That electrical supply line really had to go...

This is the old electrical line that brought the power from the service entrance, through the garage, under the breezeway, and into the house. Note the lack of insulation and the lovely patina. Note that the patina is on the ground. Yes. The ground. Ack.



In this detail, note the frayed state of the ground. Note that it has been arcing against the conduit it is running through. ACK.

Finally, note that these photos were taken by A.

Garage floor

The garage floor is taking longer than expected. Either today or tomorrow the drain, shown here, will be replaced with one that isn't damaged.



The building inspector also said that we have to run the wiring here, with the lovely exposed ground, through conduit. This means that we will be replacing the wiring from where it comes out of the panel in the garage all the way to the subpanel in the basement. This is another $1500 that we hadn't planned on. That price includes the wiring for 100 amp service and running additional conduit next to it for the future upgrade to 200 amp service.

Photographs, of course, by A.

Need a book on rehab plumbing and electrical

There are many fine books out there on plumbing and electrical work. There are even some good ones on how to do things properly when you remodel - I'm especially fond of the ones from the Taunton Press. However, there is a third type of book that I really hope exists.

I'm looking for a book (or any other source) that illustrates how to take the plumbing that is already there and make it work properly. I want to know how to fix the worst of my plumbing and electrical without redoing it all. I want pictures that show electrical situations like mine and how they are resolved.

Any ideas?`

Libraries open up a world of surprises

Do you see what I see?

Yes! That's fiberglass insulation! But what is fiberglass insulation doing under this untouched plaster? Right - not so untouched.



I must credit the quality of the plaster work on whoever did the work here - it is really impressive. The ceiling is made of a material that appears to be similar to drywall, only a bit more dense and only about 16" wide. It is about 5/8" thick and runs perpendicular to the joists. The seams on the joists are held together by metal lathe and a layer of plaster about 1/2" thick. If not for the water, this repair work would have been bulletproof. The metal lathe gripped the crown moulding at the edges - there's no way I could have gotten it apart.



Perhaps this fiberglass will help date the work.

I'm really really glad that I tore out the plaster. There was some mold where the water had been sitting. There was also evidence of some sort of small rodent's nest in the fiberglass.



Another concern I will be addressing is this bit of knob and tube - it seems that the junction overheated a bit, probably due to being covered with fiberglass.



Further, this joist has a disconcerting crack in it - I'll probably be sistering it up before everything goes back together.



I'm not going to ask about the various loose pieces of wood here.



Finally, while insulating hot water pipes is important, I'm not sure that notching joists to this extent is the proper course of action in order to accommodate the insulation.

What is this? (part 2)

Here's a picture of the inside of the curious outlet I described in my previous post. Notable are the weight of the wiring, somewhere around 12 gauge, and that the wiring is in a box.

There are two of these outlets, one in the dining room and one in the front hallway.

Any new thoughts?

What is this?

Help! I've a few of these. I had assumed that they were old phone jacks, but then I noticed that they had five leads...

Light switches and electrical outlets

Virtually all of the electrical outlets and perhaps half of the light switches in my house are original. I find it curious that while the 1920s light switches all still have excellent action, virtually all of the outlets are so worn that a plug will barely sit in them. Did someone underspec the electrical outlets when the house was built? I can't imagine that many switchless items were used, and anyway, the deterioration of the outlets is too consistent - even those in underused areas don't want to hold a plug. Are electrical plugs thinner today than they used to be?

Love is blindness

This is part of the wiring for the water pumps for the hot water heat system. There are two pumps, each with its own Federal Pacific switch. There's a low-voltage transformer, and two boxes made by Honeywell of unknown utility. I should take a look at them later to determine exactly what they are for. There's a lot of stuff down there that I'm not quite sure what it's for. I don't need the extra space, so I'm not actively pursuing this issue.

Do you see the problem here? I'm not quite sure how I didn't see it before. It's not the Federal Pacific switches - they were made before the quality of the company's products went downhill. Follow the low-voltage wiring for the pumps up. Yeah. Wire connectors just sitting out there in the open, outside a box.

They're only low-voltage, and they're in a place that is not likely to be filled with combustibles anytime soon, but still I should address that. One more thing for the list, I guess.

The Original Shower Light Fixture of Doom!

(Not to be confused with the Electrical Outlet of Death™)



This was the light fixture in the shower. It is original to the house. We just removed it to replace it with a code-complaint fixture. Note the lack of mounting screws. Yes, it's held on by magic. Removing it intact was a challenge - after all, it is easy to remove things properly when you can find the hardware, but when you can't find the hardware to unscrew them...



It was held onto a mounting bracket by the two screws in the base of the socket. While this seems a slightly disconcerting way to attach it, the base and socket are as solid as ever at 85+ years old, so clearly it hasn't been a structural problem.



The fixture sat on this base, which would really look much better if not for the layers of paint and popcorn. I'm not terribly fond of the base, preferring the clean lines of the fixture without it, but I assume that it helps to prevent moisture infiltration.



This is the underside of the fixture. Note that other than the two screws, it is completely sealed. With a bit of caulk, it could probably be completely sealed.



This is the rest of the light fixture, which the base screwed into. The strap ran between two joists to support it. The electrical connection was not made in the ceiling box, which is too small to fit much of anything, but rather in the extensive free air space above it, as was common at the time.



Finally, here is the fixture after I cleaned it up. Again, I'm really quite pleased with its clean lines. I love the lack of visible hardware, and am actively looking for more fixtures like it. I wonder if a shade clipped onto it, or if that was just the style.

The Electrical Outlet of Death™ is at the edge of the sink in the non-master bathroom, which, conveniently, is also the edge of the shower. An electrical outlet in a shower doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. When we eventually upgrade our electrical system, I'm going to put a GFCI breaker on that circuit so I don't have to replace the gorgeous original outlet cover with a hideous GFCI one.

We now have a boring flush-mounted shower light!

One of the code violations that the city required us to fix was the bare bulb fixture in the shower. I removed the fixture and replaced it with a flush mounted one, as per code. We had planned to replace it, just like we had planned to replace the Electrical Socket of Death™. However, once we had removed the fixture, we saw its charms and wanted to reconsider its removal. By that point, the entire ceiling in the shower had been removed and the light fixture removed, so I decided to just install the damn can on the ceiling.

The first can that I had purchased, the one with the better looking piece of glass, of course did not fit in the space, due to vertical clearance issues. While the idea of notching a load-bearing joist was quite tempting (half the width of the joist isn't too much, is it?), I decided to find another fixture. The replacement fixture was smaller, in addition to being shorter. It's not quite as nice as the first one we found, but it's a lot less ugly than many of them (no polished chrome trim rings!) and it does the job. Further, to get something that looked slightly better, I'd have had to pay at least five times as much and special order the part. While I'm not completely satisfied with the look of the glass in the fixture, that should be simple enough to replace if I really want to, in the future.

The Basement Ceiling

I've been muttering to myself about how the POs (or perhaps the PPOs) finished the basement ceiling when they finished the basement. Oops. I was wrong. Last night, I was looking at the ceiling and the plumbing, trying to figure out how to gain access.

The ceiling, it seems, is composed of some sort of material on metal lath. I'm inclined to say that it is mortar or concrete of some sort - it feels harder and more rough than plaster.

I've never seen anything like this. I'm not familiar enough with the style of the work to say whether it was original or later. Whatever the case, it won't make working on the plumbing or utilities hidden underneath it easy.

Should this worry me?

Last night, I finished the rip out for the light fixture in the shower ceiling. It was a beautiful chunk of porcelain, but unfortunately, a bare bulb in such an environment is no longer up to code, and the city chose this as one of the few violations (of the many many that we posess) to write up. The fixture is curious in that it mounts without any visible screws - the screws that hold it to the backing plate are in the socket itself. I'll have to post a photo of this at some future time.

Since this photograph, I've sistered in some 2x3s to hold the drywall flush with the edge of the tile - the plaster and fiberboard combined were about 7/8" thick. But before getting to that point, I took some photographs from the vantage point afforded me.

The following two images are of the same location.



The stud in the foreground at the bottom of the picture is one edge of the shower enclosure.



This is a close up. Note the cracked joist, the tube with a nail resting in it, the wiring joined outside a box, the knob and tube wiring just resting on the ceiling, the beautiful notching and drilling...

The strange part of all this is that I can't figure out the purpose of the copper pipe that necessitated all of this. This pipe, I assume, would be servicing something on the third floor - yet there's nothing there or anywhere near where this pipe appears to run. If it were a radiator pipe, there should be another one accompanying it.

It's just a small crack, right? I really don't want to pull up the floor up there, not yet.

Proof of progress

This weekend, my stepfather helped me remove the old ceiling fan which had some issue brought up in the point of sale inspection. It had recently shed a blade when it was bumped lightly, so it was time for it to go. The fan was removed without incident, but one of the old wires broke (due to the way that it had been flexed by the fan). Next weekend, with a new box and some new wire, we'll have a new light.



Today, A. and I (but mostly A) painted the baby's room. I then proceeded to rip out the carpet. The floor looks surprisingly good.

Insulating without rewiring?

My house has no insulation. It is on the large size. Thus, I dread my upcoming gas bills.

I've been installing weatherstripping on the frames of the storm windows and will do the same with the windows themselves, if we have a warm day anytime soon. I've come to realize as I weatherstrip the windows that more cold air seems to be coming in from around the edges of the windows, presumably due to a lack of insulation around the window frame. Given that the exterior of the house is brick and that that there isn't any trim around the windows (just a nice rounded plaster edge), I have to imagine that gaining access to the framing around the window won't be easy.

My bigger question, though, is about insulating the house as a whole. I'd like to be able to blow in insulation, but everything I've read seems to indicate that you cannot blow in insulation where knob and tube wiring is present.

The wiring, while knob and tube, is in excellent condition. Every fixture I've removed is in a box, and on all of them, the insulation is in good condition. The current electrical service meets our needs without any trouble. As a result, I don't feel a strong desire to rewire.

I welcome any thoughts, ideas, and insights on the subject.

Compact fluorescent bulbs and 1920s light fixtures

Our house has several original 1920s light fixtures that appear to be incompatible with the compact fluorescent bulbs I have purchased. These fixtures are designed to have a bare bulb. They are metal of some sort and generally floral in appearance. There's one in the basement, a couple in various closets, and a couple in the attic - all places where things tend to go unchanged, so long as they do the job.

I am unable to get the CFLs that I've purchased to work in any of them. The problem is that the CFLs cannot screw far enough into the socket to complete the circuit, because of the relatively wide ballast at their base.

Has anyone else had this problem, or been able to find a solution other than rewiring the socket?

Almost there!

Closing is scheduled for tomorrow at 1. Possession will be on Thursday!

I chose this image, a large switch related in some way to the boiler, because it, in some way, symbolizes change - a switch being turned on, something being activated, etc. Ok, so it's already in the "on" position, but that is beside the point. Additionally, I like the way it looks and I couldn't think of any other post I might use it in in the immediate future.

A very tentative and ongoing to do list

This list is but a start, of course, and there are definitely many things on here that won't get done any time in the near future. I like making lists, and this provides me with a way to stay sane.

General

• Replace all incandescent bulbs with CFLs.
  
• Find a better solution for storm windows and screens
  
• Strip and repaint every window
  
• Paint every single exterior item the same brown
  
• Rewire house

First Floor

Kitchen

• Get stove repaired or find suitable vintage replacement
  
• Remove stickers and grime from stove
  
• Remove blinds from back door. Patch holes.
  
• Repair or replace crank doorbell on back door.
  
• Determine how much, if any, backsplash is needed, given the presence of tile. Determined - no backsplash needed
  
• Regrout loose floor tiles by back hall
  
• Remove scuff moulding in front of stove and replace with less ugly.
  
• Find and install fixture to replace main light
  
• Find and install fixture to replace light over breakfast nook
  
• Build bench for breakfast nook
  
• Fabricate and install drawer stops
  
• Replace counter tops with butcher block
  
• Add counter top above sink where ledge is presently, to accomodate sitting persons at bar stools
  
• Find and install a nice white cast-iron sink.
  
• Replace screen door with more appropriate one
  
• Replace hardware holding handle on laundry chute with something that won't snag the clothes
  
• Relocate laundry chute door either up or down to accomodate counter.
  
• Add water line to refrigerator
  
• Relocate phone line from wall by bar sink to wall by laundry chute
  
• Remove wall by bar sink and finish
  
• Find more sympathetic hardware for cabinets under bar sink
  
• Remove soffit in areas where there are no cabinets and it is not needed
  
• Install some sort of barrier between radiator and dishwasher
  
• Remove roller blinds and replace with something better - perhaps functioning roller blinds?
  
• Locate and install missing endcaps for cabinets
  
• Remove outlet strip behind stove and add two outlets, one on each side of stove
  
• Strip paint from tile
  
• Remove door for incinerator and replace tile

Half bath

• Remove linoleum and clean up floor. If tile is still present, repair. If not, consider penny tile to match existing on second floor.
  
• Remove mirrors on walls and ceilings. Repair plaster as necessary.
  
• Obtain and install more historically appropriate faucet
  
• Clean paint from door handle and associated hardware

Rear entry hall

• Replace off-white light switch with either white or black, and if black, with found chrome switchplate
  
• See if it might be possible to raise ceiling an inch or two, if drywall were used, and if possible, do so. Otherwise sand down spikey stucco

Library

• sand down stucco on ceiling, perhaps redo
  
• Fix cabinet doors to open and close properly
  
• Locate key for locks in cabinets
  
• Remove existing window treatment and replace with one more sympathetic to the room and house

Living room

• Remove wall to wall carpet
  
• Resurface radiator cover
  
• Remove paint from fireplace
  
• Prep, repaint ceiling a non-shiny color
  
• Find nice landscape painting to hang over fireplace

Dining room

• Remove plant hooks over front window
  
• Remove wallpaper and paint walls a similar color to blue in wallpaper
  
• Obtain glass hand plates for swinging door
  
• Replace chandelier with more appropriate fixture
  
• Remove metal radiator cover. Consider building wood radiator cover, perhaps in the form of a window seat.
  
• Sand down textured plaster on ceiling.

Entry hall

• Remove linoleum and repair floor as necessary
  
• Remove wallpaper and repair / paint walls
  
• Fabricate missing piece of chair rail
  
• Secure loose railing
  
• Etch pattern into replacement pane on hall light fixture
  
• Re-do filler on door to back hallway. Faux paint as necessary

Screened in porch

• Remove fan of doom and replace with sane light fixture
  
• Build rack to store firewood on
  
• Replace screen, if it seems that it will make a difference as to the amount of light coming into the house.
  
• Research if it is possible to remove paint from brick without destroying it (signs point to no) and, if so, remove yellow paint from brick on porch walls.
  
• Make round trim pieces for rounded parts of screen
  
• Clean paint off stone
  
• Strip and repaint exterior trim
  
• Rebuild stairs outside porch
  
• Remove "dog door" and replace with screen

Second Floor

Master bedroom

• Find and replace existing sconces with something more suitable
  
• Determine purpose of thermostat
  
• Smooth out spikey stucco
  
• Locate and install better window treatments

Master bathroom

• Remove bare bulb in shower, replace with humidity-sealed can
  
• Raise shower ceiling to height of rest of room
  
• Locate CFLs to replace bathroom lights
  
• Obtain and install missing shower knobs
  
• Find and replace tub faucet and knobs
  
• Find and install replacement tile for shower pan
  
• Locate and install replacement toilet to match others in house
  
• Remove ugly cup dispenser
  
• Remove ugly hooks
  
• Find and install more suitable shower door
  
• Adjust linen cupboard to close properly
  
• Find a better shower head
  
• Clean out "needles" so that all spray properly
  
• Find and install replacement faucet for sink
  
• Strip paint from hinges on built-in
  
• Remove ugly window covering, fill holes left in tile
  
• Re-grout badly re-grouted tiles
  
• Install ventilation fan
  
• Install slightly longer chains for light fixtures

Craft room

• Remove paint from knobs
  
• Either remove ceiling moulding or do better finish work
  
• Find and install better window treatments
  
• Find and install better ceiling light fixture

Other bathroom

• Install GFCI circuit breaker for bathroom
  
• Secure loose tile
  
• Remove ugly cup dispenser
  
• Remove ugly hooks
  
• Find replacement tub faucet and knobs
  
• Find a better shower head
  
• Replace faucet and handles on sink with more appropriate ones
  
• Re-grout badly re-grouted tiles
  
• Consider relocating light switch into door frame (but installing a GFCI breaker should resolve any issue that this may cause...)
  
• Install ventilation fan
  
• Remove wallpaper and refinish walls

Hall

• Replace fuse box
  
• Remove wallpaper
  
• If rewiring efforts require cutting ceiling holes, replaster entire hall ceiling

South bedroom

• Remove carpet
  
• Remove mirror from bedroom door
  
• Remove ugly blinds and replace with more suitable window covering

Southwest bedroom

• Remove carpet
  
• Paint walls a single color
  
• Replace roller blinds with a more suitable window covering

Northwest bedroom

• Remove carpet
  
• Repair/replace doorstop
  
• Strip paint from hinges on built-ins

Third Floor

Main room

• Remove faux-Tudor elements by windows to allow better access
  
• Insulate
  
• Raise railing to a reasonable height
  
• Add built-ins for storage - make space for flat files

Bathroom

• Remove wallpaper in bathroom
  
• Remove ugly light fixture in bathroom and replace with something more suitable
  
• Replace off-white GFCI outlet with GFCI outlet
  
• Replace toilet with historically correct toilet
  
• Remove wallpaper in bathroom

Basement

• Repair pipes with holes
  
• Repair wall on stairs going down to basement
  
• Move dryer to less awkward location and see about possibility of routing exhaust into chimney.
  
• Clean paint off good slop sink faucet.
  
• Re-locate light fixture at bottom of stairs
  
• Remove freezer
  
• Replace hot water heater with tankless
  
• Replace breaker box
  
• Remove carpet
  
• Paint ugly paneling or replace with plywood and drywall.
  
• Remove ugly cover from toilet
  
• Find white toilet seat to match.
  
• Strip paint from door hardware in basement.

Exterior

All around

• Tuckpointing
  
• S1ate repair
  
• Repair of casement windows, especially rust and window frames
  
• Painting everything on the exterior the same shade of brown
  
• Replace rusting gutter nails with either copper or stainless steel
  
• Redo all ugly Portland cement repairs lime mortar

Front

• Remove screen door
  
• Find suitable replacement doorbell and install
  
• Remove ugly doorbell from door and fill as necessary
  
• Replace wood in front door with glass
  
• Replace screen door with wood one or simply discard
  
• Remove ugly light by front door, replace if necessary
  
• Replace incorrect downspouts on living room bay window with appropriate
  
• Repair faux-Tudor boards
  
• Repair front gutter
  
• Replace roof on living room bay window with copper
  
• Replace aluminum gutters on front entryway with copper
  
• Remove paint from stone on front entryway
  
• Remove paint from stone windowsills, including the dining room windows, which have been completely painted.
  
• Level steps in front of house

Driveway side

• Paint box gutter on bay window
  
• Strip paint off copper on bay window, both on flashing and on box gutter

Chimney side

• Tuckpointing
  
• Prune tree/bush by screened in porch to allow more light into porch
  
• Build chimney saddle and rip out existing flashing and re-flashing

Rear

• Fix second floor porch floor - rip out existing floor, remove beadboard underneath and see what structural work has to be done, replace floor
  
• Replace flashing on second floor porch
  
• Fix gate under breezeway
  
• Re-route television cable in more aesthetically pleasing manner
  
• Fix/rebuild gate
  
• Excavate and rebuild window wells (pushed in by freeze-thaw cycle)
  
• Apply WD-40 to exterior faucet handle in attempt to unfreeze
  
• Remove extra television cable over library window
  
• Determine what, if any, the original gutter configuration was for the third floor dormer. The current gutter and downspout just doesn't feel right. Perhaps the issue is snow and snow dams would help?

Garage

• Replace cracked pane on garage door (car entry side)
  
• Replace plexiglass pane on garage door (car entry side)
  
• Replace plywood in door with glass (human entry side)
  
• Determine why garage door frame has gaps / is out of plumb and remedy.
  
• Repair / replace trim piece on garage by car door.
  
• Replace garage slab
  
• Replace breaker box
  
• Fix gaps around garage door
  
• Fix light on side of garage to hang level
  
• Find historically correct light for over garage door. Once installed, remove ugly motion-sensor light from garage corner. Leave motion sensor system and use with old light if necessary.
  
• Replace valley between breezeway and garage
  
• Apply WD-40 to exterior faucet handle in attempt to unfreeze
  
• Rebuild basin for fountain on exterior of garage.

Yard

• Remove basketball backboard
  
• Remove dead elm on side property line
  
• Remove dead elm on back property line
  
• Remove or repair half-broken grill
  
• Sealcoat driveway
  
• Research whether it would be possible to have electrical, phone, and cable lines run through ground between utility pole and garage. If so, consider doing this, given relatively low (8') height of entrance at garage.
  
• Obtain cheap sandstone to eventually replace broken parts of front sidewalk.

Saving money on homeowner's insurance

I've learned, in the course of my shopping for homeowner's insurance, that the insurance companies don't like fuse boxes. This was finally made clear when the company I buy my auto insurance from refused to insure my house when they learned it had fuse boxes. A couple questions to another insurance company revealed a huge difference in premiums if I replaced the second floor fuse box with a circuit breaker. The difference was such that it would pay for the circuit breakers in two years.

This seems like it might be useful for others trying to lower their insurance premiums.