That's a website worth bookmarking and I will check it out. I have the Slate Roof Bible and it was the inspiration for my slate roof. My gutters are built-in wooden things that are lined in copper. You can't see the gutters from the ground. Just lot…
I'll have to contact the roof company that put my slate roof on and check out snow guards. I've been worried about heavy snow dumping itself into my gutters.
Thank you, Brian. I think the siding & shingles I added after the slate roof went up turned out to be Ooh, La-La! But all of this is still a work in progress.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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)
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.
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!
Hi Susan,
Thanks. She is a beautiful house in amazingly good shape. We are the fourth owners. We bought her at auction in 2007, and spent 9 months in agony with two mortgages until we sold our 1887 Victorian in Waxahachie Texas. I finally got approvals from the Historical trust and am begining the restoration process.(We have an easment on the house. The last owner got state money to replace gutters and repair soffits in the 70's.) I have spent months caulking and sealing air gaps to prepare for this winters heating season. I have insulated the attic floor and knee walls on the third floor. It has made an amazing difference in fuel usage and the lower price has made it almost affordable.
Your house is pretty amazing also.You are doing a great job on the exterior, it looks great.
Jeff