“This is a time lapse video of me exposing a brick wall in the office of my town house in Petworth. My 2 most important lessons learned… tarp, tarp, tarp. For every 5 minutes you spend tarping the room well, you will save an hour of clean up. Use duct tape to tape the tarp to your baseboards… I worried that this would damage the baseboards, but you are pulling down an entire wall of plaster which will require touch up anyway. The dust will get everywhere, so tarp the entire room and create a “bubble” if possible. Other lesson learned… get a good respirator. I used the paper dust masks the entire time and was coughing up dust for a few weeks after I was done.”
Renovation
Dear PoP,
Back in February we asked about landscaper recommendations for our backyard and we appreciated the advice and comments from PoPville!
We ended up going with GreenSweepLLC and are very pleased with the results. We’re looking forward to enjoying the summer in our new backyard and hopefully adding some more plantings and a raised vegetable garden.
Looks great. Enjoy!
Ed. Note: If you’d be willing to share photos of your renovations (bathroom, yard, kitchen, basement, etc.) please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail with PoPville renovation in the subject line.
Current kitchen
Dear PoPville,
I’m thinking about knocking out a wall from my kitchen and opening it up, but will be losing considerable cabinet space in the process. I’d like to add a bunch of little nooks and crannies for hidden storage and have gone to the obvious sources (magazines, web sites, etc.), but I wonder if there’s any unique feature in your kitchen that you think is absolutely brilliant and/or a must-have for a renovated kitchen? I’ve seen so many unique things in friends places in Washington, but imagine there are dozens of other little, but cool things people have done that make their place that much cooler. Any advice is welcome!
Image by PoPville flickr user hipchickindc
Dear PoP,
You recently posted my question about best practices in basement renovations (http://www.princeofpetworth.
com/2011/12/dear-popville- ). I got some great information and have talked to numerous people that responded. I’ve since realized that in order to move further I need to hire an architect.basement-renovation-advice/# comment-438830 Could you ask PoPville for recommendations? Despite it being a basement, I have great exposed brick and wooden ceiling beams throughout the entire ~1100 sq ft space. I’m hoping to go for a modern “loft” feel accenting the existing brick and wood, and I think there’s definitely room for some cool unique accents, which with the right architect, could make it a showpiece project.
Dear PoPville,
I’m looking to do a major renovation of the unfinished basement of my townhouse in Adams Morgan. This will need to include excavation, repointing the exposed brick interior and complete installation of electric, water, gas and HVAC.
Would it be possible to open a discussion thread to get general advice on the process in general, recommended contractors or lessons learned?
Back in Jan. ’10 we were lucky enough to have a reader share his experiences digging out a basement. But if others have lessons learned, contractor recs or other advice – please leave it here.
Photo by PoPville flickr user idit.
“Dear PoPville,
Does anyone have experience either removing the asbestos insulation that covers the hot water pipes that go to the radiators, or repairing that type of insulation? The coating of our insulation looks like it has a few small tears in it, but also some exposed sections around the pipe joints. Someone suggested plastering over the insulation and painting the plaster, but I’m not sure this is something we want to do ourselves or if it is the right solution. Any contractor recommendations and/or estimated costs would also be helpful.
Thanks!”
“Dear PoPville,
I had a question about renovations on a Petworth Row House. The area in question I don’t know the name of. It’s the are at the back of the house under the sun room build out. I find that trash, leaves and animals tend to accumulate under that space and I was wondering if you know or seen any interesting renovations that people in the area have done to make it more appealing?”
Anyone have a similar space? Did you do anything to close it off/beautify it?
“Dear PoPville,
I recently bought my very first home, in Trinidad. I’ve been there two months, and so far I love it! The house is a very modest, small rowhouse, with a new-ish brick facade someone put up over the original, clapboard front. (Some other houses on the row have also been bricked, some are still clapboard.) Whoever did my facade did it very simply, without even little brick frames or details around the windows. I see all those really neat Victorian-era brick homes with the lovely wooden appliques over the doors and windows and think, “Hey, that’s something simple and affordable I could do to spruce up my place a little!”
So, what I’m wondering: is it really a simple and easy job to put up these kind of decorations? I’ve found several sites that sell door surrounds, plinths, and window trim, but they all look so modern and generic. Are there any architectural-reclaim-type businesses around that might actually have some of those gorgeous Victorian decorations, or are those almost always destroyed during demo/renovations? Is this something I could do on my own with a ladder and a brick drill bit? If not, are there any contractors that readers would recommend for this kind of work? Any info would be most welcome. Thanks!”
Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC
“Dear PoPville,
I am planing on replacing all my windows soon (14 windows) do you have any recommendation for good contractor?”
A couple of other folks have also written in about replacing windows. So in addition to recommendations for contractors – how do you know when/if you need to or should replace them?
Photo by PoPville flickr user hipchickindc
“Dear PoPville,
After a very long search and several unsuccessful offers, my husband and I finally bought our first home! Hoorah! We have purchased a renovation project and will be using an FHA 203k renovation loan. We would love to get recommendations on HUD Consultants and FHA approved contractors that others may have used and had a great experience with. Thanks!”