05.10.12.: Week 13| Recap

We’re trucking along over here…  the apartments are taking shape fast!

This week the HVAC guys wrapped up 95% of their work… The AC Units are ready and waiting for the final hookup.  Because the property line is basically the building’s walls, unfortunately the only place they could go was the roof.   So here they are!  This location isn’t ideal, so we put down some reflective coating on the roof to try and keep the units from cooking up there.  We’ll see how that goes…

Oh, and while we’re up here… did I mention we’ve got quite the view?  Just another thing that makes this building swoon-worthy for me.  Of course use of the roof will definitely not be a part of the apartments (hello liability!)  It’s still fun to dream about that rooftop-deck-with-a-view-of-downtown-and-those-luscious-green-pgh-hills…

The finishers also hit the ground running and got started on all the drywall seams.  It’s pretty tricky because we’re using a combination of original plaster and drywall laminated over old plaster and entirely new drywall (not ideal, but hello-budgets!)

With the finishing coming right along,  I did another IKEA run, this time for the bathrooms (and to have a little talk with them about my missing kitchen cabinets…hmph)  Can you believe that you’re looking at 4 entire bathroom setups in the back of that truck?  Stuff sure slims down when it’s broken into bits and pieces.  Lots and lots of bits and pieces that the guys get to put together next week…

This week we also had a debate about keeping the plaster on the wall in the studio apartment.  The final decision was… dun dun dun… it’s got to go.  While it’s beautiful, it’s not practical a) for a kitchen (especially right over the worksurface) and b) for a rental unit (hello lead paint poisoning lawsuit).  If this were my house, and maybe any room but the kitchen, I’d totally have kept it.  We decided that with my newly acquired brick exposing skills,  the wall would look great with exposed brick, and safely give the room the character it’s missing now.  Actually this wall is exposed the entire way up in the other apartments, so it makes sense to do it here too.  I promise I will be crying on the inside the whole time I’m jackhammering away on this thing though.  As some of you suggested, I’m going to try and preserve it (although I admit it’s highly unlikely I’ll have any success) to show off somewhere in the future.  Like maybe framed in my living room, where it may be relatively more appropriate.

 

So thanks for all of your opinions and support and discussions and help keeping this thing on track.  Stay tuned next week for completely plastered walls, and … paint!! Yeah, paint!! Really!   Some forewarning:   these plaster guys… are geniuses.   Prepare to be shocked and delighted, because I totally am.