Dining room restoration

[phil]

that's an awesome cabinet Mick, it looks great and for such a small footprint it really makes use of the space nicely.

[Eperot]

Wow, split lath in the flesh. That is really cool. Looks like you've got some serious work on your hands there pal. Great built in.

[Mick_VT]

Wow, split lath in the flesh. That is really cool. Looks like you've got some serious work on your hands there pal. Great built in.

It is very cool, I hate to take it down, but it better than disturbing 150yr old clapboard that still pristine. What I did not photograph was the 18" wide sheathing boards cut on an up down sawmill

[Corsetière]

I love your cabinet! Nice choice!

[Mick_VT]

Wow!!! That looks great...no matter what time period it came from. Those leaded glass doors are beautiful!

The "brother" would look amazing in the corner of my dining room!

I believe the other is still at the salvage place, though the shipping form seacoast NH may not be that cheap

[Mick_VT]

So now things are getting intriguing. While stripping off the casings and sheetrock around the kitchen doorway, I expected to find more evidence that it wasn't original. Instead this is what I found...

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from the marks on the lath they have always ended at that doorway, no plaster under where the trim was. But look at that casing for the doorway... The house here is very twisted (the fridge is actually plumb upright, only thing in the shot that is). Somebody at some point has adjusted the casing so it is nearer upright. The wood is old, likely original to the house.

Now look above the doorway, lath removed (not by me) and the reclaimed 2x4's nailed in there with wire nails (old construction is all iron nail). I am struggling to make sense of what I am seeing. It seemed pretty clear that the kitchen had been open to the pantry originally, but that would render this door useless as it essentially sits next to another original door which provided the same. I am starting to wonder if I am wrong on the pantry configuration after all.

My best guess on this weirdly repaired door is this: Right above this doorway is a chimney. It never came to the ground floor but instead the stove pipes from this room and the kitchen went up to meet it on the second floor, a common Vermont thing to save bricks (and make creosote!) At some point this area of the house suffered a bad chimney fire in this chimney, enough to burn off a portion of the gable and roof. I have been finding charcoal at various times as I open up walls, and there are charred and burned through 2x4s in the attic. I can only wonder if perhaps this doorway was badly damaged at the same time.

I am stumped as to what the layout of the house was now, but tempted to carry on as if I had not made this find, and still close this doorway up.

[Mick_VT]

Wow, split lath in the flesh. That is really cool. Looks like you've got some serious work on your hands there pal. Great built in.

Here's a picture just for you Eric. Unspoiled 1860s split lath. 1/2" thick it was clearly cut on an up-down sawmill. It is extremely likely that sawmill was the one that now sits semi derelict just across the river from my house. There are only four boards there making up the eight feet in height. Even before splitting some were likely twenty inches or more in width. I believe the wood is hemlock.

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[Casey]

I would call it accordion lath, since it is all kept in order as it came off the plank. I more commonly see split lath that that was made off-site, and not kept in order, and nailed up randomly. Accordion lath is more rare and special.
Casey

[Eperot]

I can very much appreciate that, Mick. Thanks!

Incidentally, what you got for a toilet there? I see a side inlet bowl that looks very old school.

[Don M]

That's a great looking wall; very impressive lath demonstration!