Real Estate Investor

04/05/2020

York County to the rescue. OK, so I thought about it and decided that I didn't want sewage coming up in the yard. It would make things inconvenient for entertaining. I called the County and described the problem...the person on the other end did ask me twice if I was sure that it was "sewage". I told him I found a baby diaper label floating around in the puddle. That got things MOVING! Trucks were there in 15 minutes.

Turns out...2 things going on. 1-the sewer mains were indeed clogged with baby diapers and wipes (apparently nobody reads the labels that say do not flush). Secondly, my sewer line to the main was in fact broken. Somebody had hit the clean-out standpipe in the yard with a lawn mower and shattered the whole thing. Funny, I never saw a standpipe poking up from the ground until the county told me they found it...(maybe because it had already been shredded by a lawnmower some time ago?). So my sewer line was a ticking time bomb, simply waiting for a pandemic to cause everybody to flush baby diapers and wipes all at once.

I have to thank York County from the bottom of my heart...the break in my line was actually my problem, but the guys there were very service oriented that they didn't want to leave me with a problem, so they stayed on and fixed it for me and then cleaned up the mess and put down some topsoil and grass seed.

04/05/2020

And up from the ground came a bubblin' crude...sewage that is...

04/05/2020

1208 Duncan - Change of Plans...
The previous owner of the property is a great guy. He lost the property last year to foreclosure as he ran into some unexpected financial pressures that hit him all at once. He and I talked and came to an agreement for me to fix a couple of things in the house and then rent it back to him. It's been his home for over 7 years and he belongs in the place. So...I am a landlord now.

03/22/2020

How to properly mulch around your bathroom fixtures.

OK...that was clearly just click bait. Everybody knows that you don't mulch around the fixtures, that would be stupid because once you get started doing that, you have to keep replacing the mulch every year. Much better to use caulk. It lasts a lot longer.

03/22/2020

Believe it or not...when untreated wood is constantly exposed to water in a warm environment for several years...it actually undergoes the same decomposition process that you might find happening in an old fallen tree in the woods...i.e. it rots. In our case, underneath the vinyl sheet flooring, there was a 1/2 inch plywood subfloor with a layer of 1/2 inch OSB on top of that, and then another 3/8 inch layer of MDF on top of that. It was like a spongy mold rot sandwich. If you are wondering...this is not how a subfloor is supposed to be constructed. The house was built in 1984 and I remember being around then... If I remember correctly, people were just not as smart back then. I know I wasn't anyway.

03/21/2020

I am sure that Flex Seal (rubber in a can) is a great solution for many household situations...or making a boat out of nothing but plate glass and then driving it through alligator infested water...but this, ladies and gentlemen, is an abomination. Rubber in a can should never be used as a long term solution for plugging a gaping hole in your bathtub. Maybe a reasonable question to ask is...how does one get a gaping hole in their bathtub anyway? Everybody knows that you are supposed to gently lay your V8 engine in the tub to wash it. I am assuming that the homeowner must have gotten distracted at some point and accidently dropped the engine in the tub.

03/21/2020

The main bath has some tell-tale issues going on...spongy/soft floor around the bathtub and toilet and a bit of an unpleasant odor that just hangs with you. The situation calls for some deconstruction followed by DIY Sawzall surgery on the subfloor.

03/21/2020

Welcome to my new project - 1208 Duncan Dr.

03/21/2020

Starting on my new Project! 1208 Duncan Dr in Williamsburg, VA

01/11/2020

Sorry for the long delay...SOLD Tower Hill on 12/17/19! All of the hard work paid off, although I now have a keener appreciation of the difference between what people say they LOVE and what they will actually PAY FOR in Williamsburg. It was a great little house and I will miss it!

10/13/2019

Here's the finished product!

Fun, unique townhouse in the sought after Longhill Gate community! Very private and quiet park-like feel. 2 levels with 2 decks and lots of storage make this home feel much larger than it is. The home was completely renovated in 2019. Updated custom kitchen includes new stainless steel appliances, b...