Day 4- Demo Done

We finished the demo work on Friday afternoon. I can't say I'm sad to see this part of the project completed. The week started off on a great note when the dumpster company left the 30-yard rolloff in the middle of the street, essentially blocking all traffic. Someone complained to the city and a woman from the Mayor's office showed up around 1 to order us to remove the dumpster. To make things even better, with perfect timing, one of the demo guys launched a rolled-up rug out of the second story of the house, pretty much directly over her head and into the dumpster. She was less than pleased at this point. After lecturing us on the importance of worksite safety and making us promise to have the dumpster moved ASAP, she left and we were able to finish the day without further incident.

Wednesday had some excitement when a worker swung at a live power wire with a crowbar. It hit the ground, showering off sparks. An emergency call to BG&E solved the problem, except they had to cut the main, so now there is no power at the house.

In any case, this is a big construction week. The formstone on the front is coming off tomorrow, and a mason is re-pointing the interior exposed brick. On Wednesday, the carpenters are coming out to lay new floor joists and support the existing ones, and should have a new roof on by the beginning of next week. Also on Weds., we're getting the permit to begin underpinning and digging out the basement, which will give us almost 400 additional SF of living space.

Here's a picture of the exposed brick on the first floor. This entire wall is being sanded, chemically treated and re-pointed in the next few days. The exposed brick will run all the way down the wall and behind the stairs. See the wall at the very back of the house? It's no longer there. The demo guys took the whole thing down and it will be re-framed this week. The brick was in such bad shape that it was easier to remove it than to try to repair it. All of the wires and the 2 x 4's supporting the brick wall on the second wall were all taken out, including the wall itself, which was pushed from the second floor into the basement.



This is the new second floor. I was impressed by how high the ceiling actually was when we took out the old drop ceiling.

Here's the view from the second floor looking down on what used to be the stairway. To the right, you can look right down into the basement- all of the rotted floor joists and beams were torn out. These pictures were taken early in the day- the house is much cleaner now!

230 N. Port "Before" Pictures

This is the roof above the kitchen. It's going to be totally removed and another bedroom will be built in the same place. If zoning will allow us, we plan on building a balcony off of this room, and it will become the master bedroom.



This is the front bedroom. If this becomes the master (if we are unable to build the balcony on the other room), this will be connected to the bathroom to become a master suite.



Ours is the cute small one in the middle of this picture. We're in the process of gaining approval to build ours out as far as the houses on either side of the property. Notice the new brickwork in the foreground and the new stucco on the adjacent house. There are several other rehabs on this block.



Here's the kitchen. Somewhere along that back wall is a window, which will look out on the new parking pad. The new kitchen will wrap around the rear and right walls. The floor beams and joists are totally rotted out because the roof collapsed above this section of the house (it was an addition at some point).



Looks pretty inviting, right? The formstone will be removed and the brick repointed. We're going to also install new moulding on the top and flower boxes below the windows. The house to the left just sold and is being rehabbed. We're working on buying the house to the right- it's vacant. Make ours a double-wide, maybe?



Here is the current set of stairs. These will be removed and a new set will be constructed along the left-hand side wall, on the same side as the front door. A huge process (the floor joists will have to be cut on the second floor, new supports run from the basement to support the structure) but it will give us a lot more space and really open up the first floor. We're going to try to preserve the post at the end of the stairs and use it on the new set- it has great historical value. The plaster all along the left-side wall will be removed and the brick exposed. We're also building a powder room along the right-hand side. The hardwood floors throughout the house are actually in surprisingly good condition. However, we'll probably opt to replace them because it is more practical than refinishing.

New Rehab in Baltimore

Gorman Property Group, LLC is pleased to announce our newest purchase- 230 N. Port St, Baltimore, MD! All the title work is complete and we're set to close on it on Monday afternoon. It's in the Patterson Park area of Baltimore City, which is close to the Inner Harbor and a few blocks from both the new Hopkins Biopark and the amazing Patterson Park.

This one needs some serious work! It's a rowhouse built in 1880 and has been vacant for years. The previous owner was a detective for the Baltimore Police Department who bought the property at an auction a few years ago from Bea Gaddy (a large charity organization).

This house will be amazing after a full rehab. The plans call for a new master bedroom addition, a finished basement with a full bath, exposed brick throughout, a new master bath with a jacuzzi tub, kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors throughout and a new rear parking pad. Check out some of the "before" pictures above. I'll post pictures after the house is gutted next week.