It's really happening!

Believe it or not, I have the photographic evidence that this train is finally moving. The first floor joists are mostly installed and the second floor joists should go in this week. We have floors! Once the floors are in, they can start stripping the rest of the old plaster off the walls and replacing the mortar in between the bricks. Here are some photos to enjoy.

Photo 1: In the basement, the first floor joists are overhead. You can see the ladder in the opening where the U-shaped staircase will be. Ignore the joists on the floor; those are ones that have yet to be installed.

Photo 2: The first floor, looking towards Q St - also known as our main living floor. You can see the opening where the stairwell will be. The brick line on the wall above the green plaster is where the second floor joists will be soon. So the top set of windows are in the master bedroom.

Photo 3: Zoomed in on the installed joists. You can see that this section of brick has already been cleaned some. Its going to look great.

Photo 4: The 'foyer' on our main floor and the bottom of our (to be replaced) front door. This is the first time I've seen the front door from the inside!

Photo 5: The kitchen nook/dining room, facing 8th St. I'm not sure why the walls are spray painted but needless to say that will not be staying. Also, notice the brick corner on the left of the photo - we're pretty sure that's the natural color of the brick, which gives us an indication of the color the exterior of the house will be once we strip off all the red paint.

Photo 6: A corner of the kitchen in the back corner of the house. The round port window will be over our sink and looks back to the alley, which is why we're considering frosted glass.

And so it finally begins...

I know the blog has long been dormant, but believe it or not, work has FINALLY started on our beloved house. We have permits in hand, approval from the Historical Society, and a brand new contractor who actually knows what he is doing and wants to get the job done! By the way, if anyone is ever thinking of working with a contractor named Mike Goodson, please contact us to hear about our experience first.

Demo started last Friday, the specially-engineered trusses have been delivered, Ryon met with the framers today, and everything is moving forward. I'll post pictures when we have them!

Thanks for hanging in there and continuing to support us (especially our fantastic neighbors Walter and Ray who have had to live next to the mess).

Made the Local Paper!

Long story short, work has been temporarily stopped on the house until we get our permits. But in the meantime, we made the local paper! http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/CCN_Website09/images/papers/DCN/May/0510/pdfs/32_MCDC_0510.pdf
Very exciting! I will add more posts once we have permits in hand and are making progress again.

Exterior Work

Exterior work is now underway. Like many rowhouses in DC, the brick on the exterior of our house had been painted. We decided we would prefer to strip the paint and get back to the original brick - although we have no idea what color it really is! The white on the house is the chemical they use to strip the paint. Also this week, they put in the french drain in the sunken patio.

Not much construction yet

There hasn't been a new post in a few weeks. Unfortunately, there just hasn't been much work going on as we are STILL waiting for our permits (and the two-day Global Nuclear Summit at the Convention Center prevented our guys from getting access to the house). We are hoping we will have the permits we need by the end of this week so the demo can finally begin! In the meantime, the guys have been pointing the interior bricks. Compare this week's picture of the fireplace with the picture from the first post - what a difference! (We're savoring the small things at the moment). The picture of the large pit in the front yard will be the sunken patio. We plan on cleaning up and re-using the stone steps in the photo for access to the basement. More soon!

And so it begins...

Alhough the permit process seems to be holding us up at the moment, some work has begun on the house. The front 'sunken' patio has been dug out, as well as the front door entry way. This week, they should begin excavation and demo in the house as well as pointing the bricks.

It was an eventful weekend. Our project manager and general contractor, spent a long time with us on Sunday at the house going over our plans and the work to be done over the next month. We even brought along both of our moms to check out the house and the neighborhood. It will be much easier to envision actual rooms once the floors and foundation are in. Updated pics are attached.

The House is Ours!

After a very, very long process, we finally closed on the house on Monday, March 8, 2010. Work should begin on the house right away. Please continue to check in for updates! To begin, here are some pictures of the shell as it is now.