If you own an old house with plaster and lath walls, you may have discovered how utterly useless a stud finder can be. Most smaller items can be hung pretty securely anywhere on the wall by screwing into the wood lath, but for heavy things that weight more than 10-15 lbs, like large mirrors and […]
Plaster walls are some of the most misunderstood parts of an old home. And many homeowners are quick to tear them down and put up drywall. But replacing plaster walls with drywall is not only a major mess and expense, but it also destroys the character of your home. Each plaster wall is unique. You […]
The walls of any pre-war house are most likely wood lath like in this picture covered with 3 coats of plaster. The work took a long time and was very labor intensive. Not to mention, it required a skilled plasterer to make sure the plaster was properly applied and the wall was smooth and level. […]
One of the easiest mistakes to make when renovating a historic home is to tear down the old plaster walls and replace them with modern drywall and joint compound. This not only destroys the historic architecture and features that make a historic home great, but it also adds to the overall costs of the project […]
In the name of progress, we have made some pretty dumb “improvements” to the things we use to build our houses over the centuries. Some have killed people like asbestos, and others are just so atrociously ugly that they deserve to die a slow death in a landfill. The modern era has seen some of […]
On one side you have the old house lovers who will tell you, with complete confidence, that old houses are built better than any new house today. And on the other side you have the new house people who think buying an old house is the height of insanity because just like Tom Hanks and […]
Last year I wrote a post about 10 great tools under $50 and it was a huge hit. So this year I’m back just in time for the holidays with a revised list that contains some my all time favorites and some new discoveries that have recently become indispensable elements of my tool belt. Not […]
I’ve been a restoration contractor for almost 15 years, but before that I was just a newlywed husband who bought his first old house with his new bride, excited for all our restoration and renovation plans. 14 years later I wish I could talk to that guy before he purchased the home and give him […]
If you’re considering adding a cistern to your home this post is a must read before you make any decisions. Cisterns are an excellent way to conserve water which is not only great for your neighborhood and city but also provides a huge savings to your water bill as utility rates are constantly increasing these […]
So many questions swirl around in my head as I think about the windows we install on our homes today. The other day while driving through my neighborhood and seeing some replacement windows that were due for replacement again I was struck by a question that never really occurred to me in over a decade […]
If you wanna start a fight with a designer or preservationist just ask this one simple question. “Is it wainscoting or wainscoating?” People seem to be very passionate about this answer and saying one side is wrong is like insulting your Italian grandmother’s sauce. Them’s fighting words! I’m not one to split the baby in […]
America has a mixed history of building quality over its 200+ years. From its colonial roots to the baby-boom years of mass production to the complex engineering of today the style and quality of buildings has changed greatly. If you’re looking to buy a house, knowing when it was built is just as good a […]
