r/Oldhouses

Would it be terrible to dispose of landscaping rock down this? Thanks for any info.

The address is 1148 broadway hanover Massachusetts it’s abandoned and for sale right now but I was wondering if anyone could find old photos of it

I have a 1920s craftsman in Texas. The house sits on its original mesquite log piers, original wood floors, and has thick shiplap behind the wall drywall and ceiling drywall. The attic is so cool! Minus the lack of insulation 😂, I’d love to convert this into a finished “storage” space. The height is 6 feet from top of floor joints to bottom of roof rafters at its highest point, so I know it won’t meet the minimum code height as a habitable space. It already has electrical outlets (modern). The attached photos show most of the space. Has anyone ever done this type of conversion? Thoughts? Would love to use the space (even if just the central part) and I think it could be really cozy, especially if I built a ladder or spiral staircase up to it.

Edit: As others have mentioned, floor joists would need to be upgraded to meet weight load. Adding that and floor plus the loss of height at the ceiling would probably make the vertical space closer to 5’. Thanks y’all for the comments!

This is front door knob of a house built in the 1930s. I have taken all the screws out and removed the rear knob and plate. The front knob and plate won’t come out. Something is keeping it locked in place. Anyone have any ideas on how to get this out (without destroying it). The side plate says YALE made in USA. YS. 182

Because I THINK it’s a grow room. Any ideas when that timer might be from?

In search of minimalist ideas

Original oil painting in canvas mounted onto a custom built wood panel. One of my first ever paintings when I took a chance at traveling to Italy for an intensive painting workshop after my mom passed. Took 3 years of poking at it and gaining confidence and skill to finish. I hope you enjoy! Let me know what stage you liked best haha

Hi all!

I am.closing on this house next week.

1900's crasftsman, that I need to have the floors sanded and sealed.

This is not in my wheelhouse.

I will be having this done professionally. What are the best brands for a clear finish, preferably a matte finish.

TIA!

This wall has had the crack for some time. We had plumbing work done (other side is bathroom) and I closed the holes with Sheetrock. Since I had to fix the plumbing holes I though I would tackle the long crack that has been there and repaired before. Our walls are plaster and lath. As I was scraping the crack the left side paint came off in large swaths to reveal the original plaster and some hairline cracks that were not visible. I assume my grandparents had the wall repaired and skim coated and it has failed in parts.

1. What product do I prep the plaster surface with in order to skim coat?

2. What kind of joint compound should I use in the crack?

3. What joint compound do I use to skim coat once the crack is repaired as best I can?

I have easy sand 90 and wood glue and plenty of other tools for the job. I saw videos about stabilizing and prepping the surfaces using diluted wood glue and then also adding some wood glue (pva glue) to the joint compound for both the crack and for the first skim coat where the old plaster is now visible and meets the pained surfaces that didn’t chip off when scraping. Was also going to use fibafuse over the crack. The two sides of the crack are very different hightail but I can live with a bit of a wonky wall as long as the crack gets fixed.

Help! I don’t want to redo this because I use the wrong products. I saw guards by zissner in a lot of British plaster and painting videos. I live in the us and home depot is the closest easiest store for me as they are walking distance and deliver.

Thanks!

I’m looking for a product that feels authentic to my mid-century house — fun patterns, maybe terrazzo. Unfortunately all of the well-regarded American sheet vinyl brands seem to focus on fake wood, fake stone, and then have a few dull, ugly patterned options. Why is this?! The great patterns I find online (like the attached photo) don’t seem to be from well-regarded brands that will hold up. Marmoleum installation is too expensive for my space, so I’m really just looking at vinyl.

According to the official Ohio historical marker, this was the Old Wood County Jail. It was built in 1847, when the town of Perrysburg was the county seat, and used as the county jail and infirmary until 1870. It continued to serve as the Perrysburg Jail until 1899, and sold by the town in 1918. It was purchased by and renovated by Charles Hoffman in 1954.

According to the local news, this house has been owned by the Hoffman family since 1918, and Sharon Hoffman was the last to live in it. Her daughter, Caroline, is the realtor.

Link to Zillow listing.

Link for the realtor.

Link for the local news story, includes the official registry on the National Register of Historic Places.

Google Maps link

Edit: Thanks to u/Quiescencies, here is more backstory on the jail.

>The frame of the building is of black walnut hand-hewn beams with rafters and joints mortised and pinned with wooden pegs. The walls are made of four layers of small handmade brick, but in the jail section proper, the walls and floor are of stone blocks three feet long, two feet thick and two feet high. These are held together by cannonball keys set in hemispheres cut in the top and side of each block. Within these walls was an 8 x 30-foot bullpen with six 5 x 6-foot cells. The bullpen door consisted of two thicknesses of walnut plank one and one half inches thick, with a sheet of lead between and held together by dozens of large iron rivets. One of the original cell doors, made of iron mesh and weighing about 250 pounds, is still intact.

>The front of the first floor was the sheriff's residence, and over the years seven different sheriffs lived and worked here. The upstairs was once used as an infirmary for the dangerously insane.

We want to insulate our basement with spray foam. The house is 100 years old. Upstairs is gut renovated but not the basement and we had many issues last year with the frozen temperatures in upstate NY. The basement has regular crawl spaces and poured concrete except for this part where it is stone with a concrete apron on the exterior. Our inspector recommended against spray foam on this part because its design was to allow any moisture to evaporate. I worry sealing the stone could lead to possible mold down the line. Any advice is appreciated.

We have this weird tiny laundry chute (?) in our kitchen and we have to the conclusion that it’s for kitchen rags. The landing is just above the utility area in the basement. Was this a thing? House is from 1944.

We just moved into a 1938 house and have a thick white paint on the joints the HVAC ductwork in the basement. It looks like there are remnants of asbestos tape under the paint. I'm wondering if this is a technique used for asbestos remediation to encapsulate the remaining asbestos fibers after the tape was removed. Any thoughts?

Yes, houses really do sell for €1 in Italy. You sign a renovation commitment, put down a refundable deposit (usually €5k–10k), and have to finish work within a few years.

Real cost of that renovation? Roughly €50k–120k for an average village house, depending on condition.

Anyone here actually done one? What’d you end up spending? Also, just watched YesTheory’s video on youtueb, worth a watch if you want the visual walkthrough.