Nice overview. I would also recommend BACI's hydroponic FAQs for more detailed information. These are available by doing a search in this forum for "FAQ".

I've lived in old houses all my life and have been in the carpentry/remodeling business working under a 50 year carpenter for about six years now. Probably though, most of the advice I will summarize here has to do with what I've learned on my own. I've lived in the unliveable and lived in the luxuriously restored. First off, like others have said here, take a breath. Seems to me you have a good idea of your financial health and have a realistic view of what you need to do to survive -- most importantly, not getting sucked into the disease of needless consumerism. In summary here's how you should look at the issues in your house: 1. Basic functionality: a) will you stay warm enough in the winter to survive? b) will you have working plumbing to enable basic sanitary functions? c) will your structure be able to keep the elements out? That is, wind, water and cold. Why do you need your roof stripped now? If it isn't leaking, you can hold off probably until spring for that, you may, depending on the number of layers and the allowance of code, be able to get by with another layer for now if you have to. You mention that the bathrooms need gutting. That's a large and expensive project to undertake, do you need to do that now? What does the upstairs bath need to be operable? At least so that you can use the lav and the toilet? Are there major plumbing issues or are these more cosmetic issues? I'd say that your major issues are: Fix the plumbing issues if that is what is occuring in the baths. Improper or poorly functioning plumbing can lead to sanitary issues as well as further damage to the interior walls and floor of the rest of the house, much less more plumbing damage. Get some quotes and plan on doing that, do some research and see what you can attempt yourself. Make some friends who know plumbing. If the bathroom is gross and the flooring and walls are gross, rip out and replace on your own, recover the flooring with luan and sheet vinyl, paint the walls, fix the plumbing. Now you've got a usable bathroom with a little elbow grease and maybe a couple paychecks. You can go back later and do the real fix-up that you want. Is the wiring dangerous or just outdated? An electrician once told me when doing some wiring at one old house I lived in long before I got into the trades, "I always tell people to leave well enough alone, never touch old wires and don't rewire when you don't have a problem." Old wiring has old insulation that will flake and fall off if touched. Better to leave well enough alone. If it looks intact, works well then you are fine. Yes, we'd all love a re-wired house, but the cost is prohibitive and the payback isn't always so great. Removing plaster and scraping paint, removing old flooring and the rest will stir up a lot of lead and possibly asbestos, if you plan on having children, delay that until most of the rough work is complete. If you have children now, cordone off the areas you are working in with plastic taped securely around. Use a "zip-door" to enter and re-enter the work area. Since you are starting from scratch in a sense, I'd suggest also that you consider integrating more energy efficient design techniques with your design ideas. You could consider installing a solar hot water heater, or possibly a combination wood/gas fired furnace. You don't mention what kind heating system you have. Focus on: 1. Sanitation 2. Structural 3. Comfort 4. Aesthetics In that order. Of course oftentimes these four will converge, but when looking at a project from a budget point of view, you often have to ask yourself, "what can I live with, how can I live with it and for how long?" Oftentimes you can make small fixes now and as your budget, knowledge and ideas ripen over time, you'll have the flexibility to approach things from a different, wiser perspective. Unlike the stupid fix-it shows on teevee, remodeling and improving a house is in fact a long term process that requires a lot of forethought, planning not only in design, but choice of materials, relation of cost to function/value and of course, investment in sweat or dollars. The best fertilizer for that planning/development process is prudence, which often is exercised only when we have to.

@CarpenterSF- If I'm paying 5k for painting, they better paint the whole house! Also, there is no second floor over these walls; not yet anyway... that was what my original question was about (and I posted the complete layout). A lot of the work involved I have absolutely no idea how much it will cost, but some things I do know... and your electrical and painting estimates are bizarre (we've already got a new panel, upped the amps, ran a new line to the house, and ran some new 220V circuits for only 5k total). When the quotes come in, we will know what we are in for... @robotropolis - That is exactly what the previous owner did... took part of the laundry room and made it a bath. Although the laundry room was a step down from the rest of the house and he wanted the bathroom at the same level as the house.. that is why the ceilings are low. @the rest - I never asked if I should teardown/rebuild the house or if I should do everything all at once because those are not options that I can afford. You know it is also cheaper and easier if you buy a house all in cash rather than get a mortgage, but people still get mortgages. I have two options open to me: Do the renovations in two phases over the next 5-10 years or move. I am choosing option number one... and I am genuinely getting upset that so many are telling me I should do everything all at once or teardown/rebuild the house. I bought the house for better or worse; there is only moving forwards… I do welcome, need, and greatly appreciate any advice that I can actually use... like any tips on how to make these phases go smoother, codes to check (I already got great advice there, thanks!), things to ask contractors, ways to save money on the phases, or creative layout suggestion for affordably adding a master bathroom/suite or making a great room. That is why I posted. Thanks, Robin

I grow lots of fruit trees here. Fruit trees go good with roses as long as the trees dont get too big and shade the roses out too much. I just planted Mermaid rose yesterday several feet from a shrubby LSU purple fig. The LSU Purple figs dont get too dense of a canopy. I also grow: Starfruit, figs, dwarf black mulberry, Longan, lots of citrus (several lemon varieties, 2 Buddah's Hand, 4 Red Fingerlimes, Blood Orange, Ray Ruby grapefruit, Thai Lime, Persian lime), Hass avocado, Then I have a Miracle fruit and 15 little Jackfruit seedlings that are a few feet high lol. Also have dragonfruit and some diff types of berries, grapes. Probably more that Im forgetting about right now lol.