We are finally here.  Demolition starts Monday and the 100 day time estimated by the contractor starts running.

Every time we thought we were there, along came another document that had to be signed and certified by someone who needed a check and filed with the D.O.B.   It was maddening but the permits are finally printed off and ready to be taped on the window.

We spent the last two weeks nailing out an agreement with our neighbor to build her a new shed (exact cost to be determined).  We are grateful that she was not the crazy neighbor that some renovation bloggers have experienced.  In the end, she was quite reasonable.  We guess would have done the same in her position.  Our advice to anyone renovating a house that will need access to their neighbor’s property–start the negotiations early so when your permits come in you are ready to go.

If a neighbor will not give you permission to go on their property you can file with the courts for a license under New York Real Property Actions & Proceedings – Article 8 – § 881 Access to Adjoining Property to Make Improvements or Repairs

This law does not guarantee that you will be granted a license to get access to their property but as long as it is reasonable access it will probably be granted. The factors to consider before applying for this are obviously costs and time.  The courts move as slowly as the DOB and lawyers are costly.  You are better off to be agreeable and polite with your neighbors.  It doesn’t hurt to give them a little inconvenience money as well.  Nothing says thank you like cash.

Before demolition started we needed to move anything of value that we wanted to keep safe out of the way.  The workers will only have the demolition plans to determine what stays and what goes and mistakes can be made.

To be on the safe side we removed all of the decorative moldings  from walls that were going to be demolished and moved all the doors we wanted to save down to the basement.  While we could have instructed the contractor to do this, we know that this phase tends to go fast and they could get damaged or accidentally scrapped.

We hope to reuse some of the door frame moldings (above) and the doors.  One of the doors has a glass window with the seal of the City of New York etched onto it.  The moldings, from what we can guess, are Victorian.  We haven’t been able to find examples of it to determine its exact style but we have seen older buildings with it in various real estate listings in the city.

One of the things that keep us going throughout this process is the fact that our house is a little bit of history.  There are many days when I rant and rave about our decision to purchase an old house but something always happens to bring me be back from the brink.

We recently uncovered some pieces of old newspapers dating back to 1919.  Hard to believe that the Daily News has been around that long.  I hope we find some covers because if they are funny now just think what they were back then.  The early part of the 20th century was a simpler time when you could get your beauty questions answer by mail, men were either rich or poor and murderous behavior was referred to as running amuck.

When we first started this project we leaned more toward a modern design but as time has passed we find ourselves drawn toward preserving and uncovering original details–at least on the parlor floor.  We have even been considering putting in an old- timey toilet in the power room.  However, as we discovered when we took a trip our to Demolition Depot, old-timey stuff is way more expensive than new stuff.

Can’t wait to see what else we find when demolition gets underway in the next week (I hope).

We just found out we were approved by the DOB.  We have picked our contractor, signed contracts and are really to go, right?

Wrong!  Next up, little old lady neighbor who is “concerned” about us demolishing our shed as her 50 year old shed is attached to ours.   She’s all lawyered-up.  We have a meeting to battle it out.  Hopefully, it won’t cost us too much.  Ha ha ha.  Technically, she could take us to court and that would be costly for all of us but let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.  I (and “I” say I not “we” here) am going to lose my mind if this project doesn’t get started.  My better half remains calm in a crisis.

New Motto

You may recall we were fixing up the 3rd floor rental unit for us to live in after we sold our condo.  Now that our closing is imminent, we have come to our senses and rented an apartment (across the hall as it turns out) because we can’t live in a house with a gaping hole and no heat and sometimes no electricity or water and let’s not forget rodents.  We will still plug away at the rental unit and hopefully be able to move in by the end of the year.

We have made some progress but the going is very slow.  A little bit of progress keeps us sane.  We primed the small room.  Our goal was to paint the entire ceiling and walls but realized that the previous contractor had not sanded all the plastered areas as we would have liked and there were still some cracks in the walls that needed touch ups.  Here are some before and afters of the small room.  It is the one white clean room in the house, my happy place–just don’t look at the floor.