Cellar Window Restoration

Original Condition

Completed

Before

After

New Water Main

We decided to install a new water main to the house due to the fact that we are adding a new bathroom and dishwasher. Also the water main pipe is extremely old and contains lead.


DMC plumbing came in with their crew and started to excavate the street to gain access to the water main which is located on the opposite side of the street.  It was amazing the size of the cobble stones under the asphalt. Beautiful! It took them hours of digging mostly by hand to remove the old lead pipe and install a new 3/4" copper pipe. The old pipe was so corroded that the opening (which the water passed through) was the size of a straw. 

Construction Finally Starts...

After a very long wait, deciding on a contractor and having the permits approved, demolition finally started on Monday August 8^th. We hired Craft Workshop, Inc as our contractor and Andreas and his crew started demoing the three closets on the Parlor floor, the arch separating the living room and dining area, and the entire kitchen. Next will be the three closets separating the two second floor bedrooms where our future master bathroom will be located.

Restoration of Wrought Iron Fence

Sanding to remove the rust

Applying the First Coat of Paint

Finished!!!

Small Details in our Curb Appeal

Reclaimed Property

We started planning and designing our back yard and while taking measurements, we discovered that our property was 3 to 4 feet shorter than what was stated on our survey.

Unfortunately located direclty behind the fence, was a concrete patio. In order to move the fence to the rear of our property line, we would have to cut the patio and remove the remaining concrete. Carl called his friend Tommy from ETEC, who was willing to help us with this project.

Tommy and Earl came by one Saturday with all the necessary equipment, they proceeded to cut the cement patio and then showed us how to use the jack hammer.

Things started slow but the more we used the machine, we became more confortable and we were able to move faster. Within few hours we had broken up the remaining patio that was on our property and temporarely relocated the fence.

It was a lot of work but definately worth the extra 3 feet of space. We appreciate Tommy and Earl stopping by to help us and especially for lending us their jack hammer, otherwise it would have taken us forever to break up the cement with a sledge hammer.

 



2nd Floor Rear Bedroom

After Manny relocated the mantel and hearth to the parlor floor, we were left with quite a mess and unfortunately, more work to get the room ready to become our walk in closet.

We had to remove the remaining plaster from the brick, the cement where the hearth was located and in the fireplace firebox. We decided to pour a fresh layer of cement in the hole we created, to help prepare the area for the contractor so he can patch the floor with new hardwood flooring. Hopefully we did this correctly and didn’t create more work for him. Time will tell.

Located next to the fireplace was a pair of built-in bookshelves that we decided to demo. We tried to incorporate the shelves into our design, but figured removing them would open up the space and give us more room for the installation of our new closets.

Our next step will be to cover the brick with sheetrock to enclose the firebox and give the wall a nice finished look.