Our Home Remodel Project

Note: Our Home is For Sale By Owner (Fizbo).  Here's the View:

* Location:  Coastal town of Coos Bay, Oregon - Population 15,374 - http://www.coosbay.org/
* Total Living Space:  2080 sf - 4 Bedroom/3 Full Bath
* Acreage:  (2) Full Sized City Lots - Approximately 110' x 145' - Minutes from Shopping and Schools
* Additional Space:  600 sf unfinished Basement - 24' x 40' Garage with RV Port 
* 2004 Property Taxes:  $2,038.19  Note: At present Oregon has no State Sales Tax
* Price: - $649,000
* Contact Number: (541) 267-4755 - mekong152@charter.net - Ask for Michael - By Appointment Only
* Bandon Dunes Golf Courses - 2 National and World Ranked Courses - 20 minutes south - http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/
"Golf Digest" lists the "Pacific Dunes" course as #4 and the "Bandon Dunes" as #6 in their "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses".  To give you some perspective, "Pebble Beach" is list at #9.  In Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses" Bandon's "Pacific Dunes" course is rated #22 and "Bandon Dunes" #28.

The Ocean Beaches are within 10-15 minutes.  The famous Oregon Sand Dunes are about the same.  Five minutes from the North Bend, Airport that services Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.  Sportsman could fish for a different species of fish every day of the week and still not include ocean fish.  There are Roosevelt Elk and Blacktail Deer in the hills across the bay in the above photo.  

The Canvas I Began with

The original house was built in 1924.  The chimney and small windows beside it show that there was no view to exploit from the main living room at that time.  The large window is the original dining room.  The window to it's right is the former kitchen.  The roof line you see to the right was an after thought. A not so good handyman's construction was very poorly done.  The 600 sq ft basement runs from the shadows edge by the chimney over to the white downspout.  The rear chimney ran up through the old kitchen servicing the old basement furnace and a stove in the kitchen.

I was a General Building Contract for many years.  My skills were honed by scores of remodel jobs that I completed.  When I looked at this property it did not take me long to visualize what needed to be done to bring it up to contemporary standards.

I have been blessed by the volunteerism of several Vietnam veteran friends who attend our "Point Man Ministry" outreach.  I cannot say enough about them.  "Skinny Dennis", "Hank", "Tom", "Larry M", "Skip", "Big Larry" and others assisted with the heavy projects like concrete, roof tear off, raising walls, hanging ceiling sheetrock, etc.  I'd just let them know my needs and they'd make time. 

The first major project was to close in the old driveway and construct a new one.  The steep driveway entering the 24' x 40' garage via a 16' garage door was not practical.  A couple of buddies helped with excavation and concrete.  To this day I still cannot fathom that we removed (55) 5 cubit yard dump truck loads of dirt off from the double city lot.  This doesn't include the dirt we used to fill the old driveway and add a "Berm" on the view side of the property.   It took around 100 cubic yards of concrete to lay down the pad, driveway and retaining walls.

[ Click on Any Thumbnail Image to View a Larger Photo ]

                                                            Tom on the Cat           New Driveway Construction

The next step was to begin building the foundation forms to tie the old house into the garage.  Tom gave me a hand with some of the construction as well as the concrete pour while he was here in Oregon on vacation.  The purpose of this addition was:  1) Block off the Northwest wind between the house and garage  2) Create an RV port in the garage by raising a 16' wide section 3' high so the house roofline could be tied in.  3) Create a new Full Bath for the North Bedroom  4) Create a Pantry to facilitate the new kitchen  5) Create a Utility Room separate from the house interior.  6) Cause the Home and Garage to flow together as one unit.

The upstairs Master Bedroom addition required that I tear off a major portion of the existing roof in order to construct it.  Hank and Larry were instrumental in this phase.  I eventually removed the entire roof structure and replaced it with manufactured trusses.  This allowed me to increase the pitch as well as vault the living room ceiling for a more spacious look.  I also insulted the entire ceiling system to the building code.

                                  Slab & Foundation             Foundation                    Framing                Master Bedroom

I utilized an existing oversized downstairs closet for my stair run up to the Master Bedroom which is 440 sf.  The ceilings are vaulted using Scissor Trusses and I installed a large walk-in closet to compliment the full bathroom.  A 2'x4' skylight amplifies the lighting in the Master Bath.

Hank was my electrical professional.  He volunteered to tutor me and assisted with the new wiring.  We also rewired the entire home as it had the old "knob and tube" wiring.  I tore out all of the old "lathe and plaster" walls and replaced them with sheetrock.  

While plumbing I installed a Circulating Pump that forces the hot water to the faucets for instant hot water.  Wrapping all of the hot water pipes with insulation added to it's efficiency.

I had a new Heat Pump installed on the south side of the home.  We never worry about what the thermostat is set at as the pump is so efficient.  

Recently Natural Gas was piped to our community.  I took advantage of the free offer by the company to run a line from the street to our home.  Then I had a company install the piping to all key areas underneath the house.  We converted our 40,000 BTU "Vermont Castings" Propane Stove to gas and are also using a new natural gas Dryer.

~ Are you ready for More Current Views?! ~

The 800 sq ft deck is close to the concrete pad in order to cause the entire project to flow together.  I've covered all exposed wood facia, barge rafters, etc. with heavy gauge colored gutter metal so there will be no more painting.  Then I applied a heavy guage "Platinum Gray" vinyl soffit and siding to the entire outside of the home.

The Street side yard has a very large "Cedar of Lebanon" tree with a 2 1/2' wide trunk.  It has beautiful needle clusters and it's cones grow upward.  You can see it to the left on the finished photo above. You can also see other Douglas Fir and Redwood trees in the photo above.

~ Some shots of the Interior ~

[ Click on any image to view a larger photo ]

~ Some Photos of the View ~

We Hope you Enjoyed Our Remodel Page

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