In 2007, I purchased a building in Lockland with the plans of having an office where I could spend part of my summer while the kids were running around the house.
I’ve finally finished it and here are the before and after photo albums. Take a look and let me know what you think.
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| 449 Wyoming Ave – before |
After
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| 449 Wyoming |
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ripped down the back fence
fence is down
New handrail installed -- one to go
I installed the new hand rails for the back inside stairwell. It didn’t take long to mark the hangers, cut the railing, miter it and install it. It would definitely have been faster with two people though.
perspective from the bottom
finished!
Now I just have to paint them. The hangers aren’t in matching locations, because they need to be anchored into studs and the studs aren’t in the same spot on both walls. 
I made some progress before hand:
partially finished
but Matthew helped me finish the rest. With both power drills whirring, we were able to knock it out in no time. Matthew gave me 1.5 hours worth of work for Valentine’s day!
finished the stairs
I really hate redoing work that someone has already done. I had to remove the railing that the contractors installed because they only installed it at a height of 36″. Code requires that the railing be at 42″ and the handrail be between 35″ and 38″. Ugh!
Reinstalled part of the balusters
I’ve raised the railing, reinstalled the middle post and reinstalled part of the balusters. I had to buy 30 new 42″ balusters.
They also left the steps OPEN and of course they need to be closed stringers for commercial. Ugh!
Open and should be closed.
I made more progress on the office this weekend.
On Saturday, I installed 7 mini blinds, rehung 2 doors, removed the front stairway handrail, cut the rear stairway handrail to length including the wraparounds, marked and installed the hangers for the rear stairway handrail and took pictures of the office.
Jeffrey also helped me identify a burst pipe from the cold snap last week. The burst pipe is behind a wall on the first floor (possibly behind the tub on the second floor) which means I get to cut open the drywall we just installed. Jeffrey and I also picked up some wood at the apartment for the risers.
On Sunday, It was really nice and sunny, so I could work outside and remove the balusters from the rear outside stairwell. The guard rail going down the stairs has to be 42″. I’m not sure if this is for commercial or residential property, but the inspector said it needed to be 42″. I cut the risers to length for the 14 steps, cut and reinstalled a longer post, and reinstalled the railing.
Fun, fun, fun.
I assembled 17 base cabinets and wall cabinets for the kitchens at 509 Davis Street.
Base cabinets assembled
We had a raccoon family at 509 Davis St. They tore through the flexible heating ductwork in the attic.
I called Pesky Critters to have them get rid of them. Gary here has one of them trapped.
Coon #1
Coon #1 downstairs
We installed new trim in the office at 449 West Wyoming. These are a few work in process pictures:
Reception Area and Office
Looking toward the Reception Area
Since they broke through the first plywood door, Christine’s dad and I tried to beef up the door with steel reinforcements. Here’s the result of our work.
A garage door lock mechanism
Unfortunately as it turns out this mechanism was the undoing of the door. The metal could be bent by someone kicking on the door
Reinforced jamb for the hinges
