Home on the Elizabeth tour showcases couples hard work

Take a classic 1922 house in one of Charlottes oldest neighborhoods, simmer for 84 years, season with a once-in-a-century hurricane, add liberal measures of neglect and trash, garnish with a prime location on a corner lot and voila! A tasty fixer-upper to whet the appetite of fearless DIY practitioners.

And visitors can see the transformation for themselves during the annual Elizabeth Home and Garden Tour Oct. 11-12.

In 2006, Erik and Michelle Dagenhart had stalked the 2,500-square-foot house at 2134 Greenway Ave. for a couple of years and had a vision for it. It had survived Hugo despite extensive damage, had good bones, and was in the leafy Elizabeth neighborhood the Dagenharts loved. By the time it finally came on the market in 2006 they couldnt pass it up.

With Michelle acting as general contractor and their architect friend and neighbor Andrew (Woody) Woodruff serving as their design adviser, the Dagenharts started a complete renovation. A lengthy cleanup came first, followed by demolishing parts of the house affected by cats and smokers, shoddy work on previous maintenance projects and trees growing through the floor.

When we bought it, it was straight out of Amityville Horror or the season finale of The Hoarders, Erik recalls.

The couple were committed to doing much of the work themselves. Erik, a principal in an Atlanta-based commercial lightning protection firm, explains, I just hate the thought of giving somebody else money to do something I can do myself. Its not just to save money, although times were tight while we were in the middle of remodeling. My dad was a big do-it-yourselfer, so I give him a lot of credit for this mindset, even though Im mostly self-taught.

The Dagenharts hired contractors for the framing and roofing, plumbing and HVAC system. The couple did the remaining 70 percent of the work to remodel and expand the house to its present 3,600 square feet.

Wraparound porch

It wasnt all smooth sailing. There was a lot of trial and error. To learn how to wire a four-way switch, for example, Erik turned online to YouTube.

The family which includes twins Sam and Livi, now 13 moved into the 400-square-foot detached garage apartment for the last eight months of the construction phase. They moved into the house itself in 2008 while the finishing work continued. Erik, who manages his business from home, and Michelle, a director at Wells Fargo who was working only part-time then, had flexibility to juggle their jobs with their house projects.

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Home on the Elizabeth tour showcases couples hard work