An experiment, build new, like the old

[cjd]

Mostly on topic--

You don't seem to be alone in your overall quest, but the costs cited in this recent WSJ article are what has always scared me away from attempting the idea:

"Looking for a New Old House? Americans fed up with over-sized, over-designed McMansions are finding saner shelter in houses 'historic' on the outside..."

I am glad to see, however, that at least some people are starting to realize that McMansions are not so fabulous.

[phil]

I have seen a few new homes near me built with old craftsman and victorian architecture. If it was me that's what I would do and I'd use recycled flooring , doors, windows etc. I wouldn't limit my use of modern materials though, Just build to standard practices and codes. Even things like light fixtures, put new cheap ones in , get it passed then do what you like as far as "updating" to antique ones.

I think , like many of us you dream of all the things you can do and you have the skills to do them. In practice actually accomplishing all of what you imagine adds up to more than one lifetime. Sooo to get 'er done you need to figure out which corners to cut.

also re mdf I agree I hate the stuff but with the price of good old growth fir it is prohibitive.

I just wanted window casings. i found one good board with a grain pattern I really liked and split it into three slabs of thick veneer. I made casings from this old growth fir board but they are hollow! You would never now that unless you really inspected them closely. even MDF can be "veneered" with thick veneer so that no one can tell or see the difference. The problem with the casings is they are a full one inch and 4 and a quarter wide, so if you find one nice 2x6 and trim it down it can make an equal board length of casing material. Very costly to do this with new lumber. it is possible though to use 3/4" then put a shim ( made of similar wood) against the wall to make it appear to be a full inch.

if you were to build a whole house you might be able to also bargain with a small sawmill to have them cut you some oversized lumber for use with trim, window sills etc, stuff that shows.

[rncx (WavyGlass)]

Been gone for awhile seeing a man about a plaster job in the house that's being sold. My kingdom for a piece of furniture that doesn't have a coat of white dust on it...

I didn't have it that bad off in my outgoing house. It was 3/4" trim throughout, albeit very wide (5+ inch casings, 8" head moldings and 9+" baseboards). I agree that true 1" trim is a pain to mimic. But 3/4 is ok if you put it up between the brown coat and the finish coat of plaster. Same effect, just not the odd thickness.

This project has now taken a new form. A friend of a friend down in Dallas with an ornamental iron company tells me that several cities have approached him about putting up houses in their historic districts for people to move into, and he's just short someone to help him with the nuts and bolts of the idea. We intend to work up some numbers and plans and get back to them. I'm told they want the same thing I want, just on a smaller scale (2000 to 2500 square foot single family homes, that match the historic neighborhood, but are affordable when compared to new suburb houses).

One of the city planners, from what I'm told, even started out with the same thing I said, "no plywood!"

We shall see what we come up with and where it goes.

[Neighmond]

Pictures? Keep us in the know!

Cheers!
Chaz

[rncx (WavyGlass)]

Here's all of my random facebook pics of the one I'm selling in Little Rock...

http://imgur.com/a/4Ft9R

There will be more and I'll post the realtor's ad when it goes up in the next few weeks.

History: The houses were owned by brothers, both built around 1908 to 1910. They were co-owners of the first department store to locate in Little Rock in the 1890s, their name was Pfeiffer, the store was called Pfeiffer-Blass (the Blass family were the other co-owners in the store). Both were Jewish families moving south from Ohio.

In the 1930s the house was sold to John Riggs, owner of the first Caterpillar machinery distributor in the southern US (and still the largest today, still owned by the same family). He added the sunrooms and the upstairs study that juts out over the driveway.

The Pfeiffer family sold out of the retail stores in the 1950s, to another upstart store operator that no one had heard of at the time, also headquartered in Little Rock...Dillard's, who are of course still around, and also still headquartered here in Little Rock.

By the appearances of the neighbors' house and mine, there was quite a bit of family rivalry between the brothers in regard to additions to their houses and who had 'the best' stuff. Lots of things in both houses are way over-engineered for typical residential construction, even by old house standards (like galvanized steel plaster lath, 1/2" thick marble tile, lots of unusual accents like the brass arches, the herringbone floor with wayyyyy long figured boards around the border, etc).

Unfortunately I can't move it to Dallas with me, so it'll be someone else's project in the next few months. I've completely restored the upstairs to what it would have been 106 years ago, so I gave them half a head start, whoever it is that gets it .

Summary of what I've done (all by me and one other guy but for the plaster...)

• removed carpet upstairs, refinished heart pine floors
• built new windows to replace rotten originals from old growth cypress
• reproduced original heart pine moldings upstairs, finished with shellac
• reproduced original upstairs 5 panel doors and transoms from heart pine
• built new cypress casements for upstairs additions that had their windows replaced at some point with vinyl
• replastered all upstairs walls/ceilings
• new heart pine built-in vanity in the master bedroom
• re-arranged master bedroom closets to their original locations, the previous owners had extended them and eliminated doors to do so
• scraped/repainted wood siding on the back of the house
• restored metal roof on the 1930s additions with screws to replace missing nails, and painted the metal with xylene roof paint
• reproduced and repainted all rotten exterior trim below the upstairs level
• replaced all missing hardware with authentic brass replacements to match the originals

[rncx (WavyGlass)]

And some upstairs pics after the plaster guys were gone and (mostly) cleaned up...

http://imgur.com/a/m1hWI

[kelt65]

The only thing I greatly miss about "new like old" houses are the plaster and the fireplaces in every room, even though in old houses they're coal burners and don't work anymore (at least they are around here). Still, a nice mantel adds a lot of character to a room.

People still do a simplified plaster with blueboard, and level 5 finish on drywall isn't so bad, but both of those are quite pricey. Fake fireplaces are easy enough to build I guess, but it would be strange.

On the other hand, you get insulation and modern plumbing and wiring.

[rncx (WavyGlass)]

I'm not a fan of blueboard, personally. I have it on one ceiling that I couldn't easily save due to water damage, but the rest of mine is the old stuff.

Blueboard seems more dense than regular drywall, but not that dense to compare to real plaster.

[Texas_Ranger]

Can you get something like Heraklith board in the US? It's wood shavings pressed together with cement and can be plastered directly using any type of plaster thanks to its rough surface that provides keying. We're going to use that on some ceilings we need to replace instead of plaster & lath because it only needs a finish coat and no base and scratch. The 1" thick stuff is amazingly heavy and solid! You do have to tape the seams before plastering or you'll have cracks all over.

[phil]

have you thought of a pre-made home?

you could buy a linwood home
http://www.linwoodhomes.com/house-plans/

or a viceroy home
http://www.viceroy.com/models/country_classics

I worked for a year for viceroy. From the things I saw, weren't nice to most of the employees. I didn't have a hard time with management but I couldn't see then treat other people like crap and invest my time in that company so I found a new job and moved on before it affected me. They do make nice authentic looking doors and staircases from fir or hemlock using CNC . They were able to do some really nice (big) post and beam work with big CNC machines. They had a vinyl window plant and they moved that out east. I had to help disassemble all the CNC machinery used to make the windows. the truck turned over en route, smashing the machinery, but they did get the window plant back running out east evidently wiht a lot of issues. They build high end homes including all the walls doors windows trusses and it is sent out on the back of a truck to site where it is quickly assembled in chunks. some of the houses have big windows like you would see on the beach front properties, but they do have some heritage looking ones.

I don't think no plywood or OSB for outside sheeting is reasonable, you could use shiplap but to what advantage over plywood? I can see saying you didn't want things like casings made from anything but wood.

this article says Viceroy didn't pay their employees for January
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ ... uary-union