All Forum Posts by: Sara Johnson

Hi folks! My husband and I are in the middle of gutting and remodeling one of the bathrooms in our 1917 brick triplex in Chicago. The tub/shower sits along the exterior brick wall. Unfortunately the original setup was not waterproofed very well so we ended up removing the studs from that wall because they were all rotted out. Does anyone have any experience in furring up a brick wall for durock? We are thinking either construction adhesive on the wood with penny nails hammered through into the mortar to hold the boards place while the adhesive is curing, or to drill Tapcon masonry screws through the boards and into the brick while being really careful not to over-torque and bust out the brick... We don't have much experience with brick and would love any and all advice you have on this. Pictures added for reference (don't worry we plan on reframing the shower wall once we get new copper plumbing in, but first we need the studs in so we know where the bathtub will sit)

Hello, my husband and I purchased our first investment property, a legal three-unit in the Evanston area, this past summer. We bought the property as a house hack using a VA loan and originally intended to do a live-in flip for each of the units over the course of a few years whilst I attend graduate school in the area. The house was built in 1917 and has lots of room for updating, especially in the kitchens and baths. After moving in we've discovered some larger issues with the property and have started wondering whether it might make more sense to gut rehab the house as opposed to just doing renovations. We would really appreciate advice about how to move forward in this decision making process. What steps can we take to make an in-depth economic comparison between these two options? We understand the basic idea of looking at the comps to determine rent vs rehab/renovation costs vs equity over time but aren't 100% sure the best way to go about this. Thanks in advance!