Historic Hill Holiday Tour

The Ramsey Hill and Summit Hill Associations decided to collaborate on a Historic Hill Holiday Tour (the "1895 Georgian Colonial"). Along with seven other homes in the neighborhood, our home, holiday decorations, and some stories are featured in the video and the blooper reel. Proceeds go to the two associations.

The rest of this post is the free tour...

Most years we go to the local hardware store and buy the tallest tree they have. We don't bother having them unwrap it because we put it on the opening of the main staircase. If the tree is misshapen or has a flat spot, we can just put that side in the corner. They are all listed as being 6-8 foot trees and are the same price. This year's tree is the biggest we've ever had and is close to 12 feet tall. It is also larger in diameter than in previous years. As a result I only got about halfway before I ran out of lights and had to purchase more...

In total there are 2000 lights on this year's tree.

On the opposite side of the entry is the poinsettia forest and its reindeer.

And the demi-lune table with its trees.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care in the living room.

The Twelve Days of Christmas make an appearance below the dining room mantle.

The study is a cozy place on a cold winter night.

There are other decorations scattered throughout the house but none are significant enough to warrant inclusion here.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Carriage House Re-Roof

The house had been re-roofed shortly before we bought it, but the carriage house was not done at the same time. The seals in the double-paned skylights had failed, so the glass was foggy, but the roof wasn't leaking. No big deal from our perspective; we could wait and do some other things first.

Well, eventually we started to get some small water stains around one of the skylights, so it was time.

We contacted a couple of local roofers to get estimates and picked  one. It took a while to get scheduled, but we weren't in a hurry. Eventually, after some weather- and COVID-related delays, the day arrived.

They were able to strip the old shingles off and install the new ones in (almost) a day. The removed the old skylights and installed new ones while they were at it. Because of the hipped roof, they ended up a little short on the cap shingles, so those had to be delivered and installed later in the week.

We're happy with the results! (slideshow of the work in-progress)

What We've Got Here Is Failure to Communicate

This is another one of those posts that's not really about the house. It's about a common issue that isn't really that hard to fix.

Once again one of the bathroom sinks was draining slowly. We took all the items out of the cabinet under the sink. I disconnected the actuator for the stopper and removed it. The stopper was full of hair and other gunk so I cleaned it.

Then I shone a light down the drain to see of there were other restrictions. There were, so I started loosening the tailpiece extension and p-trap so I could clean them more easily. The p-trap came out without trouble.

When loosening the tailpiece extension, the tailpiece sheared off immediately below where the stopper actuator joins the tailpiece.

Weird.

I called the plumbing supply place where we purchased the fixture to see what options we had. If we could find the order/receipt and send some photos, they would submit a warranty claim with the manufacturer.

I found the necessary papers, took photos of the papers & broken pieces, and emailed the photos.

A week passed and I heard nothing. No reply to the email. No phone call. Nothing.

I called. He did not answer the phone, so I left a voicemail.

A week passed. No return call. No email. Nothing.

I had a Friday off and was running errands more-or-less in the neighborhood, so decided to stop in to get an update.

I introduced myself and explained why I was there.

Turns out he had received the email and had submitted all the information to the manufacturer. They had agreed to replace the part at no cost, but because the finish is not one of the most common (satin brass rather than nickel or chrome) it might take a while to get one. He wasn't sure when they might ship it or whether they would ship it to him or directly to me.

Two more weeks passed. The new part was shipped directly to me. I received it yesterday and installed it without issue last night.

So, here's my frustration. Communication. Why is it that businesses are so bad at communication? It's the simplest thing that requires so little effort and makes such a huge difference.

Did I mention that I was the only customer in the store? Did I mention that every time we've been in the store (many times over the years for the kitchen and this bathroom) we've been the only customer on the premises? Given that, how much time does it take to reply to an email to say you've received it? Or return the phone call which specifically asked if you'd received the email? Should I really have to come in person to get an update when you're only open from 9am-4pm on weekdays?

Winterizing the Fountain Pump

 Manufacturer instructions on the pump say it should not be allowed to freeze. As the weather started to get colder, it was time to remove the pump for the winter.

The first step was to move the rocks from atop the pump access cover and then remove the cover plate.

Then, with Hayden’s help, reach into the basin, remove the pump, disconnect the hose, push the hose back into the basin, and pull the cord through its cutout. I put the pump into a bucket and brought it into the basement for the winter.

Lastly, put the cover back in place and cover it with rocks again.

Once everything thaws in the spring, I can reinstall the pump.

And a final photo showing the pump, 90-degree elbow, flow control valve, and connector for the vinyl hose. The hose is snug enough, and pressure low enough, that a clamp isn’t necessary.

The Pedimented Window - Part 3

 Last fall when the front porch got a new roof, the guys removed the storms for the Pedimented Window. The storms didn't get reinstalled because they needed some work first.

The oldest of the glazing compound was failing and the paint was starting to peel. Over the past couple of weeeks in the down periods waiting for varnish to dry, etc on the the back door, I scraped, sanded, and removed the glass from these storms. Of course, when removing the glazing compound and glass I broke one of the panes (the one I'd replaced last time, I think. Its putty was in good shape but I figured I'd do a full restoration...). Fortunately I had a piece of glass that was big enough. It just needed to be cut down to the correct size.

Over the weekend I started the next part of the process, including final sanding, primer, and re-installing the glass. All the glass is bedded and pointed, but only one of the storms has been completely puttied. The other one will get the exterior putty sometime this week. Then I wait for it to skin over before final coats of paint and re-installation.

I'm using Sarco putty this time. It's way easier to work with. I highly recommend it.

Maybe in the Spring

The back door was practice. As you can see, this is a little more involved.

And I'm especially not looking forward to the prep work for all this detail...

There is no way for me to get all the prep work done on a timeline that still allows me to be varnishing at reasonable temperatures before the snow flies.

The Back Door - 4

Over the weekend I put on the finals two coats of varnish.

The final two coats used Epifanes' Wood Finish Matte sanding with 320 before the first coat and in between coats. The resulting satin finish looks great in my opinion.

After the final coat of varnish was dry I reinstalled the hardware, including the new deadbolt.

And then finished installing the weatherstripping on the hinge side and top of the door frame.

As usual, the screws for the doorknob escutcheons are a mishmash. Of the four, only one is correct; the other three don't match (and even then they are not self consistent...). I've already gone through my stash of saved hardware and don't have ones that match the correct one. So another trip to the store to get the correct size and length...

And the local neighborhood hardware store for the win!

The Back Door - 3

Throughout the week I've added two more coats of Captain's Varnish.

Get up. 

Remove the hardware.

Sand.

Vacuum.

Tack rag.

Varnish.

Wait 12 hours for it to dry.

Reinstall the hardware for the night.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

This weekend I plan to do the final two coats.

During the down time while waiting for the varnish to dry I've been picking away at some of the other little things.

Drilled out and glued dowels into oversized screw holes for the hinges, etc. and installed the new spring bronze weatherstripping, including lockstrips.

Everything fits properly and no daylight shining through the gaps!

The Back Door - 2

Throughout the past week and over the weekend in between steps on the screen door, I've been making progress on the back door.

Mostly that involved using a chemical stripper to get the old finish off and then sanding with progressively finer sandpaper to get the surface fully prepared.

Then a once-over with the vacuum and a wipe-down with a tack rag to get a dust free surface.

And today a first coat of varnish. Now we wait for it to dry enough that I can sand it down before the next coat.

The recommendation I got was 2 coats of Pettit Marine Captain's Varnish (sanding with 240 in between coats) followed by 2 coats of Epifanes' Wood Finish Matte (using 320 in between coats).

The Captain's Varnish has a bit of an amber hue to it which darkens and warms the wood tone nicely.

Based in this first coat, I think I might be doing 3 coats of the Captain's Varnish, but time will tell.

Back Screen Door

 While I've been preping the back door, I've also been chipping away at the back screen door. It has a number of issues as well:

• the screen has holes in it (not the normal kind; big ones that would allow decent sized animals through)
• the latch is a mess and doesn't keep the door closed

So I ordered proper replacement screen and a new latch that looks more appropriate to the age of the house.

First the screen.

Along the right edge of this photo you can see some of the holes in the screen. At least one of which was caused by an umbrella...

Friday afternoon I carefully removed the screen molding, damaged screen, and as many staples as I could. Then I cut the new bronze screen material to size, stapled it in place, reinstalled the screen mold, and painted the exterior of the door.

The new bronze screen looks much better than the old black aluminum stuff. In most light it is less obtrusive and easier to see through.

The new latch arrived a week or so ago. It is a simpler version of what is installed on the front screen door. As the back is not a "public" entrance, the less ornate design is appropriate.

That it is brand new polished brass is less appropriate, so I used some of my leftover aging solution to make it look like it's been here a while.

The shape of the strike can be clearly seen in the upper right of the photo. This will become important later...

I also tackled the door jamb along the way. On the left edge of this photo you can see the old latch and the mess in the jamb.

I first fixed the mess in the jamb by piecing in some new wood, filling in the voids, and painting it when I repainted the door. I needed a little more structure here because the new strike is morticed in around both faces of the larger piece. (Refer to the shape of the strike in previous photo.)

Once the paint dried, I could mortice in the new strike and install the latch. Photos follow.

First the outside.

Then the inside.

And finally a video of a working latch that keeps the door closed!

The dog won't be able to treat this as a "dog flap" any more...

The Back Door - 1

This is the first in what I know will be several posts about the back door.  It has a number of issues that need to be corrected.

• The exterior has needed new finish for longer than we've been in the house.
• The weatherstripping doesn't seal properly - you can see daylight between the door and the jamb.
• The gap between the door and jamb is inconsistent. The bottom half is fine, but the top half is more than a quarter-inch.
• The doorknob latch doesn't.
• The rimlock night latch is sketchy. The latch keeper looks like it would fall off at the slightest touch.
• Several of our keys stopped working reliably, which means the cylinder is worn  and is about to give it up.

So the time has come. Night latches aren't that secure, so I found a deadbolt to replace it. It arrived just before the kids went off to college. That meant my threat to change the locks wasn't really a joke...

As you can see in this photo of me removing the old bits, there are failed attempts to bridge the gap between the door and jamb. The spring bronze should work, but the adhesive-backed foam in the background is applied to the jamb as a backup.

In several places the spring bronze had cracked along the crease between the nailing flange and the leaf. It's hard to know for sure, but maybe that the reason for the (ineffectual) foam strip.

In more than a couple of places there were random nails through the spring bronze (needle nose pliers points to one example). These were usually long brads rather than the (appropriate) copper nails. If there is a reason or rhyme to this, it escapes me. I don't see why you'd want to prevent the leaf from pushing against the door; that's the whole point of weatherstripping.

Once I got the old weatherstripping bits off, I fashioned a filler strip to even out the gap, much like I did on the second floor door eons ago.

It is tapered to get the gap between the door and jamb to a consistent 1/8-inch from top to bottom. I had to use some spare copper nails to keep it from curling on the thin end while the glue dried.

I also used some Abatron WoodEpox to fill the old holes in the jamb. The old hole for the doorknob's latch plate was a mess and the plate was installed improperly so that it didn't line up with the bolt. That's mostly fixed now and the strike plate and bolt line up so that they function properly; it actually latches now. To get it to look nice will require a bit more filler.

I then morticed out the new deadbolt strike. (But kept the old rimlock keeper in place while all this was happening. I needed to make sure I could still lock the door at night until the new deadbolt was in place... I'll have to fill in the casing later...)

Then I could install the new deadbolt. It required enlarging the hole through the door and drilling a hole through the edge of the door for the bolt (rimlocks are surface mounted). The thumbturn on the back of the door still isn't installed because ... this door is 2 1/4-inches thick. Despite what the manufacturer's specs say, the standard tailpiece only works with doors up to 1 3/4-inches thick. They're sending a new cylinder with the extended tailpiece. And there is other stuff I can do while I'm waiting.

For example, you can also see that I started sanding the door in preparation for its new coat of finish. 

The Fountain

Ever since we moved in we'd talked about putting a fountain in the "grotto" in the wall at the back of the property.

A couple of years after we moved in and had been doing a lot of work, we were at a party and met a local architect who is regarded as an expert on Cass Gilbert houses. He mentioned that he liked our renovation work and that he previously had lived in the house immediately behind ours (see the red garage in the first photo).  He said that there indeed had been a fountain in the grotto years ago. He had rented out the second floor of his house to some college students and when they eventually moved out, they left behind what he believed was the original fountainhead from our fountain. He had it at his second home an hour or so away and would be willing to return it to us. Though we've worked with him on Cass Gilbert Society functions several times since, we never got it from him.  I'm not certain he recalls the offer due to various other circumstances, so we had to make alternate plans.

The grotto had a bunch of dirt and decomposed material in it. In addition, SWMBO had been dumping our old potting soil in there. So the first step was to dig all that out. I discovered that at the bottom there was an old layer of concrete. It was cracked in several places and was uneven. In addition, the stones surrounding the basin had shifted over time and had large gaps between them, so there was no way to make it water tight.

Another solution needed to be found. Much internet searching and measuring followed before I found the solution; a pond-less water basin.

But on the bright side, the grotto contained a cool block of stone with a fountain carved into its face (see previous photo)...

The first step was to move that block of stone. Little Man (who is now a collegiate offensive lineman and is bigger than me) and I "rolled" it out and onto the ground to the left of the grotto. We later determined that it probably weighs 325+ pounds given that limestone weighs about 150 pounds per cubic foot.

Then I leveled the bottom with a layer of "paver base". Basically paver base is sharp sand and small aggregate that compacts well to provide a solid and level base.

It didn't take long for the basin to arrive. Due to its size it comes on its own pallet and is shipped by truck rather than by USPS, Fedex, etc. For reference, this basin is 36 inches in diameter, 16 inches high, weighs about 40 pounds, and holds about 60 gallons of water. There are several internal pillars and a central column that support the grate and up to 750 pounds of static load (whatever you use as the fountainhead). The pump can be accessed through the pump cover (the white plate on the left side of the grate).

Once it was level, I filled it halfway with water so that it wouldn't shift while I put topsoil around the exterior of the basin.

Our mason, Dave, stopped by Thursday to drill the hole in the stone block. It is a 1-inch hole that goes straight down through the block, centered about a third of the way back from the front edge. That evening, Little Man and I moved the block into place (did I say it weighs over 325 pounds?) and ran 1-inch vinyl tubing from the pump and up the full length of the hole. I had to make some adjustments to get the proper flow rate and to get the tubing to route properly without kinking. A 90-degree elbow connected to the pump outlet, a valve to control the flow, and barbed fitting for the tubing were all that was needed.  I also needed to cut a little of the lip of the grate away to be able to get the pump cord in and out easily. Because it will get damaged if it is allowed to freeze, the pump needs to be removed for the winter.

SWMBO gave me "permission" to select the stone that covers the grate. We'd had some discussion about going to a local landscape center, but I wasn't convinced we could find something with stones in the Goldilocks zone: not too big, but not so small they fell through the grate. I didn't think that river rock would look right. We had a couple of extra limestone blocks laying about, so I grabbed great-grandpa Joe's stone mason tools and went to work breaking stone into the proper sized pieces. It took me a good part of the afternoon...

Saturday I added a bit more soil and transplanted some perennials to soften the edges and camouflage the pump cord, etc. In the back are variegated hosta. Along the sides are Japanese painted fern. We plan to put annuals with a pop of color along the curve in front.

Lastly, the fountain in action:

The Front Porch - 3

 After some unfortunate delays with our contractor (abdominal surgeries, bee stings, car accidents, and a need to re-make the half-columns after the first set wasn't done properly), the front is finally done.

All the previous repairs have been painted.

Some of the round columns needed repairs to their bases. All have been repaired with new wood, joints caulked, and repainted.

The new half-columns against the house have been assembled, installed, and painted.

We'll have to work on removing the "ghost marks" from the previous columns.

Plaster Repair - 2

After several coats of joint compound over the course of the week, I was finally happy with the results. And re-painted the room over the weekend.

We'd previously determined that while the existing color ("Wheeling Neutral") was OK, it wasn't great. The underlying tones were a little off compared to the carpet and window treatments. It was a little more grey/green than it should be.

We used our handy-dandy Benjamin Moore color wheel and selected "Desert Tan". It has a bit more red in its undertone which looks much better with the carpet and window treatments.

A month or so ago I purchased a quart and made a sample board so we could validate that it was the correct color. And experimented with some other things that will be revealed after I have a chance to implement them...

Plaster Repair

Over time the crack in the plaster just behind SWMBO's bed-side table has been getting bigger. Depending on circumstances, I've used various techniques to repair the damage or holes. With the tuckpointing coming on the south elevation, we've had the structural engineer out for a consult on other things. He looked at this and didn't think tearing it off was necessary.

This means that a true repair is still a possibility. 

I've been a member of an evolving list of old house sites on the internet and through them became aware of a product I'm going to try for this repair: Big Wally's Plaster Magic. (Note - no affiliation and no sponsorship...)

In this instance the plaster has cracked and come loose from the underlying lath, especially on the right side of the crack.

And off we go, following the instructions.

I drilled holes through the plaster with a 3/16 masonry bit, making sure to hit the lath. The crack had separated enough that locating the lath wasn't that difficult.

I then vacuumed out all the holes and the crack and squirted the conditioner in every hole.

After waiting the suggested 10 minutes, I used a caulk gun to squirt the adhesive into each hole as directed. The adhesive was runnier than I expected, but no harm resulted. There was just a little more cleanup with a damp rag and bucket of water.

Lastly I used the included screws and washers to clamp down the loose plaster and try to get the right side more-or-less at the same level as the left. And wait for the adhesive to dry/cure.

I waited about 36 hours and then began removing the screws and washers. Everything seemed well-adhered, so it was time to mud and tape.  I'm using fiberglass mesh, rather than paper tape, which should give us better long-term results. I've applied it to some other minor cracks as well.

Now I wait for the first coat to dry. I'm sure it will take two or three coats to get it feathered out so that I'm happy.

The Front Porch Continues - 2

Some of the re-installation has begun. You can tell which bits are new because they are primed, but not painted the final color yet.

The half-columns that go against the column are waiting, as are the repairs to a couple of the round column bases.