Our House in Las Vegas
We moved into "Our House" in Early November of 2003, and have been making truly ours ever since. 
The house was built in the 1970s, in a community originally developed in the early 1960s, when Las Vegas was a much smaller town. The houses in the area are varied in style and size, and there is no association. If the neighborhood wanted to press for it, our area could probably be designated as an historic area. That may surprise people from the east or south, but you should know that although Las Vegas has some wonderfully colorful history, it doesn't go back very far. A Las Vegas house that was built 50 years ago has been around about half as long as the city, itself. Our house sits on a half-acre lot, walled from the houses next door and behind, and had just over 2700 square feet of living space when we bought it (it has grown to about 3200 square feet, since). We knew it needed major work when we bought it. The back yard was mostly dirt and weeds. Every time the wind blew, a pile of that dirt would end up inside the sliding glass doors, and around some of the (closed) windows. Again, when the wind blew, the blinds (and some of the windows, themselves) would rattle. At least two of the toilets were marginal. No one knew when the septic system had last been serviced. Tiles were coming off the floor. The previous owner had a liking for dark green paint...now decades old. Shingles were missing from the roof. Although we have extensive experience with old houses (our last was built in 1939, and was badly remodeled in the 1960s, before we bought it in the 1990s), we continue to learn. We built a new garage in the back of the property. Even though this contained no plumbing, and was located more than 50 feet from the house itself, we were required to replace 70 feet of our water supply line, encase it in PVC, then encase that in four inches of concrete. to bring it up to existing code. We installed a pool. This required upgrading our electrical service to 400 amps, which, in turn required a licensed electrician, and a new transformer be installed by Nevada Power. We converted the existing garage to a game room (I really miss having a basement). The number of inspections required probably added two weeks to the job (see Did They Get a Permit on the Las Vegas Houses page). We made many other improvements to our house over the years and are very happy with the results. Some of these included... Replacing all the old, leaky windows and sliding doors with new, energy efficient units. Replacing a number of old plumbing fixtures. Converting the front yard to desertscape. Before the conversion, we had the septic tank pumped. After two days of trying to locate it using the city plans, we finally called the previous owner in another state. The tank was located about 10 feet west of where it showed on the plans. Installing 130 feet of new driveway, putting in a new patio, and adding more than 200 new plants to the back yard. Building a new wall and installing an iron fence along the front of the house (another permit). Adding a portable spa (More electricians and permits). Installing all new floor covering (mostly tile) throughout the house. And, of course, patching, painting and general maintenance needed on any house more than a few years old. Oh, we also have a new roof. It required many months of learning about the permit process, a lot of frustration, and firing some shoddy contractors, but we really felt it was worth the effort. Our house is now a pleasure to live in, and we're no longer embarrassed to have friends come over. Some of the photos on this site show the results. Hope you like them!
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