More pix

Kitchen with counter top installed

Kitchen

Upstairs bathroom

Upstairs bathroom

Front bedroom

Back bedroom

Living room looking toward kitchen

Living room stairs

Outside view of new railings

Rainstorm

I was at the house this morning for the counter top installation and it turns out I had had a couple of inches in the basement from last night's storm. Demoralizing as hell. It turns out that one pump was unplugged (!) and the other one had failed at some point -- it just made a constant whirring sound like it was cycling, though no water was being pumped out. Plus I suspect that some of the water came from the empty house next door.

My paper coffee cup is leaking

Which is fitting, because the pipes in my upstairs bathroom are leaking, from somewhere behind the wall. So we have to cut the wall open and determine where the leak is coming from. Luckily it just started, so there should be minimal damage inside the walls.

In better news, the kitchen and living room are totally painted, and the downstairs bathroom should be ready for the toilet and sink by this weekend. So that means I'm on schedule to at least move all my stuff in by next Friday, though not my body.

Upstairs bathroom

Is 80% finished. I tiled and grouted last week, and this weekend I put in the toilet and worked on the fixtures, and installed the door (helped by my friend Jesse and cousins John and Benny, and Benny's girlfriend Isa who painted).
Here are some pix, though because the bathroom is so small it was impossible for me to get a good, full shot:

Shower: small subway tile pattern - easy to put up but hard to grout

Floor/toilet - small but enough room to sit comfortably

Another view of the bath/shower

Railings in

All welded, bolted, and painted. The railings are uniform throughout the house, from the top floor down through the basement. cost a lot of cash, but it makes a strong impression:

main staircase

stairs from LR to kitchen

railing in LR overlooking kitchen

Pics

Over the weekend we (me, my father, my uncle Andrew, and my bro-in-law Dave) finished the wood flooring throughout the house and installed the kitchen cabinets. The front part of the living room was a porch that had been enclosed, and that floor was concrete, vs plywood in the rest of the room. The concrete had to be raised in some parts and then ground down in other parts for the floor to be laid correctly.

Next up: I start tiling the bathrooms Wednesday and Thursday, and hopefully grout them this weekend. The appliances arrive Thursday AM.

Living room floor: the boxes are weighing down the glued section

View from the kitchen to the front of the house; railing to come

View from the LR into the kitchen and out back;
the kitchen is about 13.5 feet high, though it looks bigger

Another LR to kitchen view

Front bedroom - all done except the window trim

More progress

I'm pretty stressed out, but I'm getting closer. Here's where I'm at now:
-- The upstairs bedrooms are completely painted, the light fixtures, outlets, and smoke alarms are installed. All that's left is the trim, which is no big deal
-- The new electric line has finally been approved by the city. In a few business days PSE&G will have the approval and they will disconnect the old line
-- In the living room, the floors are being worked on as I write this (I say worked on because the front 4 feet is a concrete floor from an enclosed porch. It needs some finessing before it is ready for the wood flooring). I really really hope it can be finished by EOD Friday
-- Light fixtures and outlets are up in the living room, but it still needs priming and painting
-- In the kitchen, the outlets are in, as well as the flooring. The cabinets will arrive today, and I will assemble and install them tomorrow. The kitchen, as well as the lower level, still needs priming and painting

On Saturday I plan to apply the underlayment for the bathroom floors. It will need 24 hours to set before I can actually apply the tile, which I intend to start on Wednesday. The appliances come Thursday, and I'll do more tile work on Friday, with the goal of finishing at least one bathroom. Managing the work helps me manage the stress.

Progressing

This weekend the upstairs was primed (thanks Laura and Erin), and the kitchen floor was laid down, ready for the cabinets to be installed on Friday. A cop came by on an anonymous noise complaint Sunday afternoon while we were working on the floor. We halted work while he checked with the precinct to see if it was ok for me to work, since I'm the owner. When he gave me the all clear, we started up again and finished in 4 hours. So now I know for sure that I CAN work weekends.

This week my father and uncle will be at the house doing work, as the contractor finishes up with his tasks. Getting closer to the end...

Flooring

My father, brother-in-law Dave and I laid the flooring down on the upper level this past weekend. Bamboo - it came out looking pretty good. I've never installed a hardwood floor before, and once you know what you're doing it isn't too difficult. The hardest part was getting started. We had to use a certain type of nail - 1 1/2 inch vs the standard 2 inch, because it was bamboo, and it took trips to 3 Home Depots to find them. Next Saturday we do the kitchen.

Dave at work

Close up of the flooring

The best part of the weekend

Progress on the drywall

As of this morning, about 90% of the drywall is up. The taping, spackle, sanding, should be finished early next week.

Living room looking out to the kitchen

Living room

Another view from the LR into the kitchen

This weekend I'll be starting the flooring, and today I ordered the kitchen cabinets, so it's moving quicker, finally.

Tomorrow the drywall finally begins

After losing just over a month!!!

Lou told me the original drywall guy left a message for his father, apologizing and promising to make it up to Lou. I'll believe that when it happens. Lou also said he got in contact with drywall guy's brother, who says he doesn't know where he is. Turns out he has a gambling problem and his wife left him some months ago. Now it's clearer.

Still in limbo

The drywall guy is scheduled to start anytime between this coming Wednesday and the following Monday. Some little things, like some remaining insulation, will get finished between now and then. But that's the big thing. I am so sick of this whole entire process. Looking forward to the day when I can sell and go back to renting, where you don't have to worry about anything house related.

Drywall

The new drywall guy won't be able to start for almost 2 weeks. To the first drywall guy who split with $4k, thanks for stealing my contractor's $ and setting me back a month, you ass.

Unforeseen occurrences

Tons of them. And just when you think you're almost there, another one pops up.

My contractor Lou had a drywall guy lined up. Someone his father has worked with for 20 years. He gave him a deposit of half the money about a month ago while we waited for the inspection process to play out. All that time the drywall guy was calling constantly asking when we'd be ready.

Last week when we were finally ready, Lou called him. No response. He called again and again. Still no response. Lou went to the site where the drywall guy was working, but he hadn't been there for a few days. Lou and his father went to the guy's house. It turns out he moved a few months ago, no forwarding address. The guy disappeared with $4k of Lou's money.

So now Lou is calling a couple of other guys to come and give estimates for the labor. In the meantime, he's out the money, and if the guy truly skipped town, he has little hope of getting it back.

The drywall guy is American. I bet if he were Mexican there would be no problem - the worst you'd have to worry about is deportation, and the job would be done quicker and probably better.

Framing passed

Good news. This means no more inspections until the final certificate of occupancy inspection. Next up is to get the drywall guys scheduled and finally close off the walls.

And it turns out the egress window question was irrelevant. The guy who came to reinspect said it shouldn't have even been an issue, because there is no access for the fire department in the back at all. Glad I didn't go ahead and replace one of the windows with a casement window.

Egress

The windows in the back bedroom do not count as egress windows. Egress simply means access, and the opening must be 5.7 square feet to allow firemen access. The window is 5.7 square feet, but you have to 1) unlock, 2) unhinge the bottom sash, and 3) unhinge the top sash. For the window to count as egress, you can only have 2 actions, not 3.

So my options are to order a casement window to replace one of the currently installed windows (time, $), or remove the closet framing and reclassify the 2nd bedroom as an office.

Meanwhile, the insulation is nearly complete.

Architect visit

Yesterday my architect Manny Naval stopped by and walked through the house with me and Lou. We went over the list of framing inspection issues -- all pretty minor in the scheme of things. The next step is for Manny to write a letter addressing a few of those points (whether the windows in the back bedroom count as egress windows, the switch from a gas furnace, which was in the original plans, to a mini-split ductless system, and support for a load bearing beam). Lou will take care of the remaining details.

Meanwhile the insulation is being installed so that when the framing inspector returns we can put up the drywall asap.

Well that was interesting

The framing inspection happened Friday as scheduled. The inspector was a sub from another jurisdiction. He had a list of things he wanted resolved. Nothing earth-shattering. My contractor didn't take kindly to him, though, especially when he tried to pin problems with the houses on either side to me. So now we need a letter from the architect on technical issues, possibly a revised architectural plan (because the original plan shows a gas furnace, whereas now it's a ductless mini-split system), and possibly some additional items.

To get some clarity, and avoid having a DIFFERENT inspector show up who will find DIFFERENT items of concern, my contractor will go to the buildings department tomorrow to try and nail them down as to what exactly we need to do.

In the meantime, we'll be able to insulate.

Framing inspection scheduled

We got an appointment for this Friday. Assuming it goes well, we will be ready to insulate and close up (though I think there might be a separate insulation inspection, or it may be bundled with framing). That would make it four weeks of basically doing nothing while waiting for the inspections to be completed.

Electric inspection passed

Now we're waiting on the framing inspection (which couldn't be scheduled until the electrical passed). Once that's completed, then we can close up the walls -- finally.

I wish I was back in Hawaii.

Fireblocking completed

And the plumbing inspection is done and fine. Next is the electrical inspection, then we should be able to insulate and schedule the framing inspection.

First round of inspections

Electrical and plumbing were yesterday. The work my contractor did was fine, except that since I'm a row house, they're requiring me to fireblock all the outlets and the spaces between the wall joists -- anywhere that fire can travel between the buildings. This means applying special ($) caulk to the outlets, and sealing the spaces between the joists with sheetrock. More money, more time

Quick update

-- The Tuesday before Thanksgiving my back patio window was smashed - one pane only. No one broke in. Another $250 to replace the glass. Honestly I wasn't fazed

-- Had to update my electric permit because we changed the panel from 100 amps to 150 amps. All that meant was more paperwork, time, and money, of course

--Tomorrow the electrical and plumbing inspections are scheduled. Assuming all goes well, the next step is to lay all the insulation

--Once that's done, we schedule the framing inspection. When that's approved, we can begin to close up the walls.

I try not to think about this all unless I have to...

New front steps are in

Old ones...

And the new ones, minus the metal railings to come. 1k times better. Glad I had it done.

More stairs

Since the front stairs are leaking into the basement (!), new front stairs are getting put in. Was at the stone yard picking out bricks. It took me five minutes. I've been doing this long enough to know that my first choice is usually the one I'll end up with in the end.

Stairs are finally in

After a lot of false starts, the main staircase is in place. The treads are old planks salvaged from a barn somewhere in upstate New York. They're 3 inches thick.

Once the drywall is up, I'll sand and apply polyurethane to the treads, then secure them. Once that's done, a railing will be installed that will sit on the outer edge of each tread.

Stairs are in, BUT...

They're not right. They look awesome. Too bad they're the wrong measurements.

When I walked in this morning I saw Lou, my contractor, standing on the third step, his head inches from the support beam in the ceiling. That means the clearance is bad, and there's no way that would pass inspection. After trying to figure out what the hell went wrong, we realized that the run of each step was 11 inches, rather than 9 inches. That added an extra two feet to the whole length of the stairs. See where the diagram says unit run? That's what I'm talking about.

So what's the fix? I called up Peter, the ironworker. He came over to look. The whole thing will have to be disassembled and re-welded with the 9 inch run, rather than the 11 inch run.

Nothing goes smoothly.

How hard is it to get a number right?

Nothing goes smoothly (except the things you don't notice). I ordered a sign for my house number: 425 1/2. I triple checked the order to make sure the number was correct, then I sent it off. Four weeks later the sign arrives: 425. No 1/2. They made another one for free, of course. This one took another six weeks to arrive. Time has become meaningless.

Stairs

The iron workers start tomorrow on welding the main staircase, in the house. Not sure what the process is exactly, but we had to clear out all the trash from the living room and remove anything flammable. Should be interesting.

Electric's done

Now they're doing the rest of the plumbing. The iron shop is fabricating the main staircase now. Once that's installed, we can get the electric and plumbing inspections completed, then will come the drywall. Moving along...

Progress now

Electric should be wrapped up this week, with the inspection next week. Then the plumbing will get finished and inspected.
Some more items include:
fixing the front stairs
installing the main staircase
concreting the back patio
adding concrete support to areas in the bottom level
installation of the heating system
framing inspection
then insulation and drywalling.
No more timelines. I don't have a clue. Especially after getting dumped on by Irene and the delay caused by that. Several feet of water in the basement, two feet on the street. Luckily there was nothing in the house to get damaged yet, and it's all fine now.
PS I'm tired of this.

I hate Irene

That's all.

Hurricane

After a flash flood and sewage backup I had another sump pit and pump installed, and a check valve put in place to prevent anymore sewage backups. Now comes a hurricane. I'm expecting the worst, but there's not much else I can do. Everything else has been put on hold.

Stairs - kitchen, basement

Ended up saving a lot of room in the kitchen. Here's a view in the kitchen looking up into the living room toward the front of the house:

Looking down in the above pic you're in the basement. Here's the stairs up from the basement into the kitchen. On the right will be the bathroom. On the left will be the laundry and HVAC:

Exterior shot

The siding is 90% done now. Take a look:

Siding, stairs

The siding's almost finished. The back is completely done, and it looks real good. The upper part of the front is all that's left - should be done by tomorrow.

The stairs from the living from the kitchen, and from the kitchen into the lower level, are going in today. We've pushed the stairs back a little. This will give more room in the kitchen for a table and chairs, while still leaving 18 feet of length (rather than 20) in the living room.

Where we're at

These are some of the main things that still need to be done:
1. build stairs from living room down to kitchen, and from kitchen down to basement
2. electrical
3. run the plumbing lines into the kitchen and up to the top floor bathroom
4. run the water lines
5. duct work
6. main staircase from living room to bedrooms
7. drywall
8. finish the siding
Those are just the big items. Never ending .

Back wall, kitchen

They demolished the entire wall and reframed it:

Closed it up, then inserted the patio door and transom window. It lets in a lot more light than before.

Front porch, rebuilt

In one day.

Front porch, demolished

To be rebuilt:

Framing

Things are moving along. The framers knocked out the whole back wall (the kitchen) and reframed it. With the patio doors and transom window it will let in a good amount of light. They also raised the kitchen floor to make it more of a split level. (I took pictures. Will post later.) The down side is that the back is an addition, so it is smaller, and with it framed out it will only be about ten feet wide.

Unfortunately the front bumped out area, which is also an addition, is in bad shape, as per the roofer. So we're going to tear it all out and reframe it as well. I'm past the point of obsessing over every little complication. As long as it's all fine once it's finished.

Stairs, con't

Settled on a stair company. I ended up going with a local metal worker 2 blocks from my house. The main staircase will be steel stringers with wooden steps, open treads.

It will kind of look like this, I think (see the staircase wedged into the right side pix):

The railing will carry through the entire house.

Other progress - they're laying the cement in the basement floor, and the roofing guy is doing his thing.

New wall

Before there were steps down off the street and a door leading into the basement level. Not anymore.

Beyond the gate was where the steps were. That black wall with the new window is new. The wall has been pushed out about 3 feet. concrete will cover where the gravel is now.

Here's a very dark interior view, looking out:

The black wall is the old wall, which, by now, has been knocked down. The gray cinderblock wall is the new wall.

They're continuing with the basement work - installing the main sump pump and backup pump, laying more gravel, and other foundation support work. In the meantime, I'm still trying to settle on a stair company, and the roofer is set to begin ASAP.

Stairs

for the main staircase I want an open design like the one pictured here:

So far I've called seven places to get an estimate. Two have gotten back to me. One, based in Queens, doesn't work in Jersey City(!) The other four???

I keep hearing how there's an especially sharp recession in the home building industry. You'd figure they'd be jumping for work. Maybe I'm too small. Or maybe they've cut their staff back so much they don't have enough people to handle what little work they have. Or maybe there's something good on TV they don't want to miss.

Doors

Crash course on entry doors. I needed to buy one this weekend. No screen, so steel is ruled out. Wood too. That leaves fiberglass, which seems to be well-regarded. Insulated, weather resistant, all that stuff. I got a simple design, no windows. I don't want anyone peering in.

Fun living over a bar

A thunderstorm rolled through on Friday night about 2 in the morning. This coincided with the bar downstairs closing. It poured for an hour. All I heard was a bunch of screaming girls. For an hour. Screaming about how they're getting wet. For an hour. Are people that dumb? Apparently, yes.

Jackhammer

Stopped by this AM. They're jackhammering away at the outside front area, where we're going to dig down a couple of feet and expand the front room. The concrete there is a couple of feet thick, so it looks like a hell of a tough job. But it will change a room that would be 6x10 to a room that is 9x10. Not much larger, but significant in terms of usability.

Holding

The basement, thanks to the French drains and sump pump, weathered the monsoons of May and came out dry. The plumbing lines are laid, gravel piled on top, and now we're waiting for the plumbing inspector to sign off so we can seal it up with concrete and resume work on the rest of the house.

The inspector was supposed to come Friday, but didn't, then Tuesday, but didn't, and now today, supposedly. That's the system.

Basement so far

Some more pictures. There's a layer of gravel across the basement floor now. I walked through it earlier today and as I was leaving the sump pump kicked into gear and shot out a stream of clear water. I guess my walking on the gravel pushed the water into the French drain, which funneled it to the sump pump. It actually works!

Basement from back to front.

Front right corner: the window wall will be pushed out.

French drain sticking out in front left corner. The bottom of the shelf above it is where the old floor was.

Front corner - you can see wetness, even though there was no rain for a few days

French drainage

Word is, the gravel is laid down and the French drains are installed -- and they're working fine. No truck delivery after all - the contractor went and got bags of gravel. As long as it works...

And for the record, French drains have nothing to do with France. They're named for some long-ago dude named Henry French.