Chicago Duplex Down Rehab

FINALLY... The completely dilapidated neighboring house will be demo'ed on Monday.  The garage came down today.  I made verbal deal with the demolition and concrete contractor to also remove and replace our gangway sidewalk.  Updates soon..

I happen to have an extra sconce fixture.  Long story short, it SHOULD work.  I used an ohmmeter to check out all 3 sockets.  If you want it, just shoot me an email. Gatco Latitude 2 - polished chrome

I finally had a few days to finish up the bathroom vanity during the holiday break.  The slab drawer fronts had been waiting in my closet for a couple years! :(  I was somewhat nervous about putting these on because if you screw them up, you can't just go back to hardware store to buy another set.  After reviewing a few youtube videos on the subject of attaching drawer fronts, I decided to use the 'double sided tape' method.  You use double sided 3M tape to mount the drawer front to the drawer, double check that its in place (proper distance from other fronts and doors, level, etc.), and then use 1 1/4" screws to secure it to the drawer.  This is the basic idea.  Some details are discussed below. Before mounting the fronts, I predrilled the holes for the drawer pulls using a drill press.  The drill press makes perfect holes in the right location and straight in. I used 3mm Tavy tile spacers to mount the drawer fronts.  I had to hold the ...

We ordered silestone quartz countertops through home depot before thanksgiving.  They subcontracted the job to Stone Systems in Mundelin, IL.  There were many people involved with the complete job:  Home depot kitchen and bath sales, HD special services desk, SS templater, SS fabrication, SS scheduler, SS installers, and finally SS sales.

I ordered our hallway hutch face frames from Tape-Ease in Wisconsin and the cabinet boxes from another source.  I could have just glued and clamped the face frames on, but I didn't think that wouldn't be sturdy enough.  I didn't want to put any nail holes in the front of the frame either.  At least a year ago, I came across an inexpensive solution for drilling pocket holes call the 'Kreg Jig'. It allows you to drill pocket holes in the adjacent piece. cabinet box portable Kreg jig with clamp drilling the pocket hole using Kreg drill bit using right angle adapter to drill hole in shallow cabinet fastening the face frame to cabinet using Kreg screw cabinet in place with face frame

Once spring finally arrived in Chicago, it became clear the front parapet wall needed to be repaired before a city inspector looked up. BEFORE I already had a quote in hand from Stan Guzik for rebuilding the top part of the wall, full tuckpointing, and brick cleaning.  I hoped to have Marion Restoration out for an updated quote, but no call back from them.  I was very concerned how the brick itself would be treated throughout the process, since they don't make the same face brick anymore, and the joints are not your modern 1/4" joint, they are 'butter joints' which are about 1/8" thick.  The typical electric grinder used to remove the old mortar would surely destroy the brick.  I didn't get any verbal assurances from Stan that the brick would be untouched before the job, and i didn't press for any answers, either (more later). *falling* stone facade (on misty morning), you can also see open mortar joints below and around window sill, and the...

Not long after the TPO roof was installed, we saw the ceiling drywall joint in 2nd floor kitchen was still discoloring from water damage.  There was still a leak even after spending $10K on new roof!  I went up to the roof and couldn't find anywhere the water could get in from the roof.  I then looked at the adjacent brick wall and rear chimney, and found many holes where water could get in from the side (blowing rain).   So, i figured having this brick fixed might be the next remedy. My friend Steve and his family own a few 2-flats near Loyola.  He was also in the middle of multiple rehabs and just happened to be working with a brick mason as part of his re-roof. Steve's front parapet wall back being rebuilt Steve's front parapet wall rebuild completed Steve's parapet wall after roofer finished TPO job w/ counter-flashing Steve's face brick being rebuilt by Stan's employees OK, enough about Steve's house.  On to our brick p...