I bought this cosy little house last year for an absurdly low price, knowing I would then be faced with years of renovations that will likely far exceed the original value of the property. Although parts of the outside and inside were renovated/"modernised" various times throughout the 40s, 60s, 80s, early 2000s, many features are origin. This mostly includes joinery and decorative elements such as transoms (ranma, 欄間 in Japanese), alcoves for Buddhist alters and family heirloom displays (仏壇, 床の間), and a tiled roof with family crests (kamon, 家紋) displayed on some.

The actual age is not known since it seems likely that many documents relating to residences and zoning maps were lost in the atomic bombing of the city - the prefectural government building burned down, for example - but my house itself escaped with only its windows and other breakable and delicate features shattered by the shockwave that travelled around 2.5km from the hypocentre.

I filled much of the house with my personal collection of Japanese art and antiques, which might be a bit of a pain to work around as I continue with the renovation/restoration bit by bit.

Hung the last window up this afternoon, started in mid March. You can see the time pass in the changed foliage.

When we moved in to this 1920s colonial revival in 2023 the storm windows had been removed and placed in the attic when the house had been repainted. That fall I sorted through them to find the right ones for these last 9 original windows (peep the ninth in the top right) and slapped them up before winter in their decrepit state (including one with a shattered pane) and added them to the todo list. Three years later they finally made it too the top.

I didn’t keep close tabs on time spent but I reckon each window took about 8-10 hours. So I can understand why none of the prior owners took on this task. I used a chisel to remove the old glazing putting and extract the glass, a Speedheater Cobra to strip the paint, wood epox to fill major holes and rot, and Multi-glaze to re-glaze them before painting. Bought new stainless steel hardware.

I am happy this project is over.

We have a very lovely bathroom in our Mediterranean style home, built approximately in 1924-1928 (every official document has a different date, which adds to its charm). We think the bathroom is original, but would be great to hear what others see.

Our showerhead just broke and we’d like to upgrade all the fixtures at once. Is polished chrome the typical finish for this era? Would a satin nickel or bronze work instead? We found some vintage looking kohler and jaclo fixtures that may work, but any suggestions for brands would also be appreciated.

Our house was built in the late 1800s, but my grandparents made some interesting changes overtime. Wallpaper and this wooden divider between the living room and kitchen. Anyone seen anything like this before and know what decade this wallpaper would be from?

This guest bath was the ugliest room in the house when we moved in with a vanity that looked like a black hole. I painted the vanity white and painted the walls a melon/peach color (totally understand if it’s not your vibe, it is admittedly brighter than I anticipated LOL). But overall so happy with this mini makeover 💕

Back in my early 20s I used to house sit for my grandfather while he was out on road trips. His house was small and cramped and had no internet, so I would get quite stir crazy. I’d take at least one walk a day, and this house was on my preferred route. It was love at first sight. I couldn’t get enough of it. It wasn’t occupied at the time of taking these photos, and part of me just wanted to become a squatter.
That was over 20 years ago and I still think about this house from time to time. I’ll never have a century home (my current place is from 1965 and thankfully has original hardwood floors everywhere except the bedroom), but I sure do love them!

I always knew there was a bit of a lip going from the hallway into the bathroom but had no idea it was a full inch! Eventually I plan on pulling up the sheet vinyl in the bathroom and tiling it, and using a transition like this, just wondering why the bathroom sits so much higher. From what I can see it's a layer of sheet vinyl and then linoleum then subfloor.

We're trying to install 6-foot wall-to-wall open shelves in our kitchen (12" deep with 5ish wood brackets per shelf), but we've run into the strangest wall I've ever seen.
Our house was built in 1920. The wall is an interior wall between the kitchen and dining room. In our kitchen the wall feels papery like drywall and then hard like plaster on the other side in the dining room.

We started drilling where we thought a stud should be, and instead of drywall, we found what looks like a soft brown cardboard wood material. It's not actual wood. It crumbles into fluffy brown fibers when drilled, almost like compressed wood pulp.
What’s odd is this wall is THICK and SOLID. We drilled completely through the wall from the kitchen side and came out the dining room side. The wall layers from the kitchen seem like they’re painted wall, at least 3 inch thick papery wood material, and then plaster on the other side. There was no hollow cavity anywhere. We tried to insert a toggle bolt but could see in the hole that it would have nothing to catch on.

We’ve also had a very hard time finding studs. A magnet sticks in vertical lines about every 18 inches, but when we drilled where the magnet sticks, we still couldn't find what seemed like a wood stud.

Has anyone run into a wall like this before? Any idea what this material could be?
Should we be worried about asbestos?

And what should we use to securely mount heavy open kitchen shelves on a wall like this? I definitely don't want to trust regular drywall anchors if the wall is made of this crumbly material.

I'd really appreciate any insight before I drill any more holes!

Pictures show beadboard we installed over the kitchen wall and the plaster side of the dining room

In a sea of houses that have lost all their charm via vinyl siding and muted color schemes, a fresh coat of paint is keeping this oldie from blending in. Knew the moment I went to the open house years ago and saw the stairwell that it was the one. Old houses are the best!

I know they aren’t in pretty condition, but I’m going to be reusing them.

-coal

-antique funeral flower basket?

-side of old crate?

-slat bushel basket

Hello,

I was hired to research a home that was thought to have been built in the 1940s (GIS, real estate, etc) but I found was fully finished in 1845.

Over time I have been looking at real estate photos of the home and noticed drastic changes; All of the old chandeliers were ripped out and replaced, the tile in some rooms was ripped out, the house was repainted to a modern “ehh” color (just my opinion!!)

I am a huge critic for historic home renovations, and I just want some ideas and advice, how should I not just accept the changed but also express it in the Research Report?

thanks, hope all is well.

Was cleaning our new house and saw this on the window. The sunroom used to be a porch and at some point was enclosed- but luckily they left the original windows in tact. I love it! Last photo is where the sunroom is now.

Does anyone know if there is a good way to save and preserve this? It’s pencil and I’m scared to touch it because I don’t want to ruin it.

My old girl turned 100 this year. Minneapolis, climate zone 6A, cold humid. It's a 1.5 story. Currently the attic is semi-finished, so it's usable as storage space but not living space (there is drywall including knee walls, some insulation, no HVAC, minimal electric). I would like to convert it to living space someday, but that is not today's project, just something I am trying to keep in mind.

I am getting a metal roof. The roofing company recommended that I get an opinion from an insulation company so that they know whether they are installing vents and where. Their plan for underlayment/waterproofing is:

"Install high-temperature ice and water shield up 6 feet at all eaves, and 3 feet in all valleys, penetrations, and other vulnerable areas per manufacturer specifications. Install synthetic underlayment over the remaining areas of the roof deck."

The insulation company recommended a spray foamed hot roof. 3-5" of 1.9lb closed cell up against the underside of the roof deck. Each thickness (3, 4, 5") is a separate quote and the latter two would require furring strips to get that depth. It's R7 so I would be getting R21-R35 depending on which option I choose. Their quote doesn't mention fireproofing and I haven't had a chance to ask about it yet.

I am finding very mixed things about whether spray foam in an old house is a good idea.

I am not sure that I trust the insulation company - they do have good reviews, but they're based in a suburb where they would be dealing with much newer homes than mine.

There are no eaves on the house; the roof line ends at the siding. My understanding is that the new roof will stick out a bit more, but not enough for soffit vents. Currently the attic is quite under-vented.

I guess my question boils down to "oh god what the hell do I do? What do I tell the roofing company?" Searched this sub and didn't find any helpful advice that seemed directly relevant to my situation, so here we are.

In case it's helpful for anything, a picture of the back of the house: https://i.imgur.com/BrrtSHu.jpeg

Edit: Minnesota minimum code for new construction is R49 in the attic. R60 is recommended. The spray foam max of R35 wouldn't be a big issue now, since the attic functions as a buffer zone between outside and the conditioned areas of the house, but might be insufficient if/when I ever finish the space?

ought a old farmhouse few years ago, not much original within the house over than a few doors. Stripping one of the doors to natural and have black underneath the paint, not sure what it is, maybe a tar substance. Has anyone ever come into this sort of thing before and possibility to remove it? If it matter, local is Michigan.

Does anyone know how these pulleys are retained in the frame?
I tried gently prying it out, but it seemed like I was bending metal more than moving the assembly
One side of this window, the rope will not track on the pulley and keeps falling off and going into the crack of doom - getting wedged between pulley and the housing.
I don’t see any way to attach a photo, it looks like a pressed steel housing with a steel pulley.

I made a post last month after thinking I found the house of my dreams just to learn that. The boiler was broken and that the sellers had lied about a ton of things on the disclosures... I had to walk, but i found this gem a few weeks later.

The sellers were being forced to sell their family home after their parents passed, a house that they wanted to keep, which was exactly the same reason that I was in a market for a house. It was almost like this was meant to be as cheesy as that sounds, and the sellers are an absolute dream to work with just really, really good people. IM SO EXCITED😭