1716 Rogers, Westview, Atlanta, GA

2011-06-27T04:33:00.000-07:00

Paint. Took me two years to decide on the colors. A friend pointed out that this is English Tudor, not Craftsman. Once I realized that, it became easy.

Stripped and scraped, cleaned with Tri Sodium Phosphate, water rinse, oil base primer, Behr Ultra Premium Flat. Colors are Fairview Taupe (Benjamin Moore) and Jefferson Homestead White (Valspar).

Granite steps

2011-06-13T04:53:00.000-07:00

Granite steps down to my back yard. The granite was salvaged from an 1850s smokehouse at Granite Hill Plantation in Sparta, GA, and pavers used on the the streets in Atlanta in the 19th century.

Atlanta's original 19th century street pavers.

Granite Hill Plantation smoke house

Granite Hill Plantaiton main house (burned down in 1968)

Spring

2011-04-08T04:26:00.000-07:00

Yard art

2011-03-30T06:40:00.001-07:00

Rogers Ave. tree planting with Trees Atlanta

2011-03-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

We planted 140 trees on Rogers Avenue.

2011-03-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

Stripping trim and working on the hall way. The previous owner had put pink 1980s wall paper look in it in an attempt to try to make the house more attractive for sale. When I removed it, it caused the paint layers to peel unevenly, so I am going back and using dry wall mud to smooth out the paint overlaps. We can create an atomic weapon and send a man to the moon, but have never come up with an alternative to sanding dry wall mud.

Westview Community Garden on S. Gordon

2011-02-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

Scott's Antique Mart

2011-01-14T06:14:00.000-08:00

Went to Scott's Antique Mart (second weekend of each month, Jonesboro, GA) and got andirons for the fireplace, a vintage 1930s bathroom sink, and a cast iron yard gnome.

Removing old glazing.

2010-12-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Using a chisel and hammer you get at the glazing from the side, being careful not to break the glass. Use a razor blade to get out last of the glazing remnants.

My sister, home for Christmas, helping me out. This is my dad's workshop:

Respecting this old house

2010-12-25T17:38:00.000-08:00

I am trying to respect the architecture of this old house.For me, having windows that open with ropes is not only respecting the character of the house, but is also, for lack of a better word, quaint. I feel that I am giving a bit of pride back to this house, as well appreciating the people who originally put it together. The legacy of respecting it's historic character will live on long after I am gone.

Installing the window

2010-12-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

Existing weight in window channel. (I use the word, "channel," for both the openings at the sides of the window framing, and the openings on the sides of the windows themselves.)

Cut you new rope to the right size for your window. Ideally you want to use 100% cotton sash rope (nylon will stretch over time). Despite an exhaustive search I could not find any, so I settled for a cotton rope with a nylon core. Tie a knot at one end of the rope and put it in your window channel. Nail through both the knot, and about 3 inches above the knot, to help hold the rope in place in the channel of the window. Once the ropes are secure in the window, loop the other ends of your ropes through the window wheels at the top (see picture below).

You can insulate against drafts coming through your window wheels during the winter by using carpet padding, or something similar.

Fill in the opening at the bottom and top of your window with maximum expanding "Great Stuff" window foam to prevent drafts. (Later, once the window weights, with their new ropes, are in place I will insert 2 inch foam board in this channel--between the opening/channel pictured here and the window trim--for further insulation.)

Once both sides of your window have ropes in the channels, and you have sealed gaps in the window channel with "Great Stuff," loop the other end of the rope (the end not already nailed to your window) through the weight and tie a knot at the end--this knot will prevent the rope from slipping through your final two knots (see picture below).

Here you can see how the original end knot will prevent the rope from slipping through the final two knots.

Install the weight in the window channel. Use parafin (Gulf) wax, beeswax, or soap on the sides of your windows where they will rub against the window framing so to make it easier to open and close the windows.

Repairing Historic Windows

2010-12-16T05:32:00.000-08:00

Once the old paint is taken off the windows with a heat gun you need painter's tape, a bucket of water, White Lightning glazing compound, metal window points, a scissors, and paper towel. The glazing compound is available at Ace and Benjamin Moore. I would stay away from the cheaper compounds, like DAP, that are available at the Home Centers. The great thing about White Lighthing is that it remains flexible, and will not crack, thus you can trim excess away, for a clean line, at antyime.

Take your painter's tape and seal off the part of the window where you don't want the glazing compound to go,and so as to achieve an even line of compound. Leave enough room between the tape and the wood for your metal point placements.

This is a photo for the metal points (you can buy them in the paint department at the Home Centers). Push them into the wood with a flat head screwdriver. Be careful not to press too hard down on the glass or you will break it. I have heard that instead of using these metal points, you can just put a narrow bead of compound in the space (below the glass and against the wood, not on the top part of the glass) here to hold the glass. I have not tried this, but it sounds like it would work. The next step is to squeeze the compound onto the top of the glass so as to hold in the window panes. Put your finger in the bucket of water and then spread the compound against the window glass and muntin to create a smooth seal. (The water facilitates the spreading of the compound and makes it easier to clean the compound off of your finger when you are finished spreading.)

I wait to peel off the tape until everything is finished--final paint coat and all. When you are finished you them simply take a razor blade and make a clean, neat cut along the frame to get a perfect finish for the glazing.

(I read later that it is good to paint the wood frame with oil based primer before beginning the glazing process because it is additional protection agains moisture.)

Color coordination

2010-08-30T12:09:00.001-07:00

Trying to decide if blue works with green here.

2010-07-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

Before and after stripping of polyurethane and cherry stain.

2010-07-26T09:47:00.001-07:00

Maple cabinets by Hartwood Custom Cabinets in Monticello, GA. Benny Hart, owner of Hartwood Cabinets, took off with a few hundred dollars of my money. I was foolish enough to pay in full after he promised to come back and finish the job. I tried calling him for weeks. Finally I tried from a different phone; he was very surprised it was me. He told me BS about going bankrupt and that he would come by on that Monday to finish up. Never heard from him again.

Paint color and lighting

2010-07-21T04:17:00.000-07:00

Two pictures taken at the same time that show how lighting changes paint color. The first is without flash, the second with flash.

This color was changing to pea green at night, it took me days to realize it was because of the energy efficient compact flourescent bulbs which give off a blue-green hue. With halgoen or incandescent,where the hue is warmer, the color is totally different--a color true to the acutal color.

2010-07-14T04:23:00.001-07:00

Stripping front windows

2010-05-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

Stripping windows with a heat gun. Takes about eight hours to do the window and the frame. I was surprised that this 1935 house had only two layers of paint. The original paint layer was bright yellow!

new floor in laundry room

2010-05-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

Ripped off vinyl floor, covered existing with hardi cement board. Important to use the special screws with the square heads otherwise, because of the hardness of the board, screws will strip.

A layer of highest quality thin set mortar on the underside prevents pops and air bubbles, giving the floor a solid base on which to lay your tile.

New paint (Glidden's "Gentle Tide") in laundry room

2010-05-06T04:28:00.000-07:00

Surprised how well Glidden---the cheapest paint--covered. It covered better than Valspar's highest grade paint I had used on the house next door.

Alternative to outside storm windows

2010-04-12T09:27:00.001-07:00

http://www.windowinserts.com/order.html

original wood floors

2010-03-26T05:09:00.001-07:00

I decided to take somewhat of a risk and not replace the kitchen flooring but to have the vinyl and glue stripped to see how the original wood floors underneath would look. They are immaculate. Now I need to decide on a stain color.

paint ideas

2010-03-15T04:22:00.001-07:00

Paint ideas. My friend Greg's house in Oakhurst.

Intervention

2010-03-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

My neighbor replaced the perfectly good original windows with this job--notice the plywood infill. My realtor friend says that when you replace original windows and doors you take away 40% of the re-sale. We see this going on all over our neighborhood, people just don't get it. You can try to tell them, and it still doesn't register. Putting storm windows over the original windows, is a third of the cost of replacing them, has equal energy efficiency, and retains the value of your home: http://www.oldhouseguy.com/windows.php. Also, the wood used in these historic windows is slow growth, very dense, high quality, unlike the wood today The life expectancy for historic wood windows is hundreds of years, for vinyl, approximately 20-30 years.

My neighbor was intent on replacing all these windows below, like you see on the top photo. This side of his house dominated the view from my house. To try and prevent it, I offered to paint them for the cost of materials:

2010-03-01T04:32:00.001-08:00

Trying to decide on a paint color is proving almost impossible:

2010-03-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

After my dad applid Soy Gel paint remover to the wood work:

The bank applied the ugly red stain and plastic polyurethane to all the woodwork in the house (seen on the right). I believe that the removing it exposed the original finish of the wood (on the left). Originally, they would have likely used a high quality Danish Oil type stain that penetrates deeper into the wood, rather than the cheap stuff most people use today, thus, perhaps the original stain is not so much affected by the Soy Gel?

2010-03-01T04:23:00.000-08:00

After stripping the woold floor in my kitchen of the glue and vinyl: The black spots are from the glue residue leaching into the wood. I was advised to save this old wood becaus I was told it is much better than the new replacment wood which comes from new growth oak. I tried sanding and bleaching these stains out, but it doesn't work. I will have to replace the flooring.

2010-02-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

Chogi likes to climb the ladder when I am working.

2010-02-05T06:03:00.000-08:00

Lots of waste on drywall, but it is recyclable. Each 4X8 drywall piece has slight indentions at the end sides so that you can apply the fiberglass tape and put mud over the tape without creating a rise. Even with sanding, if you don't line these indentions up, you will get a slight bump in the wall along the seam which is very visible if the light hits just right. That is why there is so much waste, because you don't want to line up pieces that don't have the corresponding indented portion.

2010-02-05T06:00:00.002-08:00

The screw to the left onthe junction box allows you to extend or retract the outlet so as to get the correct depth--awesome invention.

2010-02-05T06:00:00.001-08:00

2010-02-05T05:52:00.000-08:00

Drywall (in the South they call it "sheetrock") tools of the trade. Easy to install but a very long, tedious process--a minimum of four coats of mud. Wait time is 24 hourse between each, sand, and then repeat. Very, very dusty. I have found that the "low dust" option does not cut down on dust much at all, so I just go with the regular which seems to set harder than the low dust option. Fiberglass tape to the left is to seal the seams; the tape to the right has metal in the middle, this is applied over where two walls meet at a corner. Lesson learned: it is best to put down dry wall mud first, then apply the corner tape, wet down the corner tape so that the paper of the tape lies flush agains the wall, then spread your mud over the tape. On the corners the mud is spread initially with the corner trowel in the photo, then the medium size trowel is used to feather it out, then the largest trowel is used to spread out even further. The small trowel is used to fill the screw dimples with mud.

2010-02-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

6 mil plastic cover for the crawl space to cut down on moisture. The cover should overlap 12 inches at the seams, and taped. And go up a minimum of 6 inches on the side walls.

2010-01-08T12:16:00.002-08:00

The simple pleasure of creating one's own heat.

2010-01-08T12:16:00.001-08:00

2010-01-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

After I did this I turned around and my loyal cat, Chogi, who has never questioned my vision for this place, was in the doorway, with a look of shock and awe.

Hebrew Slave

2009-12-30T12:33:00.001-08:00

I worked like a Hebrew slave for four days pulling this out of my yard--brick and concrete. Evidently the previous owner was at war with my neighbor. She built a wall. He sued. She lost. Instead of properly disposing of the trash, she had it dumped in the front and rear corners of the yard. The green herbie curbie was my wheel barrow. In the right frame of mind, you could look at it as a good work out.

Danish Oil vs. Poly for wood floors

2009-12-17T06:41:00.001-08:00

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,1045852,00.html

I tried this and it goes on easy and looks great. Another great thing about Danish Oil is that it is the stain and the protection coat in one step.

Shower

2009-12-14T05:15:00.000-08:00

I wanted to replace my shower in the bathroom. The lowest quote I have gotten is $13,000! Yikes. That won't be happening. I am now trying to decide whether to go with Ikea cabinets in my kitchen, or custom made. There is a guy in Monticello, GA, Benny Hart of Hartwood Cabinets, that is actually only a couple thousand dollars more than Ikea.

Shoddy contractor work continues

2009-11-06T12:05:00.001-08:00

Electrical, plumbing, and now heating and air. I paid Vickers Heating and Air, out of Conyers, GA, to remove an exhause vent from the heating unit. To patch up the hole left in the unit, they used a sheet of insulation and tape. So when the unit goes on hot air puffs out the insulation hatchet patch job and the air blows free into the crawl space. Nice work. I called back and raised hell. I should have just done it myself.

Attic insulation

2009-10-13T05:14:00.001-07:00

I could not decide on whether to use fiberglass or recycled paper. I ultimatley decided on recycled paper because it was half the cost of the bats; provides more seamless coverage; has higher noise reduction, because it is more dense; and is better for the environment. (It is grade 1-A fire retardent.) My only concern is if it gets wet. But someone pointed out that if it gets wet, you have more serious problems. I was also concerned about compression, but I have read that it doesn't compress too much more than fiberglass. Once I had already bought the paper, I noticed that Home Depot sells blow in fiberglass at the same cost as the paper.

My dad helped me blow it in yesterday. I took 7 hours! for 1500 square feet. Much longer than I expected.

One step forward, one step back.

2009-08-17T06:31:00.001-07:00

Never use a latex based primer. It peels right off. Only use an oil based primer. I am having to strip off freshly painted walls.

A vital neighborhood.

2009-07-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Revolution in the neighborhood:

Guerilla beltline art: Random folks are putting their artwork up at Beltline focal points.

Off the food grid:

Before photos

2009-07-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

2009-06-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

2009-06-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

2009-06-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

New bird house:

2009-03-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

Cat perch was a priority.

2009-03-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Went on the internet to find out how to install a "shower pan" in my tile shower stall. Tip is to use toilet bowl wax as the seal between the liner and the bottom flange. Unlike other sealants, wax won't dry out. Never use a sealer between the liner and the top flange. The previous shoddy install didn't even bring the liner over the flange, so water leaked everywhere.

2009-03-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Dad is the paint and stain expert. The puke green paint by the previous owner dripped on the baseboards. I am thinking of doing a lighter stain.

2009-03-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

John of Atlanta Chimney Company installed a flu at the top of the chimney. The pull chord to the right is supposed to last forever. $390. John is very cool. His hair is styled like the Heat Misor.

2009-02-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

My new bathroom. The flooring had a 3 inch layer of concrete on it. Has anyone else encounterd this on their flooring in the bathroom? I can't figure out why it was there. Anyway, the floor was rotted out. I replaced the whole subfloor with pressure treated wood, 3/4 inch pressure treated plywood over that, and then finally a layer of concrete backer board. I used weather proof decking screws for the wood and backerboard screws for the concrete backer board. Please spend the extra few dollars to use the right materials--pressure treated wood and decking screws---I don't know how many times I have encountered projects where people have wasted their efforts on wood that rots and screws that rust. I am in the process of putting on the tile. I used All City Plumbing of Atlanta. I recommend them.

2009-02-20T06:46:00.001-08:00

This house is a rare find in that it hasn't been mucked up---the floor plan is original, no paint on the brick work. The original leaded glass doors on the book cases were stolen the day after I went under contract (the house was left open by the seller). The grotto in the backyard was built by the previous owner as a place to pray. My neighbors are very nice and the street is quiet.

2009-02-20T06:22:00.000-08:00

Another American dream realized in Westview neighborhood of Atlanta. I bought this on a short sale--2000 square feet and a double lot. I had bought a house in East Atlanta 11 years ago for very little and I am trying to keep the thing going by buying in this awesome, relatively unknown, in-town Atlanta neighborhood--Westview. (One thing vital to consider when buying a home in-town is the historic retail potential nearby, both East Atlanta and Westview have great "villages".) I got lucky in that previous attempts to buy houses in this neighborhood during the height of the housing craze fell through.

The house was full of junk. Some of which you see on the street below. I must say Atlanta does a good thing by hauling this stuff away for new homeowners.

2009-02-20T06:21:00.001-08:00

No, I am not color blind. Does anyone know how to change this green background?