All Forum Posts by: David Ross

Tagging a few others - Hey guys, open invite if you would like to come out and catch up, drink beers, check out a project and network with other real estate professionals. If not, hope you have a great holiday season!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fishtown-renovation-celebration-tickets-19295976786

@Chris Carroll @Cory Land @Renee Gambacorta @Alex M. @Maurice Hopkins @Steve Babiak @Cedrick L. @Riker Blank

Thanks for dropping in and reading @Matt R. 

Most of the brick row homes in Philadelphia are closer to 100 years old, so often they need a lot of the structural when you're doing a full renovation. The purple drywall in the basement is, you guessed it, moisture and mold resistant. Old basement foundations are made of stone and mortar, and are just pardged over. Water and moisture can be an issue if not properly prepared. We used a Drylok paint on the walls then uses steel studs and Roxul insulation in the basement to further protect the building from any residual moisture. 

For the brick wall, if you want to hang anything it's easy to drive a nail into the mortar joints between the bricks.

Some more progress photos. Engineered maple hardwoods went down and look and feel beautiful. We used a cork underlayment and it really allows them to feel more solid than they would on a foam underlayment.

Master shower is coming out pretty rad:

Kitchen cabinets starting to go in. Going with a white Quartz countertop:

Drywall finishing complete and house painted white. @Troy Sheets had made a great call by going with exposed brick.

Looking in from entry. Recessed lighting is in, contractor used basic yellow flood lamps, we'll replace with daylight LED ones

Dining room looking into kitchen. See the half bath to the right. Has pocket door entry.

Standing in kitchen looking back towards the front. Ah, the lovely width of a Philly row home...

Basement finished with basic tile, recessed lights. Tankless hot water and external mini-split HVAC to preserve all the basement space possible. Ceiling height is about 6'6; will make a great living/flex space for the family. 

Second floor rear bedroom. Balcony coming soon.

Second floor bathroom

Third floor roof deck. Step downlight LEDs should create good ambient evening lighting.

Third floor vaulted ceiling and skylight tube.

Master bedroom shower. Frosted sealed window in shower. Badass shower system to be installed soon.

Master bedroom.. I need a wider angle lens...

Progress is steady with just a handful of small hiccups but otherwise no curveballs. 

Next up is trim and maple engineered hardwood installation. Stay tuned!

Welcome @MarcAnthony Morrison to BP! Philly is a great market to be in, I know you'll find success. If you ever have any questions we're all here to help. Best of luck!

@Maurice Hopkins @Erick Pough @Daniel Flesher @Chris Carroll

Just extending the invitation a little further. Looking forward to it!

@Roc P. Thanks! This never hit the MLS. Was brought to our attention by a realtor who had an out-of-state landlord looking to unload. She knew we could buy quickly and could renovate to a nice level - giving her the finished listing. Had it hit the MLS, someone would have been willing to pay $135-150k.

Nice job @Troy Sheets . And just when you thought "Man these things aren't working..." BAM!

Thanks for kicking this conversation off @Troy Sheets

Here's a little info about the project and our plans:

• Existing 1450SF structure. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath
• Center stair Layout, cutting building in half
• Rear room on first floor was added after original building, seems stable enough to build on.
• Basmement 7' height, clean but don't see the value in digging out and finishing
  
• Condition is rough - floorplan doesn't work. Doing a complete interior gut

Our plan is to do a complete interior gut, move and stack the stairs to one side, and add on the rear room to add space on second floor. This length will make our stair runs and bedrooms on the second floor more desirable.

Scope:

• Clean out remaining items - lots of garbage items left behind. Gut interior of the house
• Move the stairs to the side
• First floor: Open up the floorplan, adding a 1/2 bath
• Second floor: Two bedrooms with bathroom and laundry in core
• Third floor: Large master suite with bathroom, space for a desk, and access to roof deck on top of second floor rear bedroom.

Anticipated timeline: 3 months
Budget: $125k
ARV est: $340k

My EARLY ROUGH drawings from Sketchup (pre-architect assistance for permit needs) below: