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2006-?
began to think a lot about my future. I wanted to
return to racing, but was that really possible? It
would be many months, possibly even a year
before I would really know. Unfortunately, bills
don't wait to get paid. My source of income was
gone, and it was up to me to find an alternative.
So, when Erik Schlopy came to me with the
prospect of a home remodelling project in Park
City, I jumped at it. Jasmine and I were just
finishing our house in Boise, so I could move onto
a new one. Also, while living in Park City I could
also work hard at getting my body as fit as
possible. Seems a perfect fit, right?
In October 2006 I loaded the Uhaul and moved
to Park City. My sister also moved in with me, she
was in transition from NYC to Seattle, and wanted
a different pace for awhile. Jasmine, on the other
hand, stayed in Boise to take classes at Boise
State University, in preparation for medical school.
This seemed ok at the time, we would both be so
busy, right? Anyway, the project unofficially
commenced on October 15, 2006, just me, my
sister, and a sledgehammer. Not a whole lot was
accomplished through Christmas. I left town quite
a bit, and my sister was working full time. Then
Erik managed to end his season in a training crash
right before Christmas. So, now both homeowners
were out for the year. Originally, we had planned
on taking the project slowly, over the course of
two years. But now we decided to bump up the
schedule significantly-completion date of June 1,
2007! We spent January working on the plan and
doing more demo work, then on February 7th real
work started.
First, the framers came in to install several load
bearing beams, frame up new walls, and frame in
the basement concrete. At the same time our
window/siding contractor came in to do exterior
work. Once they were up and going, we started
the building permit application that should have
been done back in October-oops. Managed to get
that signed off without getting busted, a small
miracle. So, five weeks of framing and we had a
new home layout, and a brand new set of windows!
Next came electrical and plumbing. These guys
are EXPENSIVE. And since they are in the union,
they like to take lots of breaks. It is painful to
watch $65/hr. fly out the door. So, another month
(and quadruple our budget) and we have power and
water. Now, onto drywall. At this point I moved
out of the house-don't ask how I lived there prior
to this point. These guys kicked ass, in two weeks
the whole place was done. We passed our 4-way
inspection with ease, and then...we were on our
own. Once the Big Four were done, we shouldered
as much work as possible to keep costs down. We
hired on a friend, Bryan Simmons, as an unofficial
handyman. We started with power washing the
exterior siding, this took forever. Then, I stained
the whole exterior, and painted the interior shortly
after. Erik was responsible for cutting in, he must
have a steadier hand than me. Once painting was
completed, it was onto bamboo hardwood
installation-2,000 sq. ft. of it! Once this was done
it really started to look like a house again. At this
point Bryan moved from Park City, a big loss for
the project. We were able to replace him with
several athletes and coaches-Warner Nickerson,
Chris Beckmann, Kevin Sheehan, Katie Hitchcock,
Cody Marshall, Rewk Patten, Pete Corfiadis- all
took turns at house work. Tackling projects one at
a time, the bits and pieces really started to come
together. I had a lot of fifteen hour days during
this stretch, trying my hardest to get 95% done
before New Zealand camp on August 4th. The last
week of July we hired a finish carpentry team to
install base and case mouldings, and any other
carpentry projects we could throw in. In four days
the house looked a lot more complete. The final
week before New Zealand was a
whirlwind-organizing, tiling, cleaning, landscaping,
touch-up painting, plumbing, etc., etc. To no avail,
we didn't get done before N.Z. Carpeting delayed
two weeks, major plumbing issue, faulty
electrical-you know, the usual. I am in
Queenstown now, plenty of free time to write this.
Aerialist Jeret Peterson, aka "Speedy", has taken
over the project, and is kicking ass on all the loose
ends. The project should be completed during the
week after our return. I will post an update once it
is complete, pictures and all. Maybe it will even
be sold...I'll keep my fingers crossed!
Backsplash going in
