Renovation

Photo by PoPville flickr user JosephLeonardo

“Dear PoP,

The underground sewer line that leads from my house to the street is made of cast iron. A couple years ago the line backed up and the plumber who came to unclog it snaked a video camera down the line to determine the cause. He found that roots from a tree in the front yard had infiltrated the line through a crack in the iron pipe and were constricting the flow in the line as they grew, eventually leading to a backup. As a stopgap measure I’ve been putting root killer down the drain but I still get backups once in a while, requiring expensive plumber visits.

Digging up my small front yard to replace the pipe would be a major undertaking, involving some very deep digging, removal of a concrete staircase, walkway and likely the offending tree. I’ve been reading about pipe relining as an alternative. As I understand it, relining involves sliding an epoxy-saturated fabric sleeve down the drain to the crack in the pipe and then using compressed air to force it to fill the crack. The epoxy then cures and the sleeve permanently fills the crack, preventing roots from getting back in.

I’m curious if any of your readers have tried pipe relining and could share their experiences.”

Wow, I wonder how common a problem this is. I know we’ve heard about pipes being completely replaced but has anyone had one relined? If so, how much did it cost and who did you use to do it?

Photo by PoPville flickr user sciascia

“Dear PoP,

We were hoping you’d be willing to ask your readers if they can recommend a roofing service (or services to avoid!)- we need a whole new roof and plaster repair service. This is a big financial undertaking and any advice we can get is worth its weight in gold to us.”

I’d also be curious to hear from folks who’ve had plaster repaired/replaced? How much did it cost and how difficult was the process?

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

“Dear PoP,

It is bonus season at work & while my bonus typically goes directly to the student loans, this year, I was thinking I would love to tackle some nagging house projects.

The 1st project is revamping our front porch — the wood is rotting & our concrete stairs are cracking & the stairs have brick sides that need to be tuck-pointed. I’ve seen lots of stairs in the neighborhood who have “re-faced” their stairs with slate/brick. Do people have any recommendation for this project – pros, cons? Is this something that experienced DIYer could do or should we hire-out? If so, any contractor recommendations.

The other project is painting our 2-story foyer, including repairing plaster walls & painting the ceiling & skylight. Any painter recommendations?”

“Dear PoP,

We live in a Petworth row house that has traditional “terra cotta”-style shingles on the front-facing roof section. Last year, we found a squirrel had made a hole (and subsequent nest) in the wood underneath that those shingles, and we’ve since developed a slow but steady leak in the roof. It’s worth noting that our main roof was re-surfaced less than five years ago, and therefore I believe the source of the leak is the front-facing section.

I’d rather not hire an expensive professional to do what could be a simple job (removing the shingles, repairing the wood, sealing the outer surface, replacing the shingles)…but this is all new territory for me. I am wondering:

1. Has anyone out there ever attempted to fix a problem like this? What was the process?
2. Does anyone know where you can buy replacement terra cotta shingles for typical DC row houses? (I haven’t seen them at HD)
3. If this requires a pro…does anyone have a reliable reference for low-cost roof repair?”

These are my favorite roofs! Anyone have experience fixing them?

“Dear PoP,

I have a hideous awning hanging over the front door. I cannot remove it without some plan because there is a big concrete slather over the brick underneath where it hangs.

I had planned to take it down and have the house painted which would mask the concrete slather a bit, but the thread last week has scared me away from that now.

I did some googling and saw a concave metal awning that I love and I think I will replace with that, get a new door (which I wanted anyway but needed to work out the awning situ first) and add window boxes.

All that said, I have three questions for your readers…

Has anyone dealt with this awning issue and what did they do?
And are there any recs for a place in the area where I can get the new awning?
Any recs for a place in the area where I can get a door like the one in the new awning pic? I would prefer to avoid HD or Lowes if possible.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user mediaslave

“Dear PoP,

I really need your help. I am trying to make my basement apartment legal with DC. Unfortunately the information on the ‘rentmydcbasement.com’ website is no longer valid now that M Rupert is not with DCRA. So DCRA is requiring full architectural drawings of the house as part of the C of O process. Can you please ask your readers for recommendations for architects who do this work and are familiar with DCRA requirements? I’m also curious how much the fee is to get the drawings? Surely some of your readers have been in the same boat as I am now in!”

Has anyone recently gone through this process? How expensive are the drawings? If you know of any architects and have their phone number please leave in comments.