125 Atlantic St, SE

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Different Types of Wiring in House (EHow, Tim Gibson)

Obama and Martin Luther King Mural - MLK & Mellon

I am reposting this blog from Congress Heights on the Rise.blogspot.com

Obama and Martin Luther King Mural - MLK & Mellon

Designed by two tattoo artists at the tattoo parlor above the mural this mural is located on the corner of MLK Ave. and Mellon St on the side wall of the Quality Convenience Store.

Stanton Gets a Rooflift

One thing I've experienced often is roof leaks. I've had it in Galveston and Stanton as well as MLK.

One thing I've done over and over again is patch up the roof with roof patching compound especially around the chimney -- and like a boat, I keep on throwing money at it.

My patience was running thin and I felt I needed to take care of my tenants who didn't appreciate calling me about water dripping from the ceiling after a big rain storm.

So, I finally broke down and decided to go ahead and shop around.

As expected, I went to Hector Navas (who did an ingenious job with Galveston and Martin Luther King Ave )

Hector is a pro and can command great prices. But since money was tight, I had to negotiate for the best price or go looking elsewhere.

I checked prices on Angie's List and Craigslist.

Finally Hector came back with the best price possible. He knew I was a repeat customer, and he knew that I would treat him well. Likewise, he would do a fantastic job ensuring my roof replacement was complete and would never leak again, as long as I was alive or the house sold.

and hired Hector Navas to redo my roof. He did it for $4,000 including replacing the bad plyboard. Apparently, the roof was extremely old and some of the plywood had rotten.

The $4,000 was recorded as an accounts payable (just like the water bill for Galveston) for me and as an accounts receivable for Hector, since I did not pay him until the work was fully completed.

For the back end of the roof, Hector installed the rubber roofing membrane than coated it with aluminum roof coating -- looks super clean.

The rubber compound and aluminum paint in the back and addition.

Here is the house with the new roof. Looks like a champ and I'm enjoying the house

Charming Atlantic Street

Atlantic Street was one of my first houses in DC. It is an old charming house built just after WW I. One of the neat things about the house is the gable type roof with a nice dormer for the bathroom -- a type of house that is no longer built.

I remember distinctly getting an email about the fire. I was in Guantanamo Bay and what was nerve wrecking was that there was not much I could do. I could not contact anyone and worst of all, I could not visit my tenants.

The firemen had also broken all the windows as well as cut a hole in the roof to vent out the smoke.

I didn't know what to do with the hole, so I decided to keep the hole and install a skylight.

The fire wasn't bad, but the smoke damage was. So instead of repainting it, I decided to take down the ceiling.

We also opened up the crawl space attic and created cathedral ceilings. It was tricky creating a vaulted ceiling, but we made it work, but when we were done, it looked fantastic.

We also opened up parts of the dormer for a space that was not been used and converted it to a den.

Read the Zillow.com assessment of the house to include fair market value:

Pictures taken before we installed the siding.

The quaint gable-roof house on Atlantic Street sometime after the fire. Notice the heavy-up by the side of the house.

Read my letter of recommendation for Milton Daley

Two Years Later, Atlantic Street Gets A New Skin

The house been built in the 30's, the paint along the side of the house began to peel. I was tired of having to paint it, so I decided to install new siding.


Milton Daley and Company doing work on the front, side and on the dormer.

Before the siding was installed, we installed rigid foam insulation siding to ensure energy efficiency.

The siding we chose was light gray which resembles blue from the distance. (Special order from Home Depot in Oxon Hill.)

We also installed maroon shutters to the side window

The total for the labor and materials was $6,831

The entire house was completed with the exception of the addition in the rear. Also we installed new shutters for windows on the side and painted the bannisters the same maroon color as the shutters.

In this picture, you can see that we had to work around the heavy-up electrical cable.

In March 06, I refinanced the house. It was a debit cash for $94,500 and a credit notes payable to Indymac Bank for $94,500.

* All photos taken by owner