I never really knew how serious the discussion about which screw to use could be until I posted a picture of a restored sash lock on social media the other day. I was particularly proud of this meticulously restored piece of Victorian amazingness, but the reaction was anything but what I expected. There were plenty […]
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you get ready to start renovating an old house. The questions will swirl around your head like tweety birds after a cartoon concussion about where to start and how much it will cost. You need to learn to triage an old house or the patient may die. I don’t […]
While I may live and work in Florida, I’m not unaccustomed to living in the great white north. For years I lived in New York and Boston and suffered through my fair share of winters before heading south. Insulating an old house is very dependent on the climate. You can’t necessarily use the same materials […]
One of the most satisfying things about restoring an old house is the night and day transformation when you restore hardware. Years of paint and rust can make you think the hardware isn’t worth saving, but I assure you that saving old hardware is worth it! Most hardware on homes built before the 1930s or […]
Whenever the weather starts to turn cooler folks start thinking about storm windows. If you live in the northern part of the country storm windows are an important addition to any old house. Wood storm windows fit perfectly with double-hung windows and blend in seamlessly with the historic character of your old home. There are […]
Fixing up an old house requires a lot of different tools. Some of them are easy to find at the corner hardware store and some are more specialty items that are a lot harder to find. Just like picking the right wood filler or choosing the right primer can make or break your project the […]
There’s a new kid on the historic block and his name is Mid-Century Modern or Mid-Mod. The youngest of the historic styles of architecture I’ve written about Mid-Century Modern architecture was absolutely on fire during the 1950s and 1960s. Pulling from the space race and all the amazing new conveniences available, America was ready for […]
Historic wood windows are kind of like the rock stars when it comes to preservation and restoration, but the steel windows don’t get the attention they deserve. Everybody talks about wood, most people understand the need to preserve them and you’ll find dozens of workshops around the country where homeowners can learn to restore them […]
Lie, lies abound when it comes to old windows. Window companies proclaim how their replacement windows will do everything from curing cancer to saving the whales (hyperbole intended!). How can you tell if a window salesman is lying? His lips are moving. There isn’t a single part of an old house that is in nearly […]
Let’s face it, your home’s utility bills never seem to go anywhere but up. The electric companies steadily raise rates, even if the cost of fuels like coal, oil, nuclear, solar, or wind go down. It’s like the third thing you can never avoid. Death, taxes, and higher utility bills. There is some good news […]
While most of the windows on historic buildings built before WWII used the simple and effective rope and pulley counterweight system, there are some that utilize different balances systems. A popular option were spiral balances, sometimes called a tube balance, and that’s what we’ll talk about today. These balances are not terribly complicated, but they […]
I recently learned of yet another window project gone awry. The 1920 Lake Ave. fire station in Saratoga Springs, NY is due for a renovation. It needs some structural repairs to its floors, some framing repairs, and also window repairs for its almost 100 year old windows. The architect for the job decided that the best way […]
