Holy Toledo!
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:25 am
Hi all,
I've been meaning to make this introduction for some time!
I have been owner occupying a 1914 true up down duplex for the past 2 years. She is in Toledo, OH's Old West End historic district which is where the upper crust of Toledo once lived (both of the apartments have maid's quarters!)
Amazingly the place has been owner occupied most of the past 100 years and pretty much everything in both units is intact. I still have original windows / doors / floors / cedar shake siding / mostly unpainted trim throughout the house. Most everything is in good shape, but I do have 99 of 100 windows to reglaze within the next few years and a few plaster bubbles 'o doom on ceilings which need repaired.
I've completed a few projects since I've had it.
----Before I moved in, I recoated all of the floors downstairs with two coats of poly (in retrospect I should have just refinished as the poly coat is holding up only moderately well, but I was afraid of removing too much floor sanding)
--- In 2016 I redid the ceiling and walls in my main bathroom as there was a leak in the tenant's bathroom directly above, which caused the original ceiling and a ceiling that was drywalled over it to come down.
--- In 2017 I refinished my kitchen cabinets, redid the walls (every wall (and ceiling!)in the house is covered with what I originally thought was wall paper, but now believe to be lining paper). I also stripped many many layers of floor until I got down to the original heart of pine covered in black mastic, at which point I gave up and put a floating true linoleum floor over it.
---In 2018 I need to: prep the tenants apartment to pass Toledo's new lead inspection (boo), redo a ceiling in a bedroom upstairs thanks to a radiator leak and hopefully fix my living room ceiling, as the plaster bubble is too big to fix with drywall screws and plaster disks.
Finally a picture of my place from a winter walk around the neighborhood last night:
Will get some more pictures up later!
-BC
I've been meaning to make this introduction for some time!
I have been owner occupying a 1914 true up down duplex for the past 2 years. She is in Toledo, OH's Old West End historic district which is where the upper crust of Toledo once lived (both of the apartments have maid's quarters!)
Amazingly the place has been owner occupied most of the past 100 years and pretty much everything in both units is intact. I still have original windows / doors / floors / cedar shake siding / mostly unpainted trim throughout the house. Most everything is in good shape, but I do have 99 of 100 windows to reglaze within the next few years and a few plaster bubbles 'o doom on ceilings which need repaired.
I've completed a few projects since I've had it.
----Before I moved in, I recoated all of the floors downstairs with two coats of poly (in retrospect I should have just refinished as the poly coat is holding up only moderately well, but I was afraid of removing too much floor sanding)
--- In 2016 I redid the ceiling and walls in my main bathroom as there was a leak in the tenant's bathroom directly above, which caused the original ceiling and a ceiling that was drywalled over it to come down.
--- In 2017 I refinished my kitchen cabinets, redid the walls (every wall (and ceiling!)in the house is covered with what I originally thought was wall paper, but now believe to be lining paper). I also stripped many many layers of floor until I got down to the original heart of pine covered in black mastic, at which point I gave up and put a floating true linoleum floor over it.
---In 2018 I need to: prep the tenants apartment to pass Toledo's new lead inspection (boo), redo a ceiling in a bedroom upstairs thanks to a radiator leak and hopefully fix my living room ceiling, as the plaster bubble is too big to fix with drywall screws and plaster disks.
Finally a picture of my place from a winter walk around the neighborhood last night:
Will get some more pictures up later!
-BC
