With our 2nd floor unit complete and tenants moving in over the next few days, figured I would share some before and afters! Amazing to see where this apartment has come from!
The past two weeks were slow due to the holiday season, but also because we pushed up the final bank inspection / appraisal (to earlier then one would normally do so) so we needed to clean up the construction site and make our incomplete building look as presentable as possible. The great outcome from this is that we passed our final bank inspection and received a positive bank appraisal! This allows us to refinance out of our construction loan and into a home owners loan and gives us some much needed cash to pay some hefty IOUs to a few of our very understanding and cooperative contractors and as well as some extra cash to keep this project moving. Doing the bank refi will take another 4 to 6 weeks to finally pay out, but this was the largest remaining hurdle!
We did manage to get a few small tasks accomplished over the past two weeks. In preparation for our tenants moving in upstairs, we had a window cleaning crew come through and take off the construction window film and plastic and clean the windows from the interior and exterior. We also installed the towel bars, toilet paper holder, door stops, and curtain rods through the 2nd floor unit. Andrea and I both ended up touch-up staining the baseboards in the 2nd floor living room, entry way, and dinning rooms. One more quick clean and the unit is ready for our new neighbors!
The week started with some great news, we have rented the 2nd floor apartment! The new tenants will be moving in just under 4 weeks, which gives us some extra motivation to get as much work done as possible before they move in. The tenant unit only has very minor work remaining, but we also had to give our new tenants a heads up that some items that affect them will not be ready for some time, such as the garage re-build (which we haven’t started on yet) or landscaping the backyard. Otherwise, their unit will be complete and we hope they’ll enjoy it!
The past two weeks have seen a great amount of activity. Our electrician came back on site to correct a few items, including moving the disconnect switch for the double oven which allows us to get the appliance installed. We also had our handyman install the utility sink in the laundry room and the range hood and associated exhaust in the kitchen. Our countertop contractor came back to install our kitchen island and some floor pieces in the master bathroom. And finally, we have made great headway on painting and staining the unit.
Our painting contractor has been working non-stop for the past two weeks. What’s taking this unit much longer than the 2nd floor unit (besides an extra floor) is all of the added woodwork that has to be sanded, stained, and finished with 2 to 3 coats of poly. Once the staining was complete, the contractors moved on to painting the walls, ceiling, doors, and trim. With the woodwork being a dark walnut, we choose to go with lighter colors on the wall (various shades of gray) and a shade of white (“snow bound”) on the basement doors and trim. Do to financial reasons, we had to break up the painting into a few phases. This first phase included painting and staining the majority of the first floor as well as the corridor and media room of the basement. Hopefully over the next few weeks, we’ll have the crew back to complete the staining and painting in the basement bedrooms.
At this point in construction, many trades have wrapped up the majority of tasks that would keep them continuously busy. Because of that, going forward we will most likely get a contractor per day on site to finish the remaining items / doing punchlist items. Hopefully this process won’t slow us down too much, but it helps us make sure there is enough to do for a contractor to be on site and so that we’re not paying someone to simply stand around.
Over the past two weeks, we did make some exiting progress. First, the exterior front stairs have the limestone lintels installed. Next we had our 1st floor appliances delivered to site. This allowed us to bring our carpenter back so that he could precisely cut the correct openings into the cabinet paneling to install the double oven, microwave, etc. Once the panel was cut out for the double oven, we learned that the 220V disconnect installed by our electrician doesn’t leave enough room for our oven to be correctly installed. We’ll have to have our electrician back on site to correct this before we can install our oven. Besides the oven, our contractors were able to install the built-in microwave, range, dishwasher, and laundry units in the basement.
While on site, our carpenter detailed the dining room woodwork, which included adding quarter round trim to the wooden beams, window trim and wall trim. Other then making the woodwork look more elegant, the drywall takes less volume then the old plaster walls did which in the case of the old woodwork which we kept meant a large gap between the woodwork and the new wall, the trim covers these gaps. Our carpenter also leveled out our back stairwell concrete wall, allowing us to install drywall in preparation for our painter to start work on the unit. Finally, in anticipation of our painter, we rolled out protective covering through out the unit so that in the following week they can get started!
Though we are still some time away from finishing this project, the 2nd floor apartment is close enough that we have listed it for rent! We have listed the apartment on several advertising websites and have a few showings scheduled for next week. We’re renting this unit in the middle of the winter, which for Chicago gets a little more difficult. The rental market here is very cyclical, so ideally we would have been able to get this unit on the market in the summer time to get the best rent possible. We’re still quite hopeful that we’ll find a good tenant as I think the unit has turned out beautifully. Hopefully we’ll be done with most of the loud construction by the time the new tenants move in.
Speaking of the 2nd floor unit, a few quick items we scratched off the list this week were 1) Installed new replacement glass in the refinished built in china cabinet; 2) installed the kitchen hood over the stove; and 3) installed trim work over the old decorative fire place.
Down in the 1st floor unit, our tile contractor was back to install the back stairwell and backdoor landing tile. We also started picking out paint for various spaces and we started painting the powder room on the 1st floor. We will ultimately hire a professional painter to finish this unit, but we’re short on cash so if we can get some of this work done ourselves, it will help. In select closets, we have started to install the adjustable shelving system. We have a general idea of what each closet will be used for, but the added flexibility will come in handy. Finally, our countertop contractor was back on site to install our back countertop. We are hoping to go with a carrera marble on our island, but its in high demand, so it maybe a few weeks before we can get our hands on an appropriately sized slab. The countertop that did arrive is a dark grey Quartz counterop (think Caesar stone) that lines the top of the cabinets along the kitchen wall. We chose this stone because it is very durable, especially with spills and heat, so it will make a great prep surface while cooking.
Going into this project, we knew (or thought we knew, but learned a hard lesson) that the project would require a lot of time and energy. The state of disrepair the building was in prior to our purchase had caught the eye of the city inspectors and the house made it on the Chicago’s demolition list. This meant that an inspector at one point came out and deemed that the house was structurally deficient and was in danger of falling apart and causing collateral damage, therefore the city had begun the legal process in demolition court to get the building leveled. We have had two court dates to date, both in which we had our lawyer meet with the judge to tell him that we are new owners and are under going a complete rehabilitation of the building. This week, we have scheduled with the demolition court inspector to walk the property to show him that we have made enough progress that the building is no longer a danger to our neighbors and so it can be taken off of the city’s demo list. Upon inspection, we got our sign-off! We’re not 100% clear yet, because it is conditional upon us receiving all MEP inspection sign-offs, but we no longer have the threat of demo looming in the background. Having this cleared also eliminates the liability for our eventual refinance with the bank, so its just another step that gets us closer to a completed project!
This week, we made more progress on bathrooms, lighting, and HVAC. Starting with the HVAC, early in the week our contractor delivered and installed the hot water furnace and a domestic water storage tank. Throughout the week, he then piped the equipment together, using a heat-exchanger (which keeps our domestic water a separate loop from our basement slab loop) and a re-circulating pump to help move the water through the slab. He also installed an expansion tank which gives the water somewhere to go when it changes in volume due to temperature changes. The system isn’t complete yet, but its getting very close.
Our tile contractor was back to install tile in the powder room on the first floor. He also applied the final sealer over the other bathroom showers to add in some extra protection from dirt and soap scum. Also in the bathrooms, we had a glass contractor come and install the glass in all bathroom showers throughout the building. The glass marked the final step for these showers and I think they turned out really well!
The few other items this week; our wood stripping contractor was back in action, this time working on the significant amount of original woodwork in the first floor dinning room. We also had a few more light fixtures installed, including our mini glam chandelier in the powder room. In the kitchen, we had our farmhouse apron sink installed (amazing how heavy these things are!). Finally, we had a number of small miscellaneous items worked on in the second floor apartment, including installing the door knobs on the interior doors.
This week, we had our first pass at dealing with the city’s final inspection process. Our electrical contractor had a big push to install many of the remaining light fixtures (we don’t have them all yet, but every room now has a fixture to meet code). He also made connections to the new HVAC furnace, installed our rope lighting in the entry way and powder room, and he dug a trench and installed electrical conduit / service to the garage. Unfortunately, the electrical inspector came to site and took issue with the fact that several outlets have small holes next to them (which will be our painters responsibility to apply drywall compound), a disconnect for the future double oven wasn’t installed, and several other items weren’t complete. Therefore, he concluded that it was premature for the electrical inspection and that we’ll have to reschedule. We weren’t expecting a sign off for this pass, but because it is quite common to find issues during the first pass at final inspection, we were hoping the inspector would log his visit on the official permit and write down the items that must be corrected. But this didn’t happen and so we have to complete what we can and reschedule the inspection for a later date. Its likely that we’ll have to call them back a third time before we’ll have our electrical officially signed off on.
On another front, our carpenter was back to install the front and back stairs from the 1st floor to the basement. Until now, we just had the rough plywood stairs for contractors to use, but now our carpenter has installed the final oak wood boards. While on site, he made another small number of correction and installation, included hanging the unit mailboxes.
Our HVAC contractor was back, this time he mounted the steam humidifier on the wall and he installed the radiant piping manifold. The manifold serves as a header pipe that allows for the hot water to flow equally to the multiple zones of radiant tubing that spread out into the basement floor. There is also one additional radiant tube that extends into the floor, but this tube will house the temperature probe to gauge the temperature of the slab. Though the boiler can heat the slab very warm, its important to note that you typically don’t set the slab temperature above 85F because too much heat will start to melt adhesives and seals, especially around toilets, and you can end up with small leaks. We will also keep the slab at least 65F during summer months to make sure that we aren’t creating any moisture conditions that encourage mold growth in the basement.
Finally, a few other noteworthy items that occurred this week: Our woodwork specialist was back at, this time focusing in on the second floor entryway trim-work. We also had our concrete contractor back to rip up the old sidewalk along the side of the building and pour new. In this new sidewalk, we left a little natural dirt spot net to the house, for a future small flower garden. He also poured new concrete for along the foundation wall on the north end of the building and he integrated the metal staircase into the pathway nicely as our previous contractor messed up the correct elevation for the stair landings. Lastly, we installed some landscaping in the front of the building. This included new sod on the street side lot, as well as new sod, bushes, and a Japanese maple in the front yard of the house. Its amazing how much a little landscaping can change the look of a building!
Andrea and I have officially moved into this construction mess! The second floor apartment is functional enough for us to temporarily use the kitchen and shower, while the basement is far enough along that we can move many of our boxes into temporary storage. Though living on site while we are still moving full speed ahead on construction will give us some headaches, it will also make it much easier for us to coordinate the construction work as we won’t have to make the trip three times a day to talk with contractors. This also allowed us to rent our current apartment to new tenants which will certainly help make up some of the difference in our drastic cost overruns that we’ve had to date!
On with construction – this week started with our HVAC contractor delivering and setting up the gas furnace. Similar to the 2nd floor unit, we installed a high efficiency furnace burning at a 97% annualized fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE rating), which we will pair with one of the newer smart thermostats. Though we are conscious enough to make sure we program temperature setbacks into our thermostat, we are looking to go with a control thermostat that will help recirculate the air, to offset stratification in our duplex, as well as help the indoor air quality by monitoring humidity levels. This forced air furnace is separate from the slab heating system, with that system hopefully being installed next week.
Next, our millwork specialist contractor is continuing with his work from the previous week. Our the weekend, he completed the windows and guardrail in the stairwell. This week, he is working on the main unit doors and the built in bench in our unit. The main unit doors he actually transported to his warehouse and stripped them there because of their size and location he didn’t have to worry as much about getting the stripper chemical in contact with our finished floor and the entry tile. He had previously taken several of our smaller interior doors to his warehouse, but instead of stripping them by hand, which he’s been doing with the detailed millwork, he dipped them into a special chemical bath that washing away the old paint / stain.
Also this week, we had our countertop contractor show up to deliver the 2nd floor island slab, as well as the shower slab pieces in all bathrooms in the building. For the 2nd floor kitchen, we went with simple light granite to offset the darkness of the floor and cabinets. In the bathrooms, we went with either matching or contrasting slabs to coordinate with the shower floor tiles. Due to popular demand for white carrara marble, many of the local stone warehouses are out of stock so we’ll have a little bit of a wait until we can get the 1st floor kitchen slab delivered.
Finally, our carpenter came through for a day this week to check off a few more items from the to-do list. Alongside a few minor corrections and touch-ups, our carpenter has built the gate from the alley. We built a simple, but tall back gate to deter anyone from cutting through the property (which our neighbor has informed us has been a problem in the past). Using the same cedar wood from as the gate, we built in under counter storage for the 2nd floor kitchen. We decided against built-in island cabinets in the rental unit due to cost and wear-and-tear concerns, but we also thought that the open shelving concept can provide a more versatile storage option. We’ll poly the shelving at a later date, but we’ll probably keep the lighter color of the cedar.
Week 52 marks one year since the purchase of our property and the start of demo work! Looking back, we have learned a TON over these past twelve months. Our original budget for the project has been completely shot (its had to double), our original projected scheduled completion date has already come and gone, we’ve had permit delays, design setbacks and changes, contractors walk-out on us, and contractors re-negotiate scope and price due to many unforeseen building conditions. Its been a very hectic last year. We are excited to finally see the project taking shape and at this point of construction, we are possibly seeing the slightest glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We are happy for the progress we have made and anxious for the progress that’s yet to come. That said, we’ll keep going day by day until this project is finally done!
This week, we finally found a concrete contractor who could build our front stairs. This is at least the third or fourth contractor we have met with and agreed to pricing with, but the previous contractors flaked and never showed up. I mentioned this in previous posts, but we’ve this behavior has not been completely unusual as many contractors are telling us that there are so many construction projects in Chicago at the moment, our project is not large enough to be worth their time. Our latest concrete contractor did end up showing up as agreed to and he started with building out the form work for the stairs. Later in the week, he came with the concrete and poured the steps, as well as sidewalks on both sides of the building, and a concrete barrier wall between the front yard and the brick facade. Our contractor suggested and built the curved detail into the retaining wall (see picture below) and a sloped curved sidewalk to even out an elevation change that Andrea and I were especially pleased with.
Next, the first floor kitchen cabinetry was delivered to the project. As discussed in Wk 47, we chose to go with cabinet manufacturers who minimized the usage of formaldehyde as the binder in the manufacturing process. For our kitchen, we went with white cabinets which will go with a white kitchen island as Andrea has been hoping to build a white kitchen ever since we started this project! With the cabinets on site, our carpentry contractor went ahead and installed the upper and lower cabinets, and everything fit as expected (to our relief, since this floor had less room for margin of error compared to the 2nd floor unit).
In the master bathroom, the tile contractors finished grouting the shower tiles and they went ahead and sealed the tile. With that work complete, our plumber installed many of the shower and vanity plumbing fixtures. All fixtures were selected in the low-flow variety (expect for the one rain shower head), meaning that the shower heads are all 2.5 gpm or below (ours are all around 2.0 gpm) and the toilets are all 1.28 gpm.
In the 2nd floor unit, the appliances for the kitchen have been delivered and installed. For this unit, we went with a standard stainless steal look (all energy-star appliances). The fridge is a wider set than typical for a rental unit, at 33-inches, and we made sure that the exhaust fan over the oven exhausts to the outside. Combined with the excessive amount of countertop space, these appliances and features makes for a nice “chefs” kitchen that we can advertise to potential renters. Anyone who cooks a lot in a kitchen with only a recirculating fan over the oven can testify, exhausting to the outside also has the great benefit of getting rid of all of the grease that over time would otherwise settle on everything within 10 feet of the oven.
Finally, as we have reused a number of old wooden millwork pieces throughout the project and many of these have old paint / stain that needs to be cleaned off. We have hired a specialist contractor to strip and clean the old millwork back to original condition so that we can properly stain it and match with the new millwork. This contractor has started working in the railings in the stairwell leading up to the 2nd floor. He uses an industrial strength marine stripper to apply to old varnish, which peels away layer after layer of the old finish. He then uses steal wool to sand away the old color to get to the wood underneath. So far, the railing and other details he got to this week are looking good!
To start this week, our flooring guy has kicked out all of the other contractors so that he can install and prep the floor boards on the first floor. Similar to the 2nd floor, we tried to salvage as much of the floor board as possible, but many areas were simply too water damaged. Half of the living room, the office area, the kitchen and back area all had to have new floor boards installed. Once the floors were installed, our contractor sanded the whole floor to get it prepped for staining. By the end of the week the floor was all prepped and the stairwell to the 2nd floor received a new coat of stain.
Millwork continued for a few days this week as well. On our main floor, we are trying to bring back more of the old wood work that made us love this house in first place. During demo, we had placed many wood interesting piece we thought we could salvage into the garage. Now our millwork contractor is taking his time finding old baseboards, window trim, and other details and matching them into the house. This week, we brought back three of the stained glass doors and got them installed. Two of the doors will still need the glass repaired at some point, and holes drilled for door knobs (they were originally swing doors), but I think its great to see them back in the house.
Also this week, our millwork contractor installed both 2nd floor bathroom vanities as well as the wood decking on the back deck. With the decking installed, I think we can consider the back stairwell / deck work complete!
Our tile contractor kept doing his thing this week, this time focusing on the basement master bath. He’s building this tile work up in phases, having to make sure the wall tile is complete prior to the ceiling tile getting installed. There will be a rain shower head in this bathroom, so we have to put tile on the ceiling.
Next, painting and staining is on-going on the 2nd floor this week and is nearing completion. The big noticeable difference now are the stained window trim as well as the stained dining room ceiling beams.
Finally, our metal contractor came back to install the front fence. We had given him a sample of the original cast-iron fence and asked him to replicate the details for the new fence. Though the new fence isn’t full cast iron, the added detail brings back another piece of that house character that we liked so much.
IT STARTED ON SAWYER 