Since the parasite (ex-wife) and her brats vacated my house, my g/f and I have been doing some house renovations as funds allow. This is the progress/plan:
- Install CAT5 and coax.
Every room (except bathroom and kitchen) has at least one network connection and one cable TV connection. The hardest part was finding the proper location where there isn't a wall stud or wiring in the way, and drilling up though the floor from the basement so that the hole is inside the wall (not in the room or outside). The rest was just a matter of cutting holes in the drywall, installing the brackets/plates, and wiring it up. All the wiring is neatly tied up onto the floor joists in the basement.
- Tear up the old carpet.
I know carpet places will do this when installing new, but I wanted to save a few bucks by doing it myself. Well, that sucked! Whoever did the installation last time used some kind of glue along with 35 million staples. 
Man, old carpet is HEAVY! I had to cut the carpet in half for a couple of the rooms to be able to carry it out. Even then, it weighed close to 300 lbs, which is tough to carry by oneself, and I'm not small.
- Paint all the rooms
This is done and looks purty. 
And I found out that I hate painting.
- Buy new carpeting ($3100 for ~800 ft^2 - ouch!
).
Now comes my first issue. The new carpet/pad is about 1" thicker than the old stuff, so I had to cut the bottoms of the bedroom doors accordingly. Since these are hollow-frame doors, there is not much "meat" at the bottom after the cut (the previous owner had cut some already). Now, I'm lucky if there is 1/8" of wood left at the bottom. Is there a way to strengthen the bottoms without buying new doors or new pre-hung sets, or tearing them apart to add more wood? Something like expanding foam that solidifies? Currently, I have a ghetto setup consisting of curtains in place of doors - not purty at all.
- Install sump pump.
Since I get standing water in the basement just about every spring, I want to install a sump pump in the basement. I have the pump, hose, tub in which to put it all, and a stretch of clear basement floor free of underlying pipes to work in. However, I'm kind of at a loss as how to cut into the cement to dig the pit. The cement is around 30 years old, so is quite hard. I tried a hammer and chisel (yes, I did), but that didn't work so well - all I ended up doing was making a small dent, wearing out a chisel, and sending shards of cement all over the place. 
I was thinking of either renting a jackhammer or cement saw to cut through it, but don't know which would be easier, more effective, faster, and not as messy. Ideas?
- Completely re-do the bathroom.
The parasite and her brats were never very good about caring where the shower water went and now parts of the bathroom floor are rotting and need to be replaced. This will involve tearing out everything (tub, toilet, sink, etc) and cutting in new flooring. Even the walls will have to be replaced; they are some kind of crappy looking masonite stuff with a marble-like veneer. And since all the stuff I'm tearing out is a billion years old, I'm gonna replace them as well. But, I am NOT a good plumber! The last time I attempted fixing my plumbing, I crushed a pipe (with my bare hands - don't ask). So, I want this professionally done. Who would I call? A contractor? A "fix it guy"? I have about $5k set aside for this project (parts and labor). It's a small bathroom and I don't have expensive tastes, so hopefully this will be enough.
Sometimes, I think it would be easier to do a rain dance in front of the house and hope a tornado would come and demolish it for me so I can simply start over and design it the way I want.
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