Monika and James safe home for baby fundraiser

We're expecting a baby girl in September, and we're super excited! Unfortunately, we've had significant expenses starting with the purchase of our house in November. Due to ongoing litigation before the sale, we couldn't complete almost any significant repairs before the purchase. In addition, we've spent out a lot of our savings when our dog Thistle almost died from immune-mediated polyarthritis. His treatment over the past year has cost a little over $15,000 (Thistle has been treated very successfully by Dr. Jonathan J. Schnier, at Blue Pearl in Scottsdale). Lastly, we have also been paying some of the usual costs for pregnancy- genetic testing, doctor's visits, classes, and basic supplies.

We understand we're all broke and having a tough time, so please don't feel pressured to donate unless you can afford it! We're also looking for friends to help with repairs and other forms of mutual aid.

 

The list below is mostly in priority and any donations will generally be used to address the listed items in order. If we do not meet our goal we will work to address the unfunded issues on a longer timeline, likely once our debts from the house purchase are paid off in a couple years.

We've been able to complete some minor repairs ourselves: adding a bathtub (the house hadn't had a shower or bath in ten years), replacing the toilet, a complete re-pipe of the sewer system, temporary shoring for the sagging, rotten, and cracked foundation beams, some repairs to stucco and trim, subfloor repair, and the installation of a washing machine.

 

These are the major projects we're trying to finish before the baby arrives in September:

 

1.) Whole-house electrical rewiring and panel upgrade: The house currently runs on a 90-amp panel which can only run one large appliance. The lights flicker and the house wiring is old fabric-sheathed with exposed wiring in the attic. To prepare for the baby, we also need to install a new water heater to provide more than the 15 minutes of hot water we currently receive with a 20-gallon water heater. We plan to have an electrician redo our panel and ground and install a point-of-use electric water heater, and then James will complete most rewiring in the house. The cost is about $3,500 just for the electrician.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.) Meter to faucet water line replacement: Our house has very old galvanized steel piping that runs about 150 from the street to the house. Our 3/4 pipe and the 1/2 pipe running to our fixtures in the house are experiencing extreme buildup and corrosion. Low pressure means we can only use one faucet or fixture at a time. The corrosion and buildup in the pipes are also dangerous for drinking. James can replumb the water line from the meter through the house, but costs for trenching and materials will be around $1,000.

 

 

 

 

3.) Inspection by a structural engineer for foundation issues: A contracted repair of the foundation will likely cost $15,000-$30,000. Instead of this, we'd like an inspection by a structural engineer for safe and permitted fixes we can do ourselves. We plan to use Core Structure Group (https://www.csgeng.com/) at $1,000. Until we are sure of our foundation, we can't finish flooring, tiling, or other in-home repairs that foundation issues could damage. We're sure that the foundation will cost thousands of dollars to fix, no matter the result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.) Miscellaneous projects: electric dryer installation, vent hood for the kitchen, potential dishwasher installation, kitchen counter and sink replacement, drywalling and finishing rooms, and replacing the garage roof. We currently dry all our clothes on the clothesline- we hope to get our dryer working before the baby is born to help save time and eliminate pet hair on our clothing. We already have a vent hood, but the ducting and installing will take some time and money for James to complete. A dishwasher would be great for sanitizing bottles and other baby items. Our current kitchen setup has no counters- just a foldable table and a plastic laundry sink. Some rooms are also missing drywall, which won't be too expensive or difficult to finish (the house was built without insulation, so we've slowly been insulating the walls). For the last of the miscellaneous projects, we recently had part of our home insurance dropped due to the poor state of the garage asphalt tile roof. James can replace this with a metal roof.

 

 

 

 

 

Thistle tax: