11/8/2012 – Under Agreement – #19 Randlett:

Helen Fitzgerald has her home at #19 under agreement and is scheduled to close on November 30th.  The cape style home has 3 beds, 1.5 baths and 1,740 sq/ft.  It also has one the largest backyards on Randlett with almost 1/4 acre.  The home is listed for $649,000.

11/1/2012 – French Drains: With the recent Nor’Easter and scare from Hurricane Sandy,  might be a good time to consider French drains, sump pumps and other water-proofing solutions to keep your basement dry.  As some of us have learned the hard way, Randlett Park has a high water table — causing water to come up through and around our foundations during heavy rains.

Drycrete installed our French drain last fall for a cost of $6,500.  Installation involved jackhammering the perimeter of the interior foundation, creating a trench 18-24″ deep that drains to a sump pit in the corner.  PVC piping is laid in the trench, then covered with crushed rock and cement.  When water collects, it’s siphoned to the pit, then pumped up and out by a sump pump.

While the job only took 5 days, it made a huge mess — covering everything in the basement with dust.  Dust was coming up through the basement ceiling to the 1st floor.  Pretty sure I was covered with dust too.  Drycrete also had to remove the lower portion of all walls & studs around the perimter to dig the trench.  (see pic below)

Is anyone considering a French drain?  Anyone install something else to keep their basement dry?

11/1/2012: Goodbye Hank & Patti Weslowski, Hello Christina & Leah Daly!  As some you may already know, Hank & Patti sold their home at #115 and have moved to Florida.  Hank & Patti lived on Randlett Park for nearly 30 years.  Christina & Leah are moving from Austin,Texas with their twin daughters.  Leah works for Tapestry Networks and Christina will be working at Harvard (molecular biology).

10/31/2012: Basement Renovation

You might be looking at the 1st pic below and thinking “what the hell is that?!”  That was our basement – BEFORE we remodeled it.  Complete with 1970’s wood-paneling and the Israeli flag tiled into the floor.  A good look for any basement — but not so useful when you have 2 young kids.  We decided to renovate and turn the space into a play room and add a full bath.  Job took about 45 days and cost approx. $30,000 — not including the French drain.  Biggest issues we ran into were bathroom plumbing and adding headroom for a new set of stairs.  Turned out well and the kids are not totally creeped out to go down there anymore!

10/31/2012: Sold – 27 Eliot Ave. for $985,000!

Thought it was worth noting that 27 Eliot sold on Halloween for $985,000.  This 5 bed, 3.5 bath home has 3,436 sq/ft and was completely renovated in 2006.  This is by far the most expensive home ever sold on Eliot.  Over the past 10 years, 14 homes have sold on Eliot with an average sale price of $575,000.

RandlettPark.com is written by Dave Costello, who lives at #142 with his wife, Mo, and two children.  Dave is a Senior Vice President at CL Waterfront Properties — a residential real estate brokerage in Boston.  Dave can be reached at dcostello@wpboston.com