro Brewery Beer Festival, they all descended on our future home to be. Deborah
was still apprehensive about the condition of the house. From the moment they entered the house they loved it.
Compared to what they typically found when selecting a house for restoration, our Hanover house was in great condition.
Not only did they give us insight into the condition of the house but they also offered ideas for correcting problems.
They shared the names of excellent contractors they had used who were dependable, affordable and who could fix
the problems. Later we would find that their recommendations were the most valuable help of all.
A major problem for us was going to be the coordination of all the contractors working on the house. Originally
we had lined up multiple crews to accomplish the various task required the get the home in shape. There were the
electricians who would totally rewire the house. There was the heat and air contractors who would install a new
heat and air heat pump unit in the attic to service the upstairs. There were plumbers to correct any water and
drainage issues. There was the contractor to repair all external problems. There were painters to re-glaze external
windows and prime and paint the entire exterior of the house. And there was the flooring contractor to sand and
refinish the hardwood floors. At the center of all this kaotic activity was the need for us to actually move into
the house.
We worked out a project plan that required that we spend 3 weeks living out of a local Residence Inn. During that
time we planned to overlap all the work crews in order have the house ready for us to move in. Exterior jobs were
not as critical in this plan but we still wanted them finished as soon as possible. A critical task that had to
be accomplished during that time was the finishing of the floors. It required 3 days were no one could be in the
house. We set about coordinating with all the contractors. This required that they all be available during those
weeks and that they be committed to getting their task completed on schedule. It looked good on paper.
We actually followed our plan fairly well. It did change but only to tackle additional task we had not originally
planned on. There were two rooms upstairs where the plaster had collapsed that needed to be sheetrocked. It also
became clear that it would be far easier to paint the interior prior to moving furniture into the house. We got
additional bids on this work and decided to tackle this task prior to moving in. This delayed our move but did
not prevent us from setting up residence in the house, without furniture. Deborah and I decided to live out of
two rooms. Looking back on it, we are glad we made these decisions.
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Rewiring
Higdon Electric
*****
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We got several estimates for rewiring the house. Included in the rewiring, we wanted to have multiple phone
lines and cable entertainment run throughout the house. Jo Beth had recommended Bud Higdon and had told us that
he was more expensive but he did not balk at every little change. He built some degree of change into his price.
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The estimate for rewiring was around $8,000. This seemed like a very good price to us. The other estimates were
in the same neighborhood but they did not include repairing the holes make by the electricians. Also, we did not
have personal recommendations for the other companies.
Bud Higdon visited us the day after closing. He wanted us to understand that the job he was about to begin might
look worst before it got better. His experience told him that we had little idea that the rewiring required him
and his crew to break through the plaster walls and ceiling in order to get the wires run.
His crew descended on us, in force, two days later. It was obvious that his employees were motivated, that they
enjoyed their jobs, and that they respected Bud. They were extremely professional, including us in any decision
affecting the appearance of the home. I was, as horrible as it sounds, out of town during most of the renovation.
This left everything on Deborah's shoulders. Bud and his crew, Richard and Hank, quickly became her guardians which
I will always remember and appreciate. They really looked out for her.
When everything was completed, Bud had totally rewired the electricity, phones and cable. There was an abundance
of outlets throughout the home. They had professionally patched all the holes they had made as well as any that
were already existing. His crew also hung all the light fixtures and added needed lighting to the extremely dark
basement. We did exceed the budget in a couple of areas. I had them run the surround sound wiring for me which
was not included in the original estimate and I did not expect it to be.
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Hardwood Floors
Joel Germany
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JoBeth Kavanaugh recommended Joel Germany for redoing the hardwood floors. He met us at the house prior to closing
and gave us an estimate that included totally sanding the floors, replacing the plywood patch in the dinning room
with matching oak, patching were needed, and putting on 3 applications of polyurethane using a satin finish. Joel's
estimate for doing the floors was right on what we had budgeted. It did require that Deborah and I remove the carpet
and prepare the floors by removing all the carpet staples. This saved us over $400.
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The floors looked rough but Joel told us they were in great shape. He could patch the area in the dinning room
so it would look nearly identical to the original hardwoods. He could also be working on the floors while the other
contractors were busy doing their jobs. He estimated it would take 2 weeks. The last 3 days required that no one
be allowed on the floors while they applied the finishing coats.
Joel was true to his word. The floors tuned out beautifully. His crew worked hard and were pleasant to deal with.
We also decided to let Joel refinish the outside stairs leading to the porch. We thought a natural finish on the
pine steps would enhance the overall look of the porch and lighten what was a dark and uninviting part of the house.
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Plumbing
Jeff Kenney
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Plumbing was the hardest of all areas to obtain solid recommendations from others who had, and were, restoring
old houses. Based on a good recommendation from Jo Beth Kavanaugh, again, we asked Jeff Kenney to give us an estimate.
Jeff is a hard worker all the way round. He was not much into to discussing or speculating about what needed to
be done. He let us know right away that he charged the same for working as he did for talking. This was refreshing
and we chose to let him work. We had believed that the plumbing expenses would be extremely high. We were pleasantly
surprised. Jeff was able to replace all three toilets, remove the new fabricated sink and cabinets, reinstall the
pedestal sinks with new hardware, and correct all leaks for less than $2,000. Not only was he very affordable,
he was also very easy to work with and extremely professional. |
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