Renovation

Dear PoP – How much does a tasteful pop up actually cost?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

I’ve also thought about doing a tasteful third floor addition (or pop-up, if you will) but I would build it towards the back of the house so that you can’t see it from the street and so it doesn’t ruin the historic look of my block. Anyway, my question is whether you’ve ever done a post on pop-ups similar to the one you did on basement dig-outs. I’m interested in reading about the experiences that other folks have had and how much they’ve spent to do similar projects. If it’s gonna be $100K, it would probably be worth it and I would probably see a 90% return on it. If it’s gonna be $250K on the other hand, I’m not doing it. That’s prohibitively expensive and I’d never see that money again.”

Folks have asked this question a lot but I’m not sure we’ve ever got a clear answer. For those that have had one done or are in the know – is it possible to estimate how much this project would cost? If not, any educated guesses?

Flip’t: The Long Winter – by David Garber

By Prince Of Petworth


U Street in January. Hint: stucco is best applied in the warmer months.

David Garber is a DC neighborhood blogger and real estate entrepreneur. His mission: help bring back DC’s neighborhoods, one rotting house at a time. You can read David’s previous posts here.

As much as I like to keep up the appearance as someone who 100% knows what he’s doing in all renovation matters and has done this and that with houses a thousand times before – this is actually one of the very first times I’ve done this scale of project. Over the past 5 months I’ve been managing about five renovations, and every day at each job I learn about two or three new lessons about who to hire, how to communicate, and which steps to follow to make sure that the final outcome comes fastest and with the most satisfying result. Might sound easy, but the learning part is typically paired with the worst kind of president-going-gray-in-his-first-year frustration. And yet somehow I still love my job.


the Big Blue Bubble, which gave the exterior work some much-needed momentum

Over the past four months the U Street House has evolved into something a lot more livable and likeable than the mess it began as. The snowstorms contributed about a month of downtime due to our forced timeline: the exterior had to be sealed and stuccoed before most of the interior work could begin, and the exterior could only be worked on in temperatures above 40 degrees. Enter the big blue bubble, above, which added a touch of whimsy, but also enough warmth to allow the stucco to dry in sub-par conditions. Post continues after the jump. (more…)

Dear PoP – Stainless Steel and Repair questions

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user hellomarkers!

Couple of ‘Dear PoP’ questions I’ve been meaning to post:

“I have a request for a recommendation for a home improvement project – next time you are in the mood, can you post this to the crowd?

I am thinking of stainless steel countertops for my kitchen, and I wonder if any of the PoP readers have any tried-and-true sheet metal shops to recommend?”

and in one of the more random questions ever asked:

“Do you know if we have an electric shaver repair shop anywhere close by?”

Legal Questions Answered By Griffin & Murphy, LLP

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Hoodsweatsh

Griffin & Murphy, LLP, is a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C. concentrating its practice in real estate law (including development, finance, leasing, zoning and condominium conversions), as well as estate planning and probate, civil litigation, and business law. The attorneys of Griffin & Murphy, LLP are licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Griffin and Murphy, LLP was founded in 1981.

Please send any legal questions relating to real estate, rentals, buildings, renovations or other legal items to princeofpetworth (at) gmail (dot) com, each week one question will be featured. You can find previous questions featured here.

Question:

POP- I’ve really been enjoying the legal questions you’re posting and definitely appreciate the efforts of the folks at Griffin and Murphy. This question actually involves my home, which you’ve featured here before.

My wife and I moved into our Manor Park row house just a little more than a year ago. It had been recently, although less than perfectly renovated. We bought thinking this could be a long term home, rather than a rest stop along the way to something bigger or better. We currently have three good sized bedroom and two full baths. My mother-in-law lives with us, so this is perfect… at least for now. The home is really lacking three things, 1) storage space, 2) a half bath and 3) a third full bath. Given that the size of the house is, in Goldilocks’s verbiage, “just right,” we knew that any additional space would have to come from outside, rather than from found space on the inside. Fortunately our home was built with a 5′x10′ “court off the back of the house. Our place is simply to enclose this court, gaining 50 sq. ft. of space on each if the three levels.

We are nearing the end of the design phase of the project and there is one issue we cannot seem to figure out. Before we began we hired an architect and began the project we consulted with the zoning office and with the permitting folks who agreed that our project was permissible. Our architect has confirmed that. In our area we are allow to build on the property line. When we discussed the project with our neighbor, he thought it was an excellent idea, but expressed concern at our plans to remove a relatively small brick privacy wall between our properties, replacing it with one of the addition’s load bearing walls. The wall was constructed such that exactly 1/2 is on his property and 1/2 is on ours. This is clear from upon observation and is clear on our survey. He informed us that his mother had had the wall built in 1973 and that it has sentimental value to him.

So, our problem is, we really like this neighbor and want to take his feelings and wishes into consideration during the process. Our architect and structural engineer are confident that we can simply build our addition on top of this existing brick wall, but that there are some remaining property-line issues. We can certainly construct the addition on top of our half of the brick wall, but it would be necessary to install metal flashing (this is thin metal meant to prevent water from getting between the old brick wall and the new addition wall. Most home have this for example over an exterior doorway or widow). This would in no ways alter the usability or function of his property and would barely be visible.

We haven’t presented this option to him yet, mostly because we are dreading the outcome. We really don’t want a fight, but this addition is well within our rights. So, what should we do here? What are our options? If he does agree to the above proposal, is it necessary to seek an easement for this purpose?

Also, a related question, how do people work on rowhouses like this? We will need access to his property in order to install the foundation for the addition, as well as to sheathe and side the house. Is there a given easement that allows this, or is that something I will also have to negotiate with the neighbor? Thanks!

Answer after the jump. (more…)

Dear PoP – Construction Question

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Hoodsweatsh

“Dear PoP,

Got a question for your blog readers….We need to change a 2nd story door (on to what had been a deck) into a window, but have no money for a contractor….Any advice or helpful people out there? We can buy the material – or at least what we think we need – but we’re not sure we can do a good/effective job. The other windows in the house have come from Home Depot, so that’s not a concern. What has me puzzled is how to get the wall beneath the window up to the 18″ thickness of the brick used in the rest of the wall. Cinder blocks? Wood framing with a brick layer? Help?”

Dear PoP – home renovation/appliances

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo from PoPville flickr user hellomarkers!

“Dear PoP,

I’m all set with a contractor etc., but could use some advice on getting appliances at a discount price. I’ll need to outfit 2 kitchens in full [ranges, fridges, dishwahers etc.] and a few flatscreen TVs. Does anyone out there in PoPville have suggestions of some local vendors who are willing and able to make a deal? I’m looking for stainless steel-level stuff, but don’t need “viking” level goods. I’ve investigated DirectBuy, but spending $5000 for the pleasure of spending $10000 more is not quite a “deal” to me.”

Hmm, I’ve never heard from someone who needs to outfit 2 kitchens before. But for those who have done their own renovations – where have you gotten your appliances?

Dear PoP – Renovating a Row House

By Prince Of Petworth


Drawing from Hipchickindc

“Dear PoP,

We are thinking about purchasing a victorian rowhouse in Bloomingdale neighborhood. The house itself is move-in ready, and has a lot of original details intact: transoms, woodwork, fireplace (walled off), staircase. But it still needs quite a bit of work done if we are to restore it to its original grandeur – for example stripping layers of white paint from said original woodwork, removing carpets and refinishing original hardwood floors. We really want to restore, not just renovate, the house. We were wondering if any of your readers would have suggestions and resources that we could consult – from books to contractors.”

Here is a talk we had on wood floor restorations. You should peruse the general renovation posts as well.

Do you guys have any other general recommendations fro contractors and/or books to consult?

Judging Houses Getting Renovated

By Prince Of Petworth

The great one above is located, of course, in the Forest Hills neighborhood. And a reader writes in about the Petworth Bungalow below:

“Thought you might be interested in this renovation that is going on! Since moving into the 300 block of Rock Creek Church Road, we learned that this single family, detached bugalow has been empty for a while and has been the ugly one on the block. Rumor has it that it was to be a boarding house for troubled girls, but the organizer ran out of funds. It has since been picked up by “We Buy Ugly Houses.” I spoke with the manager of their DC properties and he said it would be a beauty! Originally, the owners talked about demo-ing and trying to build a monster house. They decided against it as it was already quite sizable and they were ablet o avoid major changes to the permits (apparently, when they bought the place it came with approved plans!) Once done, it will be a 5 bedroom, 4.5 house with finished space over 3500 square feet! It was painted last week and is looking quite nice with new windows, a new roof and a new porch. This will be one to keep an eye on for a pulse on prices in the neighborhood!”

Dear PoP – Realistic Renovation Estimate?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

We just received an estimate for a closet renovation that has me bug-eyed, but husband is thinking it’s doable. We would love some marriage-ref-type help on this.

We have the classic Federal rowhouse, with the odd extra door connecting the larger two upstairs bedrooms. We want to convert the doorspace into a closet for the front room, and expand the old closet in the back room to double its size. This may involve some structural work.

The contractor estimates two weeks of work at $13,000.

The green room (rear room) is the one that will get the double-wide closet, the yellow room (front room) will get a single closet made in the space that is the “hall” connecting the two rooms.

Also, talking with hubby found out that the renovation cost also includes repainting both rooms and maintaining some of the historic finishes in the space – e.g. repurposing the floor boards, using the existing doors for the newly-arranged closets – and adding some built in bookshelves along one wall. Still, $13,000 seems shocking to me! Would love to get some feedback from the masses.

Is this reasonable?

All thoughts are greatly appreciated!”

Well if there is structural work involved then I’m thinking that’s really gonna kick up the price. But let’s throw this out to those who’ve had similar projects done. Does $13,000 sound reasonable or insane for this type of project?

An Earth Home Renovation by Fritz Hubig

By Prince Of Petworth

The following was written by guest contributor Fritz Hubig

With Green building seeing measurable growth across the region, the Regan family found a novel way of meeting their own growing needs, picking up a bit of history, and saving a great lot, complete with small rancher house, in the process.

After a lengthy search for a local contractor to do their “dream green” renovation, Jenni Regan and her husband were nearly ready to give up. Contractor after contractor interviewed proceeded to tell her that the design features she wanted, including ceiling-height wraparound windows, would be impossible to do in an energy-efficient way. As a successful business owner, Jenni doesn’t settle for “not possible.” Most contractors had no vision or experience in innovative and high-performance home renovations. To the Regans, there were also signs and indications of “Greenwashing,” or misrepresention of the proposed renovations, as eco-friendly.

When all seemed lost, a chance business contact connected the Regans with John Spears, President of Sustainable Design Group, who has 30 years of extensive sustainability design experience. Continues after the jump. (more…)

View More Stories