Reuse. Rehabilitate. Restore. Architectural salvage and repurposed pieces for the home.
We’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with this porch rebuild. Look!
Above is the porch prior to demo. We were going to put balusters instead of shingles, but we’re sticking with the original design.
It was taken down to the foundation. We had plywood flooring for 2 years.
Look! Rotted columns repaired! It was being held up by 2×6’s for the longest time.
Look! Interior framing done and columns back up!
Look! Gorgeous floor and wainscoting!
We can’t finish a single project. Every room in our house is 90% done, but we get bored before finishing. Wanna see what I mean? Loads of before and during shots. No afters. 🙁
Fugly made-in-China chandelier. Hubby wanted to throw it in the trash. I said…..
“Paint it pink!” Inspired by the Jonathan Adler. It’s still sitting there with the tape though.
Exterior needs a ton of work. We’re doing the best we can with money and time constraints. Instead of stripping it down to bare wood, we’re scraping and patching. And when I say “we” I mean the contractor in this case.
Now that the wood is protected, it’s time to get back to building the porch. Doug Fir tongue and groove is nearly finished. It should be in by the end of the day. FYI, that’s plywood in the photo, case you didn’t know.
The wall in our driveway needs repointing. Grooves have been cleaned and it now awaits the cement. It’s in such bad condition that some stones came loose and fell on my husband. I LMAOROFL just as any good wife would do.
So, that’s where it’s at. Maybe I’ll get an after shot of something by the end of the week, but probably not. It’s mission: “Get rid of clutter” this week. Hence the tag sale.
1. 24/7 for 3 months now. I’m burnt out, baby!
2. Can’t rip up the kitchen floor with the cats in there.
3. Dimas the Contractor is slow as shit.
4. Mother Nature keeps raining on my porch parade.
5. My husband dropped the radiator on our new wood floor and now we can’t pick it up.
6. Gotta get some crap out of the way before restoring office woodwork. That means packing. That means sorting, organizing, filing….
7. Speaking of my office, did I mention that I found receipts from 1993? Also found my upcoming Specials concert tickets in the recycling bin.
8. Pesky “real job” sometimes gets in the way.
9. Tuesday. Day of rest.
10. Facebook is more fun than plastering.
The dining room renovation was finished about two weeks ago, but I just grabbed some snappies of it yesterday. Last you checked in, the restoration looked something like this. And before that, even worse.
It’s kind of a non-event since we didn’t change anything drastically. It just needed a lot of repairs. The plaster. The wood. Even the light fixture needed to be rewired. We lived with all that for five years and only finished it for someone else.
The adjoining living room has been finished for quite some time, but the wood still needs sprucing up.
There is still something to do in every single room, but we’re getting there! We finally have more help. This weekend there will be 7 different people working on our house. Woo-hoo!
Hey, dy’all know about Old House Web? It’s a mega website that has just about any information you need to find on older homes.
Although some of it is paid advertising (no problem with that-they have to make money), there are blog posts and diy tips that are pretty handy.
My favorite section of the site is the forum. It looks like lots of people use it, which always makes for a good forum. There are pre and post 1900 house categories with topics ranging from wallpaper to countertops to foundations.
Such a shame I actually have to do physical work on my house today or I’d be on Old House Web all day dreaming up some crazy new restoration scheme.
Our hallway ceiling was beyond repair. It was sagging with too many cracks for a skimcoat and the plaster is so dry that it just crumbles. So we needed to take down the ceiling and put up sheetrock.
Why not simply laminate you ask? Well, we have the original wood molding near the staircase, so the sheetrock had to fit underneath that.
Anyway, we’re talking medallions. So, we have this medallion, see? Obviously needed to save that baby! It could be a diy job, but I wouldn’t trust myself or my husband to do it. I just had visions of that medallion crashing down on the floor. So, Dimas the contractor to the rescue.
Here’s what he did:
1. First thing is, he secured it with more screws, making sure it stays with the remaining ceiling. The screw holes can be patched up later.
2. Cut around it. Crap, I forgot to see what tool he used! I’m sure the hubby would’ve gone in there with a Sawzall , but he either did it manually with a utility knife or maybe used a Jigsaw.
3. With the medallion secured and separated from the rest of the plaster, it was time for the ceiling to come down.
4. Sheetrock hole was cut as close as possible and plastered all around.
5. This is as far as he got, but you get the picture now. Maybe another coat of joint compound, sand, prime and paint.
So, our brownstone stoop was collapsing and we couldn’t put it off any longer. Yes, we are DIY maniacs, but detailed masonry is not our forte. Unfortunately, I didn’t take before shots, but that side detail was a big bulge, “fixed” by the previous owners over the years. The gate was coming away from the frame, making it mighty difficult to open.
There were a bunch of recommendations for Z. Abedin on the Brownstoner forum. That’s the guy we went with. Licensed, responsible (like he actually shows up when he says he will!) and not as pricey as some of the other brownstone guys.
Could we have gotten this for less? Absolutely. The people up the street are getting their facade done. It’s a total mess and the scaffolding looks dangerous. I’ll bet they would’ve done our stoop for less than half the price. But sorry, it looks like they don’t know what they’re doing. I feel bad for my neighbor.
Something I didn’t know….the longer the scratch coat cures before applying the brown coat, the better it will “take”. It should be a minimum of 2 weeks, but Z suggested even months. That’s fine with me, since we’re paying him in installments. The only thing is, we’re going to have a gray stoop for awhile.
More progress updates tomorrow.
Related: Holes and Wet Stoops
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.”
A department of The National Park Service, Technical Preservation Services has been assisting homeowners and industry people for over 30 years. They publish books, pamphlets and videos on preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings.
And of course, there’s the website. It’s just chock full of information. They have preservation briefs on how to repair historic windows, slate roof tile, maintenance of cast iron, oh, you name it!
The site includes a guide to the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program for income producing properties.
There’s also a fun interactive online education program which features a couple of quizzes. I love quizzes.
There’s only one huge salvage place in Ulster County that I know of. Zaborski Emporium in Kingston has a 25,000+ square foot warehouse off of Broadway. You will most likely find what you are looking for here; however, you’ll have to dig for it. Prices are good on some items, so-so on others. It depends upon what Stan the Junkmana paid for it himself. Layer up in winter….there’s no heat!
Check out the Antiques and Collectibles Street Market if you’re in Ulster this weekend.
Zaborksi sinks
Ulster Antique Shops
Water Street Market, New Paltz
Cat House Antiques, High Falls
5 years ago, we paid around $6000 for reclaimed wide plank pine for a 600 square foot room (installed and finished). And that was the best price. Maybe we had more money to throw around back then, but we would never dream of paying that much for a single floor now.
Reclaimed wide plank is still pricey, but many companies run internet specials. There are also smaller local mills that may charge less.
The least expensive option, if it exists in your home, is to carefully pull up the existing subfloor/planks and scrape them down, then reinstall. Tons of work, but saving all that dough…..priceless.
$6000 Floor, Marbletown, NY
Original Planks, Bed Stuy Home
Scraped and Installed Ourselves: $0
Companies Offering Internet Specials
Antique and Vintage Woods
Craftmark