Rowhouse 101?
April 17, 2011 9:20 AM Subscribe
Moving Into A Rowhouse In Baltimore. What Do I Need To Know?
My SO and I have spent the last 10 years living in tiny high-rise apartments in San Francisco. However in June we are moving to Baltimore and we just signed a rental lease on a great rowhouse in Canton.
Since we have lived in high-rise apartment buildings for basically our whole adult lives, we have never dealt with things like furnaces and pipes freezing. Therefore, I am finding the prospect of living in "our own" place rather daunting.
What do I need to know about living in a Baltimore rowhouse?
My SO and I have spent the last 10 years living in tiny high-rise apartments in San Francisco. However in June we are moving to Baltimore and we just signed a rental lease on a great rowhouse in Canton.
Since we have lived in high-rise apartment buildings for basically our whole adult lives, we have never dealt with things like furnaces and pipes freezing. Therefore, I am finding the prospect of living in "our own" place rather daunting.
What do I need to know about living in a Baltimore rowhouse?
Moving from a mildly chilly (but definitely more temperate) San Francisco to Baltimore will likely increase your heating and cooling costs seasonally. This will be dependent on if your home has central air, installed window ACs, radiators for heat, etc. Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) monthly bills can be horrendous during the extremes of winter and summer, but you can phone them and determine what the monthly bills over the past year were at the home you're going to be occupying to get an idea of what the past occupants paid.
posted by Asherah at 10:42 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Asherah at 10:42 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is perhaps a small consideration, but one difference between high rise buildings and any other type of home is that high rises often have 24 hour reception/door staff which make getting deliveries easier. When I lived in a Philadelphia row house, the U.S. mail carrier had a key to the vestibule and could leave packages there, but UPS or Fed-ex packages were a pain in the ass. I either had to arrange to stay home from work, get them delivered elsewhere or go and pick them up at some inconvenient location. While I'm not in love with my current high rise apartment and it's lack of charm, I do enjoy not having to worry about deliveries to the point that it will now be a consideration when I do move. I order a lot of stuff on line, and get medication delivered via fed-ex so this may be more of a concern for me than others, but I thought that I'd mention it as it's not something that I would have considered before I'd had the experience of being able to order stuff online or receive packages from family without it being a minor ordeal.
posted by kaybdc at 12:43 PM on April 17, 2011
posted by kaybdc at 12:43 PM on April 17, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks to all of you.
ImproviseOrDie: Thanks for the tip about the stairs. How is the parking around Patterson Park? What do you if you get water in the basement?
posted by Spurious at 1:50 PM on April 17, 2011
ImproviseOrDie: Thanks for the tip about the stairs. How is the parking around Patterson Park? What do you if you get water in the basement?
posted by Spurious at 1:50 PM on April 17, 2011
I used to own a rowhouse two blocks from Patterson Park. Check to see if you have a sump pump in the basement - that helps A LOT with the water issue. Even with the sump, though, there could well be times when the basement will flood - take this into account when you put stuff down there. Cardboard boxes full of paper are a no go. Rowhouses can be really hot in the summer - you will need air conditioning, even if it's just a window unit. As far as heat, talk to your landlord. We had a natural gas fired boiler for heat and it was wonderful; cheap and efficient and I love old cast iron radiators. If you're in the middle of the block you're pretty golden for heat anyway; I had an end of group that got chilly in the winters.
Parking around Patterson Park can be truly horrific, particularly on the weekends. I still have friends who live there and they still complain about it and go to the extent of trying never to move their car if they don't absolutely have to. From the Park end of Canton, though, you are within walking distance of the Sip N' Bite, so you're good anyway: you need no more. I miss the Sip N' Bite still after over a decade. Oh and be careful. Canton is wealthy & yuppie & all cleaned up these days - I hear you no longer have to chain down your porch furniture or anything - but Baltimore in general can be pretty damn rough at times. Do not leave things you really value outside, keep your wits about you and no, the guy knocking on your door does not need money for his baby's medication.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:57 PM on April 17, 2011
Parking around Patterson Park can be truly horrific, particularly on the weekends. I still have friends who live there and they still complain about it and go to the extent of trying never to move their car if they don't absolutely have to. From the Park end of Canton, though, you are within walking distance of the Sip N' Bite, so you're good anyway: you need no more. I miss the Sip N' Bite still after over a decade. Oh and be careful. Canton is wealthy & yuppie & all cleaned up these days - I hear you no longer have to chain down your porch furniture or anything - but Baltimore in general can be pretty damn rough at times. Do not leave things you really value outside, keep your wits about you and no, the guy knocking on your door does not need money for his baby's medication.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:57 PM on April 17, 2011
Spurious: If you're a renter, your landlord will be able to tell you how he/she gets water out of the basement--in addition to the sump pump, if there is one. This rainy year in particular I'm wishing I was a renter instead of an owner. I spent the big storm before last bailing out my basement of 6 inches of water when my sump pump wasn't working. Caveat: You might not have a wet basement at all. Just ask your neighbors when you move in. Canton isn't so thoroughly gentrified that you won't be able to find longtime neighborhood denizens who remember the residents of your house, and some of its structural quirks, for the past 30 or so years.
And Baltimore is just as safe/unsafe as any big city in the US: Don't leave anything in your car (when I lived in a nice section of DC's Capitol Hill, my car was broken into for the 37 cents visible on the floor), and keep your wits about you when on foot. The one thing that's pretty noticeable here is that the safer areas tend to form a patchwork quilt with the less safe areas, so that you might drive from one ritzy neighborhood to another by passing through areas that look similar to what you've seen on the Wire.
Oh, a couple more Baltimore-specific culture things: 1) The people who stand on corners seemingly pointing downward and shaking their hand are looking for a ride. It's essentially the Baltimore form of hitchhiking. 2) Lots of Baltimore drivers will run a red light 5 or so seconds after it's been red. So when your light turns green, make a habit of waiting a couple seconds and then looking both ways. 3) Lots of Baltimore pedestrians will hop out in front of your car to cross the street, even if the light is in your favor, and even if you're not traveling all that slowly. 4) Coming from SF you're probably more used to them than we are, but please pay attention to bike lanes. We've recently had a couple of bikers knocked over (one killed, one essentially brain dead) while riding in the bike lane and cars turned right in front of them.
Lastly: Welcome! Living in Baltimore is weird and fun. I hope you like it.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:02 PM on April 17, 2011
And Baltimore is just as safe/unsafe as any big city in the US: Don't leave anything in your car (when I lived in a nice section of DC's Capitol Hill, my car was broken into for the 37 cents visible on the floor), and keep your wits about you when on foot. The one thing that's pretty noticeable here is that the safer areas tend to form a patchwork quilt with the less safe areas, so that you might drive from one ritzy neighborhood to another by passing through areas that look similar to what you've seen on the Wire.
Oh, a couple more Baltimore-specific culture things: 1) The people who stand on corners seemingly pointing downward and shaking their hand are looking for a ride. It's essentially the Baltimore form of hitchhiking. 2) Lots of Baltimore drivers will run a red light 5 or so seconds after it's been red. So when your light turns green, make a habit of waiting a couple seconds and then looking both ways. 3) Lots of Baltimore pedestrians will hop out in front of your car to cross the street, even if the light is in your favor, and even if you're not traveling all that slowly. 4) Coming from SF you're probably more used to them than we are, but please pay attention to bike lanes. We've recently had a couple of bikers knocked over (one killed, one essentially brain dead) while riding in the bike lane and cars turned right in front of them.
Lastly: Welcome! Living in Baltimore is weird and fun. I hope you like it.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:02 PM on April 17, 2011
1. Your pipes will probably not freeze. We literally had no heat in our place for a couple weeks this winter and it didn't get below 50 degrees, because both of our neighbors were still heating. That said, if you have outside hose spigots, make sure you can turn those off.
2. Find out whether it's oil or gas heat. Oil is relatively expensive and you'll need to get a delivery and service contract for your furnace/boiler. If you have a boiler, find out whether it's steam or hot water. It doesn't matter too much for day to day use, but it's generally good to know.
3. I've never had water issues, but a dehumidifier helps if you've got really minor issues.
4. Make sure you have a trash can with a tight fitting lid. We've got rats, and you can get cited if you don't.
5. 311 is the number to call for any city service that isn't an emergency.
6. Make sure you can lock all your ground floor windows, don't keep ladders or anything outside.
7. Enter your address here to find out your trash pickup/recycling days.
posted by electroboy at 8:52 AM on April 18, 2011
2. Find out whether it's oil or gas heat. Oil is relatively expensive and you'll need to get a delivery and service contract for your furnace/boiler. If you have a boiler, find out whether it's steam or hot water. It doesn't matter too much for day to day use, but it's generally good to know.
3. I've never had water issues, but a dehumidifier helps if you've got really minor issues.
4. Make sure you have a trash can with a tight fitting lid. We've got rats, and you can get cited if you don't.
5. 311 is the number to call for any city service that isn't an emergency.
6. Make sure you can lock all your ground floor windows, don't keep ladders or anything outside.
7. Enter your address here to find out your trash pickup/recycling days.
posted by electroboy at 8:52 AM on April 18, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
However, as a fellow Baltimore rowhouse owner, I'll tell you this: Water in basements is very, very common here, and in places nowhere near the harbor. One contributing factor in rowhouse neighborhoods is a narrow backyard that doesn't provide enough drainage, and since it's illegal to drain water onto your neighbor's property, it can be... really interesting trying to get it away from your foundation and off your property.
Other Baltimore things:
1) In snowstorms, people will shovel out their on-street parking space and then put items like chairs in the space to save it for when they return later. Yes, it's dumb. But people are quite serious about it. And finding parking in Canton can be tricky.
2) If you have a queen or larger box spring, measure the opening at the bottom of your stairs carefully before moving day. Even a queen wouldn't fit mine; I had to buy a split queen box spring.
3) If you end up buying a house here, research ground rent. Don't buy a house that has ground rent.
4) Faidley's crabcakes (from Lexington Market) are the best. Don't let anyone tell you different!
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 10:30 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]