Marcus and I recently re-watched the 1986 Tom Hank’s classic, The Money Pit for what I deemed to be “research purposes.” Granted, I’m not divorced from a millionaire conductor and Marcus isn’t the lovable Tom Hanks (though sometimes he does find himself in unusual predicaments) but perhaps the trial and tribulations the movie characters face while renovating their home may mirror our own in the future.
Is this our future? Hauling hot water up a ladder to the second floor?
Throughout the movie, the characters are told it will take “two weeks” for the job to be complete. Currently, we are being told work could be completed by Christmas. Based on my extensive knowledge of home renovations (I have none) and what the movie has taught me (because movies are truth), I’m guessing work will be complete by Easter. This isn’t to discount the work of the contractor, this is because the house is big and who knows what might happen as work gets underway. Speaking of the contractor, Rappahannock Restorations will be the primary contractor for the main house. If you have a chance, click on their name to be routed to their website where you can see pictures of some of their previous work. Marcus was particularly excited to discover they had worked on the Pump House in Fredericksburg.
For the cottage and barn, Elemental Energy Solutions (EES) will be performing the work and have already begun on the cottage. After a harrowing encounter with a groundhog (or shall we call them “attic-hogs” in this case) the team has torn down the back-side of the cottage, which was completely damaged by the hole in the roof, and started to rough out the new wall and that portion of the roof.
Photo credit, Adam Greico of EES.
So far, with the exception of that aforementioned attic-hog incident (a groundhog, startled that humans were actually in his space, ran up the arm of an unsuspecting EES employee) , work has started and is progressing without a hitch. If we’re lucky, truth will not be stranger than fiction and all will continue to proceed smoothly.
I realized that I haven’t even mentioned the other two existing structures on the property: The cottage, built in 1950, and the barn, build date unknown. It should be noted that “structure” is used quite loosely in terms of both of these buildings. The cottage has a gaping hole in the roof and has been open to the elements for an unknown amount of time and it would take nothing less than the flutter of a butterfly wing to bring down the barn.
We have every intention of saving both of these structures although Marcus is much more capable of seeing the potential in them than I am. The cottage has most certainly been home to a number of homeless and there is a family of groundhogs in the attic (because why burrow in the ground when you can live in a house). The barn requires a hard hat to enter (not really but, really) so I only tentatively walked a few feet in and then left. To be perfectly honest, together they make the main house look immaculate.
So, without further ado, here are reasons number two and number three why I was hesitant to purchase this property:
The back of the cottage, July 2018.
The barn, July 2018.
Bringing Back Sligo 