Construction Progress- The Charles at 2431 Ontario Rd

We're wrapping up our other condo building at 1470 Chapin Rd NW, so it's time to really get moving at 2431 Ontario Rd.  The foundation work is complete and now we're starting to frame the floors.  On Tuesday, the masons will begin building up the walls on both sides.

Ledger, joists and LVL in one day.  Not bad!

Construction Progress- The Gracie at 1470 Chapin Rd

We're on track to finish 1470 Chapin Rd during the first week in March.  There's a lot going pretty much everywhere at the project.  Here are the current tasks:

In the back yard, the masons finished the retaining wall around the ground floor patio, and finished casting the posts in concrete.

Here's what the patio looks like now that the dirt has been graded back up against the retaining wall.

This morning, the crew worked to get the concrete footer poured for the new spiral steps .

Inside, the welder came over the weekend to install the inside rails in the top unit.

We have so much painting to finish that there are two separate crews working in the building.  One crew is finishing units 1 and 4 and the other is working in units 2 and 3.

The bedrooms are finished.

Construction Progress- The Charles at 2431 Ontario Rd

We're almost past the most challenging part of the construction at 2431 Ontario Rd, which is the excavation and foundation work.  We have both of the foundation walls complete, as well as the plumbing in the basement.  Today, we're filling the basement with washed stone so we can pour the concrete slab on Wednesday (it's supposed to snow tomorrow).  Filling the basement is a bit of a production, but here is the process:

The excavator comes in the morning with a dump truck full of gravel.  He dumps it at the top of the hill, right off the alley.  Then, he uses the machine to dump it down into the hole.

The backyard is a large hill, so he dumps the gravel at the top and it slides down into the hole.  It ends up in a big pile in the back.  Then, the workers use wheelbarrows to spread the gravel over rest of the basement.

After he dumps the gravel, he uses the machine to fill up the truck with dirt.  He then leaves with the dirt to unload it at the dump, fills up with gravel and then returns to repeat all over again.

Construction Progress- The Gracie

Things are looking great at the project at 1470 Chapin St NW and we're almost finished.  We are pushing hard to finish up before the first week of March.

Over the weekend, the painters finished painting the front of the building.  It came out even better than we had hoped.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but the paint is actually a very light tan color.

The small slate roof in the front is also done.  We're aiming to take down the scaffolding over the next few days.

Upstairs, the workers installed the Homasote 440 Soundbarrier underneath the hardwood floors.  The Homasote is effective in deadening the sound between the units.

Today, the floor installers began laying the hardwood floors.  We let them sit for about a week in the project to acclimate to the temperature and humidity inside the building.

The tile is 99% complete.  The only thing left to do is put in the edge pieces around the shower area.

In the back, the concrete workers made forms for the deck posts.  

Here's what the holes look like for the posts before they set the form.

Construction Progress- 2431 Ontario Rd

The Charles Condos at 2431 Ontario Rd NW are finally starting to take shape. We have both rear walls of the foundation complete. The plan for the rest of the week is to remove more dirt and then start on the plumbing in the basement. We want to give the concrete a few more days to harden, and then we'll backfill them with gravel.

Today the pump truck came to get the concrete into the forms on the north wall.  This is normally done by hand but the wall is so tall and the dirt hill so steep that we needed the truck.

The concrete shoots out of the truck with a lot of force so someone has to hold the other side to make sure the concrete ends up in the form.

At the end of last week, the foundation contractors finished the wall along the south property line. We decided to go with a 12 Ft wall so it would be above grade.

Construction Progress- The Gracie

With the drywall completed at The Gracie, we're working hard to get the project finished and on the market in the next 4-6 weeks.  One of the biggest projects is to finish all of the concrete and masonry so these workers can head over to The Charles at 2431 Ontario Road and start blocking up the new addition.

Inside, the masons finished repointing all the interior brick.  We had considered leaving the old mortar for a more rustic look, but there were just too many places in the wall that needed repair.  I think the new joints are a big improvement.

Most of the trim is finished on the first two floors.  We added the plinth blocks at the bottom of the doors to get a more finished look.

Here is the new interior door casing.  We went with a trim that fit in well with the original Victorian style of the house.

This is the finished window casings.

Here, the tile installers worked to put in the subway tile in the hall bath on the first floor.  They move quickly- I took this picture and then returned five minutes later and they had already finished the wall, as you can see below.

Almost done with this bathroom.