Renovation

Dear PoP – Roofing Question

By Prince Of Petworth


photo by Drw

“Dear PoP,

I’m new to the DC area recently bought a small duplex/rowhouse in Brightwood/Manor Park with 3 small bedrooms. The house has a flat, sloped roof called “modified bitumen”. We recently noticed a water spot on the upstairs ceiling and have asked a contractor to take a look at either repair or replacement. The roof size is about 30 by 15 ft. My question is: What does it typically cost to replace this type of roof? I really have no idea what to expect in terms of estimates for these types of roofs. Any reader help would be greatly appreciated!”

Can anyone provide any guidance here. I know when I had my roof replaced it cost like $8,000 or so.

The Return of Bathroom Renovations

By Prince Of Petworth

Here’s a feature we haven’t seen in a while – kitchen/bathroom renovations. If you have a renovation of any room in your house/condo please send some photos and details to princeofpetworth (at) gmail (dot) com. If the slideshow is blocked for you at the bottom you can see the flickr set here.

“Dear PoP,

I bought the house expecting to tear out the bathroom. Everything about it was a nightmare. Other than being terribly ugly, it wasn’t functional and had a lot of dead space. Most of the towel racks were loose or fell off of the wall soon after I moved in. The toilet paper holder was u-shaped with the open side to the user, so every time you went for a square or two, the roll would come flying out at you. The stairs to the jacuzzi served no purpose other than as a toe-stubber. The “tile” was mock marble and if you took the time to look, you’d see the pixels on it. The shower was the size of a middle school locker and I would always end up with elbow bruises from washing my hair. The shower door and frame eventually loosened from the stall and became very dangerous because they would fall out… heavy, sharp glass and metal. The outlet above the sink didn’t work (I had to charge the electric toothbrush in the bedroom). No lock on the door. Wallpapered tile on the side of the shower. Not to mention the huge uselss jacuzzi-tub-for-three.

The renovation took two and a half months. This was difficult because it was the only bathroom I have (other than a stray toilet in the basement, thank goodness). But once the contractor tore the old room out, there were a lot of unexpected issues underneath: bad workmanship and general old-house quirks. That added a lot to the time. The total cost in the end was 11K.

I’m very proud and happy with the new bathroom. Every single fixture, electrical and plumbing, was moved. It’s got hooks and electrical outlets in all the right places. I even set it up so that when the shower door swings open, it’s cushioned by the toilet paper roll instead of hitting the wall. The medicine cabinets are huge and beautiful with three mirrors each (!). The shower is big, so big you can comfortably dry off in it, but not so big that it feels like wasted space. And the vanity has tons of storage. I’ve been having a hard time decorating it because I’m afraid to ruin it!”

9th and T Street Eyesore Gets Remodeled (From Wayan)

By Prince Of Petworth

Wayan writes:

“Not sure if you’ve seen this, but the eyesore at 9th and T is now under construction. About damn time! Its been vacant for years (I want to say a decade).”

This house has tons of potential. This is great news. I’m dying to know what it’s gonna look like. I’ll post updated photos as progress occurs.

Petworth Home Renovations

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to Jaime for letting me share the photos he took of his home renovations. He writes:

“The last 7 pictures are the “after” ones. Before that are some of the house in the process of being sanded, and at the top of the set are pictures I took before I bought it, showing the original floors. The work was done by Universal Floors and cost about $3,000 for everything. It took them about three and a half days from start to finish to do the work.”

I think it came out great!

Explaining City Signs

By Prince Of Petworth

Perhaps the owners of the house on 16th and T should look into this. But seriously, I’ve seen a few of these signs around town. Does anyone know how they work? My understanding is that the city will pay for some of your renovations. Is that right? If so, I’d say that’s a mighty fine perk of living in a historic district.

A Life’s Lesson and For Those That Enjoy Schadenfreude

By Prince Of Petworth

My Dad likes to call these experiences life’s lessons. And well this is a big one. You see this is what I was talking about when I’ve come to be a bit envious of certain GDoN condos or homes that are totally renovated or brand new. While I love the details of my 1920 home, there is always something to fix. So a couple of years ago I needed a gutter replaced and went with a very cheap option. I saw some guys doing work on another house on the block and asked them if they could fix my gutter. Big mistake. It was super cheap for a reason. The gutter basically failed after a year’s service. Here’s what I learned – when a gutter fails bad enough the water just pours down the back of your house. When the water pours down the back of your house it puddles at the base and gets absorbed into the walls. Long story short, it actually decayed the brick. The freaking brick! Insane.

All that pink stuff at the bottom is brick dust. Then it turns out that termites like moisture. So there was some old termite damage when I first bought the house and nothing active but I got totally freaked out and just got an insane treatment that was not cheap. Now I have to get the gutter fixed and the bricks re-pointed. Basically you wake up one morning and all of a sudden you’re out a lot of dough. All because I thought I was getting a deal on a gutter. Ugh. Thankfully the Budweiser 30 can packs were on sale at Giant…

Anyone else experience long term pain on a short term fix?

Where hipchick will be for 4th of July…

By Prince Of Petworth

This post was written by PoP contributor Hipchickindc and is the fifth installment in a slowly moving saga of a full house renovation aka “The Adventures of Mark and Charles”. Previous posts can be found by clicking: Episode 1 and Episode 2 and Episode 3 and Episode 4.

I have to admit that I’ve been totally lame in keeping up with Mark and Charles’ adventures in house renovation. As I mentioned in the last post, once the permits were in place, much progress was made in a short period of time.

One of the selling points of the house, despite its completely raw state when we first saw it, was the view from the attic. The attic of the original house was toward the front of the house, with standing room mostly under the turret. In addition to the turret being opened up (see pic), the back of the room will be glass to reveal the amazing city and monument views. There will even be (what I can’t help but call the Cialis) bathtub, that allows one to soak and take in the U.S. Capitol at the same time.

PoPville Home Improvement Projects

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to a reader for sending:

“I thought you might be interested to see my photos from my wife and my experience of removing hideous carpet and renovating original floors in our rowhouse on 2nd street in Ledroit Park.”

Looks awesome! If anyone else has worked on some home improvement projects or is currently working on one please send photos to princeofpetworth (at) gmail (dot) com.

What Jeffrey Dahmer’s basement might have looked like… (By hipchickindc)

By Prince Of Petworth

This is the third installment in a slowly moving saga of a full house renovation aka “The Adventures of Mark and Charles”. Previous posts can be found by clicking: Episode 1 and Episode 2 and Episode 3.

With a bevy of permits plastered to the front windows, activity at the Mark and Charles house has gone from a standstill to a whirlwind of contractors, dust, and noise. So far, some plumbing has been installed, and the framing for the walls on the second floor is coming along.

The framing is lovely and an exciting sign of progress to be sure, but I was much more intrigued that it appears that Mark and Charles are preparing to bury toddlers in their basement. Well, not really, but check out the pictures!

What is actually going on in Mark and Charles’ basement is preparation for underpinning of the foundation. This involves digging down a few feet at intervals and then strengthening the foundation at these spots.

Hopefully, more updates soon! More pictures after the jump. (more…)

Staircase Shopping by hipchickindc

By Prince Of Petworth

This is the third installment in a slowly moving saga of a full house renovation aka “The Adventures of Mark and Charles”. Previous posts can be found by clicking: Episode 1 and Episode 2.

After months and months and months of being stuck in waiting-for-permits limbo, Mark and Charles are finally able to get to the work of putting their house together! I traded some e-mails with Mark last week about the progress and he mentioned something about going shopping for staircases. I promptly invited myself along.

One of the more striking details of Mark and Charles’ recently purchased property has been the absence of the main staircase. Prior to their acquisition, the home was gutted by a developer who had intended to divide it into multiple units. The only evidence of the previously grand staircase is a gaping circular opening in the ceiling and the scar-like zig zag on the exposed brick. 

I was running late on Saturday morning, so I had Charles text me the address. It turned out it didn’t really matter that I was a bit late, because the guys got a little lost finding the industrial park tucked away into a corner off of Bladensburg Road. When I arrived, I was greeted by a posse of guard cats and found Mark and Charles leaning over a set of blueprints with Silvio Pronio, president of Northeast Iron Works, Inc. Silvio had been highly recommended by both the architect for this project, as well as a neighbor.  Continues after the jump. (more…)

View More Stories