[Stubits]

Harold:

Thanks, not a bad idea.

The previous owner did plenty of bootleg work. We cracked open the basement walls and found that the full bathroom down there had no venting at all. The tub had no trap and in fact, rather than use the proper fittings, they had heated the PVC and bent it. Crazy!

[hkstroud]

That contradicts what I was told and is consistent with what you were told. Looks like a change with the sale of PEPCO, another way in which the citizen was screwed by the politicians

[hkstroud]

I hope you bought at a fire sale price. I guess I'll see you over on the plumbing page.

[Stubits]

Unfortunately no, but we are OK with it. It really hasn't been all that bad and I've had a chance to get my hands dirty and learn a thing or two about home repairs. I've spent plenty of time yelling at the air over this and have just come to accept it. We love the house and the neighborhood and we simply hate the people we bought it from... that works, right?

Anyway, the house is lovely and the bones are great. We are gearing up for some more major work, repiping the place with copper, fixing the electrical, if necessary and ultimately a modest 100 sq. ft. addition so we can add on one and a half baths.

[hkstroud]

Doesn't DC have some kind of first time buyer tax rebate of credit progran (if this is a first house).

[Stubits]

Yeah, we get like $5,000 in a rebate... it's actually federal and not district, so I should thank all the taxpayers. It helps a bit, plus we intentionally bought a house well within our means so we could have some fun with it.

[hkstroud]

we intentionally bought a house well within our means

That was the smartest thing you could have done.