Greek Revival Restoration in Brooklyn Heights, c. 1845
In this series, local architect and brownstone expert, Brendan Coburn, offers an in-depth look at everything you need to know about historic New York City rowhouses. Here we have a summary of your standard rowhouse renovation.
This rowhouse’s original builders were excellent masons, but less than stellar carpenters. The brick masonry walls were three wythes – or brick widths – thick which is typical for this era of rowhouses. Although the masonry walls generally were in excellent condition, they required re-pointing above and below the windows sills and lintels. This is a fairly typical procedure and adds a relatively small cost of $10K-$15K compared to everything else.
Typical cracked and deformed original wood joists – these showing over 4 inches of deflection on a 19 foot span.
The building also had a small brick and concrete block extension that had been built long after the original house. This extension had no foundation and had settled considerably. The above ground portion of the extension was also poorly constructed, and as a result we decided to completely re-build it. Our new, well-engineered extension had a proper foundation and was built entirely of brick, adding approximately $75K to the overall cost of the project.
Newly engineered wood (Laminated veneer lumber) floor joists and sub-flooring at third floor of house. Second floor framing has been removed and is about to be replaced. Exisitng stair carriages remain.
Check back tomorrow for a summary of a worst case scenario renovation featuring an Italianate rowhouse in Carroll Gardens.
2 Comments
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