The Historic District

Good call with the ropes ladder trick. All but the first section of roofing I did with ladders and a pick. Highly recommend purchasing enough equipment to do the job then sell it when you know you won’t need it anymore. I’ve been using felt for almost all underlayment as I’m making an attempt to use...

In case you haven’t gotten started or gotten through the project I would like to suggest a couple things Remove the plastic. It will be messy and the adhesive will be difficult to scrape but coverings like this are almost exclusively done to avoid labor. Secure the plaster is necessary, cut cracks o...

I’m new here so you can take my thoughts with a grain of salt but I will vote for restoration though there are hidden costs with both routes that may not have been mentioned New windows will have an energy savings but may need to be replaced after 30 years so you would likely wipe out your utility s...

The houses had newspapers from the year 2000. That was the closest I could get to dating the last time they were inhabited. My neighbor across the street had his house built in 1992 but has lived in the neighborhood since 1947. He said the small house was lived in when he moved into his new house. M...

As far as I could tell at least 15 years for each. There were remnants of a tarp on the double that could have been 10 years old to give an idea of the state of things to that point. Of course there were multiple layers of asphalt shingle, rolled roofing and cedar shakes on both houses. I suspect th...

Hey all, I found a post concerning plank framed houses here and would like to add to the mystery so I joined up I have a plane framed house from 1910 and a predominately balloon framed house from 1915. Both were slated for demolition and purchased at city auction 5 years ago. Both are in various sta...