The Historic District

Funny thing... When I first joined OHW many moons ago I remember being so excited to share about our "new" old house that really only need some paint to move in. Oh how wrong we where.... You all know the story. Replacing rotten sills, redoing bad renovations of previous owners... tracking...

Sorry Ive been MIA this year... busy with hobby stuff and work.

Exterior lights look the same as they always do, but the Mrs. did something different with the hearth this year...

Hey some familiar names in here.... Our favorite 'Texan' lost in Europe Greg Vasileff erased all his own pictures after he had a 2nd grade hissy fit and quit the site over his argument with Abuela - going out of his way to send me personal insults over PM on his way out the door. I NEVER say this ab...

What age is the house? Is it balloon framed or post and beam? My house is post and beam and my interior walls are build the same as Mick- since none of them are load bearing they just places stud around randomly as needed to hold up the lath. And they are not even uniform 2x4s .... some are odd widt...

For clarity in this particular case, the house in that picture was built in 1950. Please understand that I don't bring this up to negate what you said. You obviously are more knowledgeable about structural wood, I just want to mention the build year in case it makes a difference and I can learn mor...

Here's a cringe worthy example: in order to get the "open concept" when they knocked down one wall in the kitchen, the exposed wooden beam has a lovely crack running almost the entire vertical length of it. The poor beam is cracking under the pressure of holding up the open concept. http:...

My friend sent me this. On the very rare occasion this one has advice against rehabbers and HG-TV trolls. And I might say it is about time. Hingham MA is a $$$$$$$$ town. But all they do is take houses that scream Americana 1790-1890 houses and turn them into HG-TV nightmares on the inside... any c...

I was curious about the oldest houses in the US after seeing this, I know of one in Saint Augustine Florida, so I went to this site, neither this or the Florida house are listed. 20 OLDEST HOUSES IN US The Gonzales house according to Wikipedia says it is not the oldest, the Fairbanks house (1639) i...

We continue on the one room a year plan. Rebuilding windows and repainting. Other than the front door sidelites I think I have now rebuilt every window that needs it!!!! And I confirmed that 2 year old Sarco still works A couple of these windows have soft spots on the sill but its getting late in th...

I can't imagine not having stained woodwork. It shows off the grain and brings so much 'warmth' to the home. In colonial times they achieved warmth with bright colors. Interiors where painted with bright primary colors like oxblood red (cheapest, used in kitchens a lot), yellow ochre, green or (if ...