I Took the Plunge!

[Lily left the valley]

More pics. Included the underside of the farm sink. Seems to be marked 10 4 37. Is it just me, or does the cabinet look 40s/50s?

It's the steel swaying you with those handles in particular. Our '35 bungalow actually has some art deco details and fixtures. Your handles seem more MCM, but they still have that deco look too. (Note: I'm not an expert on any of this.) FWIW, I envy yours just a wee bit--ours can be tricky to use when your hands are wet.

I recently a month ago (even if it feels more recent than that) took some pics of our sink so we could ID its age as well, because our sink looked older than it turned out to be. (1918ColonialRevival, you seeing this?) So now I have to ask...is yours also made by Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company by chance? Your underside shot looks awful similar to mine with that font. [Referece from another discussion: Hey, Texas_Ranger! I remember where else I saw copper tubing now! And look at all that greeeennn first pic below.]




We have an October 18, 1935 stamp, and it looks...a lot like yours except I think we still have our original mix fixture.

This pic below was taken before I started taking the contact paper off the front of the cabinet. We have what I think are bakelite handles on ours. I'm still slowly cleaning it up as time allows, and only recently (actual recently this time) found out about the handle material buried under the latex paint. I thought I took a picture of them, but apparently I didn't. It looks like your undercabinet is a different model. Ours has a cutting board on the right hand side. Your vents are incorporated in the center doors, where ours are a separate upper stationary panel. We seem to have the same hinge type though. I wonder if your center doors are like that because maybe your basin isn't as deep as ours? I can't really tell from the picture. I just checked again, and we even have the same leg style. Our kitchen is galley shaped, so it's hard to take a pic of the sink and show the legs. So it's not a straight across kick plate. Our legs (base?) look just like yours.


This is kind of neat, actually. If your sink is from the same company, ours is like an older sibling of the same model!

[Lily left the valley]

Ok. I couldn't resist. I had to do a comparison shot since my response went to the next page.

[MJ1987]

Wow, great pics and points! I guess mine does have a big brother/sister. The manufacturer is definitely the same, right down to the location of production (Louisville). My sink can lift right off the cabinet--doesn't appear to be anything but shear weight/mass holding it in. It's been painted many times and the bottom left-hand hinge is busted, so I'm considering removing the whole unit.............in order to do repairs, get it sand blasted and powder-coated (you didn't think I'd scrap it, did you)! But I am curious about whether it's original to the house, since it seems to have been cast in the '30s and the house *may* be older. There are no chips, but the porcelain is worn dull, though I actually prefer my fixtures to show patina. I know a few coating companies that do a really nice refinishing job, but the end result still looks a bit too "big-box-store" for my taste.

I wonder if your pulls are original (or mine, for that matter). I always associate those with MCM, so it's hard for me to consider they'd be from the '30s or prior. I suppose they may have even been changed at some point and could be again, if not original. So much research to do! Maybe someone has an old catalog with cabinet options from back in the day.

[JRC]

Welcome to the neighborhood MJ1987!

This is like a family reunion for kitchen sinks, because I also have a sink almost just like yours and Lily's. But, mine is the youngest, since it was cast in 1941.

You probably already looked this up on Wikipedia, but in case you didn't, the company known as American Radiator - Standard Sanitary Mfg. Co. eventually became "American Standard," which is still around, and quite common, today.

As for the age of the cabinet underneath, I think it could be as old as the sink. I get a 1930s vibe from the legs, sort of like the stoves from that time. Neither Lily's nor my steel cabinets have those legs.

[Lily left the valley]

Neither Lily's nor my steel cabinets have those legs.

Mine actually does--the pic from above has them in shadow so it looks like it has a kick plate when it doesn't. It also doesn't help that they were painted black. I took a quick pic to show. It's a bit tricky to get such a shot now because the fridge/hoosier/stove are all on the opposite wall now, so there's not much distance to work with now. Three of us with this sink/cabinet. So neat!

Wow, great pics and points! I guess mine does have a big brother/sister. The manufacturer is definitely the same, right down to the location of production (Louisville). My sink can lift right off the cabinet--doesn't appear to be anything but shear weight/mass holding it in. It's been painted many times and the bottom left-hand hinge is busted, so I'm considering removing the whole unit.............in order to do repairs, get it sand blasted and powder-coated (you didn't think I'd scrap it, did you)! But I am curious about whether it's original to the house, since it seems to have been cast in the '30s and the house *may* be older. There are no chips, but the porcelain is worn dull, though I actually prefer my fixtures to show patina. I know a few coating companies that do a really nice refinishing job, but the end result still looks a bit too "big-box-store" for my taste.

I wonder if your pulls are original (or mine, for that matter). I always associate those with MCM, so it's hard for me to consider they'd be from the '30s or prior. I suppose they may have even been changed at some point and could be again, if not original. So much research to do! Maybe someone has an old catalog with cabinet options from back in the day.

If you're confused by the image, we've since pulled up the fake wood vinyl planks that were on the floor, hence the vastly different floor from my other pics. This was the next layer down, and I haven't made time to give it a thorough once over yet to get rid of paint splatters and such. I had only spot test cleaned it elsewhere when we first found it underneath. The sink cabinet rests on the original wood floor (as do our wood cabinets), hence them looking a bit squatter.

If you're interested, I have some links to places that do actual enamel restore work to both sinks and cabinets. The sink place has a long waiting list. I'm not sure how long it is for a cabinet at the place that only does cabinets. Let me know if you'd like those to take a look at.

Our under cabinet has also been repainted more than once. We haven't decided yet about colors for sure in there, so eventually we hope to get ours restored too. We'll likely leave it what seems to be the original white though.

Bakelite dates back to 1907. It was given special recognition as the first synthetic plastic in 1933. (According to wiki.)

I think you did mention your build is likely much older, so this fixture probably wasn't original build installed given the date on your sink. Our home build at least started in '35 for certain, although I'm still trying to find out if it was finished in early '36 or really was finished in '35. I found paperwork online via our county's document site about the building materials contract with a local lumberyard, which is how I know the rough start date for the build. Our tax card says '35, so there's a good chance they did finish it then, but we're still not certain.

When time allows, I bet you'll narrow yours down with more certainty as well.

[1918ColonialRevival]

The cabinet below is original to that sink and it looks to be in good restorable condition. As for which hardware is correct, both bakelite and nickel plated pulls were available in the mid '30s, so either look great.

The house could be 1937, but I'm still inclined to say it's a decade or so older. Kitchens were usually one of the first areas of a house to be updated or renovated. Ours saw its first renovation in 1929, when the house was only 11 years old. We were able to date our house through dates on two of the bathtubs (1-3-18 and 5-1-18) and someone had scrawled measurements with a date on one of the joists in the basement 6-1?-18 (middle number is illegible). One reason I still think your house may be from the '20s is the tall, rounded top radiator (looks like American Radiator Co.'s "Peerless" model, which was available by 1912 at the latest - not sure when they quit casting that model, but most mid/late '30s radiators tended to have a more rectangular styling). Are there any other old plumbing fixtures left anywhere?

You shouldn't have much trouble locating a period-appropriate wall sink to fit the mark on the wall you were talking about in the bathroom. Most salvage warehouses I've been to have had a few of these at almost any given time.

[Gothichome]

MJ, a bit late, but welcome to the district. About that listing garage, I think it looks great, I would just straighten it up, install a set of proper swing doors and use. It has a certain charm to it.

[MJ1987]

Wow, has it been a while since I checked in! Been reading most of the new posts but just haven't gotten around to sitting down and writing any updates, so here goes:

Since May, we cut out the boiler, poured a new pad so it sits level, repiped the hartford loop, and replaced the tankless coil. Of course, the oil pump crapped out, so that had to be replaced as well. Plumbing work also included replacing and rerouting the kitchen sink drain, running new water pipes up to the second floor bathroom, and replacing all galvanized drain pipes with PVC. After removing the lead toilet pipe and flange from the upstairs bath, I began to build a plumber's box to sure up the floor. About half way through the job I noticed a gaping crack in the tee-wye

My brother, Mike (THD ober51, cancer and all), and I got to work and strapped the cast stack in the attic, in the kitchen and in the basement. We then started smashing it out from the basement up. We cut out the tee-wye and then cut an access hole in the wall behind the toilet so we could replace from there down with a no-hub coupling and 4" PVC. Bingo-bango, the cast was removed and replaced (probably to my long-term benefit, anyway)

My primary focus was the bathroom, so after scraping up the linoleum floor tiles and washing away the black emulsion adhesive, it was on to the window. I must say, the process is (like everything else restoration related) a mental marathon. I've heat-gunned and chemical stripped the frame and molding, did the same to the sashes after removing the cords, weights, and pulleys, popped them into our just-completed steam box, and ordered up the Sarco type-M. The steam box worked great, but have decided to remove as much loose putty as possible before putting the next sashes in, in the future for ease of removal. I lightly sanded the frames, primed the outside and stained the inside. Early last week I puttied them (kind of nerve-wracking) and gave them the first coat of finish this morning since the putty had skinned over. I must say, they look awesome--just clean enough to look rehabbed but just imperfect enough to show their originality!

Concurrently with all this, with Mike's help, and that of a trusted friend, we've been heat-gunning all the upstairs chestnut--baseboards, doors, and windows. We got almost everything gunned, but coming back around with the chemical stripper and rubbing down with thinner has been tedious. It looks great, but boy what a labor At the current rate, I'm sure this will take me into the indefinite future...

[Lily left the valley]

Nice to see some updates, and always good to see pictures.

I absolutely love that door trim you showed.

Great work, you two!

[Manalto]

Thanks for returning the sink back to normal - my eyes don't hurt anymore. And, I agree with Lily, that door woodwork looks great.