Time for a Little History

Now that I’m the owner of a 1919 D.C. row house I’ve become a bit interested in discovering the history of the house. I think I’m going to try and make my way down to the district’s deeds and surveyor's office and see what I can find out.

Recorder of Deeds 515 D Street, NW Washington DC 20001 (202) 727-5374

Office of the Surveyor 941 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 2700 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 442-4566

I’m also interested in maintaining the original features of the house and came across and interesting site that has lots of useful info for old home owners. The National Parks Services Historic Preservation Internship Training Program provides a series of Preservation Briefs that provide guidance on preserving, rehabilitating and restoring historic buildings.

Insurance Appraisal vs Home Appraisal

So I signed up for homeowners insurance at the time of my purchase and while I was arranging everything I asked if they wanted or needed a copy of the home appraisal. They said there would be no need they trusted me as a long time valued customer blah blah blah (I have my auto insurance, checking and savings accounts and a credit card with them).

Then last week I got a call from an insurance appraisal company asking to arrange a time to see the place in order to validate the information I provided for my homeowners insurance. I'm a bit confused and offer to send my appraisal over in an attempt to have one less thing for me to do, but no they require this additional appraisal. At least I don't have to directly pay for it, but still I have to make my house available to someone to walk through, measure, check boxes and jot down notes. If I was this insurance company I would save myself some money and use the home appraisal.

Its a No Go on the Half Bath

So I've been getting central air conditioning estimates from several vendors, but I'm not ready to make a decision on that so I will have a follow up post on that. The downside of this process besides the high cost of the estimates is that it has come to my attention that I wont be able to add a half bath to the main floor. The space I was planning on using is too small to meet code. This means we will have to start thinking about adding a basement bathroom. Possibly using a Saniflo macerating system. I'm still exploring other options, but as far as I can tell from the internets this is one of the best options if I don't want to rip open my concrete floor.

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