Chicago Duplex Down Rehab

You realize when doing a complete interior demolition on an old building how much work went into it building it in the first place! I found there used to be a radiator in the entrance to the first floor apartment, since there were holes in the wood flooring that was covered by vinyl tile. I still haven't taken out the radiator pipes, I was looking for a metal recycler today. No one was in the alleys looking for metal. Maybe the metal recycling places are closed today. I have so much more cleanup to do before we can get the concrete and steel guy over here to start with the jackhammer. sigh.....

Bart came all the way down from Geneva to pull up the 1st floor southern yellow pine. I know he'll put it to good use. He and his girlfriend worked as a team and pull up 300 sq ft in a couple hours! He found just using a flat bar worked well, rather than another suggestion of using a sawsall to cut the nails.

Quaker Windows supposedly can't make a double-hung large enough for the center windows, might have to go with Marvin Magnum or other brand. I think its a 53" wide opening, most wood windows go up to 48". I'm in a dispute with the window contractor since he didn't check this very important information before we signed a contract and I handed over $5K. I'll find out on Monday where this is going. I would truly prefer to put in double-hung windows to match the existing ones for resoration sake. The other options are either a picture window or putting two windows side by side. The photo is not my window, i'm just showing what a nice wood double hung window looks like.

The plumber came over on saturday morning to discuss the project. It looks like there will be much more drain work than originally expected.

the windows shut. The tenants were upset about the dust, and are moving out.

The demolition is almost complete, just a few ceilings on the first floor remaining. I made the mistake of not sealing up the second floor and keeping

I put an ad on craigslist in the free section for my wood (pine) flooring in the basement. It's a nice red-brown color, so I figure someone might want it. A family from Romeoville came all the way into town to pull up the flooring, and haul it away in their SUV. So, I didn't have to do any work to get rid of it! I love CRAIGSLIST!

Ravenswood disposal dropped a 30 cubic yd dumpster (kids, do the math) in front of the house today. $440! Stewart and a gang of two laborers will be gutting the basement tomorrow.