Demolition and Permits

Yes, the house renovation project is underway, to a certain extent. I cleared the backyard and took out some chainlink fence so that we can get the big dumpster in. We have done some basic demolition, removing all the door and window trim and baseboards, interior doors and transoms, and a couple of makeshift closets. I dismantled the two marble fireplace fronts and labeled the pieces for re-construction later. Will (our contractor) and his "guys" took down the two interior chimneys to below the roofline and temporarily patched the holes in the roof. M and I will dismantle the chimneys the rest of the way from the inside. I have worked with our engineer to design the foundation support in the basement so that we can excavate it to regular height. He is to drop off the certified drawings at the house tonight, and Will will combine them with all the other drawings and get the building permit application submitted (this week I hope).

The house looks very disgusting now, probably at its worst. Even further demolition will improve it. I hope the dumpster comes next week, then Will and the guys can begin the heavy demolition work of cutting the big cast iron waste pipes, moving the old furnace and bathtub, etc.

We have not found anything truly interesting yet. A couple of old law firm business cards, an ace of hearts, a piece of door casing where the lead carpenter signed his work on the back. Lots of stuff in the house can be saved and sold or at least hauled for free. A neighbor has offered to buy our old interior door rimlock sets and knobs. One lock has patents from 1869 and 1878. The radiators might be sellable too or at least someone will take them for free.

Note to the neighbors

Our contractor Will had a great idea: to give our and his contact information to all neighbors who might get affected by the upcoming construction. I created a note, in which we ask neighbors not to hesitate to contact us if they have any problem. Construction is one of those situations where you could cause problems to others without noticing. To us it is very important to start it right with the people with whom we will be sharing the block, so we will deliver this note.

"BEFORE" pictures

OK...I know we are all eager to see "before and after". But obviously we only have "before" pictures at this point. So here we go. As you can see from the exterior shot, it's not too bad from the outside...





But the inside!
I think that this bathroom picture has the biggest impact of all - to show the degree to which the house has been unattended.














The kitchen is also very chic, especially with the water heater right there where you want it. Note that the big cast iron pipe peeking out from the back wall is the same one that is painted green in the bathroom picture.





















In case you were wondering, there is a basement. It was used primarily for coal storage. 6' 6" from dirt to bottom of joist.







This living room picture is also very telling....the sign of water damage on the ceiling, the old radiator at a rakish angle...and probably the original windows behind those shades. Yes, plenty of work to be done.

First weekend after closing

OK, what has to happen now? We are now waiting for our engineer Kameron to give an approval stamp on the plan our architect Peter has drawn. It will take about a week. Then we will have to send the drawing to the DC government to obtain permits. Once permits are out, our contractor Will and company will come to do the demolition. That will be exciting! In the meantime, our first weekend after the loan closing has come. What can we do in the meantime? We have decided to go and salvage some little items we can remove ourselves. The thing is, we are not the kind of people who can just sit here and wait for the professionals to come in and do the job. We want to be part of it!

Oct. 15, 2008 - We closed on our construction loan!

After a grueling process, we closed on our construction loan. Between the time we put our offer to the house and this closing day, Lehman Bros. went belly up, Wachovia announced it would be bought by Citicorp, the stock market saw its biggest fall in decades, Wachovia's buyer was switched to Wells Fargo, the government churned out the 700 billion dollar "rescue plan," and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae got taken back by the government, and the government bought another $250B worth of bank stock. We don't even remember the order in which these things happened. What we do remember is that as a result of all this, we had to knock on the door of several different lenders to get the loan. In case you are wondering, we have two decent, stable incomes and excellent credit scores. Finally our mortgage broker found a bank that would lend to us, but it turned out to be a nightmarish paper chase; we had to take the loan "on their terms", and on the very last day they were issuing construction loans! Anyway, at least we have the money to start. The house (or the house-to-be) is officially ours.