RBVa recently completed a whole house restoration on 23rd St in Church Hill. Many thanks to all the hard work of our crew and subcontractors! Here's a little story of the process of bringing a condemned house back to life.
The view from the front door into the front entry hall, before and after. The fixture was salvaged from another project and rebuild by Williams Electric.
Things didn't get much better as you went up the stairs. The roof had been leaking for years, and caused a lot of rot.
The second floor landing and bathroom were incredibly rotten. Under many piles of fallen plaster, we found there wasn't much wood left.
Saving the tub from this room was the hardest part. But we did it- the original claw foot (behind the door) is still there!
The windows were restored, insulation added wherever possible, and the kitchen was moved from the rear of the house to the second parlor, a much more conducive location to modern living.
A mantel in the upstairs bedroom was moved downstairs to make space for closets. The mantle downstairs had been long ago lost.
Squatters had burned holes in the floor during its years of inoccupancy. We left some of the burn marks in the floor as part of the story of the house.
The trim was carefully removed at the beginning of the project, and stored. The carpenters then re-used as much original trim as possible.
The windows were fully restored.
In addition to the yard, the house has 2 off-street parking spaces and ample lighting for security. A storm door was added to the back door to help with the drafty original door which we re-used. This building is now happily rented and the tenants move in today!
