The Demo Continues

Having learned how fun it is to destroy things, the demo continued this past weekend.  Again we were focusing on the kitchen area, removing both the floors and some more drywall with a big ole crowbar the contractor let us borrow.  One of the contractors' workers was taking down drywall in specific areas looking for water and termite damage which is good because there turned out to be quite a bit of both.  With all the demo we ended up with a huge pile of junk in the backyard, and not wanting to rent a dumpster, I was the lucky one to haul everything to the dump...3 trips in all.

Sarah's parents came down later in the day and helped remove the rest of the drywall from the wall we're going to remove from the downstairs.  Luckily for us this house was renovated a bit back in 1994 (judging by the date stamped on the drywall) so all the wall's are insulated and the electrical and plumbing is modern and only needs minor work.

We had the easy job for today...Vic, the contractor and his crew were under the house repairing the foundation wall in the spider-infested crawlspace.  It's a brick wall and there was so much mortar missing the bricks had started falling out.  So the guys skimmed over the entire wall with a cement to bond the wall back together....they ended up putting on 80 bags or so and even re-poured one of the footings that had been undermined.

Next weekend, the roof...

Sarah and her mom checking out the new kitchen.

This wall won't be going anywhere for a while...couldn't say that yesterday.

Demo Day #1

Bright and early this morning we met with the contractor who will be doing most of the work for us.  He's worked on dozens of these old houses so he definitely knows what he's talking about and was able to put our minds to rest about some of the things we want to do.  First and foremost we need to fix up the exterior and seal it up before we start on interior finishes.  The roof will come first followed by some foundation repairs and finally the siding.  It's important we get everything done before winter when rot really kicks in for houses in the same condition as ours.  


In the coming days/weeks we'll be finalizing what we want done on the interior side...things like the kitchen and bathroom layouts.


We should start seeing some big changes coming up soon and we'll be sure to take plenty of pictures along the way.  Here are a few from today:

Sarah getting ready for a big dirty day

Cabinets are all removed (except the sink of course) and we starting to take up the old floors.  So far it looks like there are two old floors to remove....anyone have a crowbar and a strong back??

All the flooring and drywall is coming up in the next couple weeks so the contractor can fix the structural issues under the kitchen.  Right now there's a noticeable dip towards the back of the room and significant termite damage and rot at the back corner (if you look real close you can see daylight in the corner).  Luckily these old houses are built like tanks compared to today so much of the larger framing is actually still usable.

What did we just get into??

Plug your nose and put on some rose colored glasses as we show the "before pictures".  This is how we bought the house, before any demo and any cleaning.  If only there was smell-o-vision...

The upstairs kitchen.  The things planned for this one are new flooring, counter tops and paint for the cabinets.

The master bedroom on the lower unit which we would live in.

The kitchen in the lower unit...can't wait to tear it all up!

The house still has the original stairs and balustrade.

Another shot of the original stairs.  This is one of the few remaining original details of the house.  Part of the renovation will be to try and introduce these type of details back into the house.

The living room in the upstairs unit.  The upper level is very bright and open but a little smaller than the lower one which we'd live in.

And It Begins

Sarah and I have both been in Richmond for four years and living the worry free apartment life.  We've talked about having a house someday, and for a while it was just that, talk.  But things are different now...we'll be married in two short months and the time right now has never been better to buy a house.  About two months ago we first saw a house at 2121 E Marshall in the neighborhood of Church Hill.  It was rough; a duplex that had seen plenty of abuse and little maintenance, but was also in a great location that has seen extensive home renovations. It took a little while for us to decide to take the challenge on together, but on July 29th we closed on the house and began our journey to renovate 2121 E Marshall.  We'll update this blog as often as possible so everyone can see the progress and so you all can keep us motivated to finish the job.

Ben