Keepin' it real.

Permanent roof on Cherokee destroyed.

2009-06-02T16:12:00.003-04:00

I walked by today to find a crew from a local, well established roofing company that advertises slate work had torn this one off in favor of a temporary shingle roof. I asked one of the crew if they had saved any of the slates and they replied they were crumbling when they took them up. Not true. Sure a slate will break if you pry on it. This was a Peach Bottom roof and could have lasted the life of this building. They are now trapped into a cycle of roof replacement with materials that are bad for the building, bad for the environment, and just overall bad. They had saved about 100 slates 'for repairs' but they were stacked like pancakes in the back of a truck and many will likely parish in transit. It's a shame this thing probably could have repaired for a fraction of what it cost them to have these shingles stapled on

Shame shame shame on you!

All that's left from a priceless asset to the home and the character of the neighborhood.

A case for traditional building.

2009-05-29T09:28:00.006-04:00

I had been on the roof for a while now, I know because the heat from the slate was burning through the soles of my shoes, and the harness digging into my neck didn't help as I struggled with ropes and piles of slate to finish a small area that could easily induce both vertigo and claustrophobia at the same time.

After a few hours in the soggy, hot air that is prevalent this time of year in the Ohio Valley I gleefully retreated to the comfort of air conditioning at full blast as I drove to another job-site. As I made my way across town my body temperature started to drop and my clothes expelled water at the same rate I was sucking it in from a plastic bottle. I kept thinking to myself: "We really have it easy". I'm not a historian and I don't know the specific conditions that workers would have faced on the average urban construction job. I do know that it was hard. I understand what it takes to rig your own platforms, cut everything by hand, haul everything up without hydraulic lifts. All the while working in no-doubt unsafe conditions for next to nothing in wages. Where did they get their motivation to keep going? Was the pride in the finished product enough for them? It makes you wonder how they pulled off the amazing examples of craftsmanship that are still standing for us to enjoy. Furthermore it makes you wonder: With everything working against them how they still did such amazing work. So how is it now that everything we seem to build in the modern era is constructed in a throw-away manner, rarely with attention to detail or quality. We have the luxury of power tools, and heavy machinery. It makes you think: what would they have accomplished with the same tools at their disposal.

So what is stopping us from building with the same level of quality today? Sure, we don't have forrest full of 1st generation timber to pick from anymore. We've exhausted that resource so unfortunately, the middle class will have a hard time affording proper structures that they own independently. Masonry just cost more: It takes more capitol to produce a proper structure in stone. We can still build public buildings, mixed use, and even apartments. Share the cost of the structure, or even subsidize it somehow. Our stimulus and LEED building initiatives should focus on durability, natural materials, repairability, and real value. We would be in a much better place if we started building with traditional materials, methods, patterns, and planning. We could actually do it better than they did in the past. We have every convenience and aid at our disposal with modern power equipment. There's no reason not to take advantage of the tools available to us. It's sad to hear a builder say it can't be done like it used to, because it can. They are scared to learn. Scared to take a risk and do something different. They already know the system, the one that's been in place since the war. And current economic concerns aside, the current system in construction makes a lot of people a lot of money. That's not a bad thing but greed, comfort with the current system, and fear of taking a risk on something completely foreign drives the judgements people get to make about what they build and how it is executed.

Moving away from manufactured building materials is the first step. If a component of a building must be produced through a proprietary manufacturing process it is essentially planned obsolescence. Don't give me a window made of extruded aluminum, sealant, springs, plastic, and a number of other things. A wood sash with single glazing is so elegantly efficient and simple. Furthermore it can be repaired, restored, or even reproduced by a tradesperson with even moderate skills. What about that aluminum window? Can Bubba down the street make that in his garage with a router table and cope-and-stick bit? No.

Building is not rocket science. It's not even that hard to figure out. All of the instructions are written for us in the structures that are still standing today after 200, 300, 400 years. These buildings were not engineered. They were built with folk knowledge. We've had a breakdown of that line of communication and it needs to be re-learned. Rediscovering our folk building knowledge is the next step.

The Anchorage, round two.

2009-05-28T12:45:00.003-04:00

After being beat up all winter while working on "The Anchorage" we are back to complete the project. I snapped some photos of the damaged cornice that we will be rebuilding shortly!

Slate roof ARE durable. This terrible-looking rake edge can be repaired like-new with little effort.

A great day to be working outside!

Help wanted...spread the word.

2009-05-01T09:43:00.003-04:00

Everyone hears daily reports of job losses in manufacturing and other specialized trades. New construction is sputtering. But the restoration trades seem to be immune to the economic woes. Buildings still have to be repaired. Sure, folks are not building new additions or getting flashy upgrades like hand-built copper finials or gutter ornamentation. But seven percent of our housing stock was constructed before 1920 and these buildings are in need of maintenance and sometimes total restoration. I have an abundance of restoration work booked for the remainder of this year and I need talented people to join my team.

I am seeking a hardworking tradesperson for a challenging full-time position. Slate roofing experience is not required, but your primary goal will be to learn the art and join the slating crew as a detailer. Must posses a valid DL and have reliable transportation. Rooming is available for the right person who is willing to re-locate.

Email your resume for consideration.

Salvaging a slate roof.

2009-04-22T20:14:00.004-04:00

We spent the last two-and-a-half days salvaging a really nice slate roof from a government building that is being demolished to make way for a new one. After some experimentation we realized the quickest way to get them off the roof was by throwing them straight into the truck onto cushions we placed on the floor of the trailer. Slate chucking will surely be an olympic sport in a few years. Well, maybe the roofer's olympics. It took some practice to get our technique down and we all have some scars from the learning process!

Slate Chucking!

Lookout!

Spring in Kentucky.

2009-04-09T21:46:00.002-04:00

Just a beautiful day to be working outside...

Stimulus bill offers incentives to cheapen buildings in the name of energy efficiency.

2009-04-06T22:56:00.003-04:00

The energy star website was updated March 6, 2009 to include federal tax credits for energy efficiency. These are only for existing homes, not for new construction. What's at the top of the list?

Windows and doors.

Insulation.

Roofs (metal and asphalt).

We are going to see a lot of needless work done to our stock of traditionally constructed, pre-war homes in the coming years. This is very disappointing because the systems these new products replace are often superior to the new units. If you account for embodied energy, operational energy, and life-cycle energy most traditional forms of construction come out on top over newer systems. Especially systems that are already in-place. Think twice before jumping on the bandwagon. Remember the words: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Replacing a perfectly good system in the name of reduction in energy isn't really a net reduction. You can't consume your way to sustainability.

Now remember the architectural equivalent of this mantra:

Maintain before repair.

Repair before restore.

Restore before replace.

Replace only as a last resort.

Live it.

First enclosure trimmed, St. James Court

2009-03-31T20:16:00.004-04:00

Things are starting to shape up on the Court. We finished the trim carpentry on one of the two structures today. Here are some photos of the progress:

Corbels installed

View of the ceiling from the inside.

St. James Condos get a much needed face-lift

2009-03-26T22:12:00.002-04:00

The residents of this condo building on St. James Court have struggled with the entryway awnings for a long time. They have had many contractors look at the project but every proposal they got involved restoring or duplicating these existing awnings. The awnings were built sometime in the late 40's or early 50's and the workmanship was not the best. They don't fit the building and really have no place here. During my first visit to the site I noticed old paint lines on the brick that indicated they originally had a proper entablature and probably some type of bracket transferring some of the load back to the wall. Further inspection upon demolition revealed even more clues. A cast stone lintel, previously covered by the barrel vault, flanks the doorway. The new surround frames the stone lintel.

The new entryway will feature a tongue and groove beaded ceiling, simplified doric entablature and brackets under the beams to visually transfer the load back to the wall. The wrought iron remains and acts as a support for a majority of the overhang.

This is what a valley should look like.

2009-02-24T18:06:00.003-05:00

This is what a valley is supposed to look like. Each course runs all the way to the exposure line and you shouldn't see any of the next slate hanging down. If your valley cut is wider than a normal bond you use a slate that is larger than the rest of the field slates to run all the way in.

This is what field should look like. Slates are laying flat, the bottom of the slate shouldn't be canted up in the air. Gaps at the bottoms of the slates like those shown in the photo below are usually a sign of over-nailing, poor decking preparation, or lack of a cant strip at the bottom.

This picture shows a job where A competitor stripped a perfectly good peach bottom roof from this house and laid new slate. There was some damage to the box gutters and a dormer from a tree fall, but it only required replacement of the copper work and a few courses of slate. I'm sure they convinced the homeowner or the insurance company that the whole thing needed to be re-done. I guess that would have been OK, but the work they did is terrible. This is a "new" roof. It is only a few months old. Notice all of the slates that are not laying flush and the inconsistent exposures everywhere. Also they didn't run each course all the way into the valley.

More of the same junk. These are not even the worst areas of this roof.

Putting a time capsule under the decking boards.

2009-02-18T19:48:00.003-05:00

Ok, maybe "a couple hundred years" was an exaggeration, but hopefully nobody will see these time capsules for at least a century.

First section of slate installed on new slate roofing project.

2009-02-16T18:16:00.003-05:00

I do a lot of slate repairs but this is the first time we've had the privilege of doing it from scratch. With the gutters and cant strip in place, we started hanging some slate today. The hip will get a copper "ridge iron" cap.

Box gutter pan installed.

Window pan installed.

Small "pie" installed.

Building archeology

2009-02-12T20:55:00.003-05:00

I am a huge sucker for history and archeology. I love finding pieces left behind by workers or inhabitants of a building from long ago. We've discovered a lot of worker graffiti inside of cornices and under roof decking, but I've never seen anything like this. We pulled plywood off the face of these dormers to find This:

I'm still scratching my head and trying to figure out what exactly it was. We have pictures from the mid-70's showing the face of these dormers in sound condition so I can only guess what we see in the picture has been clad in plywood or aluminum trim for some time. The paint is thought to be the original color scheme, but we can't figure out the purpose of these two white squares on the face of the dormers. The two paint lines don't even match. If anyone has a guess, I'd love to hear it...

Prepping for a new slate roof.

2009-02-03T07:05:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we started the shingle tear-off at a residence in Old-Louisville. Like most houses in this area, it once had a slate roof that would still be with us today and probably could have lasted another century when it was removed in the 70's. We are installing new slate and restoring the box gutters all the way around.

Copper bay roof

2009-01-26T18:21:00.003-05:00

Bracing for the snowfall, so it's unlikely we'll have much work the rest of this week.

We finished up this bay window today.

Rubber roof and copper box gutters completed.

2009-01-24T06:31:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we finished work on the small flat roof and box gutters. There was a lot of work that went into this one. The whole roof deck was raised about 3" to get the transition of the rubber and copper higher from the base of the gutter at the shallow end. We had to completely rebuild the trough also. With the rubber adhered and detailed the only thing left to do now is reinstall the siding that was removed.

Termination soldered in

Outside corner

Rubber installed

Today we're putting a standing seam roof and copper gutters on this small bay.

Restoring a neglected flat roof and cornice gutter.

2009-01-21T20:33:00.008-05:00

This week we're restoring the flat porch roof and box gutters at a residence in New Albany, IN. As with many century-old gutters, these had been relined at some point in the recent past. They even rebuilt the trough and did a bunch of carpentry repair but the repairs themselves caused even more problems. Surprisingly the gutters didn't leak but the transition that was cut into the old roofing material did. So now the leak was happening on the structural part of the porch rather than the superficial framing of the overhang. We've now rebuilt and repaired the rotted areas and corrected the pitch issue with the gutter. Tomorrow we will begin lining the new gutter trough with copper pans and installing the insulation board for the rubber roof...

Peel-n-stick, v-crimp panels installed with face-nails, silver emulsion coating, and tar of course!

Just slop more bull on there: that will fix it for sure!

Do-over!

...Speaking of rubber roofs, Did I already mention how much I love rubber roofs? Fully-adhered rubber (EPDM) is the best option for simple flat roofs on old houses. I love copper, really. But nobody can justify the upfront cost of a flat-lock copper roof (almost $2000 per square!) Around the turn-of-the-century there was an army of immigrant roof tinners who were well trained and worked for next to nothing to cover the houses constructed in the building boom of that time. For quality metal roofing to be cost-effective: We would need another influx of highly-skilled cheap labor that could create true double-locked and flat-lock metal roofing. As it stands now, that type of roofing is a boutique item that is not within the average homeowner's budget. It is better for the structure to spend the money on the crucial areas instead of splurging on an item that could be waterproofed effectively for much less. Gutters should always be lined with professionally fabricated sheet metal. EPDM is NOT designed for gutters, and installing it in a gutter is not within the scope of the warranty granted by any of the product manufacturers. Gutters take a lot of abuse and the rubber, while durable on a flat roof, is not strong enough to take more than a decade or two lining a gutter. Gutter lining should last a century, minimum.

Pictures of the Black residence, Hodgenville, KY

2009-01-18T10:29:00.003-05:00

Here are some completed photos of the radius gutters we worked on this week. Next week we'll be in Indiana working regular-old boring straight gutters! This was a really fun project.

Keepin' it real TV: Episode 4

2009-01-18T09:56:00.005-05:00

Finished installing the round gutter pans. We took some video of soldering a vertical joint, which I am terrible at.

Keepin' it real TV: Episode 3

2009-01-15T17:20:00.002-05:00

Today we worked in the shop forming the pans for the box gutter. I have to apologize to the members and Jenkinsslate.com, they were expecting to see an example of a segmented gutter. The method I used today should only be used on a tight radius like the one we are working on. Linear seams like these are acceptable on a tight arch, but on a more gradual curve the force of expansion is focused directly on the joints along their entire length. If you have a gradual curve it is best to form all sides of the pan from a single piece, and solder the seams where each segment meet.

Keepin' it real TV.

2009-01-12T20:13:00.006-05:00

These videos are being shot for my friends at the Slateroofcentral.com forums. We have all been discussing best practices for radius gutters and I'm submitting these videos to demonstrate our process.

First: forming the drip-edge.

Next: installing the drip.

Tomorrow: forming pans and soldering.

Rebuilding and re-lining a radius box gutter.

2009-01-12T18:04:00.004-05:00

This is a 120 year-old box gutter that is in decent shape considering the age. We'll be replacing two rafters and about 5 lookouts total.

Bull Shit

2009-01-11T00:01:00.003-05:00

This is a perfect example of why roofers should stay away from slate roofs. We are looking at a slate roof on a 20's bungalow that has been maintained on the "bull" plan for some time now. If you're not familiar with "bull", it is roofing mastic, otherwise known as "tar". A favorite of idiot roofers everywhere. This material is poorly used in almost all situations. If you hire a roofer and they get anywhere near your house with a can of this stuff: send them running immediately.

A cracked slate could have been easily repaired with a new tile, and a slate hook. This guy just glued the cracked section to the underlying slates but he failed to even seal the crack. Water ran through the cracked face, above the tar and right into the house, damaging century-old original plaster.

Nice try, asshole!

This is a "temporary" repair. A properly installed, but poorly matched slate. This will stay dry until we can find a salvage slate that will match the rest of the roof.

More slate pictures from Anchorage.

2009-01-05T21:08:00.002-05:00

Work continues on "The Anchorage"...

This entire section has now been relaid. The previous work was done sometime in the mid-20th century and featured a 1/4" plywood deck and random width and exposure which did not fit the rest of the house.

The section to the right was also re-laid because the "random" color blend was not so random and therefore very obvious.

Laying the final course on the ridge...

Off in the far-right you can see there was once a chimney on the peak. It was removed today and we will be slating over that section. Chimneys that are not significant are not good for the structure and should be removed. One less detail to flash, one less costly thing to maintain.

Dead raccoons and gust-a-plenty

2008-12-19T18:04:00.004-05:00

Warning to all: This post contains pictures of a decaying raccoon corpse.

Now, about that. While removing the slates to install new copper in this valley we found a raccoon who had been trapped in the roof. It was disturbing, but if you're going to meet a raccoon face to face, it is probably better that it be dead than alive.

Here's a little work on the box gutters. They'll get copper lining tomorrow.

We named him rocky...

We also dealt with some nasty wind today that threatened to rip away our cover:

Why a recession is good for traditional building.

2008-12-18T13:59:00.001-05:00

Reprinted from the "Traditional Building" newsletter:

WHY A RECESSION IS GOOD FOR TRADITIONAL BUILDING

Sometimes you have to lose something to appreciate what you have. We have lost our new construction boom in a sub-prime morass. Banks won't lend. Cheap fuel is lost forever. Ex-urban McMansions are boarded up in ghost town cul-de-sacs across America.

This is good news for the $170 billion traditional building market.

Conservation is back in vogue, historic restoration and renovation are more sensible than ever, "embodied energy" is a new household phrase, adaptive reuse of existing buildings is the market's hot spot, and the United States Green Building Council, heretofore construction nouveau-philes, now understands the importance of LEED standards for historic and existing buildings.

As Rick Rosan, president of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) told me, "It takes a shock like this to make people change." ULI released "The City in 2050: Blueprints for Change," a white paper about the future of real estate development, at the recent Urban Land Expo in Miami.

Confused about the state of our industry, I decided to attend to hear what the "suits" were saying. Guest speakers included four former HUD secretaries and Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve. Attendees were the developers, building owners, and bankers who drive private residential and commercial planning and construction in the United States and around the world.

What I heard in the seminars, at the coffee bar, and in the ULI presentation of "2050" was that the world is going urban, and urban is green. The key factors driving this change are population growth, globalization, global warming, capital markets, rising energy costs, and equitable development.

ULI predicts that 80% of development will be in cities or on the urban edge. "The drive toward 2050 is about building sustainable communities that withstand the test of time," the white paper proclaimed. "It's about building for people and about building in harmony with the natural environment, not in spite of it. Well-planned communities, those that give residents the option to drive only a short distance, walk, bike, or take transit, have a central role to play in mitigating climate change."

Hallelujah! When developers look to the cities and close-in suburbs, they will find a proud and sensible inventory of well-built, sustainable historic buildings that serve our needs. Many of these old buildings will require restoration, renovation, and sensitive in-fill nearby. Many more historic buildings will be adapted for new uses. These buildings, which convey our heritage, will represent permanence and certainty in changing times. As our population grows by an estimated 100 million people over the next 40 years, our pedestrian-friendly historic neighborhoods and public buildings, parks, and squares will welcome people from around the world . But there is sprucing up to do! Problems are opportunities. Traditional building-the restoration, renovation, preservation, and contextually designed new additions and in-fill that are necessary to serve our needs-is a solution now both obvious and urgent.

Bungalow on Bayly Ave, disfigured forever.

2008-12-18T13:16:00.003-05:00

I drove by this great Crescent Hill bungalow today to find some pirates defacing it with cheap plastic windows. The homeowner was clueless, stating "they were in really bad shape". I took all of the old sashes I could. They are old-growth southern yellow pine frames with hand-blown glass. No rot at all on any of the sashes. They just needed new glazing on a few of them. I just don't get it. There is no excuse. Restoration would have been cheaper and brought the same "energy savings". This house has lost a significant portion of it's character and value. With the windows gone and the clapboards rotting away in the summer under the vinyl curtain of death; a fatal blow has been dealt to a building that was just fine the way it was built.

The damage is done.

Broken Sidewalk: Cloister Apartments roof destroyed by vandals

2008-11-10T04:13:00.002-05:00

According to reports from Broken Sidewalk, a team of vandals recently destroyed the roof of the Cloister apartment building on the Corner of Chestnut and Shelby streets. They were spotted tossing the slates off the roof and putting on a temporary asphalt shingle roof. It is assumed they were actually paid by the building owners to do this, making the injustice even more severe. In more honest times we called these people robbers, pirates, hoodwinks, neanderthals, and vagabonds. I think now they call themselves roofers. No word as to weather charges will be filed but clearly a great crime has been committed. This building has been robbed of a permanent, durable roof for its remaining life. Furthermore, the stone was in excellent shape and could have been recycled at the very least and used to cover another structure for another century or more.

"The Plaza" entryway drawings

2008-11-10T03:39:00.005-05:00

I've been working with the residents of this condo building for some time now to navigate the waters of the local landmarks ordinance with the intention of removing these hideous and poorly build entryway awnings. These things were supposedly added to the building some time in the 40's and there is evidence of a classical portico that preceded the current installation.

These things are corroded through and besides being an eyesore, they are a burden to maintain and would be impossible to recreate with the condo association's budget.

In this photo it is easy to see the "ghost lines" of the former entryway surround with a flat roof. The sheet metal rectangle against the wall is also covering a limestone lintel that would have fit perfectly inside the original surround.

This is my design proposal which includes eliminating the rusty heaps and building a proper portico with a doric entablature. The original wrought iron supports are retained and used as a partial load bearing aspect of the system. The corbels do transfer some of the load, but more importantly they visually transfer the load and make the whole thing seem more believable.

Restoration of the slate roof on a gothic farmhouse, circa 1870

2008-11-06T12:11:00.004-05:00

Scaffold is on site now for us to begin work on the restoration of the slate roof on this 19th century gothic farmhouse. The stone on this roof originates from Vermont which is highly unusual for this area considering the accessibility of Pennsylvania and Maryland-sourced slate that came down the Ohio river. They would have had to pay a lot more to have these slates shipped over land to build this roof.

This is the first total roof restoration I've had the privilege of working on and I'm really excited for this project. More photos to come of course, as we get started.

Dispatches from an over-worked slater.

2008-11-05T21:13:00.004-05:00

I have some photos here of a restoration job we are completing this week. This job involved two short valleys, chimney flashing, and a box gutter as well. We had to remove and reinstall about 150 slates to run the new sheet metal. With new flashing, this roof can be expected to last another 50 years or more. Usually this type of stone can last longer but it is on an unprotected southern exposure and gets a lot of harsh weather. Still the slates on this side of the roof only have a 20% failure rate versus about 5% on the rest of the roof.

Masterslation

2008-11-05T20:58:00.003-05:00

Slate is finally being applied here. I have a whole square down after this weekend and I expect to finish another two squares this weekend. I was slowed while working because I had to remove a bunch of siding to install new step flashing.

It was very exciting for me laying the first course on my own house. The slate is "North County Black" from New England Slate Co.

Away with those temporary shingles.

Luckily, I was able to run each course up this rake edge with one full and one half-width slate, eliminating any waste slates.

The lap siding has been temporarily removed to accommodate step flashing.

Groundscore!!!

2008-11-05T20:47:00.004-05:00

We have two windows on the second story of our house in the front. The original sashes were thrown away and replaced with cheap vinyl crap windows by the previous owners. I have been searching for a long time for salvaged windows to match the two openings and today I got them. I actually picked up an entire lot of windows from a 2 story bungalow that was being defaced by some yokels with plastic windows and a siding brake. I will be selling this lot on craiglist soon for roughly $200. There are enough windows to build a whole house with. They are mostly large 6-over-1 double hung, but there are some squat 6-over-6 windows that must have been for a kitchen or a bath.

Back to the ones I am keeping:

The sash with the large pane needs new glass, but I have plenty. All four sashes need reglazing, but there is no rot anywhere. These sashes are only 80 years old. I asked the homeowner why she had them replaced and she said she was sick of the old aluminum storms rattling. I can sympathize because I still have a lot of rickety aluminum storms on my house, but what justification is that for ripping out the windows? Just put some good storms in there and you'll save money and avoid ruining the house for future generations.

These guys are ready for a new home where they will be loved.

The lazy post...

2008-10-31T16:12:00.001-04:00

I've been real busy working on slate roofs and my own house, and helping to throw a big halloween party so blogging has ceased for the last week or so. I promise to all regular readers I will provide you with a gauntlet of new restoration photos and dry writing over the weekend.

Cheers.

Repairing damage from a fallen chimney.

2008-10-22T19:27:00.002-04:00

Back in September you may remember Kentucky suffered a major wind storm which did plenty of damage and which will be keeping roofers and insurance adjusters busy until next spring. We're now in progress on this restoration job which includes repairing the damage caused by this fallen chimney stack. I used the salvaged timbers from the building demolition I wrote about earlier this week to repair those broken rafters you see in the photos. The broken decking was replaced with rough-sawn 1" oak boards. This roof is now covered with EPDM and the chimney will be rebuilt at some point. I'm a big fan of EPDM for these small flat roofs because if punctured, they can be easily repaired by the homeowner with regular inner-

tube patch kits available at bike shops or gas stations.

An oversized, top heavy chimney stack that was in need of a repointing anyway, just couldn't bear the winds.

Six rafters were split at the bird's mouth where they hung on the plate. We repaired this by running a new plate on top of the ceiling joist just a few feet back from the wall. The load is now transfered from the good sections of the rafter, to the joist, and out to the wall. For added strength we sistered 12' beams onto each rafter and cut new bird's mouths to sit on the plate.

That hole to the right was used to access the attic and nail the sistered beams at the back. This job is not for the claustrophobic.

Another 19th-century masonry building demolished.

2008-10-20T18:41:00.004-04:00

I drove by this building on Thursday last week to find the rear half reduced to a pile of ruble. The roof was being removed and they were beginning to salvage copper and other things in preparation for the demolition of the front part of the struture. While on site, I witnessed a heart-pine 6-panel door shredded into splinters by the claw of a bulldozer and almost cried as I watched a 3-wythe 100 year old brick wall come down. This building is a former house that was converted for use as a church sanctuary. I knocked on the door of the office which occupies the building next door and asked the pastor what the reason for the demolition was. There appeared to be no fire damage and the building was sound, as one would expect from a load-bearing masonry structure of this vintage. Her answer was vague be she claimed to have been told the integrity of the building was compromised by water damage. I find this hard to believe considering a whole city of similar buildings survived total submersion in the flood. I was able to salvage a few of the rafters but the 2x12 floor joist and those beautiful windows will likely be crushed and hauled off to a landfill. They have plans to build a new sanctuary but they will never be able to replace this structure in quality. We need deed restrictions to protect our irreplaceable built resources from misguided or purely ignorant owners. Not just in historic districts but anywhere.

Sorry I only have a google shot of the structure before it started to come down. All of the trim is heartwood pine, and most of the framing is old-growth poplar or heartwood pine. There is a limestone foundation also which could be recycled but I doubt that will happen.

Can't see it from my house!

2008-10-09T19:35:00.004-04:00

Finally we got some more "work" done on the house. My crew had some downtime earlier this week so we ripped off the aluminum siding on the south side of the house. I was really dreading what we would find under the stuff on this side, but it wasn't too bad at all. Even the windows are in decent shape. They will both need to be reglazed but it could be a lot worse.

My main issue is rebuilding the drip caps that were taken off when they installed the siding.

Django is always nervous when I climb on ladders.

I'm so happy that we have exposed rafter tails instead of a boxed eave. I will put bare galvanized half-rounds on here some day when these gutters fall off.

I know this might look bad but the paint is just peeling. There is very little, if any rot on the sill and the bottom rail of the window.

And finally, the color shot. Ignore the blue, that's just tinted primer. The final color scheme is the "green" color on the siding, Cream trim, and a very dark brown/burgundy for the sashes.

Keepin' it real Q&A session.

2008-10-08T21:28:00.005-04:00

Christopher at Shaker Heights Restoration posed a question about window and trim restoration which I'm going to answer here on the blog tonight:

I have a greenish building/restoration question, one that your work rather begs, and for which I have yet to get a straight answer, namely, is it better to replace certain elements or to repair them?

For example, the trim around the windows on the 1920s house I hope to buy. It's a simple rectangular board with a bead on the edge closest to the window. The original is caked with several coats of (presumably lead) paint. It has been the victim of some rather clumsy scraping, which has put deep gouges in may of the pieces. I'd have no trouble obtaining an identical routher bit and ripping a replacement with a table saw.

Is it better to just replace it, or to expose myself to all of the issues associated with the removal of lead paint, just for the sake of retaining the original. The replacement will look better than any work I'll be able to do on the original, and it will take less time, too.

Thanks.

Christopher, when I started in the restoration trades I was working for a fellow who threw away anything old and then beautifully duplicated with great accuracy. Sometimes the things we got rid of were deteriorated beyond repair, but often I think they could have been salvaged. The problem with getting rid of old trim is, even in rotted condition old lumber is almost always still a better product than the new lumber that is commercially available. If you have some rot you can stabilize it with one of the many epoxy systems out there. If you just have some gouges from an overzealous scraping attempt, just fill them in with Durham's Water Putty once you are finished with your own scraping. Use some TSP and a wet rag to control the lead dust and you'll get great results. The key to scraping smart is using the right tool. You want to use a pull scraper where the blade is almost perpendicular to the surface you are scraping. But more importantly you want to use a contoured blade on any areas with a profile. Duffy Hoffman makes a universal scraper handle and grinds custom contoured blades. You'll have to call the office of his painting business in Pennsylvania to order one, or catch him at one of the many Preservation trade shows he speaks at. The number there is: (215) 766-3544. Also, a company called Speedheater also makes some good scraper tools and blades that they sell for use with their paint heater tool. You can find the hand tools here: http://www.speedheater.us/category/toolsscrapers/3.

Always keep this in mind whenever you are working on a historic building:

Maintain before repair.
Repair before restore.
Restore before replace.
Replace only as a last resort.

The book on box gutters.

2008-10-06T16:54:00.011-04:00

This post is part of my series on box gutter maintenance and restoration which is one of the primary areas of work my restoration company engages in. Most of the box gutters we work on have been neglected for a century or more and need total restoration including rebuilding of the structure that holds the whole thing up. These articles are here to help you avoid such a scenario.

The majority of well built pre-war houses have built-in gutters of some kind. The most common are "box gutters" which can have many configurations but are usually built into the overhang that forms the cornice you see from the ground. Box gutters are often neglected and poorly maintained; which keeps me in business. If you own a house with built-in gutters follow my advice and you won't have to pay a fella like me to completely rebuild them someday.

First you need to understand how these things are built. The gutter structure is supported by "lookouts" or rafters that extend past the wall. These also form the structure for the cornice. Lookouts will rot in extreme cases where the gutter has been neglected for a long time. The lookouts are notched out to form the shape of the gutter trough and boards are nailed lengthwise to build the trough shape. To keep the whole thing watertight, sheet metal is carefully measured and bent to fit the shape of the trough. All of the seams must be thoroughly soldered. The roofing material overlaps the sheet metal lining to complete the job. In restoration cases where metal roofing or roll roofing is staying in place but the box gutter is being re-lined with new sheet metal, a rubber membrane is installed to bridge the gap. This scenario is shown in the diagram seen above. If the roof has slate, wood, or asphalt shingles it can just be re-roofed once the metal lining is installed.

Gutters are often overlooked because they can't be seen from the ground and they are often dangerous for a DIYer to work on. The last thing you want to do is ignore your box gutters, they are the plumbing system for your roof. They collect water from the roof and channel it away from the walls and foundation. This is a good thing. When gutters fail the leaks can make their way into the interior of the house but they will often just cause damage to the trim.

When embarking on a maintenance project you need to learn how to read your building for signs of any problems. As you inspect the cornice from the ground, look for obvious signs of leaks such as paint bubbles or full blown wood rot. If you have areas like this it's already getting bad and you need to get on the roof. You'll want to get a ladder that will reach the eave to inspect them from the top. If you are thinking about walking the gutters: don't. Cornices that look sturdy can be booby traps of death that will collapse under your weight and send you plummeting to the ground.

If scaling a 40 foot ladder or walking a booby trap of death doesn't sound like a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon, you need to find a good handyman who is willing to go up a 40' ladder. They don't have to be a roofer and in fact it's better if they are not. If you hire a roofer or a specialist they will charge too much and try to sell you a peel-n-stick solution. Send the handyman up there with a digital camera to photograph the areas that are producing the visible problems that you can see underneath. If you are lucky you will still have your original metal with no tar, roll roofing, peel-n-stick, jelly, peanut butter, or any other junk used to stop a leak. If you do have the original metal, you can clean the whole thing, patch the corroded areas with a specialty product, and give the whole thing a much needed paint job.

Buy all of the materials yourself (including the ladder needed) and agree on a labor rate only for your handyman. Be sure they are fully insured and contract them to patch your metal lining with the Mule-Hide two-part metal repair system sold at ABC. Also contract them to clean the gutters twice a year. The labor on patching and two cleanings should be under $500 and that way you can avoid filling out tax forms.

Now it's time for a paint job on the whole thing. Don't fight it. Paint it and keep painting it every other year. A paint job on 180' of gutters at 3 stories high should cost about $1,800 in the midwest. Clean them every season. If you do these things, even your century-old metal gutters can last a very long time.

If you do nothing, rebuilding that same cornice and running copper lining cost about $25,000. Take your pick...

If you are unfortunate to have a gutter sandwich with multiple layers of roofing crap accumulated in the trough, rebuilding the cornice may be your only option. Don't fall prey to contractors who want to take your hard earned money to line your gutters with EPDM rubber or peel-n-stick tape. EPDM is designed for flat roofs on commercial buildings and should never be used for gutter lining. Peel and stick is designed for temporary repairs, not as a permanent installation. You'll be better off saving your money for a full rebuild of the trough including copper or stainless steel lining.

Restoration of a landmark roof.

2008-10-06T16:33:00.004-04:00

We replaced about 30 slates in the area to the right of the tower.

They are the same type of slate but the match isn't perfect. The original tower slates are protected from the sun and therefore are slightly darker than the grey/green salvage slates we were using.

Slating up to the peak here. This area was missing about 50 slates on each side of the peak. The match here is much more seamless because the weathering of the salvage slates is the same as the original.

Slating completed and ridge tiles installed.

Soldered repairs to punctures in the copper saddle.

Matt on top of the world.

St. Boniface Catholic Church, survey of roof damage.

2008-09-25T21:14:00.005-04:00

I was called to survey the storm damage to this 120-year old catholic church. The building is absolutely humbling to climb on. This missing slate is mostly still intact. It slid down the roof into a gutter. We will be re-slating this area along with a few smaller sections that were affected.

Slates were peeled off this roof peak when Louisville was battered with hurricane-force winds. I suspect there was a pre-existing problem here that caused the damage to be as severe as it is though. Still the amount of damage to the roof in comparison to the total area is less than 1%.

Dislodged slates slid down the roof and collected in a large gutter behind a tower.

Vertigo-inducing shot from the peak.

Highlights from the Traditional Building show.

2008-09-24T20:26:00.003-04:00

The promising trends:

1. New urbanism is hot hot hot.

2. Leed is dead. Obituary to follow soon.

3. There are at least 10 manufacturers producing true double hung wood windows with counterweights. Why did it take 70 years for us to rediscover this was the best invention ever? New-old windows are definitely in.

4. Duffy Hoffman is still my hero.

The bad news:

1. Composite trim and siding is everywhere. I'm still skeptical.

2. Chinese slate and fake slate is getting more popular.

3. More architects than tradespeople.

I think things are looking good for the future but we still need to continue to promote preservation trades training and send the "product slingers" running for the hills.

Video from the Jobsite.

2008-09-24T20:10:00.003-04:00

I know phones taking pictures and video is old news but it still amazes me. We took some homey-cam shots today while working on the slate roof on 3rd street...

In the hole...

2008-09-22T16:01:00.004-04:00

This homeowner just can't believe that they have hurt their house by painting the facade, but the evidence is clear from inside. This roof has been leaking for a long time due to poor maintenance, but when the water made its way into the brick wall it had nowhere to go but inside because it has many layers of latex paint on the outside. The blown-in insulation in the cavity didn't help either. Once the insulation was damp it spread damage to other areas that never would have been affected.

Rotted decking removed. It's actually good that we had to remove the decking because I had to climb into this hole to nail the new lookouts. It would have been a lot of work just to nail some lookouts but it all had to come off anyway, which worked out well.

New lookouts peeking through the wall.

New lookout from the outside.

Design Slam: Mcmansion Style.

2008-09-21T21:25:00.002-04:00

I don't know what they were going for on this one... Part farmhouse, part "colonial". So here are the big problems with the overall design and the details:

If you're going to install and column, align it with the entablature please. If you're going to install a railing above a column, align the post with the column below.

Hands down, weirdest looking window and lintel design I have ever seen.

Please commit to a finish material. Either use stone or siding. Don't put shutters on a paired window.

Wind Storm and Travel.

2008-09-21T21:21:00.004-04:00

Finally, we are back online after hurricane force winds wrecked havoc on our neighborhood and knocked out the power for a week. I've been busy as hell and I'll start to post the backlog of updates. I've been in Chicago for the Traditional Building show for the last three days. I attended some great lectures and classes and got to pick up a few antique trade books. I gotta say having no power was kind of nice. All the neighbors hung out on their porches and we actually talked at night. Gives you an idea of what the place was like before everyone had a TV. The weather was perfect all week so it couldn't have happened at a better time.

Scraping, Sanding, Washing, Sanding, Filling, Sanding, Caulking, Priming, Painting, Painting.

2008-09-10T21:46:00.003-04:00

And I forgot to mention cleaning up...

I painted all day on the job; we're painting the Bevin's residence where I did the copper caps and chimney work. Then I came home and painted my house until dark. I'm actually painting my house now which means I finally decided on a color scheme that I think I can live with. I promise I'll post pictures of the colors as soon as I get that new Digi-cam.

Entryway Design

2008-09-09T11:15:00.005-04:00

This is an early sketch for an entryway I'm designing. The building currently has a deteriorating iron and sheet metal thing that doesn't really fit the building or the scale of other elements on the building. I'm considering using some kind of decorative stamped sheet metal on the recessed panels of the support brackets. This would dress up the large blank area without the expense of wood carving or custom mill work which is not in the budget. The other option would be tongue and groove bead board but that may be too folksy for this use. Criticism? Opinions?

Perhaps clad the recessed panel with something like this?

Design slam of the day.

2008-09-08T17:19:00.006-04:00

These photos are from an addition that was recently completed on a 1925 revival house.

Dentil occupying the corner rather than framing it. They even took the time to notch out the corner of dentil to fit it in. Epic fail.

There's a reason they call it "brick mold". These windows are framed with brick mold which literally makes it look like a picture frame. Also not flashed under the siding, although it probably doesn't matter this close to the eave unless the roof leaks.

"Subdivided" documentary.

2008-09-07T21:31:00.003-04:00

The trailers and web clips look great. I can't wait to see the full feature.

Check out their website at: http://www.subdivided.net/

More pictures from Bardstown, KY

2008-09-06T17:10:00.008-04:00

I though I would add a few more photos from Bardstown. I must apologize for the poor quality, they were taken on a camera phone. I'm going to use a lot of these for my Small Town Main Street pattern book that is coming out this winter. More on that later...

These are new townhouses. The buildings have no setback at all which is great to see new construction being planned in character with its surroundings. It's a shame they dropped the ball on the little details. This cornice is almost there, but the moldings are undersized.

A very handsome entryway with a unique approach to the glazing in the transom.

A great duplex. It's hard to think that limestone lintels were once economically feasible even on common buildings. Most of the fancier houses in town have gauged brick arches or jack arches at the very least.

3-bay federal house with unique segmented arch entryway. I wish I had a better picture. This is my motivation to get a new digi-cam.

Live, from the Preservation Kentucky Conference. part 2

2008-09-06T14:24:00.005-04:00

Today we wrapped up the Preservation Kentucky conference. The final keynote speaker was Mike Jackson. He has done a lot of research on the LEED scorecard and its shortcomings. His website has a powerpoint presentation that is very math-intensive and still very easy to follow. I recommend everyone view it, especially those that are considering a new construction project.

http://www.illinoishistory.gov/ps/presentations/Embodied_Energy.htm

His work is proof that we need to rally the troops and tell the building materials industry, and the architects that are in bed with them that we are not going to fall for their ruse.

The main website can be found here: http://www.illinoishistory.gov/ps/green_preservation.htm

My copy for the Restore Media Convention.

2008-09-05T22:47:00.001-04:00

Green building is environmental snake oil.

The building trades and architectural world have been swept into a frenzy over green building. It seems like every product has a LEED rating now and every builder is touting their green initiatives. Somewhere along the line, some really smart people realized we were doing a lot of damage to the earth in the building industry. But rather than looking to the past for the answer to this problem, they invented the "New Green". The new green utilizes a number of innovative building materials and mechanical systems to decrease the ecological footprint of a structure. The main focus is energy efficiency: using less energy to control the climate inside, wash the dishes, take a shower, and keep the lights on. Energy conservation is certainly a noble pursuit and it should not be overlooked, but it is not the most important issue.

Current green building initiatives seek to create a hermetically sealed structure that must be ventilated mechanically. This is done to reduce the amount of energy that is needed to heat and cool the structure. The whole concept of designing an airtight building is wrong. Airtight buildings are not the answer to long-term energy concerns. Air conditioning and heating are unsustainable by their very nature. Building envelopes should be designed to offer a naturally aspirated escape from the elements, not a constantly controlled climate. Heating and cooling can be supplemented with new technology such as geothermal or solar, but the building should be capable of providing reasonably comfortable shelter without the presence of climate control systems. The key is to quit thinking about energy efficiency as it relates to artificial climate control.

A popular way for architects and builders to create a "sealed" house is by using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) in the construction. SIPs are foam and plywood sandwiches which replace conventional framing. Whole walls are prefabricated in a factory and installed in a flash. All of the protrusions must be sealed with foam. They boast excellent energy efficiency and ease of construction as well as conservation of raw materials in construction. This is all true, but they create more long term problems than they solve. We've already discussed the problem of building with climate control in mind, the other problem with SIPs is repairability.

SIPs are engineered products that function as load-bearing members of the building. If a whole panel or even a section of a panel is damaged it has to be inspected by an engineer. If the panel has to be replaced, a new panel must be formed in a factory to meet the specifications of the current system. This would be easily accomplished now but what happens in 100 years? Will that factory still have the process and tooling in place to produce the panel that is required? Traditionally built structures don't require factory-produced panels to stand. When damage occurs to a well-built home it can be repaired by a tradesperson using natural materials that are infinite. The factory that produces clay, lime, sand, wood, and stone is the earth and it's not going out of business any time soon. Everyone is focusing on energy efficiency and ease of construction and in the process they have created problems that are worse than the current ones faced. SIP construction is disposable construction that will not stand the test of time. Traditional materials and methods take more time and money, but they perform much better over time because they are so simple and easily repaired. The downside is, no contractors or building material producers get rich using traditional materials. There is however, an opportunity to create jobs for displaced manufacturing workers by encouraging more training in the traditional trades. We should be building our own future rather than letting the Owens Cornings of the world sell us snake oil branded as environmentalism and sustainability.

Sense of place and design are not in the scope of this article but they are also part of the whole picture. The new green often fails to address these issues and at the same time, new urbanism often embraces new green building practices. We need to adopt a holistic approach to construction that is modeled on traditional city planing patterns, construction methods, and materials.

Can't see it from my house!

2008-09-05T22:43:00.005-04:00

Work has commenced once again on casa del Hord. We ripped off the aluminum siding to find 10" cedar clapboard siding in decent shape. I do have maybe 25-30 square feet to replace. The problem is: nobody makes 10" beveled siding locally, in any species. I don't want to temp fate and even mention how much it would cost to have it custom-milled: that's just not an option. I'll have to import the material from a non-local source. I have to say, every local building supplier has dropped the ball. They are unwilling to help in a reasonably acceptable amount of time, or they are insensitive to restoration issues. It is a real shame because they are missing out on a huge market in Louisville. I'm still disappointed in Boland Maloney for closing the downtown opperation. I hope I can keep my dollars as far away from them as possible.

Also on the slate roofing front (of course the "slate guy" needs a slate roof on his own house, right?). I though I had a source for some cheap salvaged slate that was a large enough quantity to cover our roof, but that fell through. I'm going ahead with a plan to slate the small roofs and the catwalks, and continue to neglect the main roof until I can source enough slate to cover it. Worst case scenario: I'll do a metal roof on the main gable roof, which actually wouldn't be that bad. I'm thinking traditional terneplate panels with red oxide tinner's paint.

I can't wait to get rid of those vinyl windows. The previous owner installed them less than 10 years ago and they are already failing. There are no stops and the plastic retainer has broken on many of the upper sashes. Several of them are already fogged. I'm having the new sashes made at www.oldfashionedwindows.com for a very reasonable price. They are constructed of heart pine and should last the lifetime of the building. Luckily, the previous owner only replaced the windows on the front of the house so I don't have too many to do.

Design Slam of the Day: Traditional vs. Traditional "looking"

2008-09-05T19:02:00.008-04:00

Here is a good real-life example of traditional design intentions being executed poorly. This new house is infill on a street of mostly antebellum houses. It looks like it was constructed well using good materials by today's standards. But they screwed up the proportions and some details which make the whole thing feel inauthentic. First: the pop-out in the center with the gable roof makes this a single oversized bay with symmetrical 2-bay wings. It puts too much emphasis on the center, making the other parts feel less significant. The large "paladian" window on the second floor is almost as big as the whole entryway on the first. It is poorly massed. A better configuration would have been a standard symmetrical 5-bay configuration with a single gable roof plan. This would be in character with most of the other houses on the street which are 3 or 5 bay with single gable. I know a stone foundation is not really cost effective for most building projects these days, but they should not have raised the foundation as high as it is. This is out of character with every structure around it. The oversized brick stoop is also too much.

Now the details: The large window casings are out of place on a brick structure. The windows should have a simple lintel and sill of stone or brick if stone is not in the budget. Considering the expense involved to produce those custom casings, they probably could have afforded limestone lintels and sills instead. And finally the cornice: the entablature is massed properly, but they used a tiny cyma molding in place of a bed mold, and again a tiny cyma where the crown should be about double the size of what it is.

Compared to a traditional building:

Important characteristics to note on the traditional plan:
Size of the windows suggest hierarchy; the first floor is emphasized. The stoop is simple and understated. There is almost no setback, making the home contribute directly to the public space. There is no gratuitous trim or ornamentation, not even a cornice. The overhang is accomplished with corbeled brick.

Live, from the Preservation Kentucky Conference.

2008-09-05T16:06:00.005-04:00

I'm meeting some folks here that are on the right track. Dan Carmody is a preservationist and a new urbanist from Detroit. One interesting point of the many he brought up in his lecture was the economic prospects for urban farming. Areas in the city center with a lot of vacant land can use that space for farming and people without jobs can derive an income from a boutique agricultural market that is already placing a premium on locally-grown and organically grown products. We need to get people energized about developing this kind of economy.

On the architectural front: I've been snapping a few photos of the houses in this historic town. I also have the obligatory design slam photo.

Enjoy!

Ahhh, new construction. They have all the parts here but somebody just didn't get it.

This building is so simple and dignified and still relevant after almost 200 years of service. If the energy and resources used to build every mcmansion were diverted into authentic construction like this on a tradition city plan, we would be in a much better place.

The 9-over-6 window is very popular here.

Perfect. Just perfect.

Neglected slate roof.

2008-08-21T22:50:00.003-04:00

This 110-year old roof looks like it has been neglected its whole life. Missing slates have been tarred or repaired with miss-matched tiles which are improperly hung. The flashing has been neglected and tarred over when it started to deteriorate. With regular maintenance from a skilled person, this roof could probably still be in perfect working condition with its original parts. At this point it needs a total restoration which should include new flashing against the dormer, new sheet metal in the box gutter, sealing the valley with fiber-mesh and epoxy (replacement is not an option due to budget restrictions), and correction of any scars from previous repair work.

Face nails, tar and strap-hangers: oh my!

The blob, now retired, sometimes takes work on the side as a substitute for step flashing.

Return of the blob.

How hard would it have been to use a nail and bib?

Box gutters and cornice.

2008-08-20T20:17:00.002-04:00

Here are some updated pictures from the porch/cornice job. I need to go back and take pictures now that the Ionic capitols have been installed and the painting is finished.

Design Slam: Mcmansion Style.

2008-08-20T20:02:00.004-04:00

This photo is great for several reasons if you know what to look for. My favorite mistake is the functional shutters on the paired windows...

A sad day for Louisville.

2008-08-13T17:11:00.002-04:00

Today I made a visit to my favorite lumber yard, Boland Maloney. The place is on Main Street and has been a downtown institution for a long time. All of their inventory is kept indoors and the staff is the best anywhere. I pulled into the warehouse today to find the staff looking like someone had died. The reason was they had just been told the store would be closing on Friday.

I even overheard one of them saying the owner didn't have the balls to break the news to them and sent someone else instead. The owners seem to think most of the downtown customers will drive to their store in the suburbs to pick up materials. That might be true for some production builders who can afford it, but the average tradesperson will not be able to bear the cost of driving 30 minutes to pick up materials. This leaves only one independently owned lumber yard in the city center: Kentucky & Indiana lumber. The problem is they have a very limited selection. I can't get tounge & groove ceiling, poplar trim, or any non finger-jointed molding at that location. It's unfortunate that Boland Maloney is turning their back on the city when there is some much concern over energy cost. It seems like it would benefit them in the long run to have a location that is more convenient to the majority of the population.

I'm fed up with lofts and fake green.

2008-08-04T18:42:00.004-04:00

This weird looking building won a national award for green building. It is an engineered steel frame structure clad with SIPs and junk composite-sash windows. It is not adaptable or repairable. If this were a simple brick or stone structure designed in a vernacular style it could be repaired and maintained in the future by a tradesperson with no specialized training or materials needed. It could also be adapted for different uses if the need arose.

The tenants of this building will supposedly contribute less to global warming because it is close to 1 grocery store and a handful of retail and services. Of course it boast numerous energy efficient gizmos which also help. I don't think this aspect is bad. Living in dense places and planing pedestrian-scaled communities is a good thing. Also using less energy to heat and cool our living spaces is a good thing. But it's not everything. Unfortunately, they are not thinking about the energy embodied energy wasted when the building is razed in 50 years because it is not capable of being loved.

And on the walkability issue: I guarantee you they will still build enough parking for each unit, because downtown living is still just a novelty. Also, the people who service the building such as nannies, cleaners, maintenance people, and doormen will not likely live within walking distance because they can't afford a loft downtown. This is gimmick design with no thought to the future. It is dangerous and immoral to sell this as an environmentally friendly way of living.

More progress on the porch.

2008-08-04T18:32:00.003-04:00

We're blazing through the trim now that everything is squared up.

I made the mistake of hiring a subcontractor to do the framing on the rotted beams. We ended up having to re-do everything they worked on. The beams were not square, level, or plumb. So they were pretty much worthless.

The copper box gutter pans are also finished now. I picked the hottest day ever to solder everything.

Porch cornice: final draft

2008-07-26T09:19:00.002-04:00

Here is my finished design for the cornice of the porch and box gutter we are working on.

*Followup note: we actually ended up using a small ovulo under the dentils. You can see the finished pictures of the cornice on my photo gallery.

A perfect dormer, architects and builders take note!

2008-07-25T19:26:00.003-04:00

If I see another doghouse dormer I'm going to crack. Dormers are not framed like gable ends. They should not have a raking soffit, or any soffit at all for that matter. I saw this dormer while I was taking measurements of the roof on the adjacent house. It is so simple and yet so handsome. Even with the mismatched window sash and the whole house falling apart around it, it is still pleasing to look at. The best places make you say: "I wonder what it would be like to live in there". Much like the best songs give you chills with the first note of the chorus. Humans really have pretty basic needs, aesthetically speaking. What seems like a small change in design can make a big difference in the look and character of a building. Design with no thought and the building is despised and neglected. Design smart and a building is capable of being loved and someone will recognize that. The second I saw that dormer I fell in love with this house and immediately wanted to buy it and restore it. If it had been one of those doghouse dormers I would never have even noticed it.

Design slam: Historic is not always good.

2008-07-25T17:55:00.005-04:00

There is a certain group of preservationist that seem to have come to the consensus that anything historic is inherently worthy of merit. This rule can be applied to many parts of old structures, but the architects and craftsmen of the past were still human and managed to fail miserably at their task on a pretty regular basis. Structural issues aside; much of the folk-designed victorian houses are disproportionate boxes encumbered with frivolous ornamentation. They were trying too hard and they didn't get it right. Much the same way people are building McMansions now with ridiculous rooflines and gaudy applique haphazardly placed to add "character".

A good prominent example is the bay window on the side of Old Louisville Coffee House. The overhang is built up with 4 or 5 giant cyma moldings stacked on top of each other. This should have been a projecting overhang with brackets to support the weight, or corbeled brick. It looks absurd, like a cascading waterfall of cymas! An overhang that great needs to appear to have some kind of support or it just doesn't look right to the eye.

Another good example can bee seen on these rafter tails in the photo below. You can see they have two cyma reversas stacked on top of each other. Supporting moldings (reversas) always go under terminating moldings. Two cymas should NEVER repeat and neither should two reversas.

The bumpkin who built this blob should have stuck to whirligigs:

Pictures of 2 chimney caps

2008-07-23T20:41:00.002-04:00

Just an update with the photos of the chimney caps installed. The roof panels are all double-locked by hand, as they should be. The mesh is stainless because squirrels are monsters and they can chew through copper mesh. The white balance on the photos make the brick work on the old chimney (the big one) look messy but it is much cleaner than the photo would lead you to believe. The brickwork on the newer chimney (the small one) IS messy because I think the masons who built it must have been cross-eyed.

The difference between good slate and bad slate.

2008-07-22T19:45:00.005-04:00

Even old slate roofs are not immune to problems from faulty work. Today I looked at a 78-year old slate roof with ongoing water damage issues at the eaves. The problem was caused by an inexperienced roofing contractor laying the starter course with insufficient headlap.

In addition to the problems with the installation, the stone is also soft Pennsylvania black slate and it is crumbling. The best maintenance option for this roof at this point is to repair any leaks with bib flashings and lifetime sealant if needed. They can hang on to it as long as possible and save up for a new slate roof.

The cornice is taking shape.

2008-07-15T17:40:00.002-04:00

This job is starting to move now. The structural framers finished up the beams today and we came right behind them with the new lookouts. One interesting thing about the build was, even with the old rotted beams completely gone the roofline never sagged. They just built things really well back then. I wish I could get lumber now that resembles the old stuff in this porch. Tomorrow we finish the lookouts and build the trough for the gutter.

Nominal dimensions vs the real world.

2008-07-13T13:56:00.004-04:00

If you've ever done any trim carpentry on an old house, you soon discovered the difference between nominal dimensions and actual dimensions. What this means is when you buy a 1x6 at the lumber yard it is not actually 1 inch by 6 inches. The true measurements are closer to 5.5"x 3/4". Lumber that was used back in the day was cut to the true dimensions though. So if you try to replace a section of trim that was built in the 1890's with a board milled in the present, the new board will have a 1/4" difference in thickness. This is a big deal. If you are trying to rebuild an entire cornice using new lumber and maintain the same reveals and proportions this is a really big hassle. To get around this we have to add shims and do all kinds of creative things, only to have the new lumber rot out in 20 years because it is total junk.

This should be a wake-up call for AZEK and all of the cellular PVC people. If you start making true 1" trim lumber you will instantly have the blessing of every restoration carpenter. I already believe in the stuff because it has a longer service life than most of the lumber available today. And you could easily produce true thickness boards, unlike the modern lumber industries. Most customers can't pay for custom milled 1" trim, or salvaged old-growth lumber. This could fill a big void in the market.

To reproduce this cornice with new lumber and maintain the same proportions, I'll have to employ a countless number of shims and banding boards.

Follow up: chimney rebuild.

2008-07-13T09:52:00.003-04:00

I don't have time to write much this weekend so I'm posting a picture of the (almost) finished chimney rebuild. I'll have a few days to finish the copper caps while I wait on the framing contractors to replace the beams on the porch I've been posting. Matt filmed time-lapsed footage of us building the caps and I'll post that as soon as he converts it!

How to keep a box gutter alive for 100 years.

2008-07-11T01:01:00.003-04:00

I'm sure the metalwork in the box gutters was too far gone for the current owners to save but the previous owners could have avoided a lot of future hassle if they had kept the metal clean and painted it every few years. For anyone with tin (painted metal) box gutters that have not corroded: if you want to avoid costly structural repairs, keep them clean and have them painted often. If they are starting to corrode; but haven't yet damaged the framing you can extend their life by coating with a fiberglass mesh and epoxy product that boast a decent lifespan for such a product.

In the photos below, the metalwork in the gutter had deteriorated into rusty powder. On the cornice trim, the water damage was accelerated by being wrapped in aluminum and vinyl. This stuff kills old houses. It hides the development of problem areas until they are so bad that the wood underneath is mulch and the aluminum trim falls off. If you have a solid wood cornice you can spot a problem area much quicker, usually with the formation of blistered or bubbled paint.

SIPs as green building: a sham.

2008-07-08T17:13:00.011-04:00

You've probably picked up on my skepticism of green building. I think there are a whole bunch of people with their hearts in the right places but they are mostly just being sold a bag of goods. New construction uses a ton of energy and raw materials, no shit! Any effort to cut down on waste in construction is a good thing. But I don't think energy efficient hermetically sealed houses are green. The nice people at Sjodin Dream House are trying to build a 100% green house themselves. I was reading their house brochure and noticed off the bat they were using SIPs (Structural insulated panels) to form the walls of the house. These panels are made out of a sandwich of styrofoam and OSB. So they've saved some trees and will use less energy to control the climate in their house. But what is the life cycle of a SIP panel? How is it repaired or replaced in 100 years if a part of the house is damaged?

Here is an excerpt dirrectly from www.sips.org, the website of a trade organization that promotes the use of SIPs:

Can SIPs be replaced or repaired if damaged?

A: If panels are damaged, a structural engineer needs to assess the damage to determine what is cosmetic and what is structural. If the damage is only cosmetic then the source of moisture must be determined and fixed, whether it is from inside or outside. If the damage is structural, then the source of the problem must be identified and a structural solution to the problem must be found. That can be done by either a site modification of the panels or replacement of the panels, depending on the extent of the damage. In the event that panels are damaged, the manufacturer and installer of the panels should be notified. There are SIPA members who can act as a consultant to assess the damage and recommend repair or replacement strategies

Will the company that makes the SIP panels still be in business to offer support or to make a new foam and plywood sandwich? My guess is no. Furthermore how will a homeowner make a regular repair on such a product that is manufactured off-site in a factory and requires an engineering assessment to replace? This is disposable technology for a disposable house, which in my opinion is not green.

If the house was framed of top quality or salvaged dimensional lumber using tradition methods of construction, it could be infinitely be repaired with a set of skills that are already part of our building tradition. Wood is a natural product from the earth. If you build smart, felling a tree is a noble use of energy and resources. It might be energy efficient to heat and cool, but a weird looking house in the suburbs made of styrofoam and osb is a waste of good energy and resources in the long run.

Rebuilding a deteriorated chimney top.

2008-07-08T16:06:00.009-04:00

Today we rebuilt a chimney top. The key to doing this right is keeping everything level and plumb, using a good "buttery" mud (as I call it), and keeping the bricks wet so they don't pull the moisture out of the mud before it cures naturally.

The key to making it LOOK good is using a properly mixed lime-based mortar, and cleaning the bricks right after they are laid. The mortar also has a small amount of red and brown pigment added to match more closely with the original stuff.

Now that the chimney top is stable, I'm building a copper cap that will look something like this to finish it:

And some pictures of Matt dismantling the loose bricks:

New job started today.

2008-07-07T14:56:00.001-04:00

This project involves a new flat roof, box gutters, and restoration of the cornice on the porch. We'll also be replacing the capitols on the columns with more appropriate Ionic ones.

The falsely condemned roof.

2008-07-07T01:14:00.002-04:00

I sometimes get to see a really ugly side of people in my line of work. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but there was no way out of the lie spun by the contractor who met this homeowner before they contacted me.

The homeowner was concerned about some leaks on their slate roof and contacted a local contractor who claims to specialize in slate roofing. The estimator supposedly climbed on the roof and examined the slate. When they returned they told the homeowner that the slate was so fragile it couldn't be touched without crumbling. He proceeded to write a proposal to rip off the original roof and replace it with synthetic slate. The contractor's claim was 100% false. The slate on this roof is a rare and durable type quarried from the Peach Bottom region on the Pennsylvania/ Maryland border. Some installations of this type of roofing slate are still functional after 180 years. This roof is a little over a century old. The stone is still very hard and dense. In fact this particular stone is so valuable that is sells for about $4 per slate on the salvage market. The reason for the leaks was not the slate at all, but the metal flashings and box gutters. These are easily replaced and we have been commissioned to complete the work in stages over the next couple of years so they can control the cost of the project. The price tag on the repair work is a fraction of what a new roof would cost, and their roof with the new metal work should last another lifetime.

A portion of completed box gutters and flashing.

Can't see it from my house!

2008-07-07T00:40:00.001-04:00

We have 21 total double hung windows in the house. For whatever reason the previous owner decided to get rid of 8 of them and replace them with cheap vinyl.

How could anyone go from this:

To this?

Obviously the new vinyl windows are ugly but that's not really where my hatred of them comes from. The problem I have with the new windows is serviceability. They can't really be repaired or restored, only chucked in a big orange dumpster once they have worn out.

On the other hand I was able to completely restore one of my original windows with salvaged glass, simple hand tools, and materials available at my corner hardware store. Once a tight-fitting wood storm is installed in the winter it will have the same R value as a double pane window. More importantly it has CHARACTER and it is capable of being loved. People don't put blood and sweat into plastic windows. But this old window is like a fine piece of furniture. If you replace old windows you are losing more than you could ever gain with a plastic substitute.

Anatomy of a failed box gutter.

2008-07-06T23:35:00.000-04:00

We recently did a job on a 3-story italianate with a hip roof and box gutters. The house suffered a fire in the 80's and the roof and cornice were completely rebuilt. They used clear pine and plywood for the trim, and plywood for the gutter trough. The metalwork was done in terne and the soldering was done poorly. Because of this, the seams were leaking in several places. The plywood in the trough had become brittle and had do be discarded. We were forced to rebuild the entire trough with new lumber. If they had used solid boards instead of plywood it is likely that much of the lumber could have been re-used even after suffering a lifetime of water damage.

25 years is a very short service life. The errors which brought an early end to this work are wasteful, and immoral, I think. There's no way to know who to blame, it could have been a penny pinching homeowner, but more likely it was the contractor. Contractors and architects love plywood. It is cheap and easy to work with. They were able to save a lot of time using plywood and time is money. So we have a ton of work and energy expended only to have it thrown away a mere 25 years later. Two changes to the scenario could have made this a permanent installation. As I said before they should have used solid lumber in the gutter trough. The second blunder was in the metal work: They nailed rather than cleated which prevents the metal lining from being able to expand and contract as it should. The second issue with the metal work was the soldering. This was really the nail in the coffin for this installation. They did not rivet the seams and they were not sweat thoroughly.

Greed and lack of skill: this work was doomed from the start.

We've finished a lifetime installation using copper pans with expansion joints and soldered lock-seams. It was sad to see nothing recyclable come out of the old cornice. Just a bunch of splintered plywood and rusty tin.

The back of the pans have a locking strip under the shingles. This will accommodate a metal roof in the future when those shingles wear out.

The "real" green building.

2008-07-06T23:03:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking a lot about the green building frenzy that everyone is getting caught up in. Sometimes I think people are missing the point. Here's an example: I recently bid a job where I spec'ed 4 pound lead flashing against a rough stone wall on a slate roof. The homeowner was aghast and questioned my sanity for suggesting they use lead. The actual words they used were reckless and irresponsible. I think lead is a bad product to use in children's toys and they would have the right to use those terms to describe me if that was what I was proposing. But I don't think Jr. is going to be chewing on their counter flashing 4 stories off the ground. Lead is soft which means it uses very little energy to produce. It is almost 100 percent recyclable, and in fact most of the lead sold comes from recycled material. In addition to it's low embodied energy, it has a very long life cycle. The lead flashing I install cold be in place for over 200 years and require very little if any attention. When you consider all of this, there is no greener material than lead for this application.

People need to think more about embodied energy, and life cycle. If you want to seek out the most sustainable materials, look to the past. Before we had access to cheap energy in the form of fossil fuels, we only used the best because we didn't have time to waste doing it over again every 20-30 years.

Can't see it from my house!

2008-07-06T10:35:00.000-04:00

There's a saying among the good ol' boys when you screw something up and have no intention of correcting it: "Can't see it from my house". In honor of that, all post related to my own house will carry that title.

Speaking of my house, I've been working there for the last couple days. We ripped off aluminum trim and a vinyl soffit to find a cornice that was in remarkably good shape. Even the fascia board was solid. I removed the old soffit board which was a solid 14" wide, heart pine board. I'm going to save those boards and re-use them for flooring repairs. We installed the new T&G soffit and replaced the molding which had been removed when they installed the siding in the 60's.

I also re-glazed my second window EVER. This went way smoother than my first attempt. I broke 3 panes out of 12 total, not bad! I'm always pulling old windows out of junk piles or getting them from the crooks that do replacement windows. I have enough old glass to go in to business selling it, I'm sure. I learned a new trick too. The absolute best way to tool the glazing compound is with the back of a spoon! It makes a perfect bead and doesn't drag at all.

Another lifetime roof is lost.

2008-07-04T10:22:00.001-04:00

There's a large yellow-brick bungalow on Eastern Parkway between Burnett and Goss Ave. I noticed back in March that the roof was missing a few tiles and needed some minor flashing work. This was a beautiful roof with a very rare, glazed flat shingle tile. I could have replaced the missing tiles and done the flashing work in half a day. The roof tiles would continue to be waterproof and last a long long time. The house was on the market so I contacted the realtor, explained who I was and asked if he could kindly pass my contact info on to the homeowner, I also left a note in the mail at the home as well.

I guess they decided they would rather destroy an architectural treasure. This June the tiles were busted off with little care and discarded in a dumpster. The roof was replaced with an ugly fire-engine-red, exposed fastener metal roof. Exposed fastener roofs ARE traditional and I would install them on a barn or a shed dormer, but not on the prominent roofline on a stately house that resides on an Olmsted-designed parkway!!!

They discarded a roof that could have lasted another 50 years or more, and replaced it with an inappropriate metal roof which is poorly installed, and will not likely outlive the remaining lifespan the restored tile roof would have had.

The damage is done:

You can't see it in this photo, but the rake edge on the left side is JACKED. It tapers probably 4 or 5 inches from the top to the bottom.