A few new houseblogs with interesting and / or useful content:
GreenHomeGuide, one of the best general information sites for folks trying to maintain, restore or remodel their home in an environmentally conscious way, has a great article on three safe and renewable insulation products.
If you’ve ever struggled with huge, unwieldy bats of fiberglass
insulation or forced your way through a crawlspace, wrestling with a
hose and trying to blow fluffy white fibers into every corner — all the
while wondering what those toxic chemicals and shards of fiberglass are
doing to your body — you’ll be relieved to know that there are green
alternatives.
Here are three of our favorites for do-it-yourselfers.
Jamie Donahoe at the Heritage Conservation Network sends us the following note on their hands-on building conservation workshops. A number of photographs from recent workshops are available in a special Flickr set. Thanks, Jamie!
If you had driven by the Francis Mill in Waynesville, North Carolina in July 2003, you might have stopped to take a photo of the picturesque but dilapidated structure nestled in Francis Cove. If you were to pass by the mill this summer, you would see a structure that’s neat and square, strong and weathertight. The difference: volunteers who joined a series of summertime hands-on building conservation workshops organized by Heritage Conservation Network in partnership with the Francis Mill Preservation Society.
HCN, a Boulder, Colorado-based non-profit dedicated to the conservation of the world’s architectural heritage, specializes in recruiting volunteers to assist with hands-on preservation projects in association with local preservation partners. Volunteers spend a week or more at the site, working under the guidance of a technical expert.
Back in 2003, with the mill in danger of imminent collapse, Tanna Timbes, great granddaughter of the man who built it and founder of the FMPS, contacted HCN and asked for assistance in saving it. Over the course of three workshops at Francis Mill, a total of 48 volunteers contributed more than 3,700 hours of labor, and that made all the difference.
HCN volunteers are not necessarily experienced preservationists, with only half having experience in the field. Instruction and supervision are provided by the technical expert leading the hands-on work, and participants – of all ages – quickly find themselves replastering walls,
documenting decorative paintings, shaping adobe bricks, chiseling mortises and tenons, or chipping out old cement mortar to replace it with lime mortar. The focus is on the use of traditional techniques and materials – the prescription for keeping historic buildings sound for many generations to use and appreciate.HCN has organized workshops at more than a dozen historic sites in the past four years. In Oplotnica, Slovenia, last year, volunteers worked painstakingly to discover the original decorative paint scheme of a 17th century chapel. The workshop, led by one of Slovenia’s foremost conservators, brought nationwide attention not only to the project but also to the need to safeguard Slovenia’s cultural heritage.
HCN will return to Slovenia in 2008, when volunteers will help restore the oldest known vintner’s cottage in the Šmarško-Virštanj wine district; it dates to the 16th century and is in poor condition, much like the Francis Mill was four years ago.
Volunteer opportunities this year include work at a Queen Anne style parsonage in Jonesboro, Illinois; the Old West town of Virginia City, Montana; and colonial and traditional buildings in Ghana. All still have space available and can also accommodate groups looking for a meaningful way to volunteer. Information about these and other opportunities to help build a future for the past can be found on HCN’s website or by calling HCN at +1 303 444 0128.
Our friend Matt Wyczalkowski with the St. Louis Rehabbers Club has a new set of photographs up on Flickr, detailing two different projects in the same room: running new Romex inside a wall from the basement and across a ceiling to a light fixture, going around a few corners on the way (something that many old-house owners have either had to do or SHOULD be doing soon – before our houses burn down, at least), and installing a receptacle in a plaster-on-brick wall (no easy task).
Thomas Shess has a nice article in San Diego magazine on Graham Downes’ remodel (more a restoration and updating, really) of the 1910 Train-Williams Jackson / Klauber home. There are some small photos, also, but unfortunately San Diego doesn’t include larger versions so you can really see some of the detail of this beautiful home.
“MY ARCHITECTURAL STYLE EVOLVES so quickly,” says architect Graham Downes, one of San Diego’s top hospitality designers. “I didn’t want our home to be one particular style. Then in 10 years I’d have to move because I was no longer happy living with that mood.”
So what did San Diego’s leading 21st-century minimalist architect do to remodel one of San Diego’s first great homes of the 20th century? First, he didn’t do anything alone. The revamping of their newly
purchased 1910 Jackson/Klauber home is a “we” effort of Downes and Tracy Borkum. …Ninety-five years later, the clean stucco lines designed by Los
Angeles architects Train & Williams remain contemporary, as do many
of the homes built by the firm’s contemporaries, Irving Gill, Frank
Lloyd Wright and Pasadena’s Greene brothers. Downes and Borkum did
little to alter the exterior, and passersby will be hard pressed to see
any modernization of its wisteria-covered pergolas and Craftsman- style
perimeter fencing.
A design necklace outside is the surrounding frieze molding under the
eaves, shaped as a Greek key. That pattern is repeated throughout the
house and its grounds.“Overall, we improved the interior functionality of the home by
asking the termites to leave and by wiring and lighting the home with
the latest high-tech wizardry,” Downes says. “As for the interior
woodwork, we caught a break. The red mahogany in the paneling,
wainscoting, moldings, frames, doors and windows remained fairly
pristine. In fact, if there was damage to the woodwork, we did it—and
had to quickly repair it.“Of the 118 windows and doors [facing the exterior], we redid them
all. We replaced what was broken and refurbished what we could to the
period.”
Ruth is rehabbing a beautiful 4500+ square foot 1926 bungalow in Oak Park, and has lots of pictures to share. And – since her remodel is in preparation for sale rather than for her personally – she regularly allows site visitors to vote on light fixture choices and granite color. A neat idea!
Several recent remodel shots / sets on Flickr for those of you looking for inspiration:
Matt Wyczalkowski over on the always-helpful Rehabbers Club Yahoo group – which is devoted to sharing info among old-home rehabilitators in and around St. Louis, Missouri – sent us a short report on the ongoing and extensive electrical upgrades in his home:
I am in the process of updating the knob and tube wiring in my 1923
bungalow. Room by room, I am replacing the existing wiring with modern
Romex, and adding new receptacles and lights where they are needed. When the house was built, one outlet per (large) room was considered to be perfectly adequate!One of the challenges of adding receptacles is making
accurate cutouts in plaster walls; the cutouts need to fit snugly
around the old-work boxes being installed, and this can be a challenge
with brittle plaster-and-lathe walls. I found that using a template
for the cutout, along with different drill bits for cutting the plaster
and the lathe, is an efficient and reliable way to go. It also keeps
sawing, which could separate the lathe from the plaster, to a minimum. Finally, an expanding foam sealer helps to keep the box secure and cut
down on drafts.I documented a recent project – installing a sconce light on a wall – with photographs.
Thanks, Matt! I am sure your photo-documentary will be helpful for other folks going through the same process. This is an accurate and relatively easy way to make cutouts for old boxes, which are often irregular and in odd shapes.
David Singley writes of his new kitchen:
IMHO, a kitchen is something you
either have a dream for, or need to look at hundreds of ideas, you
will be living with it for a while! There are a few shots of mine
here [ 1 / 2 ]
Top are original to the house, (1908)
in the original kitchen, now pantry. The base was a trashed, cheap
metal one, so we found the unfinished oak cabinets at one of the home
improvement stores that were a pretty close match, and painted. The
laundry area is connected, the same new cabinets painted again match
pretty well, as we used five 12" x 30" to fill the space and made edge
trim to match the original.Countertop is Boos Block. We had
looked at Ikea, but it looked ‘cheap.’ The Boos is 1.5" thick, with no
splices. Cost was only slightly more than Ikea, because they have much
cheaper shipping (Ikea shipping cost was as much as top!). Warning on
thick countertop – you will need the long screw kit to mount some
sinks ($4), as standard is for up to 1".Kitchen (was ’70s disco style kitchen,
when I bought it, original dining room) has custom made cabinets, more Boos [photos: 1, 2].Because of the low windows, it was hard to fit a real working
space + dining area in the room. We have vintage lighting in both area (no
cans) and with dimmers we have great work and dining light.For an idea of the size of the top cabinets above ref & ovens, take a look at this shot.
IMO, the new Kenmore Pro line would
fit great with a old style kitchen.Very square simple design. I feel
the stainless works very well with wood, and while I like white with
painted cabinets, most white appliances have to much design/ trim for
my taste. IIRC Frigidare is making refrigerators with slightly rounded
tops & fronts.Plan,plan plan, there will still be problems.
I asked the folks on the excellent Style 1900 Yahoo group to talk about their own kitchen remodel projects, and got some excellent responses; I’ll be posting them throughout the coming week.
Brad Iwafuchi writes about the kitchen remodel in his 1922 California bungalow, which he and his wife are right in the middle of:
We were limited with funds, so it is a minor retrofit. The kitchen is 12′ x 12′ and includes the small dining table. The counter area is L shape with the Fridge on an opposite wall.
We replaced out the vinyl flooring. It was an ugly black and grey 12" pattern. We purchased a Congoleum Xclusive 5 star vinyl that has a pattern close to a green Dard Hunter rose. I guess we lucked out. I just checked their website and it is no longer for sale. It is an subdue sand base color and stem and "flower."
The ’70s cathedral-style doors and cabinets were still in good shape so we sanded them down and restained them a Mission oak color.
We replace the handles with bronze Mission kitchen door knobs and pulls purchased from EXPO [Editor’s note – Expo is Home Depot’s design superstore wing].
We replaced the 70s faux vinyl butcher block counter with a Corian countertop (Burnt Amber) and a Franke composite granite sink. (White) We got a slightly used KitchenAid smoothtop cooktop. We still have to buy a new wall oven, since the old one is a ’70s Harvest Gold 27" oven.
We also still need to put the backsplash on, but I have purchased the tile. It is 3 x 6 white tiles. We also have a nice tile purchase from the Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel that we are planning to use as the centerpiece behind the cooktop backsplash area.
As an accent we are also thinking of adding two horizontal strips of 1" muted brown glass tile about halfway up the backsplash.
We still have some work to do but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
