Indholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2021 i Old House Journal

1. SWINGING CEDAR This maker of exterior millwork also builds screen doors in standard sizes or to your specifications. Made of Western red cedar, doors are available in widths 24" to 36", with or without a frame. Framed door with screen: $550 and up. ProWood Market, (800) 915-5110, prowoodmarket.com 2. QUICK-SHIP SHUTTERS Made from PVC patterned to resemble wood, these historically accurate, louvered shutters arrive within 10 days, ready to assemble. They’re available from 3' to 10' tall. Shutters 84" high x 21" wide cost about $850 per pair. Aeratis, (888) 676-2683, aeratis.com 3. CRAFTSMAN ENTRY One of many Arts & Crafts styles available, the 3610-H screen door features a toe-kick bottom panel and inset overlay muntins. Shown in mahogany, it also comes in oak, Douglas fir, cedar, and more.…

Because they are durable, insect-resistant, easily cleaned, and can be repainted, floorcloths were popular in Colonial-era entryways, stairhalls, even parlors, and as crumb-cloths under dining tables. By the mid-1700s, floorboards and floorcloths were painted to look like geometric marble and tile floors, wood parquet, and even the intricately patterned “Turkey” designs seen in Wilton and Brussels carpets. In the 19th century, when they were called oilcloths, they found their way onto kitchen floors and tables. Use wasn’t limited to modest households or to modest rooms in wealthy homes. A manufactured and imported room-size, block-printed and bordered floorcloth could cost as much as carpeting, but the fact that floorcloths could be made locally or at home meant they were widely available. Cotton, linen, or jute canvas layered with six to seven…

Without overwhelming the 1927 bungalow, an addition designed by Ione Steigler and Joseph Reid, of IS Architecture, provided family space—and more authenticity in both the new kitchen and master bath. The designers included an expansion to the rear and an entirely new second floor, cleverly set back so as not to overwhelm the original roof line. Rearranging the placement of two of the existing bedrooms and bath on the first floor allowed for maximum use of space and easier flow. The new additions accommodate a larger, more period-appropriate kitchen and adjacent family room as well as an expanded master suite upstairs. Such architectural details as arches and mouldings were patterned on details in the original rooms. The new kitchen is outfitted with white-painted, flat-panel cabinets and bungalow windows. Clever solutions…

There’s an art to cutting old glass, including wire glass. As always, start with the right tool; a good glass cutter such as a Red Devil is a must. Before you cut, polish the glass with a water-based abrasive cleanser such as Gumption Paste Multi-Purpose Cleanser to induce microfractures, which encourages the glass to crack along the track of the cutting wheel. Take a Sharpie to mark where you want to cut, using a straightedge to make sure the line is even and straight. Lubricate the glass before you begin (WD-40 works well) to be sure the cutter wheel spins smoothly. Then score the glass by firmly rolling the glass cutter across the glass in one cut; don’t stop and start, and use steady but not too much pressure. Lift…

PRIVATE GARDENS OHJ’s West Coast editor, Brian Coleman, and photographer Bill Wright together are our most prolific and indefatigable scout-it, shoot-it, and write-it duo. Now they’ve produced a stunning new garden book focused on the northwestern United States. Readers are given exclusive entry into 20 private gardens, from meandering estates to little sanctuaries. The story behind each garden accompanies beautiful photos, 280 in all, capturing bonsai, a stone moon gate, floral extravagance, water features, neat hedgerows, and overflowing planters. Some of the gardens are in the city—Portland, Seattle—others on islands or the coast. Some are whimsical, others in the golden-age tradition. The gardens are presented in their entirety and in intimate detail. It’s all so lush. Private Gardens of the Pacific Northwest By Brian D. Coleman, photography by William Wright;…

1. PRECISE CUTS The FLEXVOLT 6 ½" 60-volt brushless MAX circular saw delivers straight, splinter-free cuts when used with a TrackSaw dual-edged track. The cordless saw offers good dust extraction, and has a plunge mechanism and a low-profile guard. With a 59" track: $579 and up. DeWalt, (800) 433-9258, dewalt.com 2. CARPENTER’S MEASURE The versatile Starrett 6" combination carpenter’s square features easy-to-read measurements down to 1/64". It includes a try/miter gauge, depth gauge, height gauge, and marking gauge. It’s fitted with a reversible lock bolt, scriber, spirit level, and machine-divided blade. $109.99. Rockler, (800) 279-4441, rockler.com 3. SLOTTED SCREWS Ever notice how hard it is to find flat-head screws? This startup offers solid-brass screws in the #9 size, the standard for hanging solid wood doors. Made in the U.S., each…

FOR PATCHING FLOORS • Chestnut Specialists chestnutspecialists.com Reclaimed antique solid plank flooring in chestnut, oak, heart pine & pine • Goodwin Heart Pine Co. heartpine.com Riverrecovered heart pine & cypress; sustainable & engineered flooring • Old Wood Workshop oldwoodworkshop.com Salvaged antique flooring • Olde Wood oldewoodltd.com Reclaimed & wide plank flooring; barn beams & siding • Sylvan Brandt sylvanbrandt.com Antique & resawn pine, chestnut, oak MORE FLOORING • A.E. Sampson & Son aesampsonandson.com Natural wood planks renewably harvested in Maine & North America, plus vintage wood (many species) • Authentic Pine Floors authenticpinefloors.com Wide-plank heart pine, yellow pine, reclaimed wood, etc. • Carlisle Wide Plank Floors wideplankflooring.com Wood floors for historical projects • Carlson’s Barnwood Co. carlsonsbarnwood.com Antique wood flooring & barn wood • Conklin’s Barnwood & Beams conklinsbarnwood.com Eco-friendly remilled flooring in vintage oak, pine, hemlock, chestnut • Country…

Whether functional or merely decorative, exterior shutters may suffer from peeling paint, joint problems, and decay because they are exposed to the elements. Movable parts such as louvers may break. Do inspect exterior shutters every year and address problems before they progress to the point where the shutters need to be replaced. Before you begin repairs, prep a work area large enough to lay the shutter down—for example, use two saw horses covered with a plywood tabletop. Then remove the shutter from the window. Have available two clamps at least 12" wider than the width of the shutter. PATCH ROT Chisel out rot and impact damage with an appropriate tool. Mix a small amount of two-part wood epoxy or even wood filler. Using a putty knife, fill in the hole.…

Q: Would you offer suggestions on how best to refresh original, unfinished, random-width heart-pine floors dating to 1852? —Devon Caldwell, Philadelphia, Penn. A: I like your use of the word refresh, instead of refinishing. One thing I remember hearing from an old-time carpenter is that there’s a difference between a nice old floor, and a shiny new floor made of old wood. Despite been classified as a softwood, heart pine is quite hard and dense, so it’s a wonderful flooring material. With exposure to UV light, and wear, it develops a nice patina. Striving to keep the patina preserves its essential old-house-floorness. Aggressive stripping and sanding leaves you with the “new floor” the carpenter warned about. Sanding can also cause scratches, dished-out areas, and popped nails. The traditional way to…

The Shingle Style has variously been described as the first modern American house style, Richardsonian Romanesque done in shingles instead of stone, the first wave of the Colonial Revival, and as a subset of the Queen Anne Revival. A self-consciously vernacular style rendered by leading architects, it’s hard to pin down. The genre was born in New England but was popular in the Mid-Atlantic and influential in Chicago and, later, on the West Coast. It is informal and highly imaginative—a “summer cottage” style—and yet the houses were built for wealthy clients. The biggest clue to style is the continuous skin of wood shingles that undulates over walls, dormers, and roofs. Surfaces are textured but taut, with little ornament. Any decoration tends to be in panels. Architects, including John Calvin Stevens…

In creating a business they would own, a family finishes the rehabilitation of an important 1858 Greek Revival house in Tennessee. DENNIS AND KAYLA WHITE OF LYNCHBURG, Tennessee, had long wanted to start their own business. “I’m a credit analyst, so I work with numbers all day,” Kayla says. “But that is so not me! I think of myself as a creative person, and I love design. When this house came up at auction in October of 2018, we thought it would be a chance for us to launch a venture of our own, and for me to do the work I love.” • The house is a two-storey, 3800-square-foot I-house with Greek Revival influences. It was built in 1858 for Townsend Port Green, a lumber dealer and wealthy landowner.…

ON THE FLOOR PILE CARPETS ABC Carpet & Home abchome.com Flat-weave & traditional designs Axminster Carpets axminter-carpets.co.uk 250 –year old maker of traditional & fully custom designs Earth Weave earthweave.com Nontoxic, natural wool fiber carpet Grosvenor Wilton Co. grosvenorwilton.co.uk 200-year-old carpet manufacturer offering reproduction & traditional loomed carpet & runners J.S. Hurd Design jshurddesign.com One-of-a-kind art rugs designed by Joanne Hurd, woven in Nepal (GoodWeave certified) Stanton Carpet stantoncarpet.com Pile & flat-weave carpets in many patterns incl. damask & diamond/diaper FLAT-WEAVE CARPETS Dash & Albert annieselke.com/c/dashandalbert Traditional & striped patterns in cotton or jute Family Heirloom Weavers familyheirloomweavers.com Hand-woven ingrain & Venetian carpeting Southwest Looms southwestlooms.com Flat-weave Navajo carpet reproductions Thistle Hill Weavers thistlehillweavers.com Full line of historical textiles including ingrain & Venetian carpeting Woodard Weave woodardweave.com Woodard & Greenstein’s flat-woven rugs based on early-19th-c. Shaker, Amish, Penn. designs; also hooked rugs PERSIAN-STYLE RUGS The Persian Carpet persiancarpet.com Vintage & new…

“Where’s the front door?”—Patty Straub Simone MUMMIFICATION “This house is in Hartford County, Connecticut, near my parents’ home,” says OHJ reader Todd Jones. “Over the past few years, whenever I’ve been back for a visit, I took note of the gradual demise of the house. At first, it looked like it might be being restored, and I was hopeful. I never thought it would end up the way it looks now.” In the first photo (2012), the 19th-century house is still recognizable as Italianate, despite changes including a “colonial” entry door and new windows. The second photo (2019), showing it bandaged in house-wrap, is simply bizarre. Finally, the house is thoroughly muddled. Despite all the unfortunate changes, the two-storey bay with its round-top windows and brackets was spared. Mr. Jones…

• axminster Thick, tufted, cut-pile rug imitating Turkish carpets, usually with ovals and cartouches. • broadloom Literally, carpet woven on a wide loom (invented 1877). Generally it’s a tufted carpet that will be installed wall to wall. • brussels A looped (uncut-pile) carpet type loomed in 27-inch strips that are sewn together during installation. • drugget A coarse, plain wool floorcovering used under the dining-room table or over an expensive carpet for protection. • flat-weave (-woven) A loom-woven carpet without tufts or pile, including ingrains and kilims. • floorcloth The 18thcentury precursor to linoleum, a canvas-based, decoratively painted and varnished covering. • ingrain Aka Scotch or Kidderminster, a flat, reversible carpet, more affordable than pile carpets, generally loomed in 36-inch-wide strips. Geometric block designs were common in early rugs, but…

In the trade, they’re also called double-hung, stable, or split doors. Closed, the bottom half kept toddlers and pets inside, mice and goats out. Light and fresh air came through the open top. Today, a Dutch door between rooms opens sightlines and offers three degrees of privacy. Many standard designs can be made as a Dutch door. Vintage Doors (vintagedoors.com) sells 49 historical Dutch-door styles, custom-built on order, fully sealed and weather-stripped. Christie’s Wood and Glass (entryways.com) updates the idea with The Breeze, a convertible door with an integral screen. Shown here, with hand-forged hardware: a Dutch door by Manley Woodworking, installed between the kitchen and porch in a newold house designed by Crisp Architects of Millbrook, N.Y. MORE RESOURCES ON PAGE 87…

Flooring made of old-growth wood is beautiful, but sometimes the floor comes with an undesirable history. Termite damage, burn marks, pet stains, and signs of other mistreatment can so disfigure sections of wood that the only alternative is replacement. Fortunately, ripping out the entire floor isn’t necessary. A bit of skillful patching can heal ancient wounds. There are two main challenges: matching the wood in all of its specifics, and “lacing in” or staggering the repair so that the patch blends with the rest of the floor. Finding a source of replacement wood may be as simple as salvaging a few boards from the attic floor—or as time consuming as seeking out the right stock from reclaimed-lumber dealers scattered across the country. Obviously, the wood should be of the same…

Jim DiGiacoma, of Olde Good Things architectural salvage, had collected some 1920s factory windows fitted with chicken-wire glass. He needed a creative way to display them. The idea occurred to him: Set the steel-and-glass panels into metal perimeter frames, and hang them as screens or room-dividing walls! chicken-wire glass Made as fire-resistant safety glass in the late 19th century, chicken-wire glass consists of wire laid between two ribbons of ¼" molten glass. By the beginning of the 20th century, building codes required its use in schools, apartment buildings, and offices, where it was used in windows, transoms, and skylights. The vintage glass typically has wire in a hexagonal layout. DiGiacoma says he avoids using the reproduction glass with thinner wire in diamond or square layouts. During manufacture, the glass surface…