After the water came in

This was by far the most expensive home I have ever worked in.  They had a tremendous amount of water damage in their house this past August.  After they repaired the exterior and made sure that the water leak was resolved, I came in with my team to repair the damage.  Three areas of their house were damaged, and everything had to be perfect.  I only got photos of 2 areas.


One area was in their "atrium" surrounding their courtyard.  There was no room for error in this drywall installation, because it was around glass.  These cuts had to be precise.

Before

After

Another area was in their bedroom.  We had to strip the wallpaper along one wall, because a 1 ' x 3' section of drywall was removed.  We also replaced the baseboard and painted the wall to match the color of the wallpaper.

Before with loose wallpaper

After with paint

Wall Repair

In the summer of 2010, the owners of this house installed central air conditioning.  They asked me to cover them with some soffits.  Since they needed their ducts closed in, they also asked me to make them useful by making some built in shelving.  Here are some photos of the work I did in 2010.

Custom shelves with soffit on right 

Custom shelves with soffit behind flat panel

Soffit covering ducts in basement bedroom

Now these folks are moving away from Philadelphia and asked me to come back to make some repairs to their daughter's room.  They poorly spackled some cracks in the walls years ago and put some stickers on the wall.  I removed the stickers, removed some shelves, re-did the spackling correctly, then painted the room with the same color.

Before with sticker and old spackle

After with no sticker, no bad spackle

The Season of Small Jobs

I have been doing very small jobs lately, as I expect for this time of year.  I have forgotten to take my camera to most places, but there has been very little to show anyway. 

This house had a leak in the bathroom, and the homeowner tore out the drywall behind the toilet.  I came in and installed the new drywall in one day.  I tore out more of the drywall to make it even at the bottom (and easier for me), screwed in the new drywall, applied 3 coats of joint compound, and sanded the seams.  The owner of this house is going to paint the bathroom, so my work is done here.

Donation

My daughters attend the Parent Infant Center for preschool and after school programs.  For the 2011 ArtStart silent auction, which raised $30,000 for the PIC scholarship fund, I donated the painting of one room to the highest bidder.  I painted her 1st floor powder room today. 

Before

After

She said, "THANKS!! It looks AWESOME!!!! WOW!  Now I am seriously interested in an estimate for the kitchen."

Rule #2

If it is January in Philadelphia, do not plan on using oil based paint for an exterior handrail.  Your day will end before you open the can of paint.

Prepare For Moving (with Rule #1)

One of the major problems in Philadelphia is the public school system.  The people whom I worked for this week love living in the city, but they are 1.5 years from sending their oldest child to kindergarten.  They have no viable options for a public school, and private school was too expensive.  Even though they have lived in this house for 6 years, they have to move to the suburbs just for the schools.  This is where I come in.

There are two options when you prepare your house for sale.  Either paint the rooms in colors that you hope prospective buyers will like, or you can give it a whitewash so the new buyers can pick their own colors.  These folks chose the whitewash.

Here are before and after pictures of their kitchen:

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

The owners of this house made may changes and repairs throughout the years.  It was our job to finish those changes and made the house presentable.  I'm sure you can see the spackled area around the outlet at the bottom left.  Repairs like this were needed all over the house, which prompted the call to me.

 

One more thing about this job.  Their realtor suggested a color called Mascarpone (AF-20) from Benjamin Moore.  DO NOT USE AF-20 Mascarpone.  It is a painter's nightmare!  It took 4 coats in some areas for it to cover properly.  Off-whites should be much easier.  Rule #1: Do not take color recommendations from a realtor.  Realtors do not paint; they sell houses. 

I am returning to this house tomorrow to do some exterior painting.  I'll post photos if I can remember the camera.