The Home Ownership Thread

[emptym]

Some good news and bad news.

Good is that the paint's been stripped from the upstairs doors and doorframes. That's over a hundred year old wood, I believe redwood. And the bathroom's been primed and will be tiled soon.


Cabinets have been ordered and the soffit in the kitchen's been framed:


But the bad news is that the small outdoor storage room, which had the rotting door frame was pretty much rotten throughout, with live termites in one section:


So it's been totally removed:

It was an addition to the house, probably in the 1920's. You can see the original siding on the right. Not sure if we're going to leave it open and maybe put a storage cabinet or two or enclose it again.

 

[Medwed]

I would seal stripped wood (doors, shutters, window frames) asap with oil or whatever is recommended. I did the same thing on my doors ad shutters and left them hang for too long , they warped slightly. Don't make my mistakes.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

The doors and moldings look nice, heck even the studs in an old house are usually impressively tight growth. Today a home center stud has like 4-5 growth rings, where old studs likely look like it should where the rings are tightly spaced.

You can actually buy 'good' studs and they're more normal, but still not even close to those old ones.

Posted this up, thought you guys may get a kick out of it. And many of you are probably local to this event.

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/2016/09/09/mokuchis-3rd-annual-nyc-kez-2016/

 

[RedLantern]

^ wow, very cool!

 

[Ataturk]

When we saw up logs, we use an ancient Japanese tool called a "Honda." Hah.

If you really want better quality studs, you can buy larger dimensional lumber (2x10s, etc.) and rip it into studs. The large boards (around here at least) are all southern yellow pine and are often better than the cheap spruce-pine-fir whitewood from Canada or whatever.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Certainly agreed, and he is on the west coast so he can get good softwoods still!

There is a place near me that buys wood from the west coast, so Alaskan Yellow Cedar, VG Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar.....wow, it is a delight.

 

[emptym]

Thanks Medwed. That was taken last Thurs. On Friday they were got a really light coat of primer, and another today.

 

[emptym]

No, the doors and frames do not have chicken pox, that's Bondo on primer.

The painter uses Bondo, an auto body filler, to fill scrapes and other indentations. The door hinges are painted. They're the original hinges. Brass, super heavy, and gorgeous. The current doorknobs are cheap replacements that don't match. My wife wants silver colored knobs, so I thought painting the hinges would be best. The other option is to remove the old hinges and replace with cheaper stainless steel ones. I would have pushed for brass knobs, but we're painting the doors and trim white, and the walls light gray. And while I love brass, particularly aged brass, I'm not sure I love the look of brass on white.

 

[Medwed]

Brass on white is classic . That is how hardware has been done on doors for the past 200 years. I am afraid it will be very difficult to find proper (period) looking silver doorknobs without creating a new-agy 1990s look.

P.S. Don't buy vintage knobs until you made sure the inner rods that connect the knobs are the same diameter as your existing locks. Retrofitting them will be very time consuming and not fun.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Stainless looks right in a modern or contemporary home but looks well out of place in an older house. I would stick with brass. If you clean it you can use gun-blue to bring about an antique finish.

Frankly I don't understand the white metals obsession as of late, aside from maybe a dislike of bright brass which I understand. It's being applied to situations where it is not really very well applied and mixing metals has been fine for me. I use chrome/white metal for lighting fixtures without much concern for using brass with door hardware which will eventually turn dark.

 

[Gibonius]



Frankly I don't understand the white metals obsession as of late, aside from maybe a dislike of bright brass which I understand. It's being applied to situations where it is not really very well applied and mixing metals has been fine for me. I use chrome/white metal for lighting fixtures without much concern for using brass with door hardware which will eventually turn dark.

Backlash to all the terrible cheap "brass" hardware that was everywhere in the 1990s, maybe.

 

[emptym]

Yeah, maybe antique brass is a good way to go. All the fixtures in the bathroom will be chrome. Ceiling lamps in bedrooms are nickel or stainless colored. One thing I worry about is that if we put in new hinges, the screws won't hold. But maybe I'm overthinking things. Thanks for the advice, guys.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I've used the finish on the hardware for my cabinet, which I'll post up tomorrow.

Backlash to all the terrible cheap "brass" hardware that was everywhere in the 1990s, maybe.

Likely true, the finishes at the bottom of the spectrum are terrible full way across and good at the top end basically also across the board from nickel and stainless to brass copper and bronze with various finishes applied.

It was probably brass over pot metal that turned everyone off, I can certainly understand that.

BTW true stainless hardware, which would be what is found on yachts and so forth, is painfully expensive. Most of what you see is stainless 'finish'.

Stainless is expensive not only because of the base metal (brass is also very pricey!) but because it adds to the time of manufacture greatly.

 

[brokencycle]

I know most of the regular posters are from other areas in the country, but any chance any of you have recommendations on builders/contractors in the NC area? I have a feeling I'll be moving there soon, and I've been looking at houses, and I think I really rather build or buy a cheap house and do a massive renovation.

 

[Medwed]



Yeah, maybe antique brass is a good way to go.  All the fixtures in the bathroom will be chrome.  Ceiling lamps in bedrooms are nickel or stainless colored. One thing I worry about is that if we put in new hinges, the screws won't hold.  But maybe I'm overthinking things.  Thanks for the advice, guys.

I would keep hinges painted instead of putting new screws and new bondo patches etc etc. I would also put an old fashioned external shower with all chrome piping exposed along with thermostatic valve . Not only I like the look , but you will not have hidden leaks and replacement/repair will not involve breaking walls.
http://usa.hudsonreed.com/tradition...th-twin-thermostatic-shower-faucet-valve.html