Let’s Pretend We Have My Favorite House

I’m terrible at picking favorites. Ask me my favorite color or food and I’ll tell you I can’t pick just one. You’d think I’d have just as much trouble with houses. But you’d be wrong. This has been my favorite house for a solid 20 years.

It’s in Atlantic City. More specifically, it’s in the nice part of Atlantic City. It’s the third house from the beach.

And it’s huge and fancy. But it’s not the hugest or fanciest house I’ve ever been in, I don’t even want a big house, and I’m not really a beach person anyway.

So what is it?

Well, sentimental attachment. This house used to belong to a good friend’s grandmother, and after thinking a 50’s Cape Cod was a palace, I was in awe.

Of course you love this foyer. But imagine seeing it for the first time when you were 6. And now imagine running all the way up to the top and pelting things at your sister.

And there’s this thing! It still works! (Or at least it did last year.)

And back then I thought circular flow was the gold standard of a nice house. Though our house didn’t have it, my grandparents’ homes did, and I’d run in circles in them. I will never forget the sound of my grandfather’s hutch rattling as I ran through the dining room. But in THIS there are so many rooms, alcoves, doors, and stairways you can do figure 8’s! And with 4 Jack and Jill bathrooms, 2 of which open to the same bedroom, you can even get through 3 different bedrooms without going into the hall! Plus, most of them are original (from 1919) and completely wrecked! My 2 favorite things.

And the balconies! So many of them! I believe there are 11 Juliet balconies, plus 2 large ones off 4 of the bedrooms and a partially covered wrap-around terrace downstairs to which all the front rooms except the dining room open.

And then every room was jam packed with weird stuff that had been there for decades.

The original owners took off for Europe and sold the house to my friend’s grandparents with much of the original furniture included. They then incongruously modernized some of the décor in 1960, and then basically let the place rot.

And really, there’s no better way for a house to win my heart than to need saving really badly. This house sold last year for $250,000. That’s about a million dollar discount versus a house in good condition. I have no idea what’s being done to it but that means that by rights it will be cost effective to save it.

I kind of want to knock on the door sometime, even though I’d be scared to actually do that. But I’ve pondered on how to restore this place for years. Before I know what happened to it, I want to go through what I would do. So this summer I’ll have a few posts where we can pretend that I’m a multimillionaire and that I want a shore mansion. This imaginary Chad does a lot of entertaining. I can’t figure out why else he’d want a 6000 square foot house with 10 bedrooms. But because he’s still a lot like the real me, he doesn’t care a hoot about having huge bedrooms and bathrooms and he’s going to keep the upstairs more or less the same as it is now. Maybe I should also consider what I’d do if I could have flipped the place to resell. Of course, this flip would be atypically preservation-minded and unprofitable.

So next time we’ll talk in a little more detail.

Beating Back all the Clutter

Would you believe that my parents had a normal looking basement in the beginning of May 2010? But we were already losing the battle against clutter. My grandmother and I both moved that month. But we were already losing because for over a year before that my grandmother fought tooth and nail to keep things. But most of her stuff went into storage. Then the next year my sister took a bunch of furniture and the rest went to my parents’ basement.

The basement was a cluttered but usable. Next she had to go to assisted living. We’re now in December 2014, the Crooked House is nowhere near habitable, and half her remaining possessions wind up in that poor basement.

It’s about a full year later, November 2015, that I got the floors done. And in came the furniture without delay. Before it made sense even. But now she’s moved again, to a smaller room (hopefully with better care). And it got just as bad all over again.

So I started listing things on Craigslist. I feel pretty good about my writing but the real star of the show here is the old rug my dad pulled out of the garage to style the photos.

And everything sold within a week except the chairs! So 2 things about that: Shameless plug. Buy them, please! And I’m using my grandmother’s table with different, smaller but less sturdy chairs and we’ve decided not to feel guilty about breaking up the set.

Now do we sound like saints? Because yes, we are taking care of her and diligently dealing with all of her things. But my mom and I also picked what she was going to part with by taking what we liked best first. I got this lamp.

For years now we’ve discussed a fall yard sale, then a spring yard sale, then fall, then spring, and so on. Now one of my parents’ neighbors has one scheduled of September 17 so the date is set. The basement is cleared out enough (thanks to selling 3 bookcases and a set of tables) to be a sorting station. But a lot of what we’re selling is antiques and we’re trying to get higher than yard sale prices, so there will probably be another round of Craigslist listings soon.

There’s a lot of this stuff. More than we know what to do with. But I still sometimes feel guilty about getting rid of it. After all, my wash stand is bare (now that I’m not using it for long-term storage of unfolded laundry) and this set has been in the family for generations. So we’ve been pulling things out here and there. But mostly we’re keeping things we’ll actually use.

And we’ve left my grandmother with only the books about her 2 favorite things, opera and Obama. It’s all for the best, but… tell my mom she’s not allowed to keep the 1968 World Books. (I already put the good books on her shelves.)

All the best cheap food is in South Philly

With the Democratic National Convention 2 weeks away, South Philly is likely to get a lot of tourists. So for the underpaid political people among you, I’ve done the no money, no kitchen thing. And by now I’m good at it.

And congrats on being sent to South Philly of all places! Here are all the best places to a good meal for less than 10 bucks, as far as I learned during my 2 years of storing building materials receipts in the oven. I’m not trying to rank these places so I’m presenting them in the order I found out about them. Broad Street Subway stations included for your reference. Also, Passyunk Avenue is pretty much lined with great expensive restaurants, so the deep pocketed among you would do well to check out the area too.

Paesano’s

There are 2, one on the Italian Market and one at Front and Girard in Fishtown/No Libs. Great sorta-Italian sandwiches. Mostly hot but there are some cold hoagies on the menu too. Portion size is decidedly not European and sometimes I’d feel better only eating half. If it’s crowded, there are picnic tables at Bardascino Park a block away. They close early. Kinda far from the subway but about a 15 minute walk to Center City, and the Italian Market is fun to check out anyway. BYOB. The one on Girard is right next to the El (more formally the Market-Frankford Line).

Los Gallos

My favorite Mexican restaurant in Philly, it was more a bodega than a restaurant when I went there the first time. The canned goods are gone and now it has actual décor and a full menu but don’t be fooled. The tacos and simpler items are as cheap and great as ever. BYOB. 6 blocks from Snyder, or a 20 minute walk from the stadiums.

Hardena/Waroeng Surabaya

Don’t be deterred by the bars on the windows. This is the oldest (I think) of many cheap and good Indonesian restaurants in the area, the bulk of their menu is stewy dishes that they’ll ladle out with rice. Also have good salad meals, soups, and satay (skewers). BYOB, 2 blocks from the Tasker-Morris. More here.

Nick’s Roast Beef 

Basically a dive bar with a restaurant’s name. Old school vibe. Hand carved roast beef and other meats. Tasty gravy with lots of garlic. Good prices on beer. Vegetarian options are limited. 6 blocks from Snyder.

Gennaro’s Tomato Pie 

Kinda fancy as pizzerias go but I’d do backflips for the thin, crunchy, slightly charred crust and non-excessive amount of cheese you’ll get here. The house salad is old school with a bity red wine vinaigrette. A salad and a pizza are just right for 2. Cash only, BYOB. 3 blocks from Tasker-Morris. Note: I haven’t been here since they moved and enlarged their menu. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Gennaros-moves-to-Passyunk-Square.html

South Philadelphia Tap Room

The anchor of gentrification in my neighborhood, has a good selection of craft beers and great food. Happy hour is 4-6 on weekdays and gets you half off local drafts and appetizers. The appetizers tend to be greatly varied and include things from all 5 food groups, including the ones that aren’t fats oils and sweets. 2 usually make a good dinner. Scramble in with a big group group and order the whole appetizer list and 2 beers each at 5:55. It’s the classy way to do it. 3 blocks from Snyder or Tasker-Morris.

Artisan Boulanger-Patissier

The couple that own this place were born in Cambodia, learned to bake in France, and then were kind enough to put the best French bakery in Philadelphia 3 blocks from my house. The banh mi (tofu, ham, or pork belly and vegetable sandwiches) are superb. Also great pastries and strong coffee. It’s popular with the French expat community. 4 blocks from Tasker-Morris or Snyder. Cash only, BYOB.

Tap Room on 19^th 

Similar place to the other tap room. Burger Mondays make them one of the best bargains in the city. All burgers are half off all day on Mondays, so get grass fed beef from a small farm in New Jersey or a solid homemade veggie burger for the price of a Big Mac. They have $2 tacos sold a la carte on Tuesdays also, which are pretty good but not as authentic as Los Gallos. 8 blocks from Snyder or Oregon, or a 20 minute walk from the stadiums.

El Soto

Definitely my favorite bodega in the neighborhood, this place is tidy and as a participant in Philly’s Healthy Corner Stores initiative, it has actual produce and stuff. But you’re there for the deli. Mostly classic Italian-American style hoagies and panini. They have homemade pesto and roasted vegetables too. My favorite is the Mexican-Italian fusion enojado panini. Also tamales on the weekends. No seats here so take your sandwich a block south to the newly remodeled DiSilvestro Playground.

Ippolito’s Seafood

One of the best seafood stores in Philly now sells sandwiches and stuff too. The tuna sashimi tacos are awesome. Probably my top pick for cheapskates who are craving seafood. 2 blocks from Tasker-Morris. BYOB.

Stargazy 

Of course the best English bakery in North America is in South Philly. London style meat pies (and good vegetarian options), stewed and jellied eels, mashed potatoes, sticky pudding, all you can drink tea. They also sell biscuits, Marmite, and other English dry goods. One time when I was there a British woman turned into a 6 year old girl screaming “I want this! I want this! I want this!” It was hilarious. Her husband wanted to eat his dinner. But they left happy and with grocery bags full of junk food. This place is better for lunch as they start to run out of things later. BYOB. 2 blocks from Tasker-Morris or Snyder.

Bok Bar

I was in a different bar run out of the same space last year. This year’s food is Vietnamese and Filipino and fits in the price range of everything else. I can’t vouch for the quality of the food, but this Art Deco highrise school building towers over the neighborhood and gives you a million dollar view. (Image from the Passyunk Post.)

This feels incomplete  – in other parts of Philly you can get Polish, Russian, Uzbek, Korean, African, Caribbean… but I probably wrote enough. I also never mentioned cheesesteaks. But, overrated. Anyways, if you’re coming down this way, enjoy (South) Philly!

Ceci n’est pas un mur

I took 2 extra days off this weekend – the longest vacation I’ve had in ages. And I spent it in New York doing a side gig. My friend Maxim just moved into a new apartment and he wanted to turn his living room into a bedroom he can rent out.

This is the third one of these I did, so let’s start at the beginning. Everybody knows New York is expensive. 2 of my friends moved there and had a compression wall installed in their first apartment. Then they moved and the city was cracking down on unlicensed walls and the new building wouldn’t allow it. So I offered to rig something up to thank them for letting me crash with them over and over again. We started brainstorming how to divide the room with something that’s not a wall.

The answer? Billy bookcases.

I left the back off one of them and discovered that it was just the right size for a 30×78 inch bifold door. And to finish it off we used paneling on the back side. But then they told me that it had to go all the way to the ceiling. And to do that? Studs. Short ones to fill the gap, not all the way to the floor. Because it’s not a wall.

I trusted that I could use their vacuum. Mine didn’t fit in the car. Turns out all they had was a Roomba. And they said it took a month to get all the sawdust up.

Then someone else I didn’t know wanted to hire me to come up and build him one. Here’s the second not-a-wall.

And that brings us to this year, when Maxim moved and asked me to come up yet again. A few things changed. Now I have a real job so I had to take time off to do this. And my parents’ Volvo station wagon died, so no more slow trips through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with paneling flapping on the roof and people behind me honking in support. (Volvo was with me for one of the happiest moments of my life, when I got my un-replacement doors.)

So this time he met me in Newark. After a bit of dysfunction, we rented a cargo van, moved my things into it, went to IKEA and Home Depot, and got everything in by 5. Then went back to Jersey, returned the van, and parked my car in Newark for a shockingly cheap $8 a day.

This time, Maxim wanted a real door. I didn’t trust the previous two non-walls to hold one but this one has 2 right-angle bends flanking the door to brace it. And… this structure that is not-a-wall required a framing plan.

Framed.

And trimmed out. You can see that I can’t scribe casing like the Irishman can. Not freehand anyway.

Then there were some other odd jobs that didn’t go quite as smoothly. Remember folks, IKEA bed frames don’t come with the slats. You have to buy those separately. And then Maxim’s brother, given the task of dismantling and IKEA desk to avoid a $100 fee for the movers to do it, smashed it to smithereens. So on Tuesday when I was bringing my car into Manhattan to get my things, I went shopping again. Now, 8 corner braces grace the underside of that desk. It ain’t right but it’s there.

Meanwhile, here’s Maxim’s brother loading up my car. He then sat in it while I finished working. With the door open. So I came out and needed a jump. This is relatively quiet Battery Park City. There weren’t a lot of cars and no one was stopping. Then I stood in the street, waving and holding up my jumper cables. People drove around me. I started getting mad and ALMOST pulled out my sawhorses to set up a road block. But finally someone stopped.

And here’s one last look at all of my masterful rigging.

 

Closing Out the Irish Labor

I bit the bullet and hired the Irishman twice more. Here’s what I have to show for it.

The oak counter next to the stove is in! I plan to sand off the old finish and oil it. (Also, the kitchen is getting tidier)

The missing chip of wood on the banister has been patched. He then used a fair bit of wood filler while doing the final carving but it should even out with stain.

The bathroom door has its marble threshold.

The vestibule door is in! He extended the bottom because the gap was big and he thought it looked stupid. And this door has beveled glass so the photos don’t do it justice.

The panel sticking on the stairway wall is cut and pushed in place.

This last one was unexpectedly hard because the saw doesn’t cut the super tight angles we needed. So he clamped blocks of wood to the saw fence.

And, I no longer need to use a sneaker and a can of paint to keep my bedroom door shut!

He promised me that on top of all this, he’ll come back an evening and shoot in (meaning use the pneumatic nailer) the panel sticking, finish off the roller ball catch on the linen closet door, and put up the permanent stop moldings on the bedroom, bathroom, and linen closet doors.

So yay! That’s a lot! And I got some things done too but not nearly as much.

I got fed up with the condition of this rocker. I wasn’t 100% sure I’d be keeping it forever but decided it makes sense to get it re-caned regardless.

So I found a couple that canes chairs from an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. They wanted $240! My PTSD is almost gone. I started to plan out a DIY project to rig it with an upholstered seat. But then the low bid came in at $83, and here it is. And that puts it on the short list of most expensive furniture and décor items in the house. Many thanks to my grandmother for having good enough taste that I can be happy with her stuff.

Then I’ve been doing a fair bit of organizing things now that space is carved out for them. One drawer in the kitchen had more contents than space, but the chest by the front door had room for the reusable shopping bags and that fixed everything. I picked up a few more drawer dividers for the kitchen. It’s the little things right?

And another day of sweeping up sawdust. I thought we were done with that.

So organizing is a priority right now. So is just basic house work. I’ve been good about the washing my clothes thing but not so much folding them. The wash stand got a new purpose consistent with its name as I stacked the clean unfolded wash ever higher every week.

So… little things are the new order of business. Cleaning, organizing, prepping to paint everything I didn’t get to before. And painting all the things I left undone. And things that don’t cost anything are all I can afford to do for the next 2 months anyway. That means the blog will be straying off-topic for a while. And the next time you see the Crooked House, it should look a good bit more polished off!

Oh, and I’m excited about the off-topic posts.

The Bookcases Are Looking Like Something

I wasted no time getting them set up – doors back on and books in the house. Now it looks like someone lives here, in a non-messy way. At least at this corner.

Then as soon as I got it looking like this I took everything out of the base cabinets and drilled about 10 holes in them. Why? Because I inherited a nice stereo… and then decided that putting the TV in the living room isn’t beneath me.

So… a 1970’s or 80’s-ish cabinet that puts the TV behind doors near the floor. And I’m probably not hip enough to make good use of a stereo that plays vinyl records, CD’s, and the TV but can’t talk to a computer or phone. I’m considering getting a chromecast for music and a cable for the TV, but the audio ports on the stereo receiver are all taken so I’d have to improvise something. And all this can wait anyway.

Then the stereo receiver was missing an antenna so I made my own with speaker wire. It’s kind of strange. It will stop working randomly and without warning or sometimes if I walk past it in the wrong spot. But at least it’s all hidden from view! Then as I was typing this it stopped working again. Maybe it’s time to go to Radio Shack.

Anyways, you know I like things anachronistic. But the hardware on these cabinets is really terrible.Not just the looks either, they’re hollow and not real brass. Why anyone would spend thousands on custom cabinetry made of solid mahogany and then get this kind of junk is beyond me.

My first instinct was to play up the Colonial look with polished brass HL hinges and knobs.

Then I decided it’s more Ward Cleaver’s den than the Duke of Gloucester Street. So what about iron hardware? I’d stick with squared off hinges like the ones above since the piece is still a bit more refined than what my grandparents had in their kitchens. Then I saw what all decorative hinges would cost and decided to be bloggy and spray paint the existing hinges black. But now I’m thinking that antique brass worked anyway and I could just get knobs in antique brass (real brass this time) and keep the hinges as they are. Maybe something like this.

I don’t want to buy anything from a photo though. Especially anything with a faux finish. I also don’t want to pay 10 bucks for shipping because that’s a racket. I’ll come up with something soon.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, I’m not sure if I like the brass knobs with the teal paint after all.

 

I’m leaning towards shiny chrome, which would match the faucet and make the kitchen look a little more retro. So I could just get ordinary shiny brass hinges instead for the bookcase instead of those fancy ones and use these knobs and it would cost less. But I’ll be leaving the doors sans knobs for now, but you can let me know what you think!

 

Hooray for Irish Labor!

Yep, I finally got someone to come work for me again! Remember how I abandoned cutting down the bookcases? This cut was me and my dad working together with a cutting fence.

He freehanded all his cuts!

 

Remember the too deep before?

Now, they’re much more gracefully proportioned! And even more importantly, that hump in my camelback sofa is between the windows where it belongs.

And there are BOOKS IN MY HOUSE! Yes, they’re still in boxes. The upper parts of the bookcases with the open shelves need to be screwed together still. Baby steps.

So much better. I’m still working out how much I have room for, so the first load I brought over is mostly highbrow literature – in beat-up paperback form. Along with everything else I own, I’ll be taking a better look at my books sometime before the big family yard sale that is allegedly still gonna happen sooner or later.

I’m hoping that the Irishman can work for me at least one more Saturday. I’m making a punchlist of small jobs, ranked to put the most important ones and the ones that will be the hardest to do at the top. Here’s what I’ve got so far. I’d love it if he can do at least the first 3. After that I’d have to decide if I can afford to hire him again or if it’s back to super slow DIY.

1. Install oak countertop next to the stove. (I can take it off and sand it later.)
   
2. Install the threshold and permanent stop molding on the bathroom door.
3. Repair the banister. (Because I broke off a piece, lost it, and then got a mirror image of my volute from a friend and plan to cut it up for a perfect patch.)
4. Install the strike plate and stop molding on my bedroom door.
5. Install the roller ball catch and stop molding on the linen closet door.
6. Install the vestibule door.
7. Modify bookcase to reinstall the TV pullout shelf, raised to hold other items below. (I had my TV working but it was in the basement and I’ve never used it.)
8. Install panel sticking on the stairway wall.
9. Repair vestibule and upstairs hall drywall with setting compound.
10. Caulk woodwork throughout the house.

So here’s to doors that open and close with functioning door knobs? Countertops on all my cabinets? A usable stereo and TV? Getting every wall surface and stick of woodwork ready to paint? Let’s not expect me to be TOO fast with all this. Also note that actually painting isn’t on this list. Because I dread it.

Also, my back yard doesn’t look like a dumping ground for flower pots anymore. It looks like it belongs to someone who spends too much money on plants. But plants are important.

In With Old Windows?

So we’ve been through the brick and the cornice. Finishing off the Phase 2 façade work means replacing the windows. Remember what I have? Total junk. I was glad to learn how bad they were because I didn’t want vinyl windows under any circumstances and I can replace these without feeling guilty. To review:

I bent back the aluminum capping and then left it like this for several years.

I never like aluminum capping, but mine looks like this. (That scalloped marble lintel looks great in this photo though!)

Random scraps of wood nailed into the jambs apparently to bring the openings down to a stock size. (The gorilla glue is no longer extant.)

That window above was so racked I could see sunlight through outside the top sash. Now it’s gobbed up with caulk.

The window jambs had sagged and separated from the windows. And they were structural! So they were unsalvageable.

Living room window casings

I partially removed the counterweight cavities in the process and then the insulation people filled them with spray foam. The remaining wood wasn’t in great shape – you can see chunks of the remaining framing missing.

I really love old windows best, but no houses I looked at still had them. So I decided to afford the best new windows I could find. And Craigslist brought me the very nice cottage style 2-over 2 Marvins in the back bedroom.

The originals would have been 1-over-1 (no muntins) but I think the style I got kinda makes up for the replacements being too perfect with non-wavy glass. I got 3 more (with my Obama energy loan!) to finish off the back and the plan was always to get 4 more for the front.

But then I met Wesley, a historic preservation carpenter specializing in buildings way older than mine. He said that by the time my house was built the windows would have come out of a catalog and are all standard sizes. People in his line of work collect them to cannibalize the wavy glass and install it in even older windows. And so, he says I should easily find period correct sashes that are exactly the right size to fit into my jambs! Unfortunately, I’ll have to take down my cheapie Eucaboard and the blinds on the front of the house to measure for the new/old sashes. (They look better painted. You almost can’t tell how bad they are.)

So, yes, I’m considering pulling out (drafty, poorly installed) double-paned windows and reinstalling old single-paned wood. Do you think I need psychiatric help? It’s true that getting nice new Marvins would be more efficient than un-replacing them with something period correct. But old windows will last longer. Old wood is much more resistant to rot than new. If I slip up with repainting my Marvins I could someday be stuck with buying new sashes. (NO ALUMINUM CLADDING ON THE FRONT!!!) And even if I don’t they may only last a few decades. Old windows can last forever. And besides that, I love everything about the pulleys and chains and counterweights on an old window. They slide better than anything new.

And I’m not blind to energy efficiency concerns. First off, windows are the very lowest return on investment you can get for efficiency. Even worse than solar panels now! So they might make sense if the old windows are really, truly wrecked and beyond restoration or if you have bad replacements. Good weatherstripping and storm windows on an old window will get you 95% of the efficiency gains from a new window. It should also cost a lot less upfront, and more of the cost would go to local labor. (The downside is that restoring them will be my local labor.) So yes, old windows are sensible, even (possibly) for someone who doesn’t have any! Definitely give them a chance before you commit to ripping them out!

More Civility in the Bathroom, It’s Complicated Out Back

Last week I got started lining up missing parts for all kinds of things. Like my bedroom door. I got the other bedroom done to rent it but mine? Pfft.

A lot of the work is on hold for the Irishman. (The door is on hold until the goods arrive.) But the bathroom stuff, at least the most important bathroom stuff, is done!

I started with 2 towel bars mounted to drywall. Not much to say about that; it was an easy job. As for the towels, they were from my mom. Back when the house was half demolished she kept a tile in her purse to get the blue right.

And she lost a big fight with my grandmother trying to make her get rid of the pink and green flower towel. So imagine my disappointment when she didn’t comment on it!

Then came the towel bar inside the tub surround. Same style, but the anchors that came with the bar won’t work on tile. So I went to Home Depot, asked not 1 but 2 people, ended up sitting on the floor in the aisle looking at the bottom shelf while debating with the sales guy. In the end I got toggle bolts, which he thought was overkill. Here they are threaded through the mounting plate for the bar.

And then it came time to drill the tile. This was terrible. It took about a half hour per hole and made a lot of that red dust I never wanted to see again. And this was with a fancy carbide tile and glass bit.

And as for the magnetic soap dish, I decided to go ahead and get the cheapo one. Turns out it’s chrome colored plastic, the instructions are in Korean, and the metal thing you drive into the soap has a smiley face on it. It goes on the tile with a 3M stickum pad. Perfect. It is even cheaper looking than I thought it would be but you can’t actually see it.

More holes. More dust. 4 hours of drilling. Ugh.

And here it is with the bathroom and me all cleaned up! The tub corners (and the mold growing in the tile grout) are free and clear!

I still want to get a second shelf. While I was doing this it came to my attention that my roommate is keeping her razor in her bedroom to keep the bathtub clutter-free. So I’ll be starting this fun all over again soon.

And now I have a container garden in the making! Mostly herbs and tomatoes but I got some flowers too. I used any containers that fell into my lap, whether they are antique crockery or plastic.

Then after this a friend texted me that he’s moving to DC for the summer and I can have his containers and plants. Do I want them? Duh. They’re free. So for now I’m looking a little like a hoarder again.

I’m thinking of redoing the coconut liners and putting the long boxes on my back fence and then putting the other containers wherever I can make them fit. I’m a little short on showy color for now so maybe I’ll get some petunias. I have plenty of sun. He did give me summer pansies and stuff.

Facade Plans Post 3 – How NOT to Restore Historic Masonry

Then comes restoring the brick, and this job is scary. I’m going to take the paint off my brick. Many sources recommend avoiding this as it can damage the substrate, but you saw what the paint looks like on my house. For further reading, I suggest this piece from the National Park Service, the preservation guidelines for Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, and the New York and Philadelphia Rowhouse Manuals.

The problem is that traditional bricks have a durable outer layer from being kiln fired. Inside of that they’re much softer and it’s important  not to take that off. So…

What you really should never do is of course what everyone does. Scrub pointing, or covering over the mortar joints with new mortar without removing the old. This alters the look of the brick and it doesn’t hold up.

Don’t power wash the brick with high pressure. Traditional bricks were kiln fired and you could take off the outer later, which is the most durable part. And NEVER sandblast historic masonry. This can wear away the surface badly, altering its appearance and shortening its life. I encountered this poor facade on tony Spruce Street. I would have thought it was some kind of rustic 1920’s brick except for that little square that was once covered, revealing the same pressed brick as I have. Also pictured: scrub pointing, paint.

NEVER use dry heat like a heat gun. This can drive paint deeper into the masonry and make permanent stains. Plus, it doesn’t work well on masonry.

NEVER clean or strip masonry when there’s any risk of frost as any extra moisture that absorbed could freeze, expand, and cause the masonry to spall.

Avoid driving too much water into the masonry even in mild weather as it’s weaker when wet. Repointing before cleaning the surface is a good move, but you can also temporarily caulk the joints and repoint later.

Don’t sand or grind the surface.

Avoid strong acids (Hydrochloric/Muriatic) and alkaline (lye) products and only use in very limited applications.

Don’t use acidic cleaners on acid sensitive stone like marble. (That’s me!)

Don’t expect surfaces to look brand new. Some patina may be desirable and vigorous efforts to remove troublesome stains or residual paint can damage the substrate.

So what can you do? Use the gentlest means possible. Low pressure washing, hand scrubbing, washing with a non-ionic detergent, some mild acid and alkaline cleaners, steam cleaning, and dangerous chemical solvents can all be effective. Test in an inconspicuous area (which I don’t have) preferably a full year before proceeding, but at least a month.

And when I repoint I must not use modern masonry techniques. My house is made of traditional clay bricks with lime mortar. Modern mortars are harder than this kind of bricks, so if the wall shifts, the bricks fail instead of the joints. Some preservationists recommend only using lime while others specify a soft mortar made with lime and Portland cement.

 

My façade is pressed brick, which is very smooth and uniform with very thin mortar joints. The mortar is washed or colored red to match the bricks. Scrub pointing is putting a false wider mortar joint over the real ones. This kind of halfassed job eventually pops off and until it does, it fakes the look of inferior and historically incorrect masonry.

And what about that damaged area?

I think I should use a water resistant coating here. These are formulated to let water vapors out but prevent liquid water from getting in. Never use a waterproof coating that traps both. And even the best of these products can do more harm than good, but it sounds like treating the damaged areas only could help preserve it. Or if I pick the wrong one it could help destroy it.

So this will be fun right?