Settling in....

so, we've finally moved in!  crazy.  really crazy.  its kind of hard to believe b/c when i take a look around I can still see each corner of the place in its former condition as clear as day:  the moldy carpet.  the massive holes in the rotted floors.  the bombed-out kitchen.  the NASTY basement.

but now its all transformed.  and it looks damn good [if I do say so myself]

the last couple of weeks, have been as intense/busy as any other during the process because you just want to start LIVING.  get that sock drawer going.  where do the spatulas go?  have we tried the dishwasher yet? where's the TP?

all ho-hum decisions, but they are the ones that you have to make so you can continue the "settling in"

I'm looking forward to the weekend when we can kick the feet up on the couch and just chiiiiill.  maybe watch the Jets march on their road to the Super Bowl.  I'm aiming for week 11 [lets hope we're still in it]

here's some pics from recent weeks, its not quite ready for "the big reveal" but I'll keep posting stuff up until then

Gluttons for Punishment

an old house has so many charming things in it that can be salvaged.  a door.  a window or its frame.  fireplace mantels.  We've actually been able to salvage all of the above and its works pretty well with all the "new" around it

the last item up on the salvage list was a old radiator.

originally, the plan was to salvage 3 of the 6 old radiators in the house.  now, the dont work anymore [they cracked on the inside] but they look really cool and I wanted to keep that flavor around

*notice I didnt say "we" on this one...because this was definitely an "I" thing ;-)

as time went by and we saw how hard it was to strip those old doors, the goal went down to two radiators....then just one.   [someone was getting their way....hmmmmm]

so we/I went ahead with stripping the thick layers of lead paint off of the old radiator.

we found that it was about 100x harder than the doors.  You see, radiators have a ton of nooks and crannies that you just cant get to [at least not easily]

and did i mention that it was heavy?  yeah.  like 450 pounds worth of heavy.  every time we moved it our lives [and toes] were in danger.

the chemical stripper wasnt working, so we switched to a manual method [which proved to be the breakthrough moment]: a heavy wire brush on the end of a high powered drill!   it was, at the very least, a much more manly way to take paint off a heavy metal object [no disrespect to our stripping fluid with the fresh citrus scent]

so after 2 weekends [spaced about 2 months apart] we finally finished the radiator.  and it looks great.  the old details really came out once the power drill method got going.

next came a fresh coat of metallic spray paint and then creating a "platform" for the radiator to sit on from one of the original old wood joists.  [more salvaged material!]

take a look at the finished work here

Full Circle

this past weekend, I had an unexpected meeting...and it was kind of cool.

A car pulled up in front of the house and stopped to look.  I didn't think much of it, but after a minute or two, I decided to go out and  see if I could help the onlookers.

There were two people in the car...a man and a woman.  The woman asks "do you live here?"  I told her that we had just moved in.  She immediately responded: "I used to live there!!"

She stepped out of the car and introduced herself...Portia was the name.  Her husband was Andrew.

They were very excited about seeing the place back in action.  Knowing that the house was vacant for the last 15 years, I asked when she last lived here...

her reply: "1996"

she went on to tell me that she lived there for about 18 years, moving in around 1978.  There were 7 kids raised by a single mom that lived there over time.  And the place was falling apart slowly even as they lived there.  By the time they rolled out in '96, the roof was leaking, the carpet stank, and the place was lookin pretty ragged.

sounded kind of like they way I saw it the first time [about a year ago]..just as 15 years of neglect and squatting!

they asked if I could take them on a tour of the renovation.  I said "of course"

I showed them all the new things that we did with the place and you could see that they were just floored.  It shocked them that this place could shine again.

Portia recalled which room the boys stayed in and which one was for the girls.  they had only one bathroom for the whole family.  and the rooms were small. But, as many families do, they make a way.

and so it comes full circle.  The current resident meets the last resident of the house..albeit almost 2 decades apart.   Pretty cool.

The [not so] Big Dig - PART II

The big dig went off without too much of a hitch.  I cannot confirm or deny that we had the proper permitting to actually dig the hole that we did, but once a hole is dug, you can make it all work out with the city permit office.  Its a much different permit to acquire to dig a hole near the foundation than it is to "restructure the staircase and entryway" in an existing hole...[wink]

In the end, we made it work, and it came out better then expected.   Plenty of room to move large furniture and appliances in AND it doesn’t feel like a dungeon of an entrance.  

check out the pictures

Iron Man

 As any good commander knows, you need to cover your rear flank.  And you need a way for the movers to get that big plushy couch in too.

For those who have been following all the updates, the "action" in the neighborhood happens in the alley.  99% of it is just annoying shit like dumping trash and taking a piss.  Not physically threatening, but something you want to keep away from your own yard.

So I called my man Leko.  He does ironwork.  I asked him to get me a gate in the rear of the house. [aka the smallest parking spot in DC]  and we also needed some new steps for the front entrance [they were destroyed when we dug the hole for the new basement entrance.]

They did good work.  The fence is sturdy and offers just enough space to park the mini-cooper.  

Just enough.

And the new stairs helped get that big plushy couch in.

see them work here.

If you can't say something nice....

this is a story about Washington Gas.

I have refrained from mentioning them [or any of the utility companies] to date, since I was afraid of jinxing the process…I was also afraid of the .00001% chance that someone sees this and screws me over somehow.   That’s what their speed of service and customer relations practices can do to a man.

The Washington Gas story ended yesterday, Friday 9/4/10

It began on Wednesday 4/12/10

Allow me to explain.

We needed to do some work on creating a new entrance for the basement [for the rental apartment]  and the plan was to coincide that project with moving the current gas line. [the old gas meter was inside the basement on the wall…the new location needed to be on the exterior of the house]  my contractor suggested a solution that would have “streamlined” the process and lessened the paperwork etc.  but it was expensive.   Thousands more.  So I decided to call the friendly folks at Washington Gas to see how they could help.  I should have taken some advil before I picked up the phone.

It actually started out well.  We made an appointment for them to come by to take a look.  They gave me a quote.  [it was much cheaper…but far from free]   and we made a date to do the work of moving the gas meter from the inside to the outside of the basement.

On a side note: this job would not get us gas service, merely set us up to then request gas service.  That’s part II of the saga.

So they come and dig up the front yard.  Move the meter.  Run a new line to the house.  No sweat.  Except for the fact that they run the new line into the wrong spot [i.e  where the future steps to the basement apartment will go] 

Then they gave me the bad news.

We couldn’t receive gas service until we got a new line from the street.  The old steel line from the main meter hasn’t been used since 1996 and was corroded.  Strong possibility of a gas leak.  Not good. He thought he could even come back LATER THAT DAY to do that job. Ha

2 months later [and several dozen phone calls]

.....a new crew shows up at the house to dig a new hole.  They proceed to tell me how much the last crew fucked up the last time.  They fix the feed line and the location of the line into the house.   30minutes.  All done.  We’re NOW on our way to getting gas service [and hot water]

so we call for the gas meter.  They actually show up 4 days later.  Amazing.

1^st guy – comes by.  Talks my ear off for 45min.  he finally leaves, but yet I have no gas meter.  Why?  Need one last inspection sticker.  TG is annoyed. but not surprised.

2^nd guy – comes by.  Tells me that my plumber has done shoddy work [whatever] he finally leaves, but yet I have no gas meter. Why?  I need all my gas appliances hooked up and need an extra shutoff valve to the stove.  TG is angered. but not surprised.

3^rd guy – comes by.  Tells me that he can get me set up TODAY.  Sounds great.  Asks me what kind of stuff I need natural gas for.  I tell him: a stove, a tankless water heater, and a gas fireplace.  He says that the meter he was going to give me wont fit on the equipment that’s outside the house.  The same equipment that the gas company installed once I told them what I had in the house.  TG is incensed.

but not surprised.

WTF?

He leaves without giving me a meter.  Says a guy may come out later to fix the problem.  Yeah. right.

4^th guy – wakes me up the other day while im out west on vacation.  Its early.  Real early.  I was confused with his offer to turn my gas on without asking me for an inspection sticker, appliance load, BTUs, or any one of several other things I don’t know shit about. 

He tells me he’s going to turn on the gas and of that was ok.

So I said “cool”

And now we have gas.  And hot water.

Yay.

And I went back to sleep.

pics here