Holly's House (Part 6)

The full-length front porch is paved with broken quarry tile to form a mosaic-like pattern. the paving is is great shape and will only need cleaning and the grout sealed. The old-world-feel is abundant in this house, and with some handyman work, some remodeling updates, and interior painting to blend in with the European vibe, this house will be a true classic.

Front Porch

My Great Grandfather came to Richmond in the late eighteen hundreds, yes he was an old English brick mason. He built commercial and residential buildings in the Richmond area up until the late 1920s. The reason I bring this up is I see a lot this broken quarry tile work in a lot of the houses he built, but I cannot trace this work passed him. If anyone has any information on the origin of this broken quarry tile paving, please post a comment.

See you tomorrow.

Holly's House (Part 5)

The living room truly provides some nice focal points to this classic. Starting with the Gothic arched entrance, the stained glass windows, the working fireplace, and the hardwood stair case.
Another class feature is a working 54 inch brass doorbell chime.

Arched Entrance

Fireplace and Stained Glass Windows

Stairs

Doorbell Chimes

In this series the living room will get a new ceiling fixture, and some new paint.

See you tomorrow.

Holly's House (Part 4)

The dinning room ceiling has had a tile ceiling installed over the plaster, probably due to cracking or failing plaster. We will know better when we remove the tile and restore the plaster ceiling. The dinning room also has an interesting ceiling fixture that Handymen and Home Inspectors don't see everyday.

Can you guess what it is called?

Okay a Chandelier

A Ceiling Fan

A "Fandelier"

See you tomorrow.

Holly's House (Part 3)

It will not take the Handyman very long to make the exterior of Holly's House pristine. All that needs to be done is some minor caulking, and some brick and tile cleaning. The land scape only needs the normal spring tune up. The slate patio in the back of the house is in great shape and only needs to be evened up and re-grouted with dry cement/sand mix. The garage only needs a few brick re-pointed and a new mop coat on the roof. Later in the series the kitchen will get a custom remodel.

The windows in the Kitchen
Detached Garage

Rear View

Any Handyman Or Home Inspector will tell you that the most important thing you can do to avoid expensive repairs is to perform regular preventive maintenance on your home. Good bones plus regular maintenance equal a classic beauty.

Introduction (Part Two)

To continue the introduction of the Old-Stock Home featured in this series I will start with her name, well what we call her. We call her “Holly’s House”.
Holly’s House is a well-constructed structurally sound house that has much charm, not only in her design, but in her location as well. The view from the front porch consists of Maymont Park and the Dogwood lined grove leading to the Virginia World War 1 Memorial Carillon.
Her are some pictures:

World War 1 Memorial Carillon

Holly's House

Maymont Park

See you tomorrow with more pictures.

Good Bones in Old Stock Homes

The Introduction

She sets regal and strong on the corner of two well known streets in the Richmond, VA’s park district. Experienced Craftsmen of the era skillfully completed her regal stature in the early months of 1929. Her Old-World charm is on exhibition from her slate gable/hip and valley roof to her Old English masonry walls. The full faced front porch with its brick knee walls and rustic timber roof supports, display a Gothic brick arched entrance that truly accents the overall charm of this classic. Without a doubt her structural integrity has not wavered in the least since her construction over eight decades ago. Her concrete footings, solid masonry walls and full cut lumber floor joist and roof rafters have withstood the decades with flying colors. Handymen and Home Inspectors use the term “Good Bones” to describe a house that is structurally sound, and this old stock home has “Good Bones”.

>


This is the first article of a continuing series that will take us behind the scenes of the repair, maintenance and updating of this Old Stock home.

Birds in the Belfry

As a home inspector it is not unusual to find uninvited guest in the home we are inspecting. During a home inspection the inspector will note obvious openings in attics and crawl spaces, but finding all the openings that can make your home accessible to these uninvited guest is not something that is always obvious during a home inspection.
Below is a common question I receive about uninvited guest:

Question:
We live in an older two-story house that we bought ten years ago. Recently we have noticed that we have birds nesting in our attic.
How are they getting in the attic? How can I discourage them from living there, short of buying a cat to go up there?
I feel this is something I can do ourselves if we knew where to start.
If you have any ideas we would appreciate it.


Answer:
It is most likely that they are getting in your attic by way of the attic vents.
The first place I would check is the gable end vents. Theses vents are the openings in the peak on the end of your house. You will see the louvers; window screen covers the back of these louvers. The screening keeps the birds out. Over the years, the screen gets holes in it and the birds get in. From the attic, inspect the screen for holes. Remember a bird can get in a very small hole.
You can patch the hole, but usually it is easier to just staple new screening to the back of the louvers.