Archive | May, 2007
Up, Up, and Away
My house is a balloon-frame house. Balloon-frame houses became all the rage after the World’s Fair in Chicago, when visitors saw Augustine Taylor’s new building design in 1833. Balloon-framing was the alternative method of post-and-beam framing. PandB framing requires massive timbers with strong, skilled workers. The labor for this is extensive and demanding. The invention [...]
Continue reading...Floods
18. May 2007
I’d said in an earlier post that we’d suffered a few floods here last summer. We have had flooding occur regularly on my property since 1999, but last year’s torrential rains really wiped out a lot of my gardening work. The July 2006 Flood was especially destructive. We had 2 feet of back-up water (from [...]
Continue reading...External Remodeling
10. May 2007
After we bought the house, we replaced only a few things: the roof, a front door, some windows, a new oven, and remodeled the Entry Hall. I have also been through the entire house and re-painted all walls and trim. But that is really all we have done. I am in the process of parging [...]
Continue reading...Quic Pics
7. May 2007
To aid my sometimes obtuse descriptions, I’m posting a few pictures of the house. These pictures were all taken years ago. This is that 70s Kitchen. Wowee, talk about ugly. That greenish yellowish range hood (shown in the picture) was only a recirculating fan with a filter full of grease. Below the range hood was [...]
Continue reading...History 201
7. May 2007
I last left off detailing the history of the home we own. Most owners of old homes also happen to love history. The thrill of the history helps to soothe the agony of owning an old (rickety) house. Believe me, my love for history is hanging on a thread here. The last private owner of [...]
Continue reading...History 101
5. May 2007
We bought this house in Upstate New York, built in 1855. We bought the house “as is” and for a phenomenal price. As young, fresh-faced new homeowners, we had no idea what lurked behind the “as is” stipulation. Learning more about fixing a home has opened our eyes: the electric, the plumbing, and some of [...]
Continue reading...Words to the Wise
5. May 2007
More “Words to Wise” will be added as I acquire more wisdom… In older homes, 2 x 4 studs are sometimes turned sideways (the 4″ side faces you instead of the normal 2″ side). This makes wiring difficult, because the electrical boxes won’t fit in such a small depth. It also makes drilling holes through [...]
Continue reading...Why Are We Doing This?
4. May 2007
In the Northeast, there is this saying: “Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.” It is the epitome of Yankee frugality. It is my own motto! We bought this house a decade ago. It was a broken-down bag of roof leaks, plumbing woes, and ancient electrical wiring. It is livable, [...]
Continue reading...
I’m Rebecca
:) I’m a married mom of four teenage children. We live in Upstate New York. We bought an old 1855 home and acre property, over 10 years ago. We've been in the slow, agonizing process of living in the home while (trying) to renovate it. When I'm not renovating, I'm a freelance writer and blogger.
We've learned to dig a French drain, plant huge flower and vegetable gardens, wire a circuit panel, install furnace ducting, understand the enigmatic complexities of the plumbing system, and more. It's been *quite* the adventure.
You can read more about us here, read up on the history of the home, and read about what we've renovated so far. Thanks for visiting!
- Parging The Foundation Walls
- The Silent Summer: No Crickets, No Peepers!
- Building a Winter Cat Shelter
- The Tempurpedic Mattress Update
- How to Create a Serfdom
- Mrs. Mecomber: Hi, Marcia. The counters are maple butcherblock. I...
- Marg: The last one looks like something that would happe...
- Marcia: I was just wondering what type of wood your counte...
- lin: As for the last photo: Poor duck!...
- Mrs. Mecomber: Lin: BWAHAHAAH!! A week later I am still cracking ...
Buttons
© 2012 New York Renovator. Powered by Wordpress.
23. May 2007
1 Comment