Home remodeling challenge learning adventure

A fall, a back injury, rotting boards, a leaking roof, walls coated with black mold and a chilling close call involving an electrical short might have deterred some people from taking on a major, do-it-yourself home-improvement project.

But for Jodee Stratton, teacher, and part-time grocery checker, the idea of remodeling the house she had just purchased was a welcome challenge.

“We learn by doing and learn from our mistakes,” she says with a smile.

She smiles a lot, often laughing at her own goof-ups.

“My first mistake in buying the house,” she says, “was waiving the right of inspection before I signed the papers.”

The 880-square-foot dwelling, built in 1928 and near downtown Coeur d’Alene, seemed just right, and Jodee had not been too concerned about its condition. But that all changed after she picked up her keys and went to the house.

“The first thing after I went in was to tear off a strip of wallpaper. It was awful. The wallboard beneath the paper was coated with black mold.”

She says she will never forget the look on the face of one of her students when he saw the mold, which actually was of various unpleasant colors. The boy had come to offer her his help in moving in.

Until that day she had no experience with carpentry, sheetrocking, painting or any of the other skills that would be needed to renovate a home, but she made up her mind to try.

“I made mistakes, but I learned.” she says.

With characteristic determination she plunged ahead.

She discovered the cause of the mold was a leak in the roof where a previous owner had covered over roof vents without sealing them, allowing water to run down the wall. Once that problem was solved, she ripped out the decaying boards in the section of the room affected by the mold and replaced them with new insulation and drywall, doing the taping and plastering herself. A friend from her church had put in new studs and also helped with a complicated wiring situation.

But Jodee’s problems with the mold were not over. She had removed the crown molding at the top of all her walls and leaned the strips against the newly plastered sheetrock. “I recontaminated the new sheetrock with mold that remained on the crown molding” she said. “The mold started growing again and I had to do the sheetrock and plastering all over again.” To get rid of the mold she sprayed everything with chlorine bleach, which ended the problem.

Prior to dealing with the leaking roof, Jodie had removed and replaced the shingles on a storage shed on the property. She used the shed to store all of her belongings while she worked on the house and reshingled its roof. One of her students helped her finish the last four courses of shingles when the weather turned threatening. During all of the reconstruction time she lived in about 200 square feet of the house.

Once the structural problems associated with the leak were under control she began painting, even though she had never painted before in her life. But again she repeats, “I learn by doing — and making mistakes.” She speaks with characteristic good humor and optimism.

One of her biggest challenges was to do the rockwork behind a fireplace/stove in the corner of the living room. She says she felt confident that this would be a simple project if she followed the directions: “Attach metal lath to the wall, lay on the mortar and stick on the bricks.”

But the bricks fell off. So she tore out what she had started and bought a special board to support the bricks. Her only complaint was that her fingers were raw from working with the plaster and rough bricks.

The fireplace will not be usable until a new flue is installed. The one that is there now makes a “U” turn around a rafter and will have to be redone — probably by a professional to ensure safety.

With the painting finished, Jodie ripped up the carpet and was pleasantly surprised to find hardwood floors — that needed sanding and refinishing.

“At first I thought of doing the sanding myself but decided this should be done by a professional,” she says.

She planned to do the finishing coats of varnish, but about the first of August, while working on the house, she fell backward off a stool, landing flat on her back amid her tools.

“My first thought was that I would lie there and no one would find me. But I was OK. A little sore but OK.”

To spare her tender back, she decided to have the professional finish the floors.

What does she do when she is not remodeling her home or teaching at the Coeur d’Alene Christian School, located in North Coeur d’Alene? The school has a total of 250 elementary and secondary students, and Jodee teaches 10th- and 11th-grade English, speech, science and health. Last year she also directed a play, a farce that the students presented at Spokane’s Metropolitan Theater.

“We broke even on expenses,” she says, “and it was a great experience and a lot of fun for the kids.”

Jodee has a college degree is home economics and does occasional catering for weddings and other receptions. Her first catering job was a number of years ago for a reception for the Lake City Playhouse

For the past 14 years, until July of this year, she also worked as an accountant for a local business, but that job ended when her computer died and she had to replace it with a new one that turned out to be incompatible with the older database her employer used.

She also works part time as a checker at Fred Meyer’s North Coeur d’Alene store, a job she says she likes because of the contact she has with people.

She enjoys kayaking, biking — sometimes with her students — and for recreation she loves to paint — pictures, not houses. She is self-taught and has sold most of her artwork.

Despite the renovation of her home and other jobs and projects, anyone who talks to Jodee comes away with the certainty that her students are her first priority and that she and the students share a close bond. The way she talks about them and their eagerness to help her are clear evidence of that fact.

She says her philosophy of teaching is to be a friend and mentor to her students. When asked about her willingness to take risks and try new things and would she encourage her students to work hard, try new challenges and not fear failure, she says, “Absolutely.”

She is also grateful to the people who have helped when projects were beyond her ability. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”

And would she tackle a job like the house all over again? Her answer is, “Yes. I always wanted to know how to do all those things.”

She remains positive about homeownership even though one recent morning, she received an icy shock and a little more when she stepped into shower that sprayed only cold water. Her first thought was that the water tank had burned out. Instead an outdoor sprinkler had leaked water onto the tank’s electrical connections, causing a short.

Once more, a friend did the repairs, but Jodee learned that when the cold water ran over her she had been acting as a potential ground for the electricity. She was lucky.

A few weeks ago, Jodee made the official move into her finished home.

When Thanksgiving rolls around each year, Jodee takes on one more project. She roasts 13 turkeys and cooks Thanksgiving dinner at her church for the senior members of the congregation. Cheerfully giving of herself to others would seem to be one more aspect of Jodee’s personality and philosophy of life.

“They have come to look forward to it,” Jodee says. “And I love to do it.”