1709 Ruxton- Day 1

Tomorrow (April 23, 2007) we're going to start work on our newest rehab in Baltimore, located at 1709 Ruxton Ave. It's a solid house in good shape that needs major updating. The first tasks to start tomorrow are going to be demolishing the existing kitchens and bath and removing all the old drop ceilings. We've also got the HVAC guy coming to run the ducts for a new central air system.



We were surprised to find when we got into the house after settlement that someone had broken in and stolen the old boiler and electric panel. We were already planning on adding new central air and electric, so the robbers actually helped us out by removing some unwanted trash. The only frustrating part is that we need a panel to get the electric service turned on, so the project for tomorrow is to find an electrician on short notice to come in and put in the new panel.



Here's the exterior. We're going to remove the awnings, repaint, and do something to the brick area around the top three windows. Other projects in this neighborhood have both painted this space or added vinyl siding.






It's on a quiet homeowner block...






The previous owner just painted the entire house white. It won't be that way for long, though. We've got to drywall nearly the entire house and then we'll paint it a beige color.






Notice the drop ceiling in the dining room. This will be one of the first things we tear out tomorrow.






Here's the only bathroom. Not only will this be gutted and rebuilt, but we're adding a new half bathroom on the first floor. If this bathroom already wasn't gross enough, the previous owner only made it worse by painting everything a terrible shade of green. We'll remedy that problem ASAP.





Here's the kitchen. We're going to tear this out and redo the entire room.









Here's the main room on the first floor. Under this carpet are beautiful hardwood floors that we'll refinish and stain.






The smallest of the three bedrooms:




The bayfront window in the master bedroom:

635 N. Bentalou- Day 14

We're about two weeks into this rehab and things are really starting to look good. The electric and plumbing are totally finished, and the drywall is hung throughout the house. This week, we're going to be busy finishing the drywall to prepare the walls for paint. We're also going to start working tomorrow on the tile in the kitchens and bathroom.

Here's the new closet and framing to cover up the existing ducts. This room was so big that we could afford to close off this area and not cut into the living space.



Here's the current status of the kitchen. You can just make out the new recessed lights above the window. There's a window on the left hand wall that is covered by the drywall, but we'll open up this week when we install the new windows.



This is the upstairs hallway. We're going to put in the new skylight in the next week or so.



This is a picture of the guys installing a new jacuzzi tub.



The drywall is nearly done in the back bedroom.



The current status of the main floor is shown here. We kept the original columns.



New electric:

635 N. Bentalou- Day 1

We're happy to announce a new rehab in Baltimore City. This house is a semi-detached rowhome in a great area for both homebuyers and investors looking for solid rental properties. We were attracted to the property because it had great interior space (1300 SF), 11 FT ceilings, a garage and a full basement. Another added bonus was that it already had forced air heat, which saves a ton of money on HVAC costs.

Here is the house after about three days of work. A good amount of the demo was finished, and we'd already started working on running new plumbing lines.

Here's the house from the outside. It's kind of a mess. We're eventually going to take down all of the awnings, repaint, and install new windows. We also want to clean up the existing bushes and plant some flowers to add some curb appeal.

Here's one half of the kitchen. It's huge. This area will be tiled with 12 x 12 ceramic tile throughout. We're also adding a large peninsula/breakfast bar in the center.

This is the left-hand side of the kitchen, where the sink, stove and fridge will go. The window on the left will be framed over because the cabinets are going to extend into the space. The window and the glass in the door should provide more than enough light. We also already installed 6 recessed lights in the kitchen.

This is the dining room on the first floor. This picture was taken before the ceilings were gutted, but this ceilings are easily 11 ft tall. Roger, the guy on the left, is 6 ft 4 inches, to give you some perspective. The floors look rough in this picture, but they're actually in surprisingly good shape. We will sand and refinish them at the end of the project.

This is the main bathroom upstairs. We totally gutted it because the walls were in terrible shape. In fact, the entire house looked like this after all of the demo was finished, because the plaster throughout wasn't straight enough to drywall over. You could literally stand in the rear bedroom and see through the bathroom and two additional bedrooms and see the wall on the front of the house.

This is the master bedroom. The duct work is just terrible. In addition, the bedroom had no closet, so we ended up framing over the pass-through door and building a large closet. The closet door is on level with the ducts, so it hides the huge bulkhead.

Here's the main hall. Like the pink? It's gotta go. You can just make out the skylight, which was covered over probably 50 years ago, but we're going to cut it out and put in a new one. It should do wonders towards brightning up the place.

Here's the garage, in the backyard. We filled up this space three times with junk from the house.

Check back soon to see progress. Thanks,

Dave

2413 Lanvale- Done!

We're pleased to announce that we're done with our rehab at 2413 W. Lanvale. The house went under contract before it was even completed. An interested buyer had been following the progress and made an offer last week, which we accepted. The house looks awesome. It took us about 6 weeks, which is a little longer than expected but still a quick turnaround.

Here's the finished product: