New Financial Route

Hello everyone,

With the start of the month, I wanted to provide you all an update on the triplex renovation.

The slow, slow triplex renovation…

What Did I Get Done in October?

Things are shaping up just fine, but not at the pace I would like. I feel like I sound like a broken record at this point, but that pretty much sums up the situation here!

I was able to get a decent amount of electrical work done, fortunately. I added wiring in one of the first floor apartments. I had wiring added for dishwasher, washer and dryer, and a GFCI outlet in the bathroom.

For the other apartment on the first floor, I decided that the cat urine-soaked subfloor just couldn’t be saved after multiple applications of Nature’s Miracle so I worked on removing it.

For the upstairs apartment, I finished demoing the kitchen ceiling. But that also led me to find out that the entire kitchen was wired with knob-and-tube wiring, a wiring system that dates back to the 19th century that is generally considered unsafe for modern use. No problem, I thought to myself. I was going to re-wire this room anyway...

Well, it looks like there is a significant amount of knob-and-tube wiring under the walls in the other rooms on the second floor according to the electrician when we met earlier this week. I hadn’t noticed this before since the wiring in the basement and the electrical boxes were modern.

Soooo…yeah. It looks like I’ll have to practically re-wire the entire second floor.

And this, folks, is why you should always add a contingency to your renovation budget!

Since I have one in mine, I’m not too worried about the extra cost. It’s better to get the work done the right way right away rather than get cosmetic work done with ancient, faulty wiring behind the walls.

The deck in the back is still a primary concern of mine as well. Building the deck is going to be expensive, so I’m trying to figure out cheaper way to do so that will also be code-compliant. I tried contacting the fire department twice about the requirements for a fire escape or deck. I still haven’t received a response.

On a more positive note, I attended my first real estate investing meetup last month! I had a great time and hope to attend more events in the future.

What Are The Goals For November?

For November, the main focus in terms of planning will be the deck/fire escape in the back, plumbing and hopefully cosmetic work. HVAC and electrical are mostly taken care of (done or in the process of being done) at this point.

Wish me luck!