Gorman Property Group, LLC

BLOG HAS MOVED!

2010-09-26T18:12:00.001-07:00

New address is lock7development.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Dave

The Thompson Flats- It's all in the Details

2010-06-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been very productive, although we're working on a lot of the small things that aren't so visible. Outside, we finished the majority of the brickwork and started framing up the rear decks. Inside, the fire sprinklers are complete, as well as all of the utilities. Now it's just a matter of finishing all of the insulating so we can start hanging sheetrock on Monday of next week.

The brick on the side and rear has all been laid. The only additional brickwork is around the large bayfront windows in the front of the building, which hopefully will be finished by the end of the week.

Today the masons were working to clean and then seal the new brick.

Inside, we finished waterproofing the tubs and showers. Here, Camillo installed felt paper and then cement board. After the boards were installed, he sealed all of the joints with thinset mortar.

About a quarter of the building has been fully insulated. We were slowed down a bit by the plumber, who was still installing the gas lines and asked for some time to finish. He'll be done tomorrow.

The Thompson Flats- Getting Closer to Completion

2010-05-19T17:43:00.001-07:00

The building at 2106 10th St is moving along very quickly. There are 10-15 guys here working every day, and it's amazing what one can accomplish with so much manpower. On Monday, the plumber and electrician will begin their rough-ins, and the HVAC guy is coming on Weds. I've been busy selecting kitchen cabinets, because these take 4-5 weeks to build and we'll need them at that point.

We're aggressively looking for another project, and we have a few things in the works. Hopefully next week I'll be able to announce the next one!

All of the front windows are installed. It's amazing how much light they let in.

This image is from the roof, looking down at the space between our house and the one next door. The mason is on scaffolding about 15 ft off the ground. They're using the cinderblocks to build the party wall, which makes the building stronger and also is crucial in case of fire.

On the other side, more masons began the brick wall.

The basement is framed and the carpenters spent the day framing it up.

The Thompson Flats- 2106 10th St- Framing

2010-05-01T13:04:00.001-07:00

The Thompson Flats building saw a lot of progress this week and is really starting to look great. We finally had a week of warm, sunny weather, which really helped. Also, with The Twelve Twenty-One Condos done, we can focus all of our attention to getting this building complete. Instead of having 5 or 6 people working here every day, we're now at 10-12 people per day.

This picture is from this morning, when we poured the basement slab. The guys had to stay really late last night and come early this morning, but they got everything prepared in time for the concrete delivery at 11 AM. We had some motivation to move fast because we wanted to have the basement finished before the big thunderstorm that we're supposed to get on Monday.

Upstairs, the loft area walls were framed up. The carpenters were waiting on some more materials to finish the roof portion, but this will be finished on Monday. It will be a big relief to finally get the roof on so we can stop having to use a huge blue tarp every night to protect the wood.

It's a little tough to see, but here is the wall framing for the sliding pocket doors to the middle bedroom on the first floor.

This is the framing of the first floor unit. We're almost at the stage where the plumber and HVAC guys can start roughing in their trades. We'll probably start this next week.

The welder came by at the end of the day to install the front rail, and it looks awesome. We wanted something simple but modern. I think we succeeded!

12th St- Done

2010-04-21T12:59:00.001-07:00

The top three units of our condo development at 1221 12th St NW are finally complete and on the market. We had our first open house on Sunday and more than 100 people came through between 1 PM and 4 PM. Not bad! We don't think it will be long before all of the units are under contract. We're still working in the project to finish the two basement units, but the hard work is done. The condos look amazing! We're very proud of the finished product.

2106 10th St- The Thompson Flats- Another Floor

2010-04-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

The framing is moving along quickly at the new condo building, and we're very close to topping out. The third floor is framed, and all that's left is the small loft space above. Our plan is to start framing out the interior walls and begin the plumbing in the basement next week.

Here's the current progress. We had really high winds last night and it pulled of some of the Tyvek on the top left side. This isn't a problem- the housewrap is just loosely held in place at this point. Next week we'll come back with scaffolding and seal all of the seams and make sure the building is tightly protected from the elements.

1221 Condos- Almost Done

2010-04-09T16:08:00.001-07:00

We've set the date for our open house for one week from this Sunday, which is April 18th. That means the clock is ticking to get all of the little tasks done to get these condos on the market. Tomorrow is an exciting day because the granite is being installed in the kitchens, bathrooms and fireplaces. Not only does this make the kitchens look complete, but it allows us to install the appliances and tile backsplash.

The biggest task remaining is refinishing all of the original pine floors and installing new oak floors in the basement. The floors had decades worth of nails and scratches that had to be removed, plus several layers of polyurethane.

The bigger areas can be done with the large sander shown above. However, the edging has to be done with a small handheld sander. They do this first, and then come back with the big one. This is what it looks like when they first start a room:

This picture pretty much shows up the current state of the project. Almost there, but lots of details remaining. Note the missing countertops, appliances, glass in cabinets and bulb in pendant light. These are the types of things that will be completed in the next week.

The back parking area is nearing completion.

1221 12th St NW- Almost There

2010-04-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

This project is really entering the final stages. We're at the point in the project where everyone comes back to finish. Today, there were several plumbers, electricians, the HVAC company and our carpenters working in the house. We're looking forward to next week, when we'll start refinishing the floors and installing the new hardwood floors in the basement.

This picture of the second floor unit will give you a pretty good idea of the current condition of the building. The paint color looks perfect (thanks to Jaye at Red House Staging) and all of the trimwork is complete. The lights are all in, and the furnaces are set, ready to be turned on when the gas meters are installed on Friday.

All of the cabinet frames are installed, although now we need to go back and install the inset doors. The cabinet frames were covered in plastic to protect them during the construction.

This picture shows the new tile, paint and wall-hung sinks in the hall bathrooms. The colors really work together well.

Here is the master bathroom on the first floor. The Kohler dual-flush toilets are in, as well as all of the marble and ceramic tile. We had the marble vanity tops measured yesterday and they will be installed next week.

The drywall guys finally got to work on the plaster section of the bayfront windows. We kept the trim entirely intact on the front to preserve the historic character, so it will now take a lot of work to patch and skim the plaster.

Here is the hallway in the back bedroom unit. The brick is all cleaned and ready to be sealed.

1221 12th St NW- Three weeks left

2010-03-19T15:31:00.001-07:00

At the 12th St project, we're working basically around the clock to finish in the next three weeks. For the majority of a renovation project, you are held back a bit in terms of speed because you're often relying on other people to finish their job before you can finish yours. For example, the sheetrock guys are waiting for the electrician, who comes after the HVAC, who comes after the plumber, who comes after the framers, and so on. However, after the sheetrock is up and sanded, there's really no one left in the way. The trim guys can work at the same time as the painters, exterior carpenters, concrete workers and tile men. Even the plumber and electrician can come back at any point. This is the point we've finally reached. We're working hard to finish before mid-April so buyers get a chance to take the $8,000.00 tax credit before the end of the month.

In the rear of the property, the spiral steps are finished and the decks are 90% done. The carpenters were working today to put in the final pickets on the railing and the final Trex decking on top of the joists.

The first floor is ready to paint and the coffered ceilings are in. This floor is actually the furthest from being completed- the other floors are almost entirely painted. We had so many materials sitting in the project and nowhere to put them that we decided to leave them all on one floor (this one) and finish the other three floors. Now the stuff has all been moved to the basement, which is painted. The ladder in this picture is 8 Ft tall and the ceiling is easily 2-3 feet taller- not bad!

Here is the tile in the front basement unit. We're really happy how the hex marble tile came out in the showers and we'll definitely do this again in another project.

2106 10th St- Foundation Walls Up

2010-03-19T15:30:00.001-07:00

Despite the torrential rain last weekend, we were able to finish the basement foundation walls this week. Now, the crew is working on backfilling the outside of the walls with gravel and filling the top of the concrete blocks with concrete. All of our framing wood is ordered for Weds. and we hope to have at least the first floor done by the end of the week.

The rendering came back from the graphic designer and it looks incredible. We made a few final changes (mostly to the window pattern on the side, which is incorrect below) but mostly this is exactly what the building will look like once complete.

Here was the scene at the project earlier this week. It always is amazing how many people it takes to lay just one block- two people to lower it into the hole, two guys to mix the mortar, one to measure with the string, and finally someone to place it. Then another guy comes and fills it up with concrete. Seven guys!

This is what the site looked like when we finished today. We put more bracing up on the far wall in order to help support all the weight from backfilling because the concrete is not 100% dry. This is done mostly just as a formality, but it's always a good idea.

2106 10th St- Making Progress

2010-03-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

At the new condo project, the excavation is complete and today we formed and poured the new footers. At the end of the day, the concrete workers set the rebar to prepare for the masons, who are coming tomorrow to start the block foundation walls.

1221 12th St NW- Looking Great

2010-03-11T16:25:00.001-08:00

We're heading into the final few weeks at The Twelve Twenty-One Condos. There's a lot going on right now- painting, trimwork, tiling and all of the exterior projects. We should be finished within the next month.

In the back, the welders are working on the spiral steps. The joists are all put in for the decking, and today the carpenters started laying the Trex decking. Also, two masons are working on the wall on the first floor. This picture gives you a good idea of how much work this task has been. The wall is actually three bricks thick, and we totally changed the location of the two windows and added a patio door. The brick has to be taken out in sections to prevent undermining the brick wall above.

Today, the carpenters finished the coffered ceilings on the second floor. They need to put the crown molding in the squares, but they already look awesome.

Two guys are tiling all eight bathrooms. They're making great progress and should start grouting tomorrow.

Lots of the trimwork is complete. You can see we matched the trim exactly from the original windows.

New Project- 2106 10th st NW

2010-03-09T12:30:00.001-08:00

We just settled on a new project yesterday and started construction today. It's ground-up construction on a vacant lot only a few blocks from the U St metro. We'll be building a four-unit condo building that has a very similar feel to the condos we built at 1133 6th St NW. Each unit is 2 BR, 2 BA and there are two parking spots. We're really excited for this project to start taking shape.

Here is the front elevation of the new building- it has lots of glass:

Here is a picture of the lot yesterday before we started any construction. The excavators dropped off this machine, but then changed their minds, because there was a much bigger one in its' place by the time I got there this morning.

We went out yesterday and marked out the lot. We had a surveyor do the lot boundaries, and then we came back and used those to mark out the new footprint.

Here is the excavator that was used all day. They took out almost 25 dump trucks full of dirt today.

This is the progress.

1221 12th St- Getting Closer

2010-03-06T09:21:00.001-08:00

The 1221 Condos are really looking good. The weather has started to warm up and we've finally been able to work outside. We're working full speed ahead and should be finished during the second week of April.

The entire house is sheetrocked. Inside, we're still sanding down the sheetrock and we will prime the walls with paint next week.

The big project of the week is the rear decks. The bottom two decks are finished. The welder is coming back monday to extend the posts up to the third floor, and then that deck will go in on Tuesday. Once we pour the concrete, the welder will build the spiral steps.

1221 12th st NW- Sheetrock Up

2010-03-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

The snow has finally melted and we're back to work. Over the last week, all of the walls got closed in with drywall and we started working on the rear decks. The next two weeks will see a flurry of activity- all the interior doors, trim, cabinets, paint and tile will all be installed. We're excited to see the building take shape.

They planted the sign in front today, and lots of people were stopping to read it.

Here's the ceilings in the top unit. They're easily 15 Ft high.

This is the second floor. The fireplace mantel is just resting there- that's actually the kitchen.

Here are the kitchen cabinets, ready to be assembled. These are very high-end custom cabinets- we're excited to see them installed.

In the back, the masons worked on cutting the brick for the patio doors and windows. The top two floors are done.

The floor guys finished patching the original pine floors. They ended up moving a lot of the old floor from areas that will be tile- like the bathrooms- to fix damaged spots in the living areas. When it's sanded and stains it will look good as new.

1221 12th St- Lots of Small Tasks

2010-01-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

Things are progressing well at our 5-unit condo project. I'm hoping to have the drywall up by the end of next week, which is definitely possible. Right now we're working on all of the small tasks that have to be completed before the walls are closed-in. The biggest project right now is preparing the basement for the new concrete slab.

In this picture, you can see Andre preparing the drain in the basement that will drain to the sump pump. It's wrapped in a fabric and then surrounded by gravel to help keep dirt from clogging the small holes meant for water.

Here's a ceiling on the second floor unit. We ran 2 x 4's to hang the sheetrock because the original joists aren't 100% straight. This isn't because they've moved, but it happens because 125 years ago they cut them all by hand, so the cuts on each one aren't perfectly straight. To correct this, we ran a chalk line and then notched the 2 x 4 so it's level.

Here's a closeup of the soundproof boxes we built around all the recessed lights. This prevents sound from going up through the spaces above the light. We built the boxes out of cement board and fire-rated sheetrock.

This is a perfect example of one of the small but important projects that needs to be complete before you hang the drywall. The stand-up showers have to have the mortar placed underneath the rubber membrane.

This is the kitchen in the top floor unit. You can see all of the orange fire sprinklers and the metal duct for the hood exahaust. This one is all done and ready to close-in.

1221 12th st NW- More Progress

2010-01-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

Things are really moving along at 1221 12th st and we're on track to finish in March- April. The condos look really awesome and have a great mix of historical elements and new features. At this point, we've got about half of the mechanical and plumbing rough-in work done, and hope to start electric later this week. Next week, we will tackle the basement, and insulate the rest of the house. I'd like to have the sheetrock up by the end of the month.

The upstairs unit is all framed and the plumbers were working here today. The ceilings are at least 16 ft tall in the main living area.

The new steps are installed and are a straight shot up from the front door, which was the best layout to maximize the space.

Throughout the house, masons are working to repoint the brick, which will be exposed.

Here's the bathroom and master closet in the first floor. Lots of wood!

At the rear of each unit, the walls are all framed out for the new windows and patio doors. We're waiting to knock out the brick until the doors come in from the manufacturer.

1221 12th st NW- Progress

2009-12-21T16:43:00.001-08:00

Today we got back to work after the snowstorm over the weekend. The demo is done, and we're framing up the new units. We're also doing a lot of work repairing the brick behind the walls.

The first task of the day was shoveling off almost two feet of snow off the front steps. Pretty amazing, it never snows like this in DC.

In the basement, Trevor and Gomez dug the holes for the posts that will support the main supporting beam in the basement. It's only 30 degrees out, so you can see how bundled up everyone is for work.

Here's the top floor unit. We framed the walls out to 9 ft height, but then realized how much extra height there was so we decided to loft the ceilings. You can see on the left wall how the first row of studs stops, and then another short wall is framed on top. This is the extra height we got from going all the way up to the roof rafters with the ceiling height.

Here's a good example of the type of brick work that we've been doing in the house. This was a window that literally looked into a brick wall next door. The window had been existing, and the condo building next door was built in the last decade, so they just covered up the window. We decided that it would be better for sound and fireblocking to have another course of bricks, so we bricked up the opening.

Here are the new steps, which are a straight shot all the way to the top unit (two flights). This arrangement gives us the most amount of space in each unit.

1221 12th St NW- New Condo Project

2009-12-20T12:58:00.001-08:00

Here's some pictures of our new condo project at 1221 12th St, NW. It's a large Victorian rowhome that we are converting into three 2 BR 2 BA units and two 1 BR 1 BA units (five units total). It's an exciting project and we're well underway. We'll be preserving the original pine floors and ornate fireplace mantels, but basically everything else will be brand new. Below are pics from before the demo, although we've begun framing already. I'll put up some new pics this week.

And then there was snow

2009-12-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

DC got over a foot of snow this weekend. While this isn't great for construction, it was great weather for playing outside. Here's a picture of my golden retriever puppy, Gracie, catapulting through the snow.

308 9th St SE- Done!

2009-11-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

We finished the house in Capitol Hill, and it looks incredible. The construction took about three months, which is impressive in relation to how much work we did. We had our first open house last weekend, and we had 50 groups come through, which is a solid turnout.

The front is fully restored. This is what the house would have looked like 125 years ago, except even nicer.

This is what greets you as you walk in the door. The custom built-ins match the kitchen cabinetry and surround a gas fireplace.

Here is the upstairs hallway. We put the biggest skylight we could find in order to bring lots of natural light into the house.

The master bathroom has tons of glass and dual vanities.

In the master bedroom, we were able to bring in a lot of light with the new patio doors.

Here is the basement in-law suite. This is currently attached to the main house with interior steps, but could be made totally seperate if the new owners decide to do so.

The backyard has a huge new patio with flagstone pavers.

308 9th st SE- Almost Done

2009-11-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Were into the final push to complete the house at 308 9th st. It looks awesome, the spaces are much bigger than we'd even hoped and the space just flows really nicely. We're planning on staging the property at the end of next week. This would be a pretty amazing feat because our target completion date was November 15th, and we'd be hitting that day almost exactly on the spot.

Outside all the framing is done and now it just needs to be caulked and painted.

The granite company came yesterday and installed the countertops. In this picture they're drilling the hole for the new Kohler faucet. I bought the new "Simplice" model that has the control on one side and the faucet on the other.

Here's the main floor. Lots of activity! The hammers are like music to my ears. We don't have the lights in yet, so it's hard to tell the wall and trim color. The walls are off-white and the trim is brilliant white.

Here are the built-ins in the living room. They look really sharp, and will look even better once the tiling is complete around the fireplace and the logs are installed.

Upstairs, the plumber came and set all of his fixtures. The glass company measured and is putting in the first piece tomorrow.

Here's the upstairs hallway. The floors will be sanded on Saturday, and then both the floors and railings will be stained and sealed.

Next week I will post the finished product. We also found our next project, a five-unit condo conversion. I'll post new pictures as soon as I have them.

308 9th St SE- The Day Before Drywall

2009-10-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the project on Friday afternoon. The A/V team is coming in over the weekend to run the wiring for the video entry system, speakers, alarm, cable and internet. Then on Monday the sheetrock crew comes in to close-in all the walls. We already have all of our inspections and we're ready to go. I can't wait to see the project after all the walls are up.

The front is painted and the new trim is going in. We used an original house from the 1880's around the corner as a model, and replicated it here. The steps are down but will be rebuilt this week.

In the back, the balcony got covered in metal and the steps were completed.

Here's the current state of the top floor. The new floors are in. They're unfinished, but come with a watersealer for shipping. After the walls are completed, the floor will be sanded, stained and sealed.

Here's the floor installers working in the kitchen.

This is the master bath upstairs. You can see the liner in the stand-up shower. We also have plumbing for double sinks.

Here's the basement. The ceiling height is great and this will be an amazing in-law suite for the new owners.

308 9th St- Starting to look like a house again

2009-10-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

Our renovation in Capitol Hill is coming along extremely well. We've reached the point in the project where the frame is up- both interior and exterior- and now it's just a matter of filling everything in. First the HVAC ducts, then the plumber, then the electrician all do their work. This should all be done tomorrow. The last person through is the A/V, who does alarm install, cable and audio wiring. Next week we'll insulate and install the sheetrock. After that, it's just trim, paint, flooring, tile, cabinets and hardware and we're done! It sounds like a lot of work but with enough people and some hard work we should be done within 6-8 weeks.

Believe it or not, but all of the pictures below were taken within a few minutes of each other this afternoon. There are probably 15 people working now at the project. In my book, the more commotion the better, because it means the project is progressing.

The wood tongue and groove siding is complete on the side of the house and its fully painted. We went with a historic beige color and off-white trim. We're then going to use black on the windows and a deep red on the door. It should really stand out.

This picture shows the color a little better in the rear of the house. The steps and balcony are complete.

We finally started working on the front of the building. The old steps came down, as well as the old deteriorated siding. We put up new sheathing, metal flashing, housewrap and siding.

This is the current state of the first floor. The worker on the right is building the bulkhead, and the worker in the back is cutting the vents in the new HVAC duct for the floor above.

This is the view of the master bedroom. The hallway is straight ahead and the walk-in closet is to the left. All four of the people in this picture are electricians.

Here is the status of the basement in-law suite. All three people here are working on the HVAC ducts.

Two carpenters have been working for the last three days on installing the new stringers for the steps. Now we can walk around without having to use the ladders between floors. Much better!

308 9th St SE- Moving Along

2009-09-22T14:32:00.001-07:00

It's been too long since my last post, and I apologize. We've been so busy getting our 6th st condos sold and pressing forward on this house in Capitol Hill that I haven't had much time to update the blog. In addition, I just got a new golden retriever puppy, which has basically reduced my free time after work to zero. But she's 100% worth it.

Back to the renovation. We have a good part of the framing finished and I'm hoping to get the plumber and HVAC guys in through the house by the end of the week. The roofers are busy installing the standing seam metal roof, and are making great progress. The weather looks iffy for the rest of the week and I'm hoping that the rain will hold off.

We're busy looking for another rehab project, but finding that every investor in DC seems to be doing the same thing. Properties for sale are once again getting multiple offers, and usually sell for more than asking price.

Here's one of the roofers working with the metal. You can see the front of the building is almost totally unchanged. We ordered the historic wood windows and they're still about 3-4 weeks out, so we have to wait to do the siding until we can install the windows.

Here's the basement. It's a total blank slate. You can see the pipes sticking up where the bathroom will be.

This is the top floor. The roof has two pitches. The front roof slopes towards the front of the house, and the remainder slopes towards the side yard. This was a requirement from the Historic Preservation and Review Board.

All of the brick in the basement has been repointed. It looks so cool and I'd love to leave it exposed, but this is an exterior wall, and from my understanding of the code all exterior walls have to be insulated. I've seen people leave it exposed before, but I don't think it's a good idea.

This is the new exterior siding. It's a perfect match of the old tongue and groove wood siding.

1133 6th St NW- Finished and all under contract!

2009-08-03T12:44:00.001-07:00

After a long eight months of work, it gives me great pleasure to announce that our four unit condo project is fully completed. We put it on the market last weekend and had multiple offers on each unit within only a few days. Now, a week later, all of the units are under contract and we couldn't be happier. The condos came out even better than we could have imagined. The timing was perfect too, as we will start on our next project at 308 9th St SE in the next two weeks.

Here's the exterior after the windows were all cleaned up. We had to work very closely with the historic review board on the details, even down to the trim colors and rebuilding the original cast iron front steps. Also, the entryway to the basement is new- there wasn't any front access when we bought the project.

Here's the rear balconies and steps. If you remember, the building was an entire story lower and didn't have any outdoor space. The entire rear wall is new, as well.

This is the unit on the second floor, which was fully staged. When we had the open house, we got the most positive comments on the shelving and the wood floors. For this project, we sanded and stained the floors in place, which I think looks a lot better than the prefinished ones you can buy at the store.

The great thing about these old houses is how much ceiling height there is on each floor. Even though we replaced all the joists, they're at the same height as the original ones.

This is the second room, which is either another bedroom or an office. If I moved in I would probably use it as an office most of the time but a second bedroom when I had guests visiting.

Here is the full bath in the hall. I used a wall-mount vanity to make the bathroom feel bigger, and the dual-flush toilet to save water. I honestly didn't get too many potential buyers who seemed particularly interested in all the green features, but they'll thank me when they get their water and electric bills.

Here's the loft in the penthouse unit. The loft was entirely new construction. This unit when under contract well before the project was completed.

Here is the loft, which the buyer will be using as his bedroom. It's a great size and has tons of light. It also opens onto a large private deck.

1133 6th St- Final Push

2009-06-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

After several long months of hard work, this condo project is nearing completion in the next 10 days or so. It will be staged next Weds, which is a big step. We're thrilled with the way it looks and looking forward to replicating the finished product here on other buildings throughout the city.

1133 6th st- End is closer

2009-05-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of great things going on at this project. Working basically round-the-clock to get it on the market in the end of June. It's looking really amazing and I'm so pleased with how it's progressing. We're also going to be featured in an upcoming episode of "My First Place" on HGTV. They're filming in the top unit this weekend with a prospective buyer.

Here's the loft on the top unit. Looks awesome, especially with the custom railing in place ( we took it off to install the flooring). The kitchen cabinets are going in tomorrow morning.

Here is the living room on the second floor. You can't really see any of the crown molding but it will really show when the finish paint is applied.

This is the tile in the master bathrooms. You can't really get a gauge of how it will look done but it will be pretty spectacular.

This is the first floor unit.

Here is the tile combo in the stand-up showers. The pebble floor is really interesting.

This is the back wall after it was painted. You can see we were testing different trim colors. I think we decided on the more grey color, because the blue will fade faster over time.

The balconies are slowly taking shape. The spiral steps are being built off-site and should go in next week.

Here is the front window. We originally painted it one shade of green, but it was too light. I searched around and found the color I wanted- you can see the darker part on the center. We're going to repaint them all with this darker color.

The steps down to the basement now exist. Lots of digging finally paid off.

1133 6th St- Almost Ready For Sheetrock

2009-05-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

Our condo project is moving along at a great rate. I was shooting to have the drywall up this week, but we still had a million little things to do, so it got pushed back until later this week, if not the beginning of next week. Things look really good and I can't wait to get the sheetrock up so we really start forging ahead.

The sign went in last week in the front yard. The rendering looks awesome.

The front windows all arrived and the trim is finished. It just needs to be painted. It is an exact match of the historic trim that was on the building when it was originally built, including the transoms above the front glass.

This is from several weeks ago, but I realized I never posted pictures of the radiant floor before we poured the slab. We attached the pex tubing to wire mesh, which worked well. The radiant floor will be enough heat to use as the primary source of heating, but this unit will also have central heat and air.

Here's the basement a few days ago. It was a madhouse trying to get everything done before the sheetrock.

Also finished is the spray foam insulation. This stuff is so much more effective than really any other method for insulating exterior walls. We did all the front and back walls, including the ceiling of the building.

This is a typical wall after the installation:

And here is the roof:

This is what the front pitched roof looks like from the outside. The shingles look awesome and are the same color as the new slate roof in the front of the building, which will be finished this week.

Today we finished framing and pouring the front steps to access the basement unit. They are nice and wide.

Next Project- Capitol Hill Renovation

2009-04-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

We're excited to announce that we've located our next renovation project. As our 6th st project finishes up, we'll transition to this next house. It will be a TOTAL overhaul of a house in historic Capitol Hill, less than a block from the famous Eastern Market. It's also a block from the metro. We have the house under contract and are currently working with the historic review board to come up with an approved set of drawings for the renovated house. We're planning on building a 3 BR, 2.5 BA house with tons of great green features. Actual construction will be several months from now because we need to go through the permitting process, and also the sale is an estate and will take some time to settle. Here are the before pics:

Here's the current front.

Our house is part of a pair with the building next door. At some point, a decorative cornice was added to the property next door, which really adds some character. Our front will be nearly identical to the neighboring property, including the cornice and crown molding above the windows. One difference will be that our building will have wood windows and siding as per historic guidelines.

The lot is huge- almost 115 feet deep.

Check back soon for more updates.

6th St Update

2009-04-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and I apologize for the delay. Although lots has been going on at the project, things didn't look particularly different from my last post so I was waiting a bit. Now, however, the condos are really taking shape. We've been working to finish all the little things that have to get done before we can close in the walls and hang the drywall.
I'm shooting to get the insulation and drywall up by the end of next week.

One of the main things that we've been working on for the last week is soundproofing the building, both to the exterior and between units. This has become more and more important for buyers in the last few years, and we're doing as much as possible to make the units as quiet as possible. In the picture below you can see boxes that we built above each recessed light to block sound transmission between the floors. We used a product called Green Glue, which gets sandwiched between two sheets of Durock cement board, and then the seams are caulked with acoustical caulk.

Here's what the boxes look like once they are installed. Also notice the new fire sprinklers.

Here's the completed framing on the top floor two-story unit. This is from the loft area looking down onto the floor below. The skylights are covered, but they will let in a ton of natural light once installed.

Here's a view from the same unit looking up to the loft.

We rebuilt the entire rear wall with new blocks. They have a brick design on the exterior, and once painted, this will look just like the neighboring brick buildings and will blend in nicely with the historic exteriors.

Here's the same rear view. You can just make out the loft popping up on the top of the building.

This is the view from the loft balcony. You can see the new condo buildings off to the right. This is also where the new Safeway grocery store, gym, bank and hardware store are located.

This is a pretty typical view of the interior units. All the rough-ins are done, we just need to get a few inspections, lay down the hardwood floors, and we'll be ready to close everything up.

This winter was extremely cold here in DC and water pipes were freezing left and right. Even in projects where we had installed pipe wrap and pulled the lines a foot off the exterior wall we had freezing issues. We've learned from these experiences and in this building all plumbing touching exterior walls was done in copper. This should avoid any headaches in the future.

1133 6th St- Taking Shape

2009-03-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Our condo project has had a big week. It got a name- The Grayson, named after my business partner's daughter, and it got a lot closer to looking like a habitable building.

Here's what the house looks like now from the street. All of the windows are framed out and we're waiting for the new Jeld-Wen wood windows to arrive.

The front has been excavated even further to allow for the new front entrance. The gas meters will be relocated any day now to the entryway and once the drain is placed we can start building the steps.

The first two floors are completely framed out, including all the interior stairways. Using the engineered wood for the floor joists took longer and was more expensive, but it's paid off because the floors are 100% level and much more sturdy than the old wood.

This is the second floor condo. You're looking at the wall which will be the back of the kitchen. It's hard to imagine what it will look like now, but in a few weeks the drywall will be up and it'll look amazing.

All of the groundwork for the plumbing in the basement has been installed an inspected. This week, we're going to level the floor and start installing the insulation and pex tubing for the basement radiant heat system.

1133 6th St- Coming Along

2009-02-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Our condo conversion project has reached the point where it looks like chaos, although we've made a ton of progress in the last few weeks. The basement has been excavated and we've begun framing out the new floors. This week our plan is to finish framing out the floors and begin building/installing the steps. We're still debating whether or not to build the steps on site or order them pre-assembled. I'd really also love to start putting down the radiant heating system in the basement this week if time permits.

Here's what the interior looked like after we removed the joists between the first and second floor.

This is the same floor but looking towards the front door. The worker on the left is about six feet tall, so you can really see how tall the ceiling heights are in this building. Pretty amazing.

We used cinderblocks to fill in the voids that were left when we removed the old chimneys.

We also used cinderblocks in the front of the property to build a retaining wall where we dug out to make access to the basement unit. These blocks have a brick facade and will look just like brick after they're painted.

All of the joists that we tore out were donated to Community Forklift. This non-profit organization recycles and resells building materials. The joists here are from old growth forests and are over 100 years old. This wood is stronger and straighter than any wood you can buy now. I would have loved to have used them in another project but I just didn't have anywhere to store them.

Here is the same first floor as the photo above after the second floor joists were installed. We used engineered joists because they're stronger, have less flex, and allowed us to span from party wall to party wall without posts and beams.

Framing the front wall in the basement.

You can see the new underpinning in the basement. They dug down almost four feet. What an undertaking! The ceiling height is great. Right now there is only a small opening for the door, but this will be enlarged to make way for the new full-size door.

Silver Spring Remodel

2009-02-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Over the last few weeks we completed a full makeover of a brick split-level house in Silver Spring, MD for a client. The house was livable when it was purchased, although very outdated. The homeowner wanted to redo the kitchen and three bathrooms, as well as adding a screened-in porch and deck in the rear yard. In addition, the young couple wanted to repaint the entire house and update the lighting. While we were there, we replaced all of the shingles on the roof on the entire rear of the house where an overhanging tree had caused moisture damage.

The house came out really awesome. Construction took about six weeks, which was pretty great for the amount of work that was accomplished. The before pics can be found here, sorry I couldn't figure out how to copy them from the program:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=sgqhppe.8z4o0pri&x=0&y=bc9s9a&localeid=en_US

Here is the after:

On the exterior we repainted all of the siding and exterior trim as well as recasting the front concrete steps, which had cracked and shifted over time.

The new kitchen has stained white cabinetry with granite countertops. We also removed all the old linoleum flooring, leveled the floors and installed new tile.

The previous kitchen had no island. The island was added to increase counter space and provide a place to eat.

Here is a picture of the new screened-in porch. This space will be great in the warm weather, and at some point could be easily enclosed to add more living space to the house.

Here is the new deck and a better view of the sunroom. Previously there had just been a large concrete pad that was in poor shape.

The homeowners used several different colors throughout the house.

The bathrooms were all totally gutted. Here is the master:

And the hall bath:

A small room in the walk-out level was converted into a home office.

This is the basement bathroom. It was difficult to renovate because a large gas pipe runs along the wall underneath the vanity and could not be removed. We ended up making this vanity out of a wood block countertop from Ikea.

The second living room was painted and new carpet was installed.

In the lower level we installed a ton of shelving which was purchased for practically nothing from a Linen's and Things bankruptcy sale.

1133 6th St- Underway

2009-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

Things are finally picking up speed at our new condo project on 6th St NW. Postings have been further apart over the last few weeks because I've been traveling and because we were waiting on permits. However, things are moving along and I will continue to update the blog more frequently.

Over the month of December, a company repointed and rebuilt the front brick. Underpinning in the basement is underway. Things have slowed down this week with the inauguration (basically every road in the area is closed) and the MLK holiday. We will get back to work tomorrow and hope to start demolition on the roof and framing of the rear addition next week.

Here's how the front looks after all the paint was stripped, the arches rebuilt and the mortar repointed. We matched the color of the mortar to the original color from 1910, and used a special lime mixture to stay within historic guidelines. There were at least 4 coats of nasty brown paint on the brick, which took a ton of work to remove.

This angle shows the color a little better. We're going to paint all the window trim and architectural details a dark blue or green color, which should really make the front stand out.

The entire arch above the window is new. Matches pretty well, right? If you look at the pictures before the renovation, you can see the bricks in the crown of the arch were already starting to come out. Sure enough, once the masons started trying to rebuild, the entire arch collapsed, all the way up the window above. We used brick from another project that was built around the same time, and the color matched nicely.

We demolished the garage in the rear yard. I didn't have any good "before" pictures, but it was basically three walls with a charred, burnt out roof. A neighbor told me that a few years ago a homeless person was living in the garage and set a fire to keep warm. One thing led to another, and somehow the whole structure caught fire. The heat got trapped in structure, building up, and then finally the entire thing literally exploded!

We kept all the bricks that were still intact in order to reuse them on the rear wall addition. The space on the left in the picture below will be enclosed to add more living space, and another floor will be built on top of the existing structure.

Here are all of the studs we were able to salvage from the previous framing job. We pulled out all the nails in order to use them again.

Here's one of the places where a carpenter was able to reuse the studs. In the picture below you can see that he used the 2 x 4's to make the frames for the concrete forms in the basement.

Here is one of the pits that was dug in the basement as part of the underpinning process. Basically, you dig a serious of pits in a certain order around the foundation in the basement. Once the entire wall has been supported, you remove the existing slab and dig down to the desired finished ceiling height. In our house, we had 7 ft ceilings and wanted 9 ft finished, so we're digging down almost 3 feet (the concrete slab, gravel, finished floor, drywall, etc add up to several inches).

This is hard, physically demanding work. It's all done by hand. There were at least five guys digging in the basement at any given time.

This picture provides a little more scale. The workers have already poured the concrete for two of the three sets (roughly 6 holes in each) of holes. They wanted to pour the final one last week, but it's been so cold in DC- about 20 degrees- that the concrete wasn't curing as fast as normal. We made a decision to give it more time to harden before digging out the final set of holes.

1133 6th St NW- New Condo Project

2008-12-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

My real estate partner and I sat down and really thought about how we were going to approach renovating and reselling properties in 2009 in the current slow market. We decided to focus on doing fewer projects, but taking on larger and more unique ones to set ourselves apart from the competition.

Then, like a desert oasis after days of hiking, 1133 6th St NW came onto the market. It was a short sale- another investor bought it, gutted it and then ran out of money. We made a strong all-cash offer, and two weeks later- Nov 18th, we owned it.

The house is a huge victorian-style rowhome in an area that is undergoing a ton of new development. It's in a historic neighborhood called Mt. Vernon Triangle, and it's only a few blocks from Chinatown, which is the heart of the city. Chinatown has tons of restaurants, bars, the new convention center, and the Verizon Center where the Wizards and Capitals play. If that wasn't enough, our project is only one block from a large new mixed use development called CityVista, which has a brand-new Safeway grocery store, Results Gym, banks, a hardware store and a coffee shop.

We're converting the building into four separate condos, and selling each individually. We're going to preserve the historic exterior and totally rebuilt the interior. We're hoping to add a loft for the top floor unit, although we go in front of the Historic Review Board next Thursday, so we'll know then whether or not they'll allow the roof addition.

All in all, I couldn't be more excited and I can't wait to get rolling on the rehab. Right now, we started repointing the front brick and doing some light demo. We can't really do much until we get our permits from the city, which could be another 14-30 days.

Here's the front. We're going to strip all the paint, repoint all the brick and repaint all the trim and architectural details. We're also replacing all of the vinyl windows with wood in order to comply with historic preservation guidelines. In addition, we will recreate the original appearance of the front door and all the original window trim.

Here's the front after the scaffolding was installed. They're working to strip all the paint and rebuild all of the arches above the windows.

Ours is to the left had side. The property on the far left was damaged in a fire and is currently vacant. The owner is planning on either renovating the property or selling it next month.

Here is a new condo building four doors down. It looks old, but it's not. It was built in 2007. I included this picture to show how we're going to dig out the front to allow for access to the basement condo unit.

Here was our basement when we settled on the property. It had been framed for a single family house, so we had to tear out all the framing. In addition, the previous owner didn't repair the subfloor or level the floors, so none of the existing work was salvageable. Luckily, we were able to pull out all of the nails so we can reuse the studs when we frame the new units.

Another basement shot.

This is the main floor looking towards the front door. The ceilings are well over 10 ft, which won't change. Pretty great.

There were two original chimneys that went all the way through the building. I would have liked to keep them, but they ended up being in the middle of the kitchen and baths with the new layouts. We took them down by demolishing them from the basement up, and letting all the bricks pile up in the basement. Here's what the basement looked like after:

Here is the rear. Ours is in the middle. This is the before shot:

Here's what it will look like after we're done. These two condo projects are a few houses down and have an additional bump-out on the third floor, and then a roof loft. Ours is similar now to the one in the middle.

Manassas- Almost Done

2008-12-10T12:41:00.001-08:00

We're just a few days away from being done with the townhouse renovation in Manassas, VA. It's been a stressful project and I'll be thrilled to wrap it up. It's just too hard to work on a house that is an hour each way from where both me and my crew live. I took the project in order to keep the guys busy as we prepare for our new projects, but it was just too much.

Here is the new first floor. You can see the new patio doors. They have an internal shade, which is a great feature. We installed the new red oak floors throughout the whole house.

The first floor was opened up to create a more open feel.

The owner was very insistent on putting up this rail. It has been stained since to match the floor.

We rebuild the steps with new treads and risers.

I recreated the same tile scheme as my last two renovation projects. People keep asking for it, so I'm happy to oblige. Moving forward, though, I think I'm ready for something new.

Capitol Hill Renovation Project

2008-12-07T14:12:00.001-08:00

A few months ago we did a bunch of small renovation projects at a house on 16th St SE in Capitol Hill. The owner had purchased the property about a year earlier and had already done a ton of work to the house. It had basically been gutted and rebuilt, but a few things were left to do. This is where we came in. We rebuilt the deck and balcony, built and tiled the fireplace, and totally rebuilt the main set of stairs.

We used pine treads, stained to match the red oak floors and a victorian-style post to accomplish this look.

From the kitchen:

All of the framing on the deck and porch is new.

Here is the new fireplace. We used black granite tile on the wall and as an accent in the brown travertile tile on the ledge. We build the entire mantel from scratch- it was not a kit.

1616 E St SE- Mostly Done

2008-11-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

This was a house that we finished and sold about four months ago. It came out awesome. We were still doing some minor projects around the house (customizing for the new owner), so I was waiting to post the finished pics. The truth is that we're still not 100% done, but the house is far enough along that I wanted to at least give an idea of the finished product. Keep in mind that the house hadn't been cleaned or anything before I took these pics ("excuse the clutter!").

I learned so much from this project. It was my first foray into green building. We were able to incorporate a TON of environmentally-friendly items, including: tank less hot water heating, no-VOC paints, recycled cork flooring, energy star appliances, low-E windows, soy-based insulation and sustainably harvested bamboo floors. Pretty amazing!

Here is the finished kitchen. We used Armstrong cabinets that are made without any harmful chemicals or stains. The backsplash is a glass subway tile with a metallic accent tile. The granite is black honed. I'm going to use the same style of cabinets in my new condo conversion project.

I love the wallmounted oven/cooktop combo. Definitely more expensive, but it just looks so much better.

The floors on the first floor are made of recycled cork.

The master bathroom is really special. I'm between using this same scheme at the condo project and using a white glass or subway tile.

The fireplace was exisiting but was in such bad shape that we ended up building a new one. The homeowner used a piece of naturally-fallen wood for the mantel.

Manassas Townhome- Renovation

2008-11-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

We are in between flips, so I took on this project for a friend in Manassas, VA. It was a bank foreclosure, and it needed some major updating. The house was built in the 1980's, so the plumbing, electric and HVAC systems were in good shape. We came in to open up some walls, redo the kitchens and baths, and install hardwood flooring throughout. We also painted the entire house and rebuilt the steps.

I got to the house the day after demo started, so unfortunately I didn't get any original pics. However, you can still see the progress between these and the new pics I will upload in the next few days.

The exterior looks fine. All we will do here is install a new front door.

Here is the master bath after we removed the tile.

This is the main floor. We took out some half-walls to open up the space.

Here is the same floor, looking into the dining room and kitchen.

These are the steps once the carpet came up. I wanted to just sand the treads and paint the risers, but there are so many nicks to be filled that we decided to just lay down new wood.

This is the powder room bath. The toilet is fine, but we will replace the vanity and tile.

Takoma Park Rehab- Done!

2008-10-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

We finished this house at the end of the last week and it looks amazing. We have had tons of interest already and hopefully should see some offers by the end of the week. I'm really proud of how this house turned out. The hardwood floors look amazing. It's even more noteworthy because they had been covered for decades.

Things at Gorman Property Group, LLC have been really busy. We just completed finishing a basement for a client in Capitol Hill, and we're beginning Monday on a full renovation of a townhouse in Manassas. I will put up pictures as soon as possible.

Here's the view from the street. We added the covered front porch, which added a ton of curb appeal, and helps the house to fit in with the architecture of the rest of the block.

Here's the view upon entering the front door. We took out the wall in front of the kitchen, which did wonders to open up the space.

Here's the new kitchen. We used a new color of Maple cabinets, which really works well with the granite color that I've grown fond of using in our rehabs.

I think this is the best room in the house. Before, it was a deteriorated room that was a few steps down from the rest of the house and pretty much a waste of space. Now, the soaring ceilings and huge sliding doors make it a great breakfast room or sitting room. The doors we reused from the eastern shore project renovation.

This is the sunroom from the exterior. We also added a huge deck.

This view of the kitchen gives a better detail of the tilework.

Here's one of the two basement bedrooms.

Another view of the new basement, which now has two bedrooms and a full bath.

Here's the master bedroom.

Recognize this bath? I used the same tile design for the bathrooms at Quackenbos. I like variety but we had a ton of the glass tile left over so I decided to use it again.

300 Quackenbos St NW- Done

2008-09-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

We finished this house two weekends ago, and the response has been great. We had 35 people come through the first open house, which is pretty remarkable. We think it's priced great for the neighborhood and should sell quickly once we get to the September market.

Looks much more inviting, doesn't it? The covered porch here is a great selling point.

To add a little pizazz, I put in a tile backsplash in the kitchen. This is the first time I've done this, but the expense was minimal, so I think I'm going to do this in every house from this point on.

We used a similar glass tile for accent in the master bathroom. The vanities in both of the bathrooms are from Ikea, and seem to be very popular with buyers.

The main living room is in the basement. This is actually pretty common in DC because many of the houses were built with one story above ground and one below.

Here's the master bedroom. I took a hint from the stager and used a slightly smaller fan, which makes the room look bigger. Apparently the larger fans that I usually use are supposed to be installed in much larger rooms.

This is personally my favorite room in the house. It's the sunroom off the kitchen, and it has five huge windows and two large skylights. It also has heat and a/c, so it can be used year-round.

Shore House Renovation

2008-08-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks, we completed a large renovation at a shore house in Oxford, MD. Previously, the addition was a screened-in porch that was mostly unused. After the renovation, it's got a sitting room, a bedroom, a storage area and a new shower for the hall powder room. The homeowners definitely added a ton of practical living space.

My crew moves pretty quick, and they'd already torn out all of the sliding screen doors before I got there on the first day of the job. However, here you can get some idea of what the space looked like before the renovation.

The plans called for a lofted ceiling in two of the rooms. Here, we sealed off the attic space to allow the high ceilings in the bedroom and sitting room.

We leveled the floor and added new floor joists to support the weight of the new rooms. We were fortunate because the porch was extremely well built, so we didn't have to do much structural work.

Here you can see the insulation that went in between the joists before the new subfloor was installed. We used the interlocking subfloor because it is far stronger than just using plywood.

This is what the interior of the addition looked like after the drywall was installed.

Here's the final product. You can see the original house on the left, and the addition on the right. The siding, trim and colors were matched exactly to provide continuity. We were extremely careful to make sure the new windows and doors lined up with the old.

Here's another view of the new entry door.

While we were working at the house, we finished several other small projects. The wood on the dock had become warped and was starting to rot, so we rebuilt the entire dock.

This is the new work room. We were able to incorporate environmentally-friendly cork flooring and solid birch countertops.

Here you can also see the awesome new Simpson wood door.

Here's the new bedroom. It feels much bigger because of how high the ceiling height towers over the bed.

We also added a new shower. The homeowner chose some amazing pebble mosiac tile for the floor, and white subway tile for the walls. It's a perfect combination for a house on the water.

The sitting room looks great. We had to match the new hardwood floors with the existing hardwood floors in the main house. It was difficult because the old floors had faded with age. However, we were able to match the color and install the exact same width flooring. Looks good as new!

Up to this point, our company has mostly focused on renovating our own projects. However, I'm now a licensed, bonded and insured general contractor, and I'm excited about growing Gorman Property Group, LLC into a full service building firm. Look out for more projects such as this addition in the near future.

1109 Holton Lane- Progress!

2008-08-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

The project we have underway in Takoma Park is really coming along nicely. Over the last two weeks, we completed all the demo, replaced the roof, rebuilt the addition, and waterproofed the basement. Not bad for 12 days of work. This week, we're doing all of the rough-ins for the electric and plumbing. We're about three weeks into our eight week timeline for this rehab, and I'm pleased with the progress up to this point.

In this picture you can see the new roof shingles being installed. We went with a 30 year "architectural style" shingle, which really gives the house some great curb appeal. This picture was taken before the new windows were installed.

Here's the house after the new windows were put in. We got huge casement windows for the front and rear addition. These are nice for saving on energy bills during the spring and fall.

In the kitchen, we took out the wall dividing the living room from the kitchen. We're going to replace it with an eat-in breakfast bar made of cabinets. In order to support the weight of the ceiling joists, we had to run a new header across the ceiling. Also in this picture, you can see we opened up the brick where there was previously a window, and made it into a door to the rear sitting room. Finally, we tore up the subfloor to level the joists, and install joists in the back right corner because we're moving the basement steps from the corner of the kitchen to the rear addition.

In the basement, you can just make out where we installed the new drainage tile and sump pump. The basement wasn't particularily wet, but it is below grade and we are putting in bedrooms, so it made sense to waterproof the entire basement. We patched and sealed the walls, and then installed a drainage system in the floor. The electrical wires seem to be all over the place in this picture, but we're tearing them all out and running new ones this week.

Here's a great picture of the new roof in the rear and the rebuilt addition. I'm really pleased with the color of the new siding. We have two huge glass sliding doors from a previous project, and these will go in to the large spaces in the rear room. If we have time at the end of the project, I'd love to install a small deck along the rear of the house.

Here's the same room from the other angle. The roofline definitely flows more seamlessly now than the old flat roof on the addition.

Here you can see the new roo

1109 Holton Lane- New Rehab!

2008-07-17T13:37:00.001-07:00

I just started another rehab in Takoma Park, MD. This neighborhood is great for renovating houses because it's quiet, safe and close to pretty much everything in DC (the metro, the highway, downtown, etc...). This house caught my eye because it's all brick (which is a great selling point), on a nice block and needed a TON of work. The house was being sold by a trustee, which was another great plus, because they are far less invested in the sale and it's often a great place to find a deal.

The house has been vacant for a while, and was entirely overgrown. In fact, it was so covered in bushes and weeds that you almost couldn't see the house from the street.

Here are some pics of what the project looked like before we started:

Quackenbos- Better Pictures

2008-07-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some better pictures of the project at 300 Quackenbos st NW. It's coming along pretty well and should be on the market in the next two weeks. The floors went in over the weekend and look great. The style is called "Black Cherry," although they look pretty light. We had the kitchen measured for granite this weekend and that should be in by the end of next week.

5620 8th St NW- Staged AND Under Contract

2008-06-27T10:40:00.001-07:00

After only a week on the market, this house is now under contract. I think it was a combination of pricing the house correctly and offering a ton of high-end finishes at a great price. We had scheduled a stager to come and set up furniture before we got the offer, so we we ended up going through with the staging even though it was not really necessary. It looks great though and I'd definitely use this particular stager again on another property.

300 Quackenbos St NW- New Rehab, Sort of

2008-06-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

We purchased this house several months ago, but after several delays (some within my control, most not) we're finally picking up speed. The house was an estate sale and needed pretty much everything. We have the drywall up and primed, so this upcoming week will be huge- we're putting in all the paint, tile and hardwood floors.

Here was what it looked like when we bought it. I wish I had a better picture of the ridiculous columns on the front porch, but I can't seem to locate one.

Here's the new front porch. It's much more modern and functional.

Inside, we've put in all new trim and windows. I used Low-E windows because we're working hard to make all of our projects more environmentally-friendly.

This is the view from the front door looking in to the kitchen. I actually already bought the kitchen cabinets- they're a beautiful blonde color. You used to have to go onto the porch to access the basement, but we relocated the steps to make the basement more accessable. The basement will be finished and has 2 BR's and 1 BA.

5620 8th St NW- Done!

2008-06-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

This house really turned out great. It was one of our faster projects too- it only took about two months to totally renovate the house. My favorite parts are the open layout in the kitchen and the really wide plank hardwood floors.

1616 E St SE- A Change of Course

2008-06-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, a potential buyer was looking at another property on our block and expressed interest in viewing our project. As it turns out, she loved the area but is especially interested in green, environmentally-friendly building techniques and materials. We were right at the point in our project where we could still make this a green project, and we struck a deal. Now, we're finishing the project based on her choices, all of which will be better for the environment and make the house more energy efficient. Here are some of the items going into the house:

-Soy-based spray foam insulation
-Recycled drywall
-Rheem tankless hot water heater
-No VOC paints
-Sustainably harvested bamboo and cork flooring
-no formaldyhyde cabinetry also made from bamboo
-Low-E Anderson windows
-Energy Star rated appliances
-Trim built from reclaimed lumber

This is is really exciting project for all of us and I can't wait to post pictures of the finished product. Green building is a topic that fascinates me and I can't wait to do several additional environmentally-friendly houses.

Here is the new brick exterior and porch. This is a huge improvement over the old vinyl siding that was on the house when we purchased it.

If you remember, the front of the house used to have a porch that was about to collapse. This new porch is far more durable and functional.

This was the first floor last week before the new insulation.

Here's the top floor before we insulated.

This is the installer from Anchor Insulation Systems. They used a product called BioBased- it's made from soy. It has an R rating of up to R50- which is almost 5 times stronger than normal insulation.

The finished rear wall:

We've received all our final approvals and we are set to begin drywalling on Monday.

2214 Randolph- Done!

2008-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

We're finished with this rehab and we're thrilled with the results. The total job took us a little over three months, which is pretty amazing when you consider that we pretty much rebuilt the entire house. Tomorrow, an HGTV crew will be in the property to film as part of an upcoming episode of "Get It Sold." They're actually focusing on another house in the neighborhood, but they're using ours as a sales comparable. It's still a great opportunity for us and we're excited.

Here are the finished pics:

5620 8th St NW- Almost Done

2008-04-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while since my last post, and I apologize. We've just been so busy rehabbing houses that I haven't had much time to sit down and update the blog. This particular house is really coming along, and we are trying hard to finish by May 1st (less than two weeks). I think it's definitely possible but it's going to be close. The entire house is painted, the majority of the tile is done and the floors were going in this afternoon. The kitchen cabinets are on order and should be in the house by the end of the week.

After using the same paint colors in several of our previous projects, we decided to try something different and use an entirely different paint scheme. The result looks awesome. Instead of our typical off-white, we went with a more silver color for the main floor.

The hardwood floors are Brazilian Rosewood and are extremely thick- more than 4 inches wide. They really show off how high the ceilings are in this house.

Here's a close-up. The floors came in several different lengths.

The tile in the master bathroom is pretty much finished. Here's a better shot of the master shower:

The bedrooms each got their own color. This blue in the front bedroom looks great, especially with the light from the four huge windows.

The master bedroom got a light green color that is almost like a mint shade. It really makes the bedroom look modern.

Check back in a week to see the finished product.

5620 8th St-Progress

2008-04-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

This house is really coming along. The new roof was put in, and the master bedroom looks awesome. We also finished all the siding around the rear, as well as new plumbing, electric and HVAC. It turns out the HVAC that was in the house wasn't run correctly, so we just took it out and did it again.

This week, we're working on finishing all the trim, painting and tile. I wanted to experiment with using more exciting colors, so I picked a whole bunch of new colors for this project. They should go up tomorrow- I can't wait to see them. If one or two doesn't look great, we'll just have it repainted.

We moved the powder room to the left side of the main floor because it was blocking two huge windows. Here's the new framing and drywall.

Here's a wider shot of the main floor. I still can't get over how big this rowhouse is. I think I'll measure it up today- it's got to be at least 3000+ SF.

This is the new master bedroom. The ceiling is at least 10 ft high.

This is the new tiling and jacuzzi in the hall bathroom.

This shot shows the balcony off the master bedroom and the new siding.

This is another house directly across the back alley. I think these people did an amazing job with the renovation. It appears to be two separate condos (it has two satellite dishes and two balconies). I love the rooftop deck, too. Next project I do where we have a little bit more room in the budget, I'm going to make it look like this one.

412 Mellon St- Done!

2008-03-17T13:00:00.001-07:00

Alright, so this project took slightly longer than I would have liked, but we're done, and I'm thrilled. The condos look great and should sell quickly. We decided to put appliances in two of the units as models and allow the buyers of the other two to choose their appliance colors. Here are the finished pics.

5620 8th St NW- Another new Rehab

2008-03-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here's another one of our new projects. It's a large rowhouse in a great up-and-coming area in DC. It was purchased by another investor about a year ago, and he did a ton of work to the property before losing it in a foreclosure. We bought the property from the bank. This is a perfect project for us because it needed way too much work for someone without a serious construction background.

When we bought the house, it had already had new electric, plumbing and HVAC. We were hoping to salvage most of it, but after we bought the house and really were able to inspect the work, we decided just to do it again. The layout was really bad, so we ended up totally changing it, as well.

Looks pretty good on the outside, right? It has new windows, doors, siding, a new front porch, paint, etc... It's also got a garage underneath the house, which is really rare for DC and an awesome selling feature.

Inside doesn't look quite so good. However, you can see the potential. The ceilings are huge and the space is awesome. Plus, there is so much light on this floor because the property is an end-of-group and has a ton of windows.

This is the upstairs front bedroom. It actually looked much better when we bought it, but we took out all the interior walls to reconfigure the layout, so we had to take out most of the new electric wiring.

This is the basement. We're making it into a TV/rec room. It's also got it's own full bathroom. The previous owners dug out the basement almost two feet. Thanks!

This is the brick wall along the main stairs that we cleaned out and had repointed. It still has to be washed with acid to finish it, but I think it came out really well.

This picture is kinda hard to decipher. When we bought the house, the roof in the rear had been built with such a sharp angle that in the very back the ceiling height was only 6 ft. It was pretty ridiculous. So, we took off the roof in the rear and rebuilt it to add more ceiling height. You can just make out the rear wall, and you can see the sky where it was removed.

These pictures were taken at the beginning of last week. Now, the house has been reframed and looks totally different. I'll put up the new pics later this week.

1616 E St SE- New Rehab #1

2008-02-28T16:34:00.000-08:00

So much for the slow market- we're picking up great new deals left and right. We're actually starting three new large rehabs all at the exact time over the next few days. Here is the first of the three. It's a solid rowhome in Capitol Hill. It's only two blocks from the Potomac Ave. metro station and three blocks from a huge new Harris Teeter grocery store. This was a bank owned property that we put under contract the first day on the market. Apparently, from talking with the neighbors, someone named "Big Boy" owned this house and the one next door. He fully renovated the adjacent home, sold it for a great price last year, and planned to rehab ours next. Something happened to him- I'm sure it wasn't great- and Wells Fargo ended up taking back the house. The house has two floors with no basement, and room for off-street parking.

Here is the block. Ours is the white one, second from the right. It's the only house on this entire side of the street that hasn't been renovated.

You can see the house that Big Boy renovated to the right. He took down the vinyl siding and rebricked up the entire front and porch. We're going to do the same thing, but I hope to add a little more detail into the brick (especially above the windows). We also are going to tear the front porch down. I noticed today that our front door is smalled than every other one on the street. We'll remedy that, as well.

Here's the kitchen. We closed at 10 am, and by the time I got to the house at 11, my crew had already started gutting it. It was terrible. The entire floor needs to be torn out and replaced. We found that when we tore out the drop ceiling that the actual ceiling height was at least a foot higher. Nice.

Here's the fireplace in the living room. At some point, the previous owner put drywall over it. We're going to tear out the drywall, install a new mantle and install a new gas fireplace.

This is a closet underneath the steps that we are going to convert into a powder room. You can get a better idea of what this will look like by looking on the drawings at the bottom of this post.

Here's the living room. We're gutting out all of these walls to open up the first floor.

This is the only stairway. It's super narrow, so we're going to open up the wall on the right side to allow more light. We can't expand the stairs because it would make the hallway upstairs too narrow.

These are the two closets upstairs that will be torn down to put in a new master bathroom (see plans below).

Here's the master bedroom. There will be walk-in closets on either side of the chimney.

The upstairs hallway. We're going to add more light by putting a skylight directly above the stairs.

This is the rear. Were going to put in brick pavers on a back patio area, and pave the rear for parking. We also need to put up a new fence.

This is the existing bathroom upstairs. It's pretty terrible and will be totally gutted. The floor is extremely soft from years of leaking fixtures, so we'll tear it out and build it again.

Here's the rear bedroom. We're putting a balcony off the rear.

I finally figured out how to put layouts on the blog. Here they are. You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

Check back in a few days to see our two other new projects.

Thanks
Dave

2214 Randolph St NE

2008-02-15T12:52:00.001-08:00

Things are really cruising on this house. It should be ready to put on the market by March 1st, which will be great timing for the spring market. We're really pushing to finish this one because we have at least three other houses lined up to rehab. We're still waiting to close on them, but we've already gotten our drawings done and we're submitting them for permits now so we can hit the ground running.

The front columns were sanded down and painted, and the gutters and downspouts were finally installed. You can see we began to tile the front steps, but it was so cold out that the mortar kept freezing in the bucket. We waited a few days, and the tile is now done. It looks amazing. I was so impressed that I hired the tile guy to join our crew full-time. I will post a picture of it later this week. We're also going to build a small retaining wall in front and put in a low white picket fence.

Upstairs was painted and the trim was installed. We're planning on putting carpet in these bedrooms and hardwood floors in the hallways and first level.

The new hardwood floors were installed downstairs and a new railing built. The rail actually came in a kit and was surprisingly easy to put in.

Here's Fish- the tile guy- in action. This is the new huge bathroom on the second floor where the tiny bedroom used to be.

Here's the new custom shower in the same bathroom above. This is actually the first house we've done where we had enough space to put a seperate tub, shower and double vanity sinks.

A closeup of the listellos in the tile.

Here is the dining room with the new french doors where the window used to be. You can also get a better look at the new floors. Hard to tell how bad the house looked when we bought it, right?

This is the living room, and you can see the new crown moulding (editor's note: some people have corrected me and said it's spelled molding- I researched it and apparently both are correct). This week we'll build a real mantle above the fireplace.

Here's another shot of the floors. We decided to use a real light blonde maple because they make rooms look bigger.

718 I St- Done

2008-01-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

We finished I St last Monday, and the property went on the market on Tuesday morning. In the next 5 days, we had 10 showings, and one great offer. We took it, and I'm happy to announce that this property is now under contract. We are set to settle in the beginning of February. The next few days we're working on fixing and adjusting all the little things (nothing major) that came up during the buyer's home inspection.

412 Mellon St

2008-01-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

These condos are so close to being done, I can taste it. We ordered all the granite today and should be wrapped up with the project in about two weeks. Although we've had delays, we're probably going to hit the market at a better time of the year, so it should work out.

Outside the property, we built an awning over the front door to add some curb appeal. We also put up the picket fence, which will be painted white over the next few days. We also need to put up the black shutters in front of the property.

We put down new slate tiles on the walkway up the front door. This picture was taken before they were grouted and the edges defined- they look much better now.

All of the toilets and vanities are in. The bottom two units got white vanities, and the top two units got black. We wanted to give a buyer a choice. Here are the white ones:

And the black ones:

The upstairs kitchens have cinnamon-colored cabinetry. All four kitchens have breakfast islands. In this kitchen, the corner cabinet will be all glass.

This is the downstairs kitchen cabinet color.

Next week is a big one- we should be done! We haven't yet decided whether to put appliances in all the units, or to put them in one as a model.

2214 Randolph St- Drywall Up

2008-01-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

The house at Randolph is really cruising along. Now that our I St project is wrapped up, we're going full steam ahead on Mellon and Randolph. At this house, all of the drywall is up, and they're in the finishing stages of sanding and taping. Elsewhere, the basement floor is being tiled, the windows are being capped, and the front door went in this afternoon. Next week, we're going to be done with all the trimwork and we'll begin painting.

Outside, all the windows went in earlier this week. In addition, the old front steps were removed and new steps were built from cinderblock and concrete. They still need to be covered in a thin layer of concrete to have a better finished look. It's been so cold outside that the concrete was freezing in the bucket, and the work had to stop. This is also why there are no gutters up yet and the columns haven't been stripped of the old paint. However, it's a little warmer today so work resumed outside.

This is earlier this morning. Selwin and Allan worked on replacing the paneling on the porch roof, and installing trim around the corners.

Here's the drywalled first floor. This arch is one of the orginal details that we were able to preserve.

The french doors were installed in the dining room to go out on to the new deck. They need to be stained and covered in polyurethane.

Here's the new tile in the basment. We always tile the entire basement floors in our houses. The truth is that water will always find it's way in to a basement- whether you live in a $50,000 house or a $5,000,000.00 house, and it's best to put in the tile as a precaution.

This is the tile going into the basement bathroom.

This is the current status of the upstairs loft area.

2214 Randolph- Deck and Electric

2007-12-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Randolph house is starting to look like a house once again. We've got most of the plumbing, and all of the electric and HVAC rough-ins done. We're working on finishing up a few minor framing tasks, and then we should be insulating and putting up drywall next week.

Here's the rear of the house with the new huge deck. You can also see the new siding on the rear addition.

Here's a closeup of the deck:

This is the electric and plumbing in the new bathroom upstairs.

The current status of the master bath on the second floor:

A better shot of the upstairs bathroom:

Digging in the basement for the new waste lines for the bathroom.

412 Mellon St- Coming Along

2007-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Things are slowly coming along at our condo conversion in Southeast. The floors are all done, the window bars are in, and most of the cabinets are up. In addition, all of the light fixtures have been installed. We've been really delayed by the fact that this building still has no electric. It's just been one delay after another, and definitely a learning experience. However, Pepco finally approved the service, so we should have electric by the end of the week. After that point, we can put in alarms, and then we can finish the project. At this point, I don't want to put anything more (toilets, vanities, appliances, etc...) into the house until we have alarms and the motion sensing exterior lights. We've had so many issues with theft in our other projects that I'd rather just take our time and wait.

We used a darker wood for the floors on the two upstairs units, so we went with a different color kitchen cabinet. Here is the new 42" cabinets. They will look even better once the matching crown moulding is installed around the top.

Here's the other upstairs unit. You really can see how much light the skylight lets in- there's no lights on in this picture, and it's still bright.

Here's the floors downstairs. These are actually even lighter than they appear in this picture, and they look awesome. The kitchen will go in the back right corner.

Here are the new window bars. It's the same design we used at our project at 718 I St, except we made them "quick release" so you can escape if there was a fire.

Here's the way the front of the house looks. It should look totally different by the end of next week. We're putting a covered entryway in front of the door (picture a little house) with two great pillars. We're also installing a new door, a white picket fence and black shutters. At the end of the project, we'll sod and landscape the front yard.

718 I St- Almost Done

2007-11-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

We're in the final week of our rehab at 718 I St. NE. The house looks beautiful, and I can't wait to see the finished project. It looks like we're going to have to put this house on the market during the slowest time of the year (between Thanksgiving and New Year's). We were hoping to finish slightly sooner, but I think this house will sell quickly regardless of the time of year because it's such a unique project. It has several features that are rare for the area (off-street parking, a separate rental unit, end-of-group, two high-end kitchens, orginal historic details, etc...).

Here's the entryway. All of the trim and paint is done, and the lights are all up. All that's left to do here is to finish sanding and staining the floor.

Here's the main stairway. We need to make the wood pieces that go on top of the posts. I had originally planned on staining the top of the handrail, but after 100 years, it had too much wear to just stain. We ended up painting it black, and I think it came out really slick.

Here's the basement rental unit. We bought the matching crown moulding over the weekend and it will go in tomorrow. We also have all of the cabinet hardware, which needs to be installed.

Here's the front of the house after we painted the steps. All that's left to do here is landscaping. We bought some awesome brass hardware for the front door, which also needs to go in. I like to do that last so it doesn't get damaged when contractors are coming in and out of the property.

Here's the garage structure we built in the back yard. We also repoured all of the concrete, built a new deck, and added a new fence.

Here's the main kitchen upstairs. This picture doesn't really give you an idea how great the granite looks with the floor tile and the kitchen cabinets. I'll upload a better picture this week after the place is cleaned up.

The next set of pictures for this property should be the finished and cleaned product. We're excited to get this on the market and move on to another one.

2214 Randolph- Progress

2007-11-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

Things are cruising along nicely at our project at 2214 Randolph St. The majority of the framing is finished, the roof is done and the HVAC rough-ins are in. The plumber and electrician are at the house this week, and the following week we'll insulate and get the drywall up.

We raised the roof in the rear in order to make space for a master bedroom in the loft area upstairs. It came out really great, and the ceiling height is well over 9 ft. We were able to make space for another full bathroom upstairs. The other window and white siding is going in this week.

You can see the new roof framing by comparing it to the house next door. This weekend, the crew was there putting all the trash in a dumpster and building a huge rear deck. We're then going to make the old kitchen door (on the right side) a window to accomidate the extra kitchen cabinets, and make the dining room window (on the left) into a french door to access the deck.

The old roof was torn off and a new one installed. We replaced all of the gutters and downspouts, as well. The main roof is finished but the porch roof still needs to be done this week.

Here's the new steps to access the loft bedroom upstairs. It's in the location of the old bathroom.

This is how we decided to pull down the old iron steps. We used a Sawzall to slice the supports, and then the truck to pull it off the house.

New Rehab- 2214 Randolph St, NE- Before Pics

2007-11-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

We just purchased another new project in DC. This one is in an area called Woodridge, which is in the NE corner not too far from Catholic University. It's a great stable neighborhood that is a popular place for young couples with kids to purchase their first homes. The area has a mix cape cod and colonial style houses.

We were attracted to this particular property because it is all brick, on a huge lot and on a quiet street. It's also close to major roads and buses, but far enough away not to have any road noise. Also, the other houses on this particular block all show great pride of ownership and people really seem to care about the health of the neighborhood. The house has a loft space upstairs and will have a finished basement downstairs, so there is a lot of usable space. It's currently 3 bedrooms and 1 bath, but it will be 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths when we're done.

The house has been vacant for almost two years after the original owner died. At some point, there was a fire in the property. The fire smoked out the entire second story, but the burning actually did very little damage. The fire department broke out all of the windows and cut holes in the ceiling to give the fire more oxygen to burn out, which caused more damage than the actual fire.

Here is the street view. We're replacing the main roof and the roof above the porch. We're also rebuilding the front steps, adding lighting, landscaping and all new windows. We're also putting in an iron railing around the porch.

This is the rear of the house. We're going to bump out part of the attic to allow for a bedroom in the attic (loft) and build a huge rear deck. The two windows on the main floor on the left side are going to be torn out and we will install french doors to open onto the deck. The steps to the basement will be moved to the side of the house to allow better access.

Here's the huge rear lot. This will get a wood fence around the entire exterior. We haven't decided whether to resod the whole area or pave part of it for parking.

This is the existing kitchen. It's pretty terrible, but we're gutting the house down to the studs and rebuilding everything new. We'll put in some great wood cabinets, tile floor and stainless steel appliances.

This wall is currently dividing the kitchen and the dining room. We're going to tear out the wall and put a kitchen island in this space. This entire floor will get new hardwood floors.

The old handrail is missing, so we're going to build a new one. We'll probably cover these steps with hardwood floors, as well.

This is the original master bath. Once we gut it out, it's going to be where the new flight of steps will go to access the loft.

Here's the front bedroom. You can see all the smoke damage on the walls.

The rear bedroom:

This is the basement, which will be another bedroom with a working fireplace.

Here's the spot where we're putting the second full bath in the basement:

We've got a lot of work to do, but this one will really be beautiful when complete. The house is getting all new HVAC, electric, plumbing, roof, floors, decking, windows, trim, tile, etc... It will be better than new. Check back to see our progress.

412 Mellon St- New Water Service

2007-11-04T17:29:00.001-08:00

We realized after we started rehabbing this property that there was no manhole cover in front of the property to access the water meter. We thought this was because the house had been vacant for so long that the access had been paved over or covered with dirt over the years. Unfortunatley, the worst case scenario happened, and we determined that the property no longer had any water or sewer service. Now, a few months into the project, we finally decided to solve the problem. We had to get all sorts of approvals from the city in order to install the new water lines. First, an engineer had to draw plans to show the proposed work. Next, an inspector had to come out and make sure that we didn't hit any gas or electric lines where we were planning to dig. We got all of our permits, traffic control diagrams, sewer authority approvals in hand and we finally tackled the project this week.

This is the machinery that was needed to dig the trench for the new lines:

The crew went down at least 8 feet in order to get down to the level of the pipes below the surface of the street.

The main water lines run right down the middle of the street. Here's the final place where my new lines will terminate:

Inside, the project looks amazing and is actually almost done. I'll post pictures this week of the progress (hardwood floors, tile, crown moulding, etc.)

718 I St- New Color and Trim

2007-10-01T14:14:00.001-07:00

This week we began installing all of the new trimwork. We went with a really thick (10 in tall) baseboard in order to match the original baseboards. We also put in crown moulding throughout the entire house, including the bathrooms. In addition, we repainted the front of the building with a more sensible color, and we also started tiling in the basement and in the bathroom. Tomorrow, a crew is coming in to begin painting the interior, and the welder is coming back to install the balcony and the front gate. Later this week we'll put in the basement kitchen, toilets, vanities, etc...

Here's the new green color:

A closeup. We are going to paint the concrete step and black handrail last.

Here's how the new baseboard looks as it goes in:

We're using all of the original doors. A few are missing, which we'll replace with from an architectural salvage store called Second Chance in Baltimore.

Here is the 18 X 18 tile we used throughout the entire basement. It will "pop" a little more once the grout is finished.

In the next day or so, I'll upload pictures of all of the new window trim and crown molding.

412 Mellon- Drywall at Last

2007-10-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

Our condo conversion project at 412 Mellon St SE is coming along really well, and we're thrilled with the progress. After a few days as a bland grey color, we decided to liven up the block a little by painting our building a cream yellow color. It came out really nicely. After the black shutters are installed, the white window trim will mesh really nicely with the yellow.

The drywall is all hung and is in the process of being taped, mudded and sanded. The drywall crew came in on Saturday with twenty (yes, 20) workers and taped and mudded the entire building in one day. That's over 550 sheets of drywall in about 12 hours. A job like that typically would take almost two weeks! I was definitely impressed.

Here's the crew installing the aluminum flashing around the new vinyl windows:

The plans originally called for a straight run of steps, but when we actually got to building them, they were way too steep. We came up with the design below, which looks even better. We made a large landing at the top to allow for appliances to come through these rear doors. Later, I envision someone using it for a barbecue area. You can see they had to remove some of the new siding in order to install trim around the windows. That should be fixed today or tomorrow.

This picture shows how the new paint matches up with the siding on the rear of the building.

Here is the top upper left unit. You can see the light coming through the shaft where the huge new skylight will be installed.

This is one of the four bathrooms. We built a nice step into the jacuzzi to allow for easier access. We decided to make it extra wide so it isn't dangerous when the tile gets wet.

This is the status of the lower units. We plan on putting some sort of shelving or wine rack on the return in the middle of the unit in order to maximize the space.

718 I St- Exterior Paint and Drywall

2007-09-18T13:50:00.001-07:00

On Friday, I went to Home Depot and picked out what appeared to be an excellent green paint for the exterior brick. On the sample, it looked modern, muted and appeared to blend in well with the neighboring properties. That's why I was so shocked when I pulled up at the house this morning and found this:

We were literally causing traffic in the street from people slowing down and staring in awe at the color. A few neighbors were offended and came over to complain. Behr should really change the name from "Scotland Isle" to "Kermit's Puke."

Every time I paint a project, I plan on buying a small quantity and testing it first, but somehow I never end up doing it. I always buy about $300 worth of paint, wait till the whole house has been painted, and then realize the color doesn't look right. The entire house then has to be repainted.

This afternoon, we went to Home Depot again, and bought several quarts of paint to test different colors. Here were the options we selected:

In the end, we took a vote, and everyone liked the green color second from last on the right. We also put some more of it below the window to see how it looked with the white trim. It will be painted on tomorrow and I will upload pics when it's done.

On the inside of the house, a crew hung all of the drywall in two days. That was over 300 sheets in 2 days! I've never seen anything like it. Another crew is coming in tomorrow to mud, tape and sand, and will be done in the next three days. When they finish, I'm going to send them right over to our project on Mellon St. to do the drywall there.

718 I St- Ready to Drywall

2007-09-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

Our project at 718 I St is really moving along. We got all of our inspections done and the house is ready to be drywalled. Here are the pictures of the house the day before drywall:

The brickwork above the windows was in rough shape, so we had to fix a lot of the bricks before we could paint the exterior and install windows on the second floor. We spent a lot of time deciding what style of windows to buy, and we finally agreed on 9 over 9 (9 grids in the top part, 9 in the bottom) and it looks great. You can also see the new electric meters on the right side of the house.

This is the new plumbing in the upstairs hall bathroom. We're going to put in period wainscotting and tile starting next week.

Here's the upstairs floor. It's a mess. We ended up having to reframe a lot of the interior walls because the original framing was not wide enough to fit modern electrical boxes.

The brick is all cleaned and repointed. The original brick had a lot of color, so the new exposed brick wall really stands out. I think it's one of the best we've done.

Here is the insulation in the kitchen downstairs. You can also see the new plumbing.

This is a wider shot of the basement. It has a lot of windows, but it looks dark now because they are all covered up while construction is underway. We also put about 25 recessed lights, so it will be real bright once the lights are on.

718 I St- Progress

2007-08-27T14:33:00.001-07:00

Even though I just posted pictures of the "before" pics of this house a few days ago, we've actually been working in the house for about three weeks. Things are coming along really nicely. Personally, I prefer to get everyone working in the house at one time. Conventional construction wisdom is that you should have one trade finish before another one starts (for example, typcially framing, then HVAC, then plumbing, then electric). However, this can drag on forever, and for the most part, the guys can work together to get the job done faster. Each trade will complain that the others are in their way or damaging there work, but in the end, the work still pushes on at a great pace. Most things are easily fixed, and I'd rather be fixing minor problems than wait and have major tasks not done (ex. change a recessed light location to make way for a pipe as opposed to not having any plumbing done). Below you'll find picures of the progress and an explanation of some of the minor issues that had be addressed.

This unlucky plumber's helper got assigned the task of digging out the concrete in the basement to move the waste line in the basement bathroom. You can see pretty well in this picture that there is a white pipe sticking up in the middle of the bathroom, which is no where near where it is supposed to be (on the rear wall, between the waste for the jacuzzi and the sink). This happened because the plumbing had to be set before the concrete was poured, and before the walls were framed out. Thankfully, it was fixed today and now we have a functional bathroom.

Here the plumber is running the waste line for the upstairs hall bathroom. On the top left, you can see an elbow, which sticks out past the framing. This is because the framers used 2 by 4's here, and they should have used 2 by 6's. After we realized that this new plumbing would create a bulkhead, we reframed out this wall with the correct lumber. Now, the plumbing sits flush against the wall, and we don't have any ugly bulkhead.

Here are a few pics of the steps. Although they don't look so majestic now, I guarentee they will after they are refinished, the lighting is in and the brick behind is repointed.

We opened up the wall on the stairs into the dining room behind it. It's sorta hard to tell in this picture, but there is actually a huge opening from about two feet above the steps all the way to the ceiling.

This is a little clearer:

The interior brick has all been cleaned and acid washed. Tomorrow we will begin to repoint this wall, and the columns in the basement. Upstairs, all of the recessed lights are in and the electrician is working on the outlets on the first floor. Actually, he ran most of the outlets upstairs, which was great until we realized that the old framing is not wide enough to accomidate the new electric boxes. We ended up tearing out what was left of the old walls this afternoon and reframing the walls. THe electrician will set the boxes again tomorrow.

This house has the new HVAC system totally finished, and all the ducts framed. We're aiming to finish plumbing and electric rough-ins by the end of this week.

1238 Penn- Finished Pics

2007-08-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the final pictures of the 4-unit building we rehabbed in the Trinidad area of NE DC. The project turned out really well, and is now listed on the market.

This is the front of the building after we added the wall and the iron fence. The fence was custom welded and really added a lot to the curb appeal of the building.

Here's a nice shot of one of the kitchens. I just got a new camera, and you can tell the quality of the picture is much better.

The bathroom. We were able to match the exact exisiting tile at Home Depot, which was a huge relief. A lot of the tile had been damamged or was missing when we bought the house.

This shot shows the new carpet. I went with a berber carpet that feels soft but will be very durable, which is important because this will be a rental property for the landlord that buys it.

718 I St- Before Pics

2007-08-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago we started a new project at 718 I St. NE, in DC. It's a few blocks north of Capital Hill and only one block north of H St, which is being totally revamped. H St is being billed as the next hot spot in DC, with tons of bars, restaurants, condos and shopping.

The house is a really exciting opportunity to rehab a classic DC victorian rowhouse. It's still got nearly all of it's original features. Although the house had been gutted by a previous owner, it still has all the original hardwood floors, trim, pocket doors and radiators. The house wasn't really in terrible shape, but it needed pretty much everything. The basement had been dug up to replace the sewer main, and then never repoured. The house had no plumbing, electric, or functioning heating system. There was also a massive hole on the first floor where an old bathroom had rotted through the floor. Here's the way the house looked on day one:

Here's the beast. This will look great with a little TLC.

This picture didn't come out that well, but it will still give you a decent idea of the condition. The previous demo crew did a good job of tearing out the junk but keeping what was important.

This is the old kitchen, or what was left of it. Hard to imagine anyone enjoying that ugly yellow paint.

This is how the basement looked when we bought the house. There was literally a ditch through the center of the house. In this picture, one of the plumbers' guys is leveling out the trench so the new pipes will lay flat.

This is the upstairs closet that will be the master bath, complete with a custom shower. We're going to take out the divider and just put the two closets together to make one bathroom.

This is a shot from the middle bedroom (there are three). You can see where the second bathroom will be (behind the radiator) and into the back bedroom. Behind that board is a door, which will be a small balcony.

The best part of this house is the grand spiral stairway, which I'm realizing now that I don't have any pictures of on my camera. I'll make sure to take some tomorrow.

1709 Ruxton- Done

2007-08-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

We finally finished this project a few weeks ago, and it looks great. Actually, there are still a few things left to do (set the A/C compressor, run a gas line to the stove), but we'll probably just do them after we have a contract on the house. Overall, this house was a success, and we've gotten some great responses from interested buyers. I think this house hasn't sold yet (it's only been on the market about 20 days) because of the problems people are having finding financing. However, I'm optimistic it will sell in the next two weeks or so.

Here's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door. We were able to refinish the wood on the stairs, which came out really well.

Here's the front of the house. We added the siding around the front windows and painted the awning. I'm not a huge fan of the awning, but buyers seem to like it. It's gotten a ton of positive comments.

Here's the kitchen. It probably looks pretty familiar, because we've put the exact same kitchen in our last five rehabs. Why fix something that isn't broken?

Another shot of the main floor:

This is the new bathroom we added on the first floor. We were able to fix a pretty large shower in a room that had previously been a coat closet.

This is the master bedroom. I love how big the bay windows are in the old rowhouses. It really lets in a ton of light.

Here's the vanity in the master bath. We splurged on a slightly nicer vanity than normal, and I think it was definitely worth it.

Here's the back bedroom. These floors were in terrible shape and we had to use a lot of wood filler to get them put back together. After the stain, though, you can't even see it.

You might notice that this house looks very similar to the houses we completed at 2413 W. Lanvale and 635 Bentalou. It's got the exact same kitchens, jacuzzi, tile, floor stain, etc. Although we love this tried and true design, our two current projects are targeted towards totally different buyers and will have very different finishes. Check back to see the status of 718 I St NE and 412 Mellon St.

1238 Penn St- Before and After

2007-07-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

We're in the final week of our rehab on a 4-unit building in the Trinidad neighborhood area of NE DC. When we bought the building, it had been vacant for almost 4 years and had squatters living in two of the units. However, the building had been gutted and rebuilt 4 years ago and was in pretty good shape once we cleaned out all the debris. This blog post will show you what we did to make the building attractive again for a new landlord. We're planning on putting it on the market next week.

Here's what the building looked like on the first day of work. We put slits in the boards because we wanted to air the property out- it smelled terrible.

Here's what the building looks like today. We painted, cleared out the dead trees and patched the cement walkway. We're now building a retaining wall so we can grade the soil and lay new sod. We also ordered a really cool custom wrought iron fence, which should be ready in about a week.

When we started work, all of the kitchens were closed off from the living room. We cut out a window in each, and then had to move around the plumbing and electric.

Here's what the kitchens look like after they were opened up:

This is what the kitchens looked like before we started work. Someone had come in at some point and stolen all of the cabinets, appliances, hot water heaters, etc. You can see the outlines of the cabinets on the tile:

Here is what the new cabinets and appliances look like:

And the other side. Recognize this combination? We put pretty much the exact same appliances and cabinets in every rehab.

That's the end of the before/after pics. Below are just a few other random pics of the project. Here's what one of the bathrooms currently looks like. It has a new vanity and toilet. The bathtub is all taped off because we refinished the ceramic.

This is the rear of the building. It's got new windows and a ton of new paint.

We had to patch the floors because a ton of the parquet had been damaged by water. We used ply to fix the gaps and then we are covering them with carpet.

412 Mellon- Framing Well Underway

2007-07-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since the last post, and I apologize. We've been so busy rehabbing that there hasn't been much time to sit down and update the blog. Anyways, things are definitely cruising along. We sold the house at 635 N. Bentalou to a first time homebuyer who was very happy with her purchase. We also just started a new rehab at 718 I St. NE in DC, which should be beautiful. I'll upload pics of the house later this week.

Mellon is coming along well. The bottom two units are pretty much fully framed out and we're working on the upstairs now. We also cleared out all of the trees on the side of the house to allow for off-street parking.

Here's the view from the side of the building. This house will look stunning once we paint it and add some curb appeal:

Here's the bottom right unit. You can make out the bathroom straight ahead:

Here's one of the walk-in closets in the bottom right unit:

This is the current status of the upstairs units. The framer in this picture is over 6 ft tall, which will give you a good idea of how big these units really are:

We're hoping to get either the plumber or the electrician to come in next week and start running the rough-ins. Check back to see our progress.

Mellon St.- DC Condo Conversion-Day 1-5

2007-06-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to announce that we've taken on two new projects in Washington, DC! This one, on Mellon St SE, is a conversion of a 4 unit apartment building into 4 condominiums. It's in Southeast DC in an area called Congress Heights, which is in Anacostia. We bought the building from a woman who had owned it for several years but had never gotten around to rebuilding the property. Eventually she moved to Florida and the property sat vacant for over a decade.

We tracked the owner down and found out that she had only the day before decided to sell the building. Talk about good timing. We worked out a deal and closed about 7 days later.

The main concern with this building is to make the units feel spacious, even though the square footage is not very large (between 700-825 SF per unit). We're going to be breaking out all of our tricks on this one. Without giving too much away, look for copious use of sklights, vaulted ceilings, huge windows, glass blocks and walls framed at angles.

Here's what the building looked like before we started. Looks kinda like a jail, right? Don't worry, it will be stunning by the time we're finished.

This is the side of the property closest to the alley. We're going to pave most of this area to give owners a choice to park their cars, if they so choose.

Here's the entryway of the building. We were pleasantly surprised to find that almost all of the joists are in good shape, and the roof is solid. In fact, for a shell, the building is one of the best I've come across. We will replace pretty much everything anyway, but having some salvagable wood will cut down on costs for our materials:

This is the front bedroom in the top right unit. It was a living room but will be the second bedroom after we're finished:

This shot is pretty typical of the condition of the building:

All of these pictures were taken before the demo. After the demo, the building looks entirely different. We filled up three full dumpsters, which each weighed over 10 tons. We brought down a demo crew from Baltimore who stayed in a motel by the project and worked around the clock. Here are the "after" shots:

These are the interior steps. We were able to keep literally every joist in the building. We'll spend time supporting and sistering the existing ones, but it's still much easier then tearing them out:

The bottom left unit:

Here's the upper left unit. After tearing down the ceiling, we found that we can have ceiling heights of way over ten feet in the two upper units.

This is the top right unit, looking towards the front:

Keep checking back to see our progress. We're still waiting to get all of our building plans reviewed by the city, so it should take us a few weeks to get rolling. Once we have the permits, we'll have at least 5 guys working each day until the job is done.

1709 Ruxton- Day 41

2007-06-05T14:30:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this project might not be the fastest we've done, but it's finally starting to look like a house again. All of the major stuff is pretty much done, including the plumbing, electric and HVAC. We also were able to finish all of the tile work and hang all of the drywall. Now, we're in the process of sanding the drywall joint compound to prep the house for painting. Tomorrow we're also going to buy all of the windows and kitchen cabinets, and they should be in by the end of the week.

Here's the status of the main floor. If you remember, this was the spot where the new ducts were run and then framed out. Now, they've been covered in drywall and the first layer of compound has been applied. Next, we'll sand and then prime for paint.

Here's a shot of the new tile in the kitchen. It's tough to tell from the picture, but this area is huge! I'm glad we don't have to pay per SF of tile or this would have been a really expensive job.

Here's a new jacuzzi tub and tile upstairs. We've decided to pretty much add jacuzzi tubs in any place we have to add a new tub. The only reason we keep them are if they are the super heavy cast iron ones or if they are in extremely good shape. The iron ones are so difficult to remove that it's usually more practical to just refinish them.

Here's the new furnace in the basement. It already has passed it's final inspection, as shown by the green sticker.

There's really not much more to show on the Ruxton house. Next week the house should look stellar with the new kitchen and paint already done.

635 N. Bentalou- Done

2007-06-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

We finished this house in the last week of May and we're very pleased with the finished product. It's really the only house in this area to offer a Jacuzzi tub, kitchen island, recessed lights and a whole bunch of other higher-end features. We also set the price competitively and offered both closing help and an agent bonus. Here are the finished pics:

635 Bentalou- Final Touches

2007-05-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

Our house at 635 N. Bentalou in Baltimore is only a few days away from completion. We're excited to see the finished product- it's definitely the nicest rehab in the area, but we're going to price it slightly less than most of the other recent sales. The only major things left to do in the house are to finish the kitchen (appliances and countertops), the floors and clean up the exterior.

Here's how the floors look after the first sanding. They still have a ways to go, but the natural color is starting to come out. These floors have a real nice light tint that will look great after the polyurethane is applied.

This is the main floor after we hung all the light fixtures and painted the columns. We used the same black accents on the stairs and on the railing upstairs.

Here are the stairs before the carpet was applied:

This is how the upstairs landing looks after carpet and final paint. If you scroll back to the beginning of the project, you'll see how much better this area looks with more light!

1709 Ruxton- Day 21

2007-05-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Ruxton house is coming along, albeit slightly slower than planned. This house needed new central air, electric and framing, and it's taken forever for each trade to complete their tasks. What ends up happening is that each person blames the other for delays, and then nothing ends up getting done. For example, this sequence of events actually happened last week:

1. Framers come and leave because electrician has turned off the electric, which they need to power the framing guns. Framers go to work on Bentalou house.

2. Electrician comes and leaves because he doesn't have the front door key, which framers took. Electrician leaves to work on job 45 minutes away.

3. HVAC guy comes and leaves because old supply lines to radiators are in the way. Says he can't finish until framers take out old lines. HVAC guy goes to finish another job.

4. Framers blame electrician for not having power to power saws to cut lines; electrician blames framers for taking key; framers and HVAC guy blame electrician for cutting power.

5. Nothing ends up happening for the day!

In any case, we're finished with the demo, some electric is done, most of the ducts are in, and all of the framing is finished. Here are some pics of what the house looks like now:

This is the new kitchen. We had to put in a bulkhead because the ductwork sticks out in the corner, and we decided to take the bulkhead all the way across the room. It'll look pretty good once the cabinets are installed, and the ceiling is so high that it doesn't make the room feel any smaller.

Here's how we frame out the ceilings in the bedrooms where there was previously drop ceiling:

Here's some new ductwork in the hallway. It's actually framed out now (this pic was early in the day), but we need to wait for our rough-in inspection before we can cover it with sheetrock.

This is how we framed out the tub surround in the upstairs bathroom. We also were able to put in a stand-up shower in the bathroom we created in the first floor. Three bedrooms and two baths will be really convenient for the family that buys this house.

This is how Roger prefers to sit when he frames out the ceiling.

After all of the inspections are finished throughout this week, we're going to work full speed to finish this house. After all, we've got more projects lined up for the summer.

Thanks,

Dave

635 N. Bentalou- Almost Done

2007-05-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

We're into the final week of this project, and we're excited to be finished. Over the weekend, the floors were refinished and carpet was installed in the upstairs bedrooms. We're going to put in the countertops, applainces and fixtures this week. The countertops would have gone in sooner, but we had to custom-order them because of the unique shape of the island piece. The fixtures also would have been put in, but we decided to wait until the alarm system was installed to avoid any problems with theft.

Here's the upstairs jacuzzi tub with the new ceramic tile.

This is the current status of the kitchen. You can finally see the big window in the rear that had been covered for the last few weeks. The island is installed, but covered with the cardboard box.

Here's an action shot of the cornice being painted. On the right, you can see the finished part, and on the left, the original. We're keeping the awnings up until the last possible moment. This house is really a "sleeper" from the exterior until the awnings come down the the front lawn is spruced up. You'd really have no idea how much work was done on the interior by looking from the front.

Another tub picture...

This is what the upstairs hallway looks like as of Friday. The skylight really helped to open up the space and make it feel larger. We're going to paint the handrails black with white spindles, which will add some more "pop" to the interior.

Check back later in the week to see all of the new changes, including the hardwood floors, carpet, countertops, alarm, etc...

Thanks,

Dave

1709 Ruxton- Day 1

2007-04-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

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: