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This Old House Does New York

This Old House Does New York published on

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Finally! This Old House has noticed our quaint little town. The TV series is looking for a historic home to renovate in The Big Apple.

They are looking for a “dynamic” family, but I’m pretty sure that any New Yorker is more dynamic than those small town shmoes they have on the show. Yeah, that’s right. I said it.

You needn’t be renovating an entire house, but more than just one room. Renovations must be completed in about 4-5 months, with construction beginning as early as August. I guess that leaves me out. My renovations take at least 2 years per room.

Renovations are completely funded by the homeowners, though This Old House throws in product discounts and donations.

The episodes will be on PBS in early 2009. Deadline for submissions is Friday, July 4, 2008.

Here are the guidelines:

  • *Brief description of the house including house style and year built
  • *Low-res digital pictures of the home’s interior and exterior
  • *Brief description of the current owners
  • *Low-res digital pictures of the homeowners
  • *The scope of the renovation
  • *How much you plan to spend
  • *When you need to start and conclude the project
  • Victorian Speaking Tube: Deja Vu

    Victorian Speaking Tube: Deja Vu published on 53 Comments on Victorian Speaking Tube: Deja Vu

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    The following is a post from April which I’m bumping up to the front page. Previously, I had just cut and pasted a reader’s question. Now that there are answers (see comments), I must get the word out. Apparently, there are some lost souls wandering the earth in search of Victorian speaking tube parts. They won’t rest until they get their hands on them.

    A reader sent the following email. I haven’t got a clue. Anyone?

    “My wife and I have a Victorian house that was built in 1895 and for the past two years we’ve been in the process of rehabbing it. During the course of demo in the kitchen we found the remnants of the old speaking tube system that ran from the kitchen up to the 2nd floor hall. The tubes were intact but the mouthpiece openings had been patched over and the mouthpieces were nowhere to be found.

    I have looked far and wide trying to locate some replacement mouthpieces and have come up empty-handed. We were wondering if you know of any companies and/or salvage yards that might possess parts for our system? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

    I’ve included a pic of what I believe was originally installed in my house. The mouth piece has no electric parts. It operates by means of using the thumb to rotate the lever (in order to move the disc out of the way) and then blowing into the tube. The other end also has a disc that acts as a whistle to alert the person on the other end that someone wishes to speak on the “intercom”. I think that the mouthpieces were made out of nickel-plated brass and/or porcelain.”

    New on the Forum!

    New on the Forum! published on

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    Gorgeous Eastlake Parlor Set for $1100. Located in Ulster County. It’s been reupholstered. Seems like a good deal to me. That Eastlake stuff is pricey! I should know….I love it and but can’t afford it. Possible delivery available.

    Anthony: 845-591-4974

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    Howard Hall Farm has their class schedule all worked out for the season. Among “must knows” for any period homeowner….paint stripping and reading your period home. Full schedule at Howard Hall Farm.

    Located in Athens, NY. Make a weekend out of it!

    Reclaimed Forum

    Reclaimed Forum published on

    Ever notice how nothing ever happens on the forum? No? That’s because you never visit. Because nothing ever happens. But I’m still trying to make it work, goddammit. I just posted a couple of new listings for people, but feel free to post your own. Categories: Salvage, Events/Sales, Pets, Sustainable Living, Real Estate and General. What are you waiting for?

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    1930’s Dining Room Set: $500

     

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    New York City College of Technology Division of Continuing Education

    Home Design and Green Design Courses: Spring 2008

    An ongoing series devoted to city people who live in and love their urban homes

    Anatomy of a Brownstone: Green Roofs, Green Homes

    A seminar devoted to the art and science of sustainable homes, NYC style

    Saturday, April 26 Atrium Amphitheatre 300 Jay Street

    2 sessions, (morning and afternoon) $40

    10 am to 12 pm 300 Jay Street, Downtown Brooklyn

    2pm to 4pm

    Forum post/course schedule

    Local Reclaimed Lumber

    Local Reclaimed Lumber published on 2 Comments on Local Reclaimed Lumber

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    It’s not like there’s a reclaimed building material megastore store in every neighborhood. Using second hand lumber is a labor of love. The day we launched we did a post on reclaimed flooring resources, but it was internet based. Since then, we’ve been trying to find local…and less expensive….wood.

    Craigslist has been the best resource. If you go this route, you really need to start thinking about your project months in advance and check the postings religiously. The listings exist, from someone who ordered too much flooring to someone taking up a subfloor to someone tearing down an entire house. You should be able to transport the material at the drop of a hat and be willing drive to CT and NJ. It can be a full time job.

    M. Fine Lumber is located right here in Brooklyn. They are not some new fancy pants green building supply company. They’ve been in business since the 1930’s and carry all sorts of recycled wood.

    Build It Green in Queens is a re-use store. You would have to be extremely lucky to find 500 sq ft of wide plank flooring here. But keep in mind that wood studs and molding don’t grow on trees and yet they can be found here. As well as used electric boxes, cabinets, etc. (Editor’s note: Ok, I know that studs and molding ARE trees. Poetic license.)

    The Old Barwood Site is for serious builders. These are whole barns up for sale. National listings but there are a few in upstate NY and PA. If you’re working on a huge project with a contractor, perhaps you can talk the contractor into it. Too much to take on for a simple DIY job.

    UK Kicks Buttocks in the Salvage Dept.

    UK Kicks Buttocks in the Salvage Dept. published on

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    Feeding my toilet fetish.

    I’m so tired of doing a salvage search and coming up with UK sites. We need to get our acts together on this continent. What does England have that we don’t have? An interest in preserving historic detail, that’s what!

    I’m only speaking of Britain. I visit Ireland often and it’s a damn shame what’s happening there. McMansions scattered around the countryside. Yuck! On a recent visit, I schlepped the hubby all over Dublin looking for salvage shops I had researched online before the visit. Every one of them was gone. Guess I should have called beforehand. D’uh!

    Anyway, check out some of these British resources if you want to get depressed that we’re stuck here in Toll Brothers Country. I know we have some great salvage places across the states, but our homes just aren’t as old as they are there.

    Period Living magazine is just chock full of ideas and resources.

    Salvo Web. I did a post on them before, because they do have a smattering of US listings.

    Salvo Fair 2008 takes place in June.

    Cox’s Architectural Salvage

    Monger’s

    Antique Lighting Supplies

    Antique Lighting Supplies published on 1 Comment on Antique Lighting Supplies

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    Of all my antique addictions, light fixtures hit me the hardest. They are small and easy to carry and I can work on them in any room in my house. So, I keep buying them and then they sit around getting even more tarnished than they were when I purchased them.

    I’m starting to work on a few fixtures now. Of course the “bargains” are always missing pieces. Stuff you can’t find at Home Depot. Finding replacement parts for vintage items would be insanely difficult without the internet.

    Below is a list of suppliers. Prices and items may vary only a bit, but you have to hit every option if you’re looking for a unique piece. Always good to take measurements and snap a photo to email. They know their inventory better than you and it will shave hours off of your search.

    Happy hunting!

    Antique Lamp Supply
    My Lamp Parts
    Antique Hardware
    Paxton Hardware
    House of Antique Hardware
    Old House Lights
    Antique Lamp Company
    The Bulb Collector

    Sound Proofing Existing Walls

    Sound Proofing Existing Walls published on 4 Comments on Sound Proofing Existing Walls

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    Plain sheetrock

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    Living Room detail

    We screwed up. We built out an interior wall to hide plumbing and didn’t insulate for sound proofing. D’oh! So now we’re trying to come up with ingenious ways to control noise without ripping out the area in question.

    There are a few solutions:

    1. Build the wall out more. Use a drywall such as Quiet Rock or insulate and use regular sheetrock. Since we’re terrible at taping, we don’t like this option.

    2. Blow in insulation. This isn’t feasible for us as there isn’t enough space between the pipes and the wall.

    3. Cover with cork or fabric. Homasote offers both options as well as other sound proof wall materials.

    4. Use a paint such as Acousti-Coat, a water based latex formulated with hollow ceramic microspheres, sound absorbing fillers and resins.

    5. Build the wall out with ornate plaster (or fake plaster) detail. The most complicated of all options. And guess what? This is probably what we’ll do. Why? The house has alot of period detail which we’ve tried to match on rooms that needed gutting. Our oversight was a blessing. We now have an excuse to take straight edge drywall and make it look fabulous. We may need to use something behind the molding for soundproofing, but hey, it saves us from taping!

    6. Put it off until we no longer notice it. Actually, this is our most likely scenario.

    Sound Proof Foam

    **PS: Sorry about the horrible iphone photos. Didn’t have my camera on me.



    Stan The Junk Man

    Stan The Junk Man published on 1 Comment on Stan The Junk Man

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    Zaborski Emporium in Kingston is the megastore of salvage. 25,000 square feet of old house parts. You could get lost in that place! No seriously, I get lost in there.

    Although Stan has been in the salvage business since 1976, the building on Hoffman Street was completely empty when he purchased it 10 years ago. He managed to fill it up quite nicely in that time. He used to know every piece of inventory, but jokes that he can’t remember now because of his drinking. Yeah, you’d have to be friggen Rain Man to know every artifact in that place!

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    Stan’s father, Stan, a Brooklyn native, owned a bakery until the early 60’s when supermarkets started to sell baked goods. His business began to suffer. To add insult to injury, the bakery was next door to an auction house. At the end of the day, Stan Sr. would be walking out with $48 compared to the auctioneer’s $15k.

    The salvage business actually started with toys. Little Stanley Jr. (That’s present day Stan. Are you still with me?) would bring home toy trains and small objects that they would display for sale at the bakery. Eventually, the toys sold better than the pastries and so a new family business was born.

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    These days Stan has to be more selective with what he takes in, because apparently, that 25,000 square feet of space is not enough. They get their pieces from other dealers, house clean-outs and people phoning in. Customers include renovators from NYC, CT and MA. They do a decent business with the movie industry. They will only sell outright, no prop rentals. Zaborski furnishings and fixtures have been featured in films such as “American Gangster”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, “Charlotte’s Web” and “Revolutionary Road”.

    When I asked if he has seen more business since the whole green building movement took off, he informed me that building salvage was the original green. I agree.

    Business had slowed down for Stan during the holiday season this year. But they’re having a good February even with the tanking economy and housing market.

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    Zaborski Emporium is a family run business. If you’ve ever been, that’s wife Sandy sitting behind the desk in the warm office. And sons Steve and Devlin, who work there, will take over the business when Stan has had enough.

    Oh, and just in case you were wondering….that’s brother Gary at the Stan’z on Ulster Avenue.

    If you’re planning a visit, call first and dress warm!

    Research The History Of Your Home

    Research The History Of Your Home published on 8 Comments on Research The History Of Your Home

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    It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to do but never got around to. I got goosebumps when we found old letters from the war in our Bed Stuy house. And I was equally excited when we found crack vials from the 80’s. It’s all part of the history!

    If you’re not lucky enough to have found time capsules in your walls, there are some ways to figure out who was there before you.

    Talk to the previous owners, tenants and neighbors. Local shopkeepers could be a good source if they’ve been there awhile. The guy at my local hardware store knows everyone and everything.

    Public records include deeds, taxes and building permits. You’ll probably need to go to the County Clerk’s office and hit the library and historical society as well. Property Shark and ACRIS will get you started, but you won’t get very far.

    The links below go into much more detail than I ever could. If all else fails, you can always hire a house genealogist.

    Photo: Wally Gobetz

    Wiki How
    Hunt Down Your Home’s History: CNN
    Old House History
    House Genealogy
    Cyndi’s List

    Building Materials Reuse Association

    Building Materials Reuse Association published on 4 Comments on Building Materials Reuse Association

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    BMRA is not for profit educational and research group whose goal is to encourage the reuse of building materials during deconstruction. It is a membership based group that brings together demolition companies and recycling organizations.

    So what does that mean for the homeowner? Well, the site lists state by state directories of members and non members in the business. This includes salvage companies, reclaimed lumber and demolition services.

    New York
    New Jersey
    Connecticut

    Preparing for Guests: The Kitchen

    Preparing for Guests: The Kitchen published on 4 Comments on Preparing for Guests: The Kitchen

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    Yes, we live like this. And we have for years. If you’re a germaphobe, please look away now.

    Our long term plan is to completely redo the kitchen. We’ll probably end up adding an extension as the layout here is difficult to get around. There are windows and doors in every wall. It would be a bit cramped for an island. We also don’t love the idea of having a full bathroom right off the kitchen, but we want the home to have 2 baths.Continue reading Preparing for Guests: The Kitchen

    Preparing for Guests, Dining Room

    Preparing for Guests, Dining Room published on 2 Comments on Preparing for Guests, Dining Room

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    We’re finally getting to the rooms that really need work (in the blogosphere only, not in real life). The only reason we have a dining room set in here is because we ran out and bought one the day before had our first guests. It was one of those purchases we paid too much for because we needed it immediately. We bought the table on Atlantic Avenue. Need I say more?Continue reading Preparing for Guests, Dining Room

    Preparing for Guests: Living Room

    Preparing for Guests: Living Room published on 2 Comments on Preparing for Guests: Living Room

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    We’re starting on the easier projects first. Like the guest room, the living room is pretty much finished.

    The major concerns here are the couch and the light fixture, both Ebay finds. Both items bought about 3 years ago and my husband has never let me live down.Continue reading Preparing for Guests: Living Room

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