Let's Go Fencing

The Summer Olympics have come an gone but the Brioni have gone fencing! Wrought iron fencing that is. :) As I said in this post and vented about in this post, the one home improvement we decided to do this year was invest in an iron fence. Here are some shots of our fence's contstruction. The company we selected, City Ornamental Iron, constructed the fence and the handrail over the course of a week and half. We weren't really in a hurry so we were fine with them doing the job in phases.

Here is a shot of the truck as it arrived one morning.

Here are the guys making holes for the fence posts to go into. I wonder if I was creeping them out; taking these pictures from my front door. Or maybe they just thought I was being a typical Asian, tanking pictures of everything...lol...

The fence came in pre-assembled sections so it was kind of like putting a puzzle together...only a lot harder...and with welding...and fire!

They came back a few days later to do the gate which I love! Opening it when I go to/from work always brings a smile to my face! I swear, wrought iron fences are like the urban version of the white picket fence. :) They truly give you a sense of home!

After they finished the gate and fence, the last thing they did was install the handrail. Notice the little bit of caution tape. Maybe to warn us not to run into it? :) We knew this was something that had to be done since our first home inspection and we obviously couldn't make one like Justin did here. Man, it feels good to be compliant! Take that insurance comany! hehehe...

Here's a wide shot of the finished product!

So there you have it. Although, it isn't as enjoyable as a new backyard would have been (that'll come soon enough!), we think it adds a ton of curb appeal. And when we're outside the "boys" no longer have to be confined by a baby gate on our front stoop! Have a good weekend everybody!

On the the Fence

So I guess no one wants our money. 

A few months back when we were deciding what to spend our tax money on, we got a few estimates from some ornamental wrought iron fencing companies. The pricing between the companies was relatively even, give or take a few hundred dollars. 

After we decided on getting the front yard fence, we tried contacting the company that was our first choice, but after a week of phone tag we decided to give up. 

There was another company we considered using (the company that did the security bars for our rear window and basement door), but we weren't sure of their ornamental wrought iron expertise. 

This is the design we we had in mind for the fence tips. Fleur-de-lis of course (A symbol of Louisville, as well as NOLA amongst other things)! Gotta keep a little bit of Kentucky in DC, right?

This what we hope the finished product will look like:

Next we reached out to another company that stopped by when we weren't home.  The guy that came by dropped off his business card in the mailbox, but never gave us an actual estimate for the work. When we followed up his visit with a phone call, he couldn't find the estimate and said he would call us back (yeah, and we're still waiting...). 

After all this run around, I thought maybe it would be better if we started from scratch, so we called yet another company for an estimate, but he didn't even show. I even called to check on his status, leaving a voicemail on his phone, and reminding him of our missed appointment.  The guy didn't even bother to return my call to issue an apology.  We were beginning to think that the market for wrought iron fence companies was a gigantic joke.  Does anyone want to work?!?! 

Right when we were about to throw in the towel on the whole situation, Justin reached out to our favorite bartender at our local watering hole (he's quite the handyman!) and he gave us a reference. 

Luckily the guy he referred us to was able to come out to our property and give us an estimate the next day. Although his estimate wasn't as favorable compared to the company that was our first choice initially, we figured we should go for it while the opportunity was there.   We weren't ready to play another round of phone tag, or have our phone call get snubbed. 

Now that we've finally found a company that appears to be willing to take our money, we first need to put down a deposit. Second, we'll need to get a building permit from DCRA.  Justin was really freaking out about getting one because he didn't want us to get caught performing illegal construction on our house without one.  Working without one can cost you a hefty penalty of $2000!  Once we get past those two steps, I guess we'll go from there...

Have any of you had the same problem with contractors? You would think that in this economy contractors would be chomping at the bit for work; however, in our situation, the companies that we dealt with were either really disorganized or just couldn't be bothered. 

How To Spend a Tax Refund - Home Improvement Style!

Justin and I got a pretty significant tax refund a few months ago and we have been trying to figure out how to spend it. Yes, I know that if you are receiving a tax refund (adjust your withholdings...blah, blah, blah) that means you are letting Uncle Sam hold too much of your money; however, for some reason we still get giddy when we hear that we are getting money back. We are planning on putting some of it toward a trip this Fall (location/date TBD), but we were going to use the other part of it towards what else? Home improvements.

Here are the top three improvements we are contemplating:

1) Backyard Redo

Ever since we moved into our house we knew that we would have to redo our backyard eventually. After this incident, it became even more apparent that our backyard concrete slab was unsatisfactory. Last fall I applied for DC's RiverSmart Homes Program, which gives money to DC homeowners interested in bayscaping, rain gardens, rain barrels and pervious pavers. Pervious pavers are landscaping surfaces that allow water to seep into the ground rather than in storm drains, which thereby reduces the pollution that might end up in location streams and waterways. We were interested in replacing our cement slab, and for homeowners interested in installing pervious pavers, the program offers a $1,200 subsidy.

Last month, someone from the RiverSmart Homes Program came over to do a stormwater audit of our house. Upon realizing that our entire backyard was concrete, she said that the removal of the concrete, installation and the pervious paver materials would cost anywhere from $20-25 per square foot. For an area the size of our backyard, that would be upwards of $10K! Yikes. The $1,200 subsidy definitely wasn't going to go a long way. With that said, redoing our entire backyard in pervious pavers was out of the question, but on the bright she said that including green space in our design would reduce the costs. So in a few estimates that we've requested, the designs have included grass and planter boxes with the pervious pavers. We're just waiting on one more estimate to see if this is the route we want to take.

2) Repair and Refinish the Hardwood Floors Upstairs

Although we have wood laminate on the main floor, we have original hardwood floors upstairs. Before you go into your "oohs and ahhs" about the original heart of pine hardwood floors, I have to burst your bubble and tell you that they are in crappy condition. They have always been in terrible condition and this is another thing we knew we would have to fix down the road. Some parts just need to get sanded and refinished like this part in our master bedroom.

However, other areas will also need to get repaired like this part in the hallway.

It is clearly damaged and was poorly patched. Because this area is located in front of our upstairs bathroom, I'm surprised we haven't gotten splinters from it or stubbed our toes on the jagged area more often. This area has been subjected to doggie pee (Can you image how hard it is to clean? It sucks.), but we have just learned to live with it nonetheless. If we choose to fix the floors upstairs, I know it won't be as "fun" compared to a new backyard, but it's much needed and of course it'll add value to our house.

2) Wrought Iron Fence and Hand Rail for the Front Yard

As much as we love our neighborhood, one of the worst things about is the trash. There is trash everywhere. I'm not saying that we live in a dump, but we do live on a high traffic street (between the metro station and a Safeway) where there is always an errant piece of trash laying around. Passersby just don't know how to use a trash can, even if their life depended on it.  And where does the trash end up might you ask? Our front yard and sometimes our treebox.

The trash my friend is blowing in the wind...

The neighbors to our right have a fence so when the trash gets blown around, its stops right at the fence and into our yard. During the Fall when we rake leaves, Justin always grumbles about it without fail! Come to think of it, the fence would also prevent any extra leaves from blowing into our yard as well. As evidenced by our neighbors, a solution to prevent the trash from coming into our yard would be to fence it out! Plus, we'll have a fenced in area for the boys (aka: Louie and Derby) to play in.

Get us out of here!

You must to admit that nothing is more charming than a DC rowhouse with wrought iron fence! :)

If we decide to go with the fence, we figured we might as well do the hand rails, too. Last year when we were renewing our homeowners insurance, we not only got pinged for a lack of handrail on our back steps, but our front steps as well. The insurance company didn't make us rig up a handrail for the front steps, but they put us on notice that'd we might be penalized for it in the future. I feel like a handrail would complete the look of the fence and make for a overall cuter facade!

If you were in our position which one would you choose? A new backyard to enjoy for the summer? A shiny new hardwood floor to brag about? Or wrought iron details that add instant curb appeal? I would love to get all of this done, and all of it will get done eventually, but which one would you do first?