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Susan
- Female
- Lorain, OH
- United States
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Susan's Discussions
Porch Ceiling Color
Replied Jul 4
Porch Ceiling Color
Replied Jul 4
Susan's Page
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I'm a purist, when it comes to everything victorian. I'll have to follow you in replacing my tongue & groove porch ceiling. It's all rotten and mine has way to many layers of paint too!!
Tim, page 52 from the book "Preserving Porches" by Renee kahn and Ellen Meagher states, "The porch ceiling was covered with narrow, beaded wood slates; these were often varnished, although a pale sky-blue paint color was also popular." Also, from th…
Hope,
My storm windows are not historically accurate for my house, built in 1903, but after all the new cedar siding and new cedar shingles I put up I could not afford to have wooden storm windows custom made. Nor could I find anybody in my area to…
I looked at your photos again. I don't see any fish scale shingles on the side. I see four sections of lap siding, or perhaps they are straight edge shingles. The fish scale shingles I see are on the front of the house, to the left and to the right…
Here, here!! My thoughts exactly. Thank you Phil!
I removed nine layers of gloss paint from the woodwork in my kitchen (ghastly colors, so it was easy to count the layers) and from the kitchen staircase. I used the gunk that you spread on with a paintbrush, let it set 15 minutes, then scrap it off.…
I replaced my rotten cedar siding with new cedar siding. Solid Red Cedar, that is. (lots of pictures on my member page) More expensive than the while cedar sold at lumber yards. The white cedar at my local yard is actually small pieces of cedar glue…
Profile Information
- Tell us about yourself:
- For the past two years I have been working full time on the exterior restoration of our house. I have replaced rotten siding, window sills, window frames and corner boards. I picked a Barber house plan and copied the exterior siding style when replacing rotten siding on our home. I added new half cove cedar shingles to the second story with bands, wainscoting, and lap siding on the first story. I have been an old house lover all my life and have spent many many hours driving through small towns photographing old houses.
- Tell us about your old-house experiences and dreams:
- I have dreamed of owning and restoring a Queen Anne victorian house with a tower and a big porch since I was a child. We bought our house eleven years ago and have been working on the restoration ever since. We have taken nine layers of plywood and vinyl off the kitchen floor and replaced everything in the kitchen. We updated the wiring and installed new furnaces and central air. We gutted our bathroom, re-built the subfloor, rerouted the copper plumbing (hubby did all of this) and installed an antique clawfoot tub with a brass shower riser, antique toilet, and antique pedestal sink. Utilizing a HUD 203K Restoration Loan we had a slate roof put on our house in 2003 and had all the box gutters re-built and lined in copper with copper downspouts. We added a new gutter to the front porch in 2008, but we still have to re-build the foundation of the front porch before we can have a slate roof there. I hope to get the siding finished and the house painted during the next two summers.
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Copper downspouts
Can anybody offer info on copper downspouts? How long should the seam on the back side last? Is necessary to repair these beauties on a yearly basis? I had mine installed six years ago and they are now splitting open. Is this normal?
Posted on May 16, 2009 at 5:17pm — 2 Comments
Comment Wall (22 comments)
- At 8:57pm on April 25, 2010,
Phil said… - Is the 12" wainscotting on the exterior of your house? Or was that for an inside project?
- At 8:56am on November 20, 2009,
John Leeke said… - >>Utilizing a HUD 203K Restoration Loan we had a slate roof put on our house in 2003
Susan, can you tell us more about this? I've never heard of it before.
- At 7:16am on October 28, 2009,
Phil said…
- If you do find your siding and put it up this fall, you could prime it in your basement before installing, that way it would have more protection going into the winter. Unless its moisture content is too high and it needs to dry out on the wall before painting.
- At 12:58pm on October 27, 2009,
Robert H. Wood said… - I do understand having to do things on teh cheap. The way I did it on my own house was when I had no money I did labor intensive work, ie., stripping paint. When I had money I bought things like lumber, etc., I do think that what you are doing will matter a lot someday if it doesn't already. The house is really great and I enjoy following your work on it.
- At 2:16pm on October 26, 2009,
Robert H. Wood said…
- Thanks for writing back. I'm glad you checked Merrill house out. Being a lawyer I don't have anything in my life that shows really that's why I am especially proud of my volunteer work there. Now there is at least one thing in my life my kids can point to and say My dad worked on that house. Every window in the Merrill house that is not a replacement has been on my dining room table to have the glass replaced or to be reglazed. Well, In any event I will continue to monitor your web sit. You really have a nice littel piece of America there and I see that you are making the investment (copper gutters, slate roof) that will add up to a great job. I can tell you from my Dutch colonial house that my regrets are not the hard work (i.e stripping the entire house dowsn to bare wood) but doing things on the cheap (i.e faux oak formica counters)
- At 4:48pm on October 23, 2009,
Robert H. Wood said…
- Your doing a brilliant job on the house. It feels never ending but once your done It will all be worth it. If you are interested check out Merrill House on Jacksonville, Florida Historic society web site. This place was a wreck (I think they show the before pictures) and we worked on it for alonst five years. Its one of the most important things I have ever done in my life.
- At 12:25am on July 28, 2009,
Lisa Kessler said…
- Thanks!
- At 11:21pm on June 16, 2009,
Ken Burns said… - Our home was built circa 1865-1870 from reports we've received from local family members of the original owner.
Do you intend to use your tiles or replace them with something newer?
- At 9:30pm on June 3, 2009,
Gayle Roberts said… - Oh...I adore your home! So lovely, I'm ready to come for a tour! :)
- At 9:27pm on June 3, 2009,
Gayle Roberts said…
- Hi Susan, What a friendly welcome! I just found this site yesterday. Thank you for the encouraging compliments! my husband found the porch furniture on Craig's List. He surprised me with it for our 30th anniversary. I had been looking at it but it was up in Seattle and I hated to make the journey and the splurge. I love them, and found it a great place for Sunday nap!
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