Hello from Massachusetts!

Introduce yourself here, tell us about your house and interests. Share some pictures.
User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Lily left the valley »

Stitch wrote:{snip} I posted some pictures of the master bedroom. There are three bedrooms total, and the full bath is upstairs as well.

Compare and share away. I love it. It's why I joined the forum, to talk about my house, to learn new things, and to hear about other homes from their owners.
I did see the additional pictures. Very cool, especially having the screens for the porch.

Yes, we did luck out in many ways with Beebe. I don't know if you saw my "There be dragons" thread that details our house hunt, but we actually lost her once, yet got her when the winning bid fell through. Speaking of yelps, by the time it came around to Beebe the 2nd time, our realtor was well aware of our quirks and odd happy dances. :lol:

Our porch has a bit of a lean to it, and that's something we're hoping to deal with next year or the year after. Our porch support posts (under) are propped on rocks that are not big boulders long in the ground. So that needs to get fixed at minimum. The upper supports, you can see they all have a slight list to them.

Bummer you didn't find the mark, but it was worth asking. Don't forget to pull out all the drawers in yours, as you may find some things that spilled over or possibly even hidden treasures someone forgot about. I am also a rabbit hole web browser, and was stunned I found that catalog, given the site it's stored on is connected to a place in Canada. Not that we're that far away, but still.

Our full bath, we are almost positive used to be upstairs, given some tell tale lines on the floor. We also had an injustice given with the modern cabinet/sink combo up there. Both baths have wood floor, although in the downstairs bath, it's buried under layers and layers of lino and vinyl. The downstairs bath window trim is a huge mess because apparently some of the former residents did not put a curtain over the window, so the wood needs lots of restorative work. We're a bit afraid, actually, when we finally undo some of the updates in the down stairs bath, of what we'll find behind them. I'm glad to hear yours is a well done reno, save the double sink.

One thing that you won't get is the knock of a salesfolk trying to convince you to install vinyl windows. We got one so far.

I was really, really hoping we would find more in the garage and attic, but the relatives of the seller cleared just about everything out on us--and the garage was PACKED with antiques. :crying-yellow: We had asked whether they would stay or not, but never got an answer back until they vanished--that's one way to answer. Sometimes we wonder if the seller (in California, we never met them) knew about what was taken.

We haven't found much by way of knob and tube. The electric here was a partial upgrade. Our doorbell did get disconnected though, which I'm hoping to get working again one of these days.

Half the overhead lights in our cellar are broken, which is one of the reasons I was trying to un block the two windows that had been boarded up. One was fine, the other gone. Is yours a dirt floor? Ours is partial dirt, with some concrete platforms.

I noticed your radiators. Out of curiosity, are you steam or hot water? One of the nice upgrades we have is the boiler, although we've been told since it has a copper coil that will need replacing very soon, despite the not very old at all boiler's age.

Our roof was 1/2 done, which is a bit annoying because we are considering getting a metal roof when the 1/2 that wasn't wears out.

I was shocked by the closets in our bedrooms. We recently realized that what we use as the Master has the wall more set back towards the roof pitch than the one on the west side (opposite, but otherwise almost a perfect mirror.) Our dormer windows are the central bedroom that has zero closets, which is hilarious considering east and west have two each, one full walk in (well, the master walk in would be too short for some folks) on the south, and a smaller on the north side with a single rod that is still easy to walk in, Sean has his dresser in there and never bangs his head when getting stuff out. The north bedroom has east and west coves which prevent the same width (or length, depending on how you think of it) for the smaller closets.

We are hoping to get the insulation done before August, because it does get quite hot upstairs already, and we already know it's much cooler upstairs in the winter as well. We'll be doing it ourselves after a consult from a pro so we don't block any airways we shouldn't, and we'll be using Roxul batts. The walls have a 1/4" layer of something between the AC shingles and the original wood. One of the reasons we're putting off undoing the newer siding is we're hoping to pull off the wood siding short term to insulate from the outside, so that will cost more/take more time. We also don't know how good all the wood siding is or not, so that's a big concern.

You still have quite a bit of your outside wood details that we do not (trim, gable details, tails). We might have trim around the doors and windows still, but we can't see it yet. It's rare that such trim survives another layer of siding, but it's also not unheard of either.

The sconces in the main bedroom weren't hardwired, were they? I can see cords, but it's really confusing in that picture what the cords are.

Our cellar is poured concrete. You can see the lines from the wood they used for forms.

Oh, and I also envy your enclosed side porch. We're seriously discussing doing that because we keep getting bat visitors at dusk, and it would be nice to have a mud area since our side door opens into what we call the dining room, but others have called the kitchen (with our kitchen being the "pantry").

One last thing, just because I did laugh out loud when I saw the ones that were left behind for you...
this little fellow has been with us for a while. I think he came from an Archie McPhee surprise box years ago:
Image
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

Olson185
Been here a good while
Posts: 251
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 12:36 am

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Olson185 »

Welcome, Stitch.
Congratulations on owning your first home. "Stitch" makes me think of "Lilo & Stitch", lol.
~James

Fourth generation in a family of artists, engineers, architects, woodworkers, and metalworkers. Mine is a family of Viking craftsmen. What we can't create, we pillage, and there's nothing we can't create. But, sometimes, we pillage anyway.

User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Lily left the valley »

Olson185 wrote:Welcome, Stitch.
Congratulations on owning your first home. "Stitch" makes me think of "Lilo & Stitch", lol.
I thought the same thing!
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

User avatar
Stitch
Just Arrived
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:22 pm

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Stitch »

Thank you, Olson & Lily! It is exactly why I chose the name Stitch haha I am a huge Lilo and Stitch fan! Stitch is the cutest alien ever haha.

I need to sit down and respond to your thoughtful post, Lily. I just popped in for a sec, but I'll address your questions. I'm so flattered that you're curious about my house, because I am the same way about others' houses too.

User avatar
Lily left the valley
Inventor of Knob and Tube
Posts: 2170
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:07 pm
Location: Gardner, MA, USA
Contact:

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Lily left the valley »

Stitch wrote:Thank you, Olson & Lily! It is exactly why I chose the name Stitch haha I am a huge Lilo and Stitch fan! Stitch is the cutest alien ever haha.

I need to sit down and respond to your thoughtful post, Lily. I just popped in for a sec, but I'll address your questions. I'm so flattered that you're curious about my house, because I am the same way about others' houses too.
When you have time...I know how time flies when you're a new old home owner. I was more worried my queries would be too much, since I'm sure you have your hands full! :D
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

User avatar
Vined Porch
Settling in
Posts: 48
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 12:42 am
Location: Western New York

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Vined Porch »

Hello and welcome!
It looks like you have a really lovely home there and I just adore the bean wallpaper :-)

Texas_Ranger
Knows where blueprints are hidden
Posts: 968
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2016 5:50 pm

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Texas_Ranger »

Stitch wrote:I did manage to find my street on the 1930 census, but not my house number, nor the name of the family which I suspect were the possible original owners. They apparently owned a bunch of the lots on my street, as I also looked up the deed to my neighbors on the South side of the house and they named the same family as the original owners of the land and lots.


How about the 1940 census? If you find the house there you'd have the build date pinned down to some time between early 1930 and early 1940. Although I guess the house could well be older but could have been vacant at the time of the census.

User avatar
Wackyshack
Forgotten more than most know
Posts: 404
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:28 am

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Wackyshack »

Been AWOL awhile, belated greetings from Massachusetts (south of Bawstin).
If everything is coming your way..... You're in the WRONG lane!!!

User avatar
Don M
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1646
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:19 pm
Location: S. Central Pennsylvania
Contact:

Re: Hello from Massachusetts!

Post by Don M »

Welcome also, I too have been away for some time. We use to live in Groton, MA in a converted 1800's Cider Mill!

Post Reply