Trenton Makes’ workers have just finished the stairwell opening on the second floor and are preparing to build a barring wall for the stairwell. On the first floor, Trenton Makes workers have peeled out the last remaining section of a deteriorating sleeper floor system. The workers are also in the process of breaking out the old rat slab and putting in a standard modern slab-of-grade foundation. On the second floor, the workers have removed the front truss and are prepping the installation of a new anchoring system.They are also prepping to put a steel angle ledger into the wall for the new floor joist floor system.

Laura Pierson/ Revised by Jesse Elliot

The wall for the stairwell to the second floor is in place. This is a bearing wall and we had to pour a footing in the basement. The joists on the first and second floor have been repaired and in some cases replaced. The floor is now pretty flat in the front of the building, but we will be pouring a new concrete floor in the back.

In the following video General Contractor, Jose Diaz explains the process of fire rating the second floor walls by replacing the windows with concrete lintels.

Laura Pierson/ Reviewed by Jesse Elliot

On February 8, I visited 811 South Broad Street for the second time. I was amazed by how much further Trenton Makes workers had gotten with the project in just two weeks. While there, I interviewed Interiors x Appointment’s worker Dion Bryant. He explained how he and the other workers had been working on the first floor and had just recently finished sistering one side of the charred ceiling joists.

On Saturday, the workers had filled a recently discovered hole in the stair casing with cement. After filling the hole, they filled cracks in the building’s interior and exterior walls with structural epoxy. The cracks were so large that light shined through.













Currently, the workers are waiting for more epoxy and scaffolding so they can fill the cracks that are unreachable. While they wait, they have dug out footing for the second floor rear staircase.

Laura Pierson/Revised by Jesse Elliot

On January 25, I visited 811 S. Broad Street for the first time. As the new marketing intern for Trenton Makes, Inc., I was excited to get started documenting happenings at the site. It seems as though there had been several fires at the location decades ago, as we have just discovered charred, first-floor beams.

We also discovered that parts of the ceiling had not been constructed properly. These issues were not documented by the previous tenants when they occurred and were covered-up by antique tin ceiling tiles that we recently removed and sold to an individual in town, so we were not anticipating this problem. We just received approval, however, from Jason Tarantino, the Structural Engineer, to move forward with the project. He has required that we sister some of the charred joists and restructure those sections of the ceiling that were not structured correctly. This has set us back a few weeks in terms of our project timeline and has added some additional expenses to our budget, but, thanks to successful lumber bidding, and a staff willing to roll with the punches, we will not lose too much time or money dealing with this contingency.

Laura Pierson/ Revised by Jesse Elliot

Jose Diaz' Interiors x Appointment crew, along with Jesse Elliot and Roland Pott at Sterling Building today!

Photo Credit: Dion Bryant, Jr.

We now have revised drawings from our structural engineer and a commitment for financing from First Choice Bank for the renovation of the first floor of the building. Contractor Jose Diaz has met with City Building inspector Joe Pratico and we are prepared to submit the plans to the City for review. As soon as permits are issued, we will close the construction financing and begin work on the building.