The Historic District

JJet, make sure the repro switches you do buy have a CSA approval if you are getting an electrician to install. There will be no difference in the switch but some fussy electricians may refuse to install them. Thanks Gothic! It will just be me and my dad installing them so I think it'll be fine. My...

I'd just try to avoid that made in china stuff. with a lot of brands ( in general) there was a point where manufacturing went overseas and turned to crap in the process. I see a lot of equipment that was a great brand and then turned to junk but retained the original name for branding purposes. Oft...

As always, you guys give awesome advice and insights. Thanks everyone!
As an aside, my house just received an official heritage designation this week! Woohoo!

The only issue with NOS will be the missing terminal on the switch body for the ground wire. Not the end of the world, though. I've purchased push button switches from House of Antique Hardware and am happy with them. I have about a dozen or so including some 3-ways and a couple of dimmers. How lon...

The only issue with NOS will be the missing terminal on the switch body for the ground wire. Not the end of the world, though. I've purchased push button switches from House of Antique Hardware and am happy with them. I have about a dozen or so including some 3-ways and a couple of dimmers. How lon...

Oh Willa. The section about your sweet cats had me tearing up. I'm so sorry.
Good job documenting everything. Your blog is a great resource. Keep it up!

I've wondered this too!
I need to redo the putty on mine too. It's a daunting task because we have (what feels like) a hundred windows on this place!
Better add that to my to do list.

Great! That’s really helpful! Thanks! Do you think I’d be able to hook up a NOS push button switch to my modern wiring? Yes. All a switch does is make a break in the "hot" wire going to the fixture, turning it off. The basic functional design has never changed. Isn't that interesting. I h...

A new question for you all- Most of our doors have suffered the loss of their original doorknobs. We only have three doors that have retained their original knobs. A PO who renovated seems to have removed the mortise sets and patched up the doors and installed modern knobs. The doors are all white (...

I've used both original and the reproduction switches and I can say this. The originals are much better quality if you can find them. The Classic Accents switches are ok for a stopgap measure, but I'm finding out they have about a 5-10 year life expectancy with regular use. I happened to get lucky ...