2413 W. Lanvale- Day 7- Demo and Roof Done

Things are coming along nicely on our new rehab on Lanvale St. We finished removing all of the trash from the house and gutted the kitchen and bathrooms. We also had the roof guys come in and replace some damaged sheathing before installing an entire new rubber roof. Luckily they were able to finish before the big snowstorm on Tuesday morning. They have to come back to put in new gutters and downspouts after the snow melts.

We had one slight mishap with BGE (the electric company). When they came to turn the gas and electric on, they discovered that we actually had three gas meters. Apparently at some point the house had been used as three separate units. The technician decided to remove one of the meters because he felt that it wasn't connected to anything. We didn't realize anything was amiss until Weds, when we tried to turn on the boiler and check out the condition of the heating system. It turns out that the guy took out the wrong meter! So now there is no gas going to the boiler or the hot water heater. Of the two remaining, one goes to the kitchen and the other goes nowhere. When we tried to call BGE to get them to come back, we were informed that they are only dealing with emergencies related to the snowstorm power outages. The gas at our house will have to wait until next week.

The electricians are in the house doing a variety of things to bring the house up to speed. Previously, there were only one or two outlets in each room. The house had two outdated fuseboxes. The electricians are installing one large main box, two or three outlets in each room, smoke detectors, five fanboxes, exterior lights and GFI's in the kitchen to handle the increased demand. Next week, we're going to begin drywalling the house and putting tile in the bathroom and kitchens.

Here's what the main floor looked like after we cleaned out the house:


This is the bathroom on the main floor. It would have been amazing to keep the subway tile, but it was too damaged to preserve.


This is what the upstairs bathroom looked like after we removed about 60 years' worth of wallpaper and tile:


Here's the club basement after we removed all the boxes and old furniture. It will look much more inviting after we drywall, refinish the bar and add new flooring. We decided to keep the drop ceiling.


It's really hard to show the upstairs layout. Basically, you walk up the steps and end up at a landing, and all four bedrooms and the bathroom have doors off the landing area. Here's the view to the left:


And to the right. Notice the extra bedroom/office off this room, which used to be a second kitchen. You can just barely make out the places in the ceiling where we tore out the drywall to access the beams.

Here's some cool closeups of the stained glass around the door.

Check back soon for more updates.