The Historic District

The asbestos tile wouldn't be an issue... that is until someone wants to remove it at some point in the future! I'd never glue down any product like that out of consideration for future owners or even myself if I tire of the pattern!

In all honesty I'm amazed they'd put wooden sills into a brick house! I'm fairly sure around here the sills would be stone or concrete and only the actual window frame wood. Or, even more commonly, the sill would just be galvanised flashing up to the window frame.

I love the style but I don't think I'd go with cement from what I've read! The originals (at least those used in central Europe) were ceramic and very durable but cement stains easily and gets damaged by any kind of acid, including some cleaners. I think even spilling vinegar in the kitchen could ca...

My mom used to consider a mix of water, vinegar and honey very healthy when I was a kid, I guess some semi-esoteric trend. I think I tried it a few times, not too bad but not something I'd make on my own.

Tex, if it makes you feel any better, I'm allergic to grass something or other. When we used to live in an area where landscapers reigned, I'd have to shut all the windows when they showed up or I'd be sneezing my head off for the rest of the day even after taking allergy meds. It's one of the reas...

Oh yes, I can't tell you how glad I am to be rid of that paint! It might have looked good outside when it was new but in a somewhat dark room (except with afternoon sun) it was a horrible idea even freshly painted. We still have a tin of leftover paint somewhere, I might try a swatch in bright sunli...

Letting it die was the only way to get it off our front barn door where it had grown into the board and batten setup. Took a few weeks but then it was easy to pull off. While this kind of ivy isn't anywhere as toxic as poison ivy (AFAIK a totally different species of plant) I'm still a bit weary of ...

After roughly 8 years of working on the house in brief spurts during vacations I finally have a before and after to share! The bathroom was an utter mess when we got there, ugly and not very functional. It was built in 1976 as cheaply as possible by splitting a room in half with a concrete block wal...

I'd have expected oakum to be behind that caulk, between the frame and brick wall, possibly white oakum (just fibres stuffed in there). The black stuff could have been used to prevent the oakum from getting wet in driving rain. Pointing wouldn't seal the seam completely as the wood expands and contr...

We've got butcher block at the weekend home, birch for the most part but maple around the sink, that was installed by the PO. I most definitely wouldn't ever install wood around a sink, no matter how often you oil it it'll get damaged by water spills! Other than that I'm quite happy with it.