Next I am going to take off all the glass door knobs and I sure hope I don’t find Made in Japan on the back of them 
I’m pretty sure they are original because most of them barely turn or operate. It’s going to take a lot of surgery to get them functioning properly again. I am also going to save the original wood doors and get them cleaned up. Probably only going to be able to use them on main floor bedrooms because there aren’t enough for all the new areas we are going to need them
And I am going to save the original front door because it has all kinds of beautiful metal work on it. It’s going to take a lot of sanding and refinishing, but I think it can be beautiful again. Hope I remember to take a picture of it. Unfortunately they screwed on some ugly house numbers right onto the door.
On Rehab Addict – a show I don’t think we’ve discussed here – Nicole Curtis would definitely save that front door and the glass doorknobs.
How high CAN you go up ?
What are the height limitations to the house.
Frankly, I would go as hi up as you can, in order to get the view over ugly house and to maximize your return on inverstment.
I know you would like to be “nice” to the neighbors but you are not going to be living there.
We can go 30’ from lowest grade 5’ away from house. For us that is going to be SW corner of garage as lowest grade on lot.
The bigger issue right now is we are trying to determine if City is going to count garage and basement as a first story because its really difficult to get a 3rd story through engineering.
will 30’ get you well ABOVE the monster house blocking the view?
i.e. even higher than the shots taken from the roof?
We’re still investigating what we will get with 30’
I have loaded more photos to the Flickr group.
Detail shots of the front door so you guys can help analyze whether I should save it or not. It has lovely metal work and handle. Also, we have discovered all kinds of interesting things in the hall bathroom as we tear it apart.
Yesterday I pulled a permit for rewiring the whole house and we are going to upgrade to a 200amp panel. Electrician started pulling all the old knob and tube wiring out of the house.
We have a full dumpster already and have started to pile all the plaster torn out from the walls into the driveway. Dumpster is going to get picked up and returned empty on Monday. I can guarantee that I am over the ‘allowed’ tonnage for the load.
We have torn out all the old cast iron under the house all the way to the point that the line goes under the garage concrete slab floor and out the back driveway to the sewer line in the alley. I have hired a camera scope guy to come and scope the line out to the street to see if we are OK. He’s coming this morning and I don’t know what we are going to do if the lines are bad under all that concrete. It is going to be a huge job to trench down and replace if we have to.
We’ve already completed several key foundation repairs - nothing major, we just need to repair the piers running underneath the bedroom wing and there were issues in the basement underneath the living room floor. Luckily the concrete stem walls are solid and very good condition.
We had to dig several holes outside the stem walls in the yard to try to measure how deep the existing footing is - to get ready for 2nd floor engineering. Looks like our stem walls go down 18" below ground. So far we have only analyzed along the western edge of the house because the eastern edge of house is 4 ft down into ground and it’s a huge job to try to look at the footing.
My agent is coming over this afternoon because we have to make some key decisions on opening up walls and possibly moving the location of the front door to get ready for pulling the next permit. I am going to pull a permit solely for replacing windows and doors in the areas that are not affected by the future 2nd story addition. The reason I’m going into City early with this permit is because I need to trigger the Historical Review as soon as possible. If this house gets deemed historical for some reason then we have a world of hurt trying to do the 2nd story addition. Strategically, I don’t want to waste a bunch of time designing a big addition and then go around in circles months later with historical issues.
This weekend I should be able to try to take a picture of the current layout plan and get it loaded to Flickr
I’ve never seen pipes rot out like that. Holy cow.
re: the string in between the tiles - that’s how they used to maintain the spacing on wall tiles. Back then tiles didn’t have the lugs on the sides to hold them apart, and they didn’t have the plastic spacers that get sometimes get used now. So they put that cord in between to keep everything even and consistent. It probably had a nice side benefit of reducing the amount of grout needed.
IF the intent is to modernize the WHOLE house, as you did in flip #4, then I’d lose the front door, any old fixtures, etc etc. They scream “OLD” and that is not going to be “charming” to $1,500,000 buyers these days. Modern, light filled and spacious will sell over “old” at that price pt.
I think opening up the inside as much as possible is in your best interests as a seller.
I love the hardware on the front door, that’s what makes it special. The door itself could be replaced. Some people would like the aged look of the hardware - maybe even on a sleek modern door.
I don’t like the wooden bedroom door as much. It looks a bit hokey to me but I haven’t seen it up close. Maybe it could be painted black or otherwise played up to look somewhat Japanese or Arts and Crafts.
I’m not a fan of the front door. I’m also not sure that the hardware will go with the house after you get it done.
I would like to see the front door kept if you could get it down to the bare wood and stain it.
I don’t disagree with @menloparkmom’s sentiment of modern, modern, modern (#869), but many people also want “character” – whatever that is. It seems to me that if you can keep some of the old touches that remind people of the house’s history, you should do it.
I dont think that buyers in S Calif, at that price pt, want older" touches".
Keeping them narrows the field of potential buyers considerably.
I defer to folks who are local.
Since you asked, I’m not a fan of the front door, or the hardware. 
Sorry.
The door in the back bedroom looks much more interesting, IMO. At least from the inside.
I do like the front door and hardware and think if the living room is kept relatively intact it would tie in wonderfully with the California Mission Revival Style there. When I think of San Diego I can not imagine a more iconic reflection of the city.
I like the door and hardware.
I was really taken with the front entry when you posted the first set of pictures. But your closeup of the door looks different from what I remembered. When I went back to check the original photo, it looks like I might have been seeing a screen door? I don’t know. But I love the charm of the stone stoop, the stucco post, the cottage Windows, and the tile floor in the entry way. If in fact that is the front door, and you are going to move it, I would get a new door. The original door works with the charm of the stone stoop and the tile floor, in my opinion, but not by itself.
Another thing to consider is how would the door feel when in use. If it wouldn’t close as smoothly as a new door, that would drive me crazy, not matter how adorable it may be.