Restoring an 1895 Victorian Home in Northern California. Restoring an
1895 Victorian Home in Northern California. Restoring an 1895 Victorian
Home in Northern California. Restoring an 1895 Victorian Home in
Northern California. Restoring an 1895 Victorian Home in Northern
California. Restoring an 1895 Victorian Home in Northern California.
Recent posts
I've had it with this old Victorian crap. I decided to go with a pop-culture motif with the downstairs heat registers. I was amazed that I was able to find Lisa Simpson heat registers that had a patent date of 1894. Perhaps that's a typo. Maybe these are really 1994 heat registers. I installed five registers and the cold air return. I also had five register boots fabricated and so those are installed, as well. The worst by far was the one in the bathroom. I had to cut through the encaustic tile, cement board, and the subfloor. The encaustic tile is incredibly hard and dense. Even with a diamond blade it did not cut easily. What made matters worse was that all of the registers are installed close to exterior walls, so you are working in the crawl space near the skirting...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 24 weeks 3 days ago.
Let there be heat: and there was heat. And Greg felt the heat, that it was good: and Greg divided the heated, upstairs part of the house from the coldness. By the seventh week Greg had finished the work of cleaning out the attic, insulating, and installing the heating system; so on the seventh week he rested from all his work and watched football. After rest and football, Greg will complete the downstairs heating project...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 29 weeks 5 days ago.
Where once there were pocket doors.... Where once there was a grand opening.... Next up, heating. Insulation was put in the attic this week. New heating system goes in next week...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 31 weeks 4 days ago.
What does a finished room taste like? I'm not sure, but I'm so close to being finished with the front rooms I can almost taste it. I can say that the big front stained glass window is done. That tastes kind of like a mix between paint and glazing putty. Not that good. Megan the intern was here on Monday and did the glazing. She really did a good job. There are a lot of tight, tedious little angles to work with, but all of her lines are sharp and crisp. I was going to bring in a local glass company to it, because I just didn't feel I could do it to the level that it needed to be done. Megan nailed it. Two days before she helped to get the new glass in and then we both scraped out all of the old glazing putty...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 37 weeks 2 days ago.
Ten years in the making and the project is almost over. It was more than ten years ago when I bought the replacement glass for the big front window with the bullet hole in it and we finally got it in today! I was very nervous. This was a $350 piece of red colored glass being installed in an 1895 stained glass window. So many things could have gone wrong, not the least of which was breaking the glass. It was a tight fit, so we did have to shave a little wood off to get it to fit in, but in the end it looks great. The wooden circle that holds the glass is made up of 4 pieces of wood, with each making up 90 degrees of the circle. Since the glass was out, I took the opportunity to squeeze some glue in to the joints...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 38 weeks 4 days ago.
New from Ronco it's Bullet Hole Begone! This is a new, must-have product for any Crack House owner. Just spray it on and the bullet holes are gone! It's just that simple! Oh, if only it were that simple. The time came for me today to remove the large piece of colored glass with the bullet hole in it. The glass was installed in 1895 and hasn't moved since. The bullet hole was from a drug deal gone bad, sometime in the 1990s. Getting the glass out was a bit of a nail biter. As always, when doing something like this, my mantra is, 'Above all else, do no harm'. It was also more than a one person job, so fortunately Megan was here to add in her two capable hands. She may come back and re-glaze all 41 pieces of glass in the window once the new piece is in place...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 39 weeks 3 days ago.
I've fallen into Window Treatment hell. For me this is one of the nine rings of room restoration hell. I know choosing paint colors is one of the rings, and plaster work is in there, too. I can't really say what the others are, but I'm sure there are nine of them for old room restoration, if not more. Google 'window treatments' and you get an eye full of styles and choices to choose from. My big issue with most of them is that they cover the millwork which surrounds the window. I guess in many homes this is not an issue. I mean, a lot of the times the millwork around the window can hardly even be called 'millwork'. In many modern homes it probably isn't even wood! In my home the millwork deserves to be seen. At least I think so...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 40 weeks 21 hours ago.
Too...tired...to...type. {gasp!} Can't...seem...to...get...off...the...couch.... Must...reach...red...wine...{cough!}Next up, floors... Gasp!...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 40 weeks 3 days ago.
I started in on the painting first thing this morning. After I painted for a while I did a little more painting. Once I got tired of painting I switched to painting for a break from the monotony of painting. After that I did a little more panting. I wish I could say that after all of the painting that I was finished with all of the painting, but I can't. Yes, that's right, there is still more painting to do. Everything that is nailed or plastered to the walls is painted, but there is still the picture rail and shoe molding. I would like to say I finished making the picture rail, but I can't. I ran in to problems, which I won't go into, but I think most were related to fatigue. Yea, the painting. I deciding to just set it aside rather than damage the stock or an appendage...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 41 weeks 3 days ago.
The painting is taking forever. I started Monday and worked on it every night this week after work and I still don't have one coat on everything. Even if I'm able to finish up on Saturday there is still the two plaster medallions and the two plaster corbels. Right now I'm giving them one coat of the trim paint, which the chamomile in semi-gloss. I have never intended to do a High Victorian, multi color paint job, but I would like to highlight some of the flora. I can see that I won't be finished until mid-week next week. I'm going to try and make the picture rail on Sunday because that needs to get primed and at least one coat of paint on it before I install it. Installation probably won't happen until next weekend...
read more at The Petch House
Posted 41 weeks 6 days ago.
(1 vote)
Recent posts
I've had it with this old Victorian crap. I decided to go with a pop-culture motif with the downstairs heat registers. I was amazed that I was able to find Lisa Simpson heat registers that had a patent date of 1894. Perhaps that's a typo. Maybe these are really 1994 heat registers. I installed five registers and the cold air return. I also had five register boots fabricated and so those are installed, as well. The worst by far was the one in the bathroom. I had to cut through the encaustic tile, cement board, and the subfloor. The encaustic tile is incredibly hard and dense. Even with a diamond blade it did not cut easily. What made matters worse was that all of the registers are installed close to exterior walls, so you are working in the crawl space near the skirting...
read more at The Petch House Posted 24 weeks 3 days ago.
Let there be heat: and there was heat. And Greg felt the heat, that it was good: and Greg divided the heated, upstairs part of the house from the coldness. By the seventh week Greg had finished the work of cleaning out the attic, insulating, and installing the heating system; so on the seventh week he rested from all his work and watched football. After rest and football, Greg will complete the downstairs heating project...
read more at The Petch House Posted 29 weeks 5 days ago.
Where once there were pocket doors.... Where once there was a grand opening.... Next up, heating. Insulation was put in the attic this week. New heating system goes in next week...
read more at The Petch House Posted 31 weeks 4 days ago.
What does a finished room taste like? I'm not sure, but I'm so close to being finished with the front rooms I can almost taste it. I can say that the big front stained glass window is done. That tastes kind of like a mix between paint and glazing putty. Not that good. Megan the intern was here on Monday and did the glazing. She really did a good job. There are a lot of tight, tedious little angles to work with, but all of her lines are sharp and crisp. I was going to bring in a local glass company to it, because I just didn't feel I could do it to the level that it needed to be done. Megan nailed it. Two days before she helped to get the new glass in and then we both scraped out all of the old glazing putty...
read more at The Petch House Posted 37 weeks 2 days ago.
Ten years in the making and the project is almost over. It was more than ten years ago when I bought the replacement glass for the big front window with the bullet hole in it and we finally got it in today! I was very nervous. This was a $350 piece of red colored glass being installed in an 1895 stained glass window. So many things could have gone wrong, not the least of which was breaking the glass. It was a tight fit, so we did have to shave a little wood off to get it to fit in, but in the end it looks great. The wooden circle that holds the glass is made up of 4 pieces of wood, with each making up 90 degrees of the circle. Since the glass was out, I took the opportunity to squeeze some glue in to the joints...
read more at The Petch House Posted 38 weeks 4 days ago.
New from Ronco it's Bullet Hole Begone! This is a new, must-have product for any Crack House owner. Just spray it on and the bullet holes are gone! It's just that simple! Oh, if only it were that simple. The time came for me today to remove the large piece of colored glass with the bullet hole in it. The glass was installed in 1895 and hasn't moved since. The bullet hole was from a drug deal gone bad, sometime in the 1990s. Getting the glass out was a bit of a nail biter. As always, when doing something like this, my mantra is, 'Above all else, do no harm'. It was also more than a one person job, so fortunately Megan was here to add in her two capable hands. She may come back and re-glaze all 41 pieces of glass in the window once the new piece is in place...
read more at The Petch House Posted 39 weeks 3 days ago.
I've fallen into Window Treatment hell. For me this is one of the nine rings of room restoration hell. I know choosing paint colors is one of the rings, and plaster work is in there, too. I can't really say what the others are, but I'm sure there are nine of them for old room restoration, if not more. Google 'window treatments' and you get an eye full of styles and choices to choose from. My big issue with most of them is that they cover the millwork which surrounds the window. I guess in many homes this is not an issue. I mean, a lot of the times the millwork around the window can hardly even be called 'millwork'. In many modern homes it probably isn't even wood! In my home the millwork deserves to be seen. At least I think so...
read more at The Petch House Posted 40 weeks 21 hours ago.
Too...tired...to...type. {gasp!} Can't...seem...to...get...off...the...couch.... Must...reach...red...wine...{cough!}Next up, floors... Gasp!...
read more at The Petch House Posted 40 weeks 3 days ago.
I started in on the painting first thing this morning. After I painted for a while I did a little more painting. Once I got tired of painting I switched to painting for a break from the monotony of painting. After that I did a little more panting. I wish I could say that after all of the painting that I was finished with all of the painting, but I can't. Yes, that's right, there is still more painting to do. Everything that is nailed or plastered to the walls is painted, but there is still the picture rail and shoe molding. I would like to say I finished making the picture rail, but I can't. I ran in to problems, which I won't go into, but I think most were related to fatigue. Yea, the painting. I deciding to just set it aside rather than damage the stock or an appendage...
read more at The Petch House Posted 41 weeks 3 days ago.
The painting is taking forever. I started Monday and worked on it every night this week after work and I still don't have one coat on everything. Even if I'm able to finish up on Saturday there is still the two plaster medallions and the two plaster corbels. Right now I'm giving them one coat of the trim paint, which the chamomile in semi-gloss. I have never intended to do a High Victorian, multi color paint job, but I would like to highlight some of the flora. I can see that I won't be finished until mid-week next week. I'm going to try and make the picture rail on Sunday because that needs to get primed and at least one coat of paint on it before I install it. Installation probably won't happen until next weekend...
read more at The Petch House Posted 41 weeks 6 days ago.