Hello from the colonies, well Canada any way.

Gothichome · Apr 13, 2019

Thanks Mike, that colour is the colour that was on the trim when we bought I just top sanded and replaced with the almost the same yellow. We stripped three layers of wall paper and repaired the plaster. The ceiling though was a spongy mess with lots of broken keys, I made the decision to strap and drywall (plaster board) it brought the ceiling down only an inch and a quarter, with eleven foot ceilings I don’t think any one will notice.

MikeG · Apr 13, 2019

I'm an advocate of overboarding, in the right circumstances. It retains the original, follows the contours of the original, and saves an almighty amount of mess if used instead of removing the original. The number one choice would always be re-screwing with large washers, and over-plastering with an appropriate plaster, but if the ceiling is too bad that may well not work and over-boarding comes into its own.

Gothichome · Apr 14, 2019

Mike, Over boarding was one of the three options I had. Tear down old plaster and board or plaster washers and skimming. Tearing down the plaster doesn’t fit my restoration ethos, over skimming is far beyond my skill set for this large an area, this left me with strapping and drywall. Well with in my skill set and it preserved the original plaster as well as the strapping will hold the plaster in place.
This is what I started with.
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w436/ronm2/891e5c5ebec85ce388a37b018d7cd9db.jpg
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w436/ronm2/5588646e5e20761a84ade49aa303fa3c.jpg
https://thehistoricdistrict.org/download/file.php?id=2203
http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w436/ronm2/c37c7d6e20398459355ea319a40e21fe.jpg

Gothichome · May 19, 2019

Hello. About a month ago I finished up the winter project, the front hallway paint removal and restaining. This is what I started out with.

Only two coats of white paint. Started out using a gel stripper but it wasn’t doing the job and it was slow and messy, so I switched to a heat gun.
After stripping and many, many hours of sanding.

And the almost finished product, at this point all that’s left is the shellacking but am indecisive as to clear or amber shellac.
These are the original colours.

Sorry for the dark pictures, with the sun higher in the sky we don’t get a lot of direct light in the hallway.
Here is what it looks like with a bit more day light

Gothichome · Jul 12, 2019

In line with PP’s post on his hall lamp, here are the two we have mounted in the main first floor hall.

These lamps are all original and will take oil. Just routed some wiring and installed large chandelier bulbs. The first is a Bradley and Hubbard, the one at the rear is a Pittsburgh. Both date from about 1880.

Gothichome · Jul 15, 2019

Folks, this may be of more interest to Mike and Theforge but here is a pic of the brick work of Gothichome. You can see the outer brick and the inner brick as well as the bonding brick.

I had to remove a rotted sill, I am making a cement sill to replace it. Well at least I hope to, I made a mold and poured this afternoon, first time attempting this. We’ll see by tomorrow evening if I am successful or not.

george2019 · Jul 15, 2019

A form of rat-trap bond? Don't see that very often.

Gothichome · Jul 16, 2019

There are several larger homes of the same vintage with this type of brick laying. I really don't know if it’s a trade mark of a specific bricklayer or was just a fancier pattern as requested by the customer. I would expect a tradesman of this period would be comfortable with many patterns.
My new cement sill came out as I was hoping, installed it this evening.

Westholme · Jul 18, 2019

Gothichome said:
Folks, this may be of more interest to Mike and Theforge but here is a pic of the brick work of Gothichome. You can see the outer brick and the inner brick as well as the bonding brick.

I had to remove a rotted sill, I am making a cement sill to replace it. Well at least I hope to, I made a mold and poured this afternoon, first time attempting this. We’ll see by tomorrow evening if I am successful or not.

The photo suggests that your house has walls 1½ bricks thick with a ½ brick cavity, but it might be misleading. Are what look like headers all actually headers or are some half bricks ('half bats')?

I think they did things a bit differently in Canada compared to the average Victorian house in the UK, especially your brick chimney breast that does not extend all the way to the ceiling as it would here.

Gothichome · Jul 18, 2019

Hello Westholme , you’re looking at full brick headers. The outer wall header touching the inner wall brick wall (inner wall) the inner wall also has headers touching the outer wall in an alternating pattern. Each course the headers are in a different location so the headers don’t line up in a straight line all the way up the wall. So technically it’s two brick thick with a half brick air space. At least that’s how I am describing it. What really surprised me is the fact that the header is not tied into the opposite wall but just seems to be touching it, both inner to outer, and outer to inner.
It seems to be working, I have no structural issues with the brickwork anywhere.
As far as the chimney breast, the actual chimney flu’s and over all structure are made with the same brick as the rest of the home. The fire place hearth has a harder (more decorative) brick that I need to get the paint off of. Everything above is the mantle is plaster.
I have been informed that at one time there was a fancy fireplace surround there. We now have an over mantle sitting on the mantle.

Gothichome · Jul 18, 2019

Here is a picture of how the fireplace looks now.

adamhenry · Aug 5, 2019

Hello everyone, I'm also new here and glad to see some beautiful people and some beautiful home here.

Gothichome · Aug 6, 2019

Hello Adam, not sure I qualify as one of the beautiful people though, can’t speak for others but am sure they are better looking.

You should start an introduction topic of your own, with pictures of your home, every one likes pictures. This might get you more responses, my thread tends to move down the list pretty quick and soon will not be front page news.
Ron

adamhenry · Aug 10, 2019

Gothichome said:
Hello Adam, not sure I qualify as one of the beautiful people though, can’t speak for others but am sure they are better looking.
You should start an introduction topic of your own, with pictures of your home, every one likes pictures. This might get you more responses, my thread tends to move down the list pretty quick and soon will not be front page news.
Ron

Thanks Ron.

Gothichome · Oct 6, 2019

Thought I would post a picture or two of the latest restoration project. Just finished it up this AM.
These are the windows at each end of the second floor hallway.

The blue one is finished and both sashes are working on their sash weights.
The red set, only the bottom sash has been restored. Ran out time, and with winter fast approaching the top sash will waite till spring.
Ron

Feltwell · Oct 6, 2019

Very nice. Bit of a different style to the UK - how thick are the walls there? Ours are usually set so the sash weight boxes are behind one course of external brick, like your pictures of presumably different windows from the outside at the top of this page, so the sliding sashes are set back much closer to the inside surface of the wall - walls on older brick houses here commonly being solid brick, no cavity, and one brick (9") thick. Also hard to see from the pictures, but is the solid area around the curve at the top of the top sash part of the top sash itself, so it slides up & down, or a fixed part of the frame?

Gothichome · Oct 7, 2019

Feltwell, the walls of the main home are almost twenty inches thick. Brick,air space, brick, framing,lath and plaster. The wall I’ve posted above is from an add on (summer kitchen) it’s plaster on brick so a thinner was section. The sashes are in the middle of the wall so it gives a lot of set back on both sides. The upper sash is curved and so is the box. The curved filler pieces are extensions of the parting beads and hide the triangular gap created by the box section on the interior side of the assemblage. the exterior the window box is curved.

Exterior view of the blue window.

Feltwell · Oct 7, 2019

Gothichome said:
Feltwell, the walls of the main home are almost twenty inches thick.

Be nice if I had that here! Sounds a bit warmer than 9" of solid brick with directly applied plaster to the inside, which was the convention here for most brick houses until the 1920's / 1930's when cavity walls became common.

Gothichome · Oct 18, 2019

Feltwell, lots of Victorian homes here are built brick only. As you may be aware our winters are a bit colder than your’s. Those who could afford to often built with air space brick work.

Gothichome · Dec 7, 2019

Well folks, I see no new posts for several days, I have nothing to read with my morning tea. So I thought I will post some thing you you folks have some thing to read with your morning tea. This is a picture of our kitchen as purchased.

As you can see nothing really has changed in a 140 years. The sink and small counter were replacements for a sink that was mounted on another wall. The electric range replaced the wood stove that would have been mounted on the chimney stack.

Hello from the colonies, well Canada any way.

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