Status Report, 25 Dec 2022

Big Picture: Where are we?
Christmas is here…. and the house is full, which is the best gift of all

Also- Duncan St. is rented for Feb 1st, so I need to press to complete everything there.

We had a full house for Christmas. I try to be fairly business-like in these status reports, but there is truly nothing better than having your kids come home for the holidays- especially to a new home that we’ve put so much love and work into it. One daughter flew in from California with her partner, and one drove up from DC with her partner (just ahead of the blizzard). We enjoyed ourselves with a few minor technical glitches from the house- nothing we can’t conquer. It was amazing to sit down at the dining room table with my whole family. More than one person told me heading into this week to make sure I take time to appreciate and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I am so incredibly grateful for the time together. There’s really nothing like it.

Goals from week of 12 December

Get replacement tile for vestibule. (done)
install tile in vestibule. (done)
Complete backsplash tile in kitchen (on hold until I’m doing the vestibule). (delayed)
Finish painting trim and hallway, 1st floor (done)
Develop working plan for Duncan St., start knocking off items. (in progress)

Corp Update

Been working on the subs for Duncan St., and really put the press on to complete Mintwood before the holidays. Of course Mintwood isn’t “done”- there’s a punch list that is non-trivial, but we did manage to get enough done that we could host everyone with a straight face. The younger daughter flew in Monday (the 19th). I was still cranking away all week. We finally pulled all of the furniture out of storage on Thursday afternoon, and our oldest daughter arrived Thursday night. We have a lot of stuff left to do, but that’s OK.
With a full house and temperatures hovering around -2ºF for a few days, we put the house through the paces. Mostly good, but a few glitches to address:
- The hot water supply line to the kitchen sink froze overnight. The crawl space under the kitchen is insulated from the kitchen itself. When we installed the lines, the thought was that the HVAC ducts would provide enough residual heat to keep the lines OK, but that wasn’t the case. Short term fix, I have a baby space heater pumping heat into the crawl space. Longer term, I’ll install a recirc pump that will move the water through the pipes once per hour when it gets really cold.
- Otherwise the HVAC system is doing a nice job of keeping the house warm. A quick walk around with the IR camera didn’t show anything terrible. I’ll do a fuller audit in February.
- We had a problem with the hot water heater pilot not working correctly. A brief call with Rheem technical support, and they’re sending a new burner unit to replace the old one under warranty.
We are evaluating a different property in Garfield. It’s a vacant lot that we might develop. The adjacent property is also vacant, so it might be interesting to get both.

Accomplishments

Mintwood St

Jonas Wolfe (Wolfe Painting) finished all trim painting, and painting the hallway. THis is a huge relief. I also painted the ceilings in both LR and DR, so those are done. Only big painting projects left are the vestibule (after rehab) and the LR/ DR walls. The former will be simple, as it is very small. Living/ Dining rooms will take a bit of work, but they’re all primed. We just need to settle on colors with the decorator.
Over the course of the past 2 weeks, I’ve managed to tile the entryway. The original box of black marble pieces (12″ x 24″) arrived with every single tile shattered, so we had to chase tilebar.com for a replacement. I have to say that I do NOT recommend them based on their customer service. Once I got the new tile, it was a fairly straightforward installation. Good lines, pretty stable- but that black marble is definitely very fragile, and I don’t plan to work with large format marble again.
I finished the varnish on the entryway doors. The jambs need to be finished, then it’s ready for installation. However, it will need to be coordinated with a break in the weather, because I need to repair the front steps at the same time that I do the door installation. Not sure how that will slot in against the Duncan St issues, which are more time-critical.
Cast iron vent covers for the first floor have been installed. Generally good fits, with only one hole slightly undersized. In February, I’ll route out rabbets at each vent to drop the vent cover flush with the floor.
Landscaping: No big change- other than the fact that I hauled the trash from the back yard to the dump. Worth noting that dump fees have gone up 30% in the past 6 months. I haven’t done anything with the landscape plans bc we learned that the neighbor in the back (with the failing retaining wall) is selling her place. We’ll wait for the new owner to take possession and then we’ll approach them about sharing costs on the wall.

Pearl St.

No particular news.

Orange Ave

Tenant had a sewage problem in early December, which we had snaked. Unfortunately, they did a lousy job and it all backed up in an ugly way on Christmas day. Had a sewer cleaner out, and they got flow re-established, but there are some root intrusions under the deck that we need to address. This may be a significant cost item.

Duncan St.

Completed a few smaller items at Duncan. Mostly, though, I’m working on coordinating with the subs to get their inspections completed in time for the tenant arrival on Feb 1st.