Comments on: Preview of Renovations at 622 Rock Creek Church Road

By: 622 Rock Creek Church Road Finally on the Market « Park View, D.C.

622 Rock Creek Church Road Finally on the Market « Park View, D.C. — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:02:23 +0000

[...] since September 2012. Last weekend, after long wait, the building had its first open house. I posted earlier about some of its listed features, and you can see the online listing with additional interior [...]

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:49:01 +0000

Yeah, as best as I’ve been able to tell, there’s only one or two people running the program for the entire city, so there’s always a bit of a wait. We had to wait about 6 months for our rain barrel, but that’s because of the DC Greenworks or whomever being a little backed up on installs. Bummer you didn’t get the pavers.

By: julesONPrinceton

julesONPrinceton — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:11:35 +0000

Just a comment on the RiverSmart program – we tried to qualify for it and after weeks of waiting for an interview only disappointment. Our concrete that was not technically a driveway but instead a wide walkway did not qualify for permeable pavers – even though we said we were going to redo the yard to include a driveway. I guess one must first exist. The yard was too small for a rain garden or bayscaping. So we ended up with a discounted water barrel that took many more weeks to arrive.

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:03:46 +0000

And oh god the cheap bannister. Ouch. A house that surely once had a gorgeous old detailed wooden bannister now has a home depot special on it. Well done!

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:01:46 +0000

Yeah, turning yards into 100% concrete at the same time that DC is paying homeowners to remove their concrete and replace it with rain gardens, permeable pavers, bayscaping, etc. through the RiverSmart program makes no sense. With any luck we’ll be breaking even on impervious surface in the neighborhood — though that’s probably too optimistic of me.

Our neighbors across our alley who bought a totally renovated house ended up with a giant concrete pad (including parking) in their entire back yard that they don’t want. The builders left a cutout for plants, but they put it on the side where the sun doesn’t shine. D’oh. They park their car in front and use it as a patio, but they’re planning on removing it at some point at their own expense. Made me thankful we had the un-renovated house and could do it all our way the first time.

By: neb

neb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:15:32 +0000

I like it, very nice, but I agree that it is not a good thing for people to be paving over the entire back yard if possible.

By: IMGoph

IMGoph — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:23:29 +0000

kind of shocked they didn’t take the time to clean up the piles of junk in the backyard before filming this.

(also, the fact that they turned the entire yard into concrete is disheartening. just one more point towards the problems of the urban heat island, runoff, etc.)

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:10:25 +0000

It looks okay for new construction, but it appears that every original architectural detail has been removed from the home’s 100-year-old interior, which is a shame. Regarding the landscaping . . . I would have went with a low-maintenance, turf-free approach for that small of a front yard . . . it would have looked much better and wouldn’t require weekly mowing during the growing season.