So a little while ago the Morelos Era came to an end. It was an lengthy, sickly death with people coming and going in the closing weeks - not befit of the three years of history within the walls. Everyone's parted ways for greater commitments, girls mostly, so I guess it's time to grow up. No more California burritos and daily house memes.

But on account of a rear differential, the vr is not comfortable for sleeping so I decided to close on the reo I was looking at (in lieu of a live axle swap). The neighbors (and phone bills) tell me it used to belong to the dude that wore this:


And that explains the 90s-fabulous satellite dish, sauna, security system, and wallpaper. Oh the wallpaper.

The place has amazing potential though, and since it's in general disrepair I'll have to fix everything to my own liking (with some concessions for budget and resale).


In keeping with my blog as a time line and howto for years down the road, I'll cover the renovations. Of course I'm trying to do as much of it myself as possible. The obvious reasons are promptness, cost effectiveness, the security and perfection of work done by the person with the greatest stake in the project, and the opportunity to learn very valuable skills.

First to go were the dank carpets. They accounted for 60% of the smell. Next was the ceiling popcorn. Without a doubt this was the least palatable task. It's messy (you have to wet it down and hack it off with a putty knife), it smells, and there's a lot of it. Combine this with vaulted ceilings and you have a very daunting task.

With the ceilings clear I was able to knock out the portions sitting under the new skylights. I'm pretty happy with the distribution I decided on, they add quite a bit to the kitchen, living room, and master bedroom.

My dad and Rob came down for a week of great industry. Jon quickly learned how to texture ceilings and walls, then hit them with the paint gun. As it stands there are three bedrooms, plus the master, that are good to go from the baseboards up.

I have Connie to thank for getting rid of (most of) the annoying wall between the master bedroom and sink area though I'm still perplexed as to what to do about the spot. Jessica was prodigious with the spackling all the while.


Pool Boy Rob was the driving force behind converting the pond into a swimming pool. His research meant we could execute on the work needed to get it up and running. The first step was to rent a pump and drain it as the attached equipment was missing or in disrepair. Clairemont Equipment supplied the device for $42 + tax + required damage coverage. Connie and Jessica made sure to rescue the mosquito fish that the city never picked up.


Once the pond was converted to a skate park, we set upon it with a power washer, tsp, and muriatic acid. This eliminated most of the staining and prepped it for the epoxy painting that we waffled over.




We ordered the paint just as PBR had to leave on a cross country rock tour (sans band). The next day Curt and I put down the Nelsonite Poolpoxy primer with rollers. It was a two hour process made difficult by how quickly the paint became tacky and the porousness of the pool surface. The following two days I put on the two layers of topcoat as prescribed by the instructions, using two and a half gallons of primer, two gallons of coat one, and just over a gallon of coat two. Next came the five day curing period.


I can't yet speak for the material's effectiveness as a protectant or its ability to bond to the pool surface, but visual appeal has benefited greatly.

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