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September 15, 2003

Moving Forward

We've been working on finishing stuff that we'd already started, and moving forward with lining up contractors to do some of the work. There is a lot going on and there is a hectic, unfinished quality to everything.

Paperwork

We'd heard about the City of Richmond Real Estate Tax Abatement Program, and this week we started the process of qualifying. The program is cool and will save us some $$$ for a good little while -- "For properties that qualify, the initial increase in real estate taxes caused by rehabilitation or replacement will be excused for ten to fifteen years, depending on the district ".

There was an application to fill out down at city hall, part of which the process was applying for a building permit (which hadn't been in the budget) for all of the planned renovation. Once the building permit is issued, we'll need to arrange for an inspection to get a baseline assessment value for the property and then we can officially begin our work. We probably should've done this a little earlier in the process, as it turns out.

Finish the Wall

We took out the remaining 2x4's from the wall that was added on the stairwell when the house was duplexed. We had been a little nervous -- taking out an actual wall just seems wrong, even though we know that it wasn't a load-bearing wall. There is ceiling damage from a leak at one end and this just added to the anticipation of a great portion of the ceiling falling in... Thankfully, though, the whole process went very smoothly and very little plaster came down at all. I wasn't expecting that removing the 2x4s would make such a difference in the feel of the space, but it is that much more open now.

It only occured to us after we applied for the building permit for the tax abatement that we ought to have a permit for doing this kind of thing. We just didn't know...

In the picture on the right you might be able to make out that there is a doorway at the top of the stairs that has been drywalled over. This is the 2nd door onto the upstairs porch and will one day be opened up again, but not any time soon -- we've got enough to do already.

The Kitchen Walls

At some semi-recent time in the history of this house, a texture has been applied to all of the interior walls and ceilings. This is really unfortunate. We've begun the process of de-texturing the kitchen by sanding and scraping. This is a dry, dusty and just not fun job. Once this is done we'll be able to repair the cracks and holes and then get to painting and putting in the floor. It'll be real nice to have this start to look like a room.

Plumbing

When the prior tenants moved out, they took the hot water heater and cut most of the interior plumbing for the copper. This is kind of funny in way, yes? We need to get this repaired before we move in and so we've been getting estimates on that work, as well as a few other things like adding the hookup for a washing machine and adding outside spigots.

We thought that we had a plumber lined up, but it turns out that we had all communicated poorly and his great estimate didn't include some of the important work. We'll probably go with Sears and will be setting this up for the week after next. It'll be neat to have running water and to be able to go to the bathroom.

One of the things that was taken was the fixtures for one of the tubs. We've orderd a 'leg tub shower enclosure' like this (but in chrome) from Vintage Tub and Bath. It is currently hard to reconcile the nice fixture with the state of that room...

And

We'll be ordering windows this week, we've set a date near the end of the month to have the floors upstairs refinished, the security system goes in sometime next week, an affordable man to stop the leaks on the roof has been found, and the trash out back is slowly being taken away.

Posted by john m at September 15, 2003 3:29 AM

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