Prime-Time!

so, once the drywall is up, its time to spackle and prime.  get the old trowel out and spread that mud around dem grooves to make it all real smooooove.

i did happen to learn that theres a mixture of art, science, and patience when it comes to this stage of things.  you need to apply the mud, then let it dry a little....then put some more on...wait a little longer....etc. etc. etc.

so it takes a few days to get it right.  and they did.  so it all looks GREAT.

check it out here.  the ceilings won't  change much in color, but the walls will....they just got through with that today, so I'll post pics of that real soon [once I return to DC...currently in Cali-forn-ia]

next up: painting.  then wood flooring.  and THEN: we can actually start planning the move-in date

Strippin'!

so we [Jenny + I] had this crazy idea.

"let's use the old doors in the 'new' house!"

sure.  maybe a weekends' worth of work.  maybe two.  its only 5-6 doors.

besides, doors like these in brand new condition cost a TON of money....so we're saving a budget item for something fancy...like a chandelier or  a cool toilet paper dispenser.

and so it began...a run to home depot to pick up supplies.  head to the house to grab the doors [which we saved from demolition, among a few other items we may restore/re-use] and then start STRIPPIN [i like saying that]

then reality kicked us in the head like a donkey punch.

over the past, say 75 years, those doors have been painted.  ALOT.  like 25 times each.  stripping off each layer is like a time capsule.  uncovering fascinating shades of color from the 70's, 60's, 50's, and 40's are your reward for working your elbow to the bone for 40 minutes, only to learn that you'll need to do it 17 more times.

at the time of this writing we are 4 weekends in.  and have 2 of the doors 85% done.  the others are in various states of undress [strip-ti-tude]

so we've gone back to the drawing board a bit.  we got some new stripping fluid.  we're biting off less than we can chew.  and we're remembering that we still haev 3 months to get it all done.

but at this rate, we'll need to start including some after-work shifts to make sure of that.

enjoy the fresh photos of the doors and my favorite "Stripping Professional:" Jenny!

Cuz it's a BRICK. HOOOOUSSSE.

okay...i've been slacking.  no excuses.

but I have more pics!

these old Victorian "brownstones" all have great brick fronts.  there are as many styles of color and design as there are houses.  the biggest challenge in renovating an old brick front is that the people the knew how to make this beautiful architecture are all loooong gone.  and they took their old-world craftsmanship secrets to the grave with them.

so, when restoring a brick front, you have a limited set of options.  when the work beings,  you hope that the existing front is in good shape structurally---ours gets an "A" [there are alot that are beginning to fall down]....that there are no missing bricks [we have 99% of the bricks intact] and that nobody painted it over.  [our front is in the same basic shape it was in around 1920]

most recent DC renovations go with the "paint over" method since its fast, cheap, and easy.  I'm not knocking them...some of the paint-overs have cool colors and keep true to the architectural style [some are, ahem, not so well done]

the bricks: they last forever.  the mortar doesn't. after about 100 years, it turns into sand.  and eventually the bricks will start to collapse.  unless you repoint the brick.

SOOOOOO [at the urging of my contractor] we chose to re-point the brick.  and i dont regret it for a second.  it looks GREAT.  really gives the house a "facelift" AND gives at least another 50+ years of life to the original brick structure.

repointing involves a few steps:

1 - fill in new mortar where the old mortar has been washed away
2 - adjust any bricks that have shifted out of place over the years
3 - power wash old sediment off the brick face [i.e. old paint]
4 - replace any missing brick

take a look at these pics and you can see the difference in progress.