The Rolphs are at it again! Daddy bought a house in Kona to fix up as a summer project and an excuse to spend the summer in Hawaii. The house appears to not have been maintained since its original construction in 1957. So the walls are a little bendy and missing parts as a result of termite damage and rot, the appliances don't really work, and the roof is very leaky. My parents, Mia, Sarah and I have been here for about a week, and in that week we have made much progress on the house. We trimmed the trees, demolished a bathroom, started redoing the roof and deck,maybe gotten rid of the termites, torn out the carpet.
Because of the jungle that has sprung up around the house, the first three days were alotted to the removal or triming of said jungle. The result of the enthusiastic sawing of tree limbs is an awesome view of the ocean and a power line. The two men who were responsible for the clearing of the view, climbed the trees to get to the branches and resolutely sawed them of with chainsaws. If you are wondering about the sanity of these to tree trimmers you are not alone in that thought. What they were doing was not entirely safe or sane but it worked, it looked fun, and that was the whole point.
The house was crawling with critters ranging from geckoes to termites when we first got it. The geckoes are not a problem because they eat mosquitos! But the termites, on the other hand, are eating everything that is wood, which unfortunately is what the house is made of. So we had the house tented in April but the termites had been there a few decades before we arrived so the damage is extensive. We can see day light through the walls in some places and in one bathroom, the bottom part of the wall isn't even there. We aren't sure if the termites are still here, but, we haven't seen them so thats a good sign. Right?
The bathrooms in this house are pretty moldy and rotted, so we removed one of them! The other two are in use, so we haven't gotten to those yet. Wednesday and Thursday were spent ripping out tile, kicking down showers and sawsalling cabnets to scrap. Destroying the bathroom was gag worthy and surprisingly fun. Nothing like hammering tiles to bits to blow of some steam. The bathroom is still pretty gross but every thing is out in the open at least.
When we ripped out the moldy, splotchy and orange carpet, it was a disgusting experience. We were masked, gloved, and armed with a knife. We had no way of escape, so we just had to get it done. By cutting the carpet into strips and then rolling it up and hauling it out, we were able to free the house of the carpet and the weird smells that accompanied it. Underneath the carpet was concrete and in the living room it was painted green. I think we are planning on putting in tile for the flooring because wood would be eaten and carpet or linoleum would get moldy.
Thankfully we don't have to do the roofing, daddy hired Bob and Hans to do that. First they had to stripe the deck of railings and some of the plywood to get to the beams to which they attached the new beams and eventually the roof. They have yet to reroof the whole place. My dad has plans to turn the rotting plywood deck into a lanai with an awesome view of the ocean, which is an awesome idea. If you don't know what a lanai is, it's practically a covered deck.
The house still needs a ton of work, much to Zander's dismay (he was hoping that all the work would be done when he got here from water polo camp at USC). I can't wait to see the end result. next week we hope to finish the roof and the lanai. We may even get to the new bathroom! Sarah and I will continue to fill you in on the magnificent Rolph activities, achievements, and observations with weekly blog posts. Bye.
By Kayley Sienna Rolph.
Because of the jungle that has sprung up around the house, the first three days were alotted to the removal or triming of said jungle. The result of the enthusiastic sawing of tree limbs is an awesome view of the ocean and a power line. The two men who were responsible for the clearing of the view, climbed the trees to get to the branches and resolutely sawed them of with chainsaws. If you are wondering about the sanity of these to tree trimmers you are not alone in that thought. What they were doing was not entirely safe or sane but it worked, it looked fun, and that was the whole point.
The house was crawling with critters ranging from geckoes to termites when we first got it. The geckoes are not a problem because they eat mosquitos! But the termites, on the other hand, are eating everything that is wood, which unfortunately is what the house is made of. So we had the house tented in April but the termites had been there a few decades before we arrived so the damage is extensive. We can see day light through the walls in some places and in one bathroom, the bottom part of the wall isn't even there. We aren't sure if the termites are still here, but, we haven't seen them so thats a good sign. Right?
The bathrooms in this house are pretty moldy and rotted, so we removed one of them! The other two are in use, so we haven't gotten to those yet. Wednesday and Thursday were spent ripping out tile, kicking down showers and sawsalling cabnets to scrap. Destroying the bathroom was gag worthy and surprisingly fun. Nothing like hammering tiles to bits to blow of some steam. The bathroom is still pretty gross but every thing is out in the open at least.
When we ripped out the moldy, splotchy and orange carpet, it was a disgusting experience. We were masked, gloved, and armed with a knife. We had no way of escape, so we just had to get it done. By cutting the carpet into strips and then rolling it up and hauling it out, we were able to free the house of the carpet and the weird smells that accompanied it. Underneath the carpet was concrete and in the living room it was painted green. I think we are planning on putting in tile for the flooring because wood would be eaten and carpet or linoleum would get moldy.
Thankfully we don't have to do the roofing, daddy hired Bob and Hans to do that. First they had to stripe the deck of railings and some of the plywood to get to the beams to which they attached the new beams and eventually the roof. They have yet to reroof the whole place. My dad has plans to turn the rotting plywood deck into a lanai with an awesome view of the ocean, which is an awesome idea. If you don't know what a lanai is, it's practically a covered deck.
The house still needs a ton of work, much to Zander's dismay (he was hoping that all the work would be done when he got here from water polo camp at USC). I can't wait to see the end result. next week we hope to finish the roof and the lanai. We may even get to the new bathroom! Sarah and I will continue to fill you in on the magnificent Rolph activities, achievements, and observations with weekly blog posts. Bye.
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| the magnificent house!!! |
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| Sara doing some demo |
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| view from the deck |
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| remnants of the bathroom |
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| Mia hammering the tile to bits |
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