Manalto wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 11:26 pm
Here's an update. Once again, thank you for your words of support in response to the hurricane damage; it means a lot. We're all here because we put our blood, sweat and tears (not to be overly dramatic) into our old houses; to have something come crashing down on the project you've focused your attention on for the past three years is unsettling indeed.
The roof is fixed. The inside, where it pierced the ceiling in a few places, is not yet.
There's something paralyzing about not having an intact roof. When I was first here after the storm, I could think of nothing else. Then Zeta came along and whipped things around. Some people said it was worse than Sally. In any case, we lost electricity (no surprise). The tarp I had put on the roof after Sally miraculously held. Once repairs began on the roof, I was able to look forward, pulled out the heat gun and started stripping the lavender paint that is all over this poor, abused house. Shellac responds beautifully to a heat gun; it releases the layers above and off they come with the scraper. Nevertheless, it's slow going. What a relief though, to see the dark original wood. Beautiful, even with the fragments of heat-gun stripping left behind. I made some progress and stripped the staircase (16 stairs with landing, plus a gazillion staples and nails from old carpeting). Remaining are the balusters (it's practically dentistry) and the board that supports the added-on-later-but-I'd-like-to-keep handrail.
I'm determined to make this place look old-timey, and one way to do that is vintage (or vintage-style) wallpaper. I've been stock-piling it in a way that would make someone with OCD take notice and wonder. This Yankee is thrifty, so I look for the deals, and have found a few good ones. Paint just doesn't create the same ambiance. However, I'm using paint in the kitchen and downstairs bath, where it seems right.
The best thing that has happened here at Thornwood (I keep forgetting to call it that) is the installation of my new Noritz combi boiler, completed today. This is a tankless water heater that has a second closed-circuit system for hot-water heating. We have blended (I'd like to think) 19th and 21st century technology by pumping hot water from this sophisticated Noritz unit through the 1924 cast iron radiators that I hauled down from Connecticut. I would like to express my gratitude to 1918 Colonial (I'm pretty sure it was you) for telling me "Don't let them talk you out of radiators." You're right! They're magnificent. After three years dealing with space heaters that felt drafty and insufficient (not to mention hideously expensive), the house is now comfortable. In previous years, it didn't make sense for a southern house to have a boiler. Now, with tankless technology, the household hot water and heating are wonderfully efficient; heat only flows when it needs to. I installed heat on the first floor only but its rise makes the second perfectly comfortable. If I find that in the future I have to cut a few registers, I will, but it doesn't look like it will be necessary.
Sorry for rambling on - it's been a while.
James, I fear I'm one of those people you mentioned in an earlier post who, after completing much of my restoration, had fallen off but for a few posts here and there. Trying to make a bit more time for checking in and was sad to see the damage from the hurricane. As a fellow northerneasterner, I know those live oaks well. They're truly gravity defying. Though scary at times like this, they're also so majestic. Often, they really help define old neighborhood. But alas, I understand why they're such a conundrum: on the good days, you leave them be and they're gorgeous and help make your property stately, but on the bad days (hurricanes) they're looming over your nest egg and posing--perhaps--the most significant threat to its destruction. What a quandary, indeed.
I'm glad you shlepped the radiators down from up north. As I've probably mentioned before, I removed all but one of mine and had them blasted, powdercoated, and reinstalled. They're working great. The warmth they provide in the cold months far exceeds forced hot air, no doubt. I can only imagine how much they improved a house that had none (though I don't envy the labor and cost associated with piping the system!).
When I first bought the house on Clairmont, the roof was over 30 years old. Though there were no leaks, I was eager to get a new one on. As they say, the time to do it is
before it leaks. Knowing that your roof sustained significant damage and being so far away must have left you feeling helpless! I've been 25 minutes away in a bad wind storm and felt that way--though a 25-minute ride gave me instant peace of mind. I'm so glad to hear that you're through the exterior cleanup and on to the interior. Isn't stripping woodwork a trip? The glory of removing 10+ coats of old paint and exposing natural wood is so satisfying. I used lacquer thinner and a steel brush to remove the residue on my chestnut--after heat-gunning and stripping. My process was: heat gun the majority, strip the rest, and then finish with a bucket of thinner and a brush...HOLY COW it took a long time. I'm fastidious, so it took a long time to pick out every little pin and screw hole from years past that scarred the trim. Ultimately, the hard work makes it look that much better so keep up the good fight!
I envy your new boiler and water heater setup. Anytime you can add a new system to an old house and make it more efficient is an 'A+' in my book. Isn't it so amazing when you can marry technologies from different centuries?! I'm still on oil and it's been a headache. My delivery company had the account on my house since '74 but I had to give them the boot. The boiler is 14 years old and likely on its last leg. I'll probably take out a home equity loan and replace the whole show in a year or two--or when it finally conks out. Again, you must have great peace of mind knowing you're up and running and won't have to worry about it for a while.
Sorry it's taken so long to check in. Wishing you and Thornwood all the best for a great 2021!
