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I finally gave up on city living and bought a fixer-upper in Red Deer
Was stuck between a new condo in Calgary and an old 1970s bungalow up north. Picked the bungalow. 3 years in and I've replaced the roof, furnace, and most of the plumbing. No regrets. The quiet and space are worth the weekend work. Anyone else trade convenience for a project house?
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the_leo1mo ago
Made the same switch from Edmonton to a 60s place out near Camrose. Learned how to solder pipes and wire a breaker panel in year one, now I actually look forward to the projects.
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samk771mo ago
That 1970s split-level sounds a lot like what I walked into. My place had galvanized pipes that were basically rusting from the inside out, and I spent two months just cutting and replacing them with PEX. It was a mess but now I can spot a bad solder joint from across the room. @lily_torres31, have you started on those kitchen cabinets yet, or are you still in the planning phase? I've been thinking about tackling my own kitchen but I keep putting it off because of all the electrical and plumbing rerouting involved.
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lily_torres311mo ago
Oh man, that's exactly how it went for me too! I swapped a downtown apartment for a 1970s split-level outside Lethbridge and spent the first year learning how to fix everything. The plumbing was the worst, but once I got the hang of copper pipe and PEX, I actually started enjoying the weekend projects. Now I've got a workshop in the basement and I'm planning to redo the kitchen cabinets myself.
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