Refinished and patched in reclaimed floors

It’s typical that over the course of a century your bungalow or Victorian’s vintage heart pine floors have taken a world of abuse.  Atlanta’s inner city neighborhoods went through a host of hard times: old houses were portioned off into rooming houses; floors were damaged by errant water: leaking
roofs, leaking faucets, leaking tubs, inoperable windows.   Some homes had giant heaters built under the floors with large drafty grates. Add to that, heating methods were not safe and many houses suffered fires, scorching large parts of the original flooring.

These issues leave homeowners with the challenge of repairing flooring with wood that is no longer harvested, as original trees were 200-plus year old members of a long gone “virgin” forest.  And, sadly, many contractors aren’t familiar enough with old houses to know the difference between gorgeous old growth heart of pine flooring and modern day longleaf yellow pine milled from 10 year old trees.  While the wood is technically the same species, the coloration is night from day: whitish yellow from the young, modern trees versus a deep rich brownish red from the centuries old trees.

The reason for the rich reddish color is the tightness of the tree’s ring growth combined with the resins found in the slow growth.  Moreover, in an old house, where the floors
have been installed and used for 100 years, there is oxidation of the wood from
light exposure and the patina of a century’s worth of feet and furniture.

So, how do you repair these old boards?  The best solution is a simple concept but
somewhat difficult to source:  use reclaimed old boards from other old houses.
(Alternatively, you can buy boards re-milled from factory beams or trees
pulled out of the bottom of rivers.)  I’m fortunate in that I have a large stash of salvaged heart pine boards that I keep on hand for just these kinds of flooring jobs.  They go in looking like a patchwork quilt, all different colors of paint and dirt and polyurethane.   (Yet, pretty in that shabby chic way.  One client asked us to lightly sand the
boards, in their addition, to show the paint colors and just poly over the old
paint to preserve that quilt look.  It was a beautiful installation.) But after a good sanding and sealant and two coats of satin poly, the reclaimed boards blend beautifully with original boards.  Not just do they have the same patina, but because of the age and warping and use, tight spacing is impossible.  That mimics the spacing in
the original floors.  We mix together heart pine dust from the sanding with a putty and “grout” to fill the gaps between boards.  Overall, the material and process allow us to match the growth, age, and use of wood for a cohesive and beautiful floor.   And in this careful attention to detail, there lies the art of the imperfect.

Custom vanity and mirror with Carrara marble top

Demolition is almost always interesting. Unfortunately, for clients with old houses, it isn’t always interesting in a good way. In old bungalows and Victorians here in the South, if we tear out a plaster and lath wall, we risk discovering framing that has been the feast for termites and powder post beetles long past. It’s amazing, the number of rodents that have called the walls “home” for birthing and raising young. Once, we happened upon a colony of honey bees, happily producing the prized yellow nectar in the wall. More typically in bathrooms and kitchens, you find water damage in the lower parts of the framing where slight, unnoticed plumbing leaks dripped, dripped, and dripped through the years slowly rotting out 2x4s and sub flooring.

Rotted framing behind a sink vanity

When I first started buying, restoring, and selling old houses, I was more of a purist and wanted to leave the old plaster and lath walls. But, as I became more knowledgeable and saw more damage behind innocuous looking plaster, I began to gut all of the walls so I could see everything and make sure the structural was fixed. To keep the vintage woodwork and character, I saved all of the woodwork, stripped and restored it and reinstalled it in the space. It’s also cheaper for the systems guys to install a whole house worth of plumbing, HVAC, and electrical in open walls. No fishing wires and running into squirrel’s nests.

From time to time, we’ll find actual treasure with demo. Once, it was a platinum/sapphire ring behind a mantel piece. Another time, it was simply old newspapers from 1912, perfectly intact and fascinating tucked behind a mantel. In the basement of my current 1911 house, I found a collection of pretty iridescent old medicine and liquor bottles, dropped into the basement as trash or perhaps for another use for another day. They were clearly from the turn of the century.

Brick wall discovery

But one of the bathrooms I’m currently renovating in the old Buckhead part of Atlanta, we encountered another treasure behind the wall: an old brick retaining wall. It didn’t look like much at first but the homeowner had the instant instinct and vision to save the wall and incorporate it into the new design for the bathroom. I completely agreed with her. Oddly, the wall had a 1940s era metal window built in for a not-so-scenic view of the dirt crawl space. Whoever made that original design decision was clearly suffering from vision impairment or senility.

So, the brick wall was inspiration and fortunately I have a collection of antique bricks in my yard and I supplemented the original wall by masoning in the window hole with my salvaged bricks. The original wall had some odd squares of paint and we softened those with the help of paint stripper blending the original brick with my salvaged bricks.

New bathroom with brick wall

Now, the wall of textured brick contrasts nicely to the pale soothing sage green walls and the crisp historic white of the custom vanity, white Italian marble, and sliding barn doors, hiding a closet space. It’s a finished space now and ready for the homeowner to hang one of her colorful Peter Max paintings.

Salvaged restored mantel with salvaged tile

I relish putting antique materials back where they belong.  Re-hanging mantels back onto raw brick openings in old houses; installing hundred year old medicine cabinets into the wall cavity of a bathroom, complete with imperfect beveled mirrors, the silvering flawed and interesting; or hanging vintage 1880s ceiling tin on a new kitchen ceiling addition to give it the shine and smattering of rust of a century past. These deft touches, even say in a bathroom with all new tile, plumbing fixtures and smooth new drywall, give the room panache.  The eye is instantly drawn to the reclaimed piece, which infuses the space with personality, character, warmth and the thing sadly lacking in a lot of new houses or additions today:  uniqueness.

One of my favorite ways to recycle old house parts is to use them in unexpected ways.  For example, my kitchen cabinets were milled from antique oak floor joists.  This is storied

Oak Island Built of Salvaged Oak Joists

wood.  First it was a tree felled locally and then milled approximately 110 years ago to frame an old house in the West End of Atlanta.  Likely, this old tree was sited on the land where the house was to be built.  The 2×10 inch planks were the home’s floor joists.  But when my dumpster diver brought this wood to me, I saw the potential for beautiful rustic oak cabinets.  I had them milled by a team of talented woodworkers into a Greene & Greene designed kitchen, inlaid and accented with walnut mortised sides and curvy carved handles.  In the process of working the wood, a fascinating discovery was made:  a bullet was located in one of the boards.  By counting the rings around metal, we estimated that the bullet dated to the Civil War era.  This bullet now is a part the front panel of my kitchen island. 

I love it when the utilitarian becomes the aesthetic.    Some other examples of creative repurposing are:  use antique fire place tile as a kitchen backsplash, use a small mantel to frame a bathroom mirror, set antique piano legs as spindles in a stairwell. 

Additional ideas:

• Use antique ceiling tin as a kitchen backsplash
• Hang 6 panel doors and use them as wainscoting
• Repurpose doors as bed headboards
• Use Ball jars as light fixtures
• Set doorknobs on a piece of old trim as a coat hanger
• Use stained glass exterior doors as artful interior doors

So, we started to amass some potential pieces that fit the woodworking style and themes set forth by our original builder, Frank Ruggles.  We knew that we needed a grand entry that echoed similar entryways built by Frank Ruggles (our builder who hailed from Boston).  We visited other houses of his (and happened to live in one) and took pictures of architectural details such as column capitals, brackets, shingles, stained glass, doorways, and porches.  We knew that we needed a front door and sidelights and some interesting woodwork.  We knew we needed more heart of pine flooring for our proposed addition.  We also wanted to find stained glass, plumbing fixtures, perhaps some tin ceiling, antique tile, wainscoting, and two mantels.

And frankly, what inspired us to move from our lovely house right next door, was an ornate mahogany mantel in flawless condition.  I stumbled on this piece on Craigslist and drove to an Alpharetta antiques mall to check it out. Hidden under doilies and china and fronted by other tables, I couldn’t see it at first.  Once uncovered, it was just amazing.  Someone had taken great care to restore the piece and it almost looked newly milled, except for warm glow of aged mahogany and the history in the form of a tag from a Pennsylvanian cabinetmaker from the late 1800s glued to the back.  I bought it for a great price and knew immediately that it would be the focal point in the foyer—the first thing that someone saw when they entered the house.  At that point, the house began to take shape and come to life in my mind’s eye.

 The mantel piece lived in our garage as we worked on the house next door and everyday when I got out of the car, I appreciated it.  At some point, I started to realize that parting with it would be tough.  Eventually, it precipitated discussions about moving next door, which planted the seed, became appealing, and eventually happened.

But, I wanted to discuss the pretty stuff, the finish details that make old house people smile when they walk into a restored old house where the woodwork gleams, the tiles show off their crackled age, and the red-hued heart pine floors evoke sentiment and warmth.

Our house was missing all of this, so we decided to give it an infusion.  Luckily, we are perfectly equipped to do this with a basement filled with salvaged parts and pieces.  That still doesn’t mean it’s easy or simple to do.  It’s an enormous puzzle that you can walk through, but if you enjoy creating art or puzzles or both, it’s a highly rewarding challenge. 

Some folks tackle this upfront by making all of their decisions from the get-go so that they don’t slow down their builder or renovator.  And it’s safe to say that and most people likely only use a select few salvage pieces as accents, which give their new construction or renovation a warmth and connection to history.  We decided that since we own the renovation company that we would only be slowing ourselves down and that an organic process of choosing parts could be tackled with each impending deadline. 

 I’ll talk more about this in upcoming posts and the process that drove each selection.

Typical Heart of Pine Bungalow Door

Interior doors can provide a good bit of insight to the history and style of a home.  Here in the Deep South, specifically Atlanta, we typically have six-panel heart of pine doors in our Craftsman bungalows and American Foursquares: homes built during the late teens and into the early 1930s.  Six panel doors are assembled with six beveled “judge’s panels” separated with rails and stiles. 

 The doors themselves have a simple look, although there is nothing simple about crafting the beveled edges of the panel itself.  Even with modern tools, the machine that rips these panels causes the maker to risk life and limb.  

 The majority of these Southern doors were made from virgin longleaf pine, otherwise known as a heart of pine.  While today heart of pine is nearly exotic in its scarceness, in the turn of the century it was the most common and by far the least expensive wood on to be found.  Much of the South was still heavily forested.  Similarly, in other parts of the country, whatever was convenient and inexpensive was used.  In New England, antique doors can be oak, chestnut, white pine, poplar, or cherry.

Vertical Panelled Victorian Door

Tudor homes usually featured heart of fir doors with two large recessed flat panels of plywood, trimmed with cove molding and held together with rails and stiles.  Clearly this is a more economy-driven door style as it requires less wood and less labor.  Occasionally this style of door is also found in smaller bungalow homes.

Victorian doors, which date from the 1800s to the early 1910s were assembled differently.  Instead of having six horizontal panels, the doors were assembled with beveled panels that run vertically and are found in a four panel symmetrical configuration. 

The amazing thing is that after the Industrial Revolution of 19^th century, milling was simplified and wood products were mass produced with the help of coal engines and cast iron machinery.  Homeowners could order doors and millwork both simple and ornate.  In fact, they could order entire homes from the Sears and other catalogs.

Simple Board & Batten Door

However, if you go back to the early Federal period, the doors were often board and batten, meaning that the doors were planks fastened together with batten boards holding them as a solid unit.  This style of door is the simplest and arguably the most primitive style.

Developing Cherry Tomatoes

So, aside from my tropical plants and myriad of perennials, we’re also growing edibles: strawberries, peaches, blueberries, Italian grapes, Simpson and butter crunch lettuce, arugula, three kinds of peppers, carrots, spring onions, cukes, basil, cilantro, lemon balm, eggplant, stevia (that’s an experiment for iced tea’s sake), cantaloupe, heirloom tomatoes (and cherry and Roma).   Get this nonsense:  all of it is growing in our tiny front yard along with a host of butterfly, bee, and bird enticing perennials and annuals and of course our aforementioned gargantuan banana tree.  I think that the urban garden is making a huge resurgence because I see my next door neighbors with their first attempt of a huge garden with raised beds.  My good friend Pat has enough produce to feed her two meals a day in her side yard in Avondale. My commute through an adjacent neighborhood has raised beds in the tiny strip of land between sidewalk and street.  What’s amazing is that passers-by have an intimate viewing (and potential picking) of this maximized footprint garden.

Jungle o' Produce

Atlanta folks and I imagine folks around the country are listening to reports of pesticides, genetic engineering, and a desire for green living (how far does food have to travel to stay fresh?; how much fuel does it take to move it?; are they coating it in shellac to preserve it?) and are hitting their local nurseries to buy young plants and seeds.

 My family’s lettuces, growing front and center in the front yard, have been thriving ridiculously and are actually stressing me out a bit.  Even with the daily consumption of at least one salad (times three per day), we can’t keep up with the growth rate.  

And so, we are giving bags of salads away to friends, co-workers, and neighbors.  Even my cats have found the fresh buttercrunch worth noshing.   We put the arugula on our attempts at creating the perfect Italian pie.  And it’s cliché and rather bizarre that lettuce greens are far superior in flavor that the grocer’s wares.   Everyone knows that’s true of tomatoes, but who would have thunk it of lettuces?

Our strawberries yield 3-4 fruits a day and it thrills my 6 year old daughter, Walker, that her plants are producing like mad.  It’s a delight for her to arrive home from school and rummage the garden to check the growth the veggies and fruits.  She knew, before me, that our cukes were already 6 inches long and that our heirloom tomatoes were producing.  I was informed that she’s already harvested and consumed some banana peppers and that they were “quite delicious.”  It warms the innermost cockles of my heart when she gives tours of our intimate garden to her play dates and informs them that everything is 100% organic.

So while the runaway lettuce stresses me out, I realize it’s a good problem to have–you can’t get much more local or organic than your own front yard!

When Plumbing Pipes Explode

When we were at our lake house two weekends ago and the water pressure was less than stellar, I thought that something was afoot.  Then, I ventured down into the basement to discover that at weekend’s end, my newly filled chemical tank (to get the Ph up to a neutral 7 in order to hit the iron filter—lake living ain’t always easy) was empty.  That was oddly suspect.  Still I didn’t suspect a plumbing leak, because everything was dry as a bone within the house.  So I strolled down to the dock to put up our lounge chairs and on the way back up, I heard the dancing of a babbling brook.  That sound is distinctly different than the gentle lapping of lake waves against the cement sea-wall.  I had one of those unpleasant “a-ha” moments when things crystallize and all the pieces fall into place.  I traced the running water up the hill and began to dig.  Sure enough, we had an underground plumbing leak from the PVC pipe running to the dock’s faucet.  Happily, it was easy to find and excavate.  I saw quickly that the PVC coupling (connector) was cracked and water was gushing from the break.  I sprinted to the house and disconnected the water from the main. 

 On the way back to Atlanta, we debated whether we could figure out how to fix the break or whether relying on a licensed plumber was the best bet.  Ultimately, I thought that we could handle it—we own a renovation company after all.  (Disclaimer:  That is not the same as being a specialist in the various systems repairs!)

I went to my friend Google.com and typed in how to repair a PVC plumbing leak and got some good information.  It looked like we simply needed a hacksaw, plumbing primer & glue, a pipe the same size (3/4 inch), and two couplings to connect the 5 inch new pipe.  I thought that the toughest part of the repair would be cutting out the pipe without severing the electrical wire directly beneath it.  Also, working in a muddy hole would not be joyful. 

Paula did the cutting with graceful aplomb and then our first problem cropped up.  I had purchased 1 inch pipe, not ¾ inch.  Oops.  Off to the local hardware store, which is a lovely place and also a voyage back in time 70 years or so (no computerized system, no register, people that help you the moment you hit the front door).  Bar codes are like Mandarin Chinese to this store. 

PVC Compression Fitting

When Paula returned, she was back with a compression fitting, a definite departure from the plan.  She had the foresight that we might have a hard time working with an inflexible pipe buried in the ground.  Genius idea.  The combination of the compression fitting and the coupling and bit of pipe went together like butter.  Two hours later, the glue dried and we were back with water on in the house.  We figured that we saved $165 dollars on a plumbing fix by figuring it out ourselves. 

But…this could have gone the other way with no success and a geyser in the yard, so the key is to know your own limits and hire pros when there is danger involved or if you need the repair to work in a specified window of time.

Beauty of Wood Floors

If you mix pets, children, entertaining and simple day-to-day life with your beautiful wood floors, you know that what you get is floors that are less than pristine.  I am speaking from experience as my 100 year old pine floors bear the brunt of the feet of many sub-contractors, my daughter’s garden experiences, dog dirt dragged in from the backyard.  Not to mention the occasional hairball hacked up by one of our Maine Coon mix kitties.

 The fabulous thing about wood floors though is that they are very forgiving and easy to clean. Look at the alternatives.  Carpet gets filthy and stains if you even think about it—God forbid that you’d spill a little red wine.  Tile chips and fractures if you drop anything on it (even a simple can of Campbell’s soup!) 

 To get your floors looking their best, simply start by sweeping up the loose dirt and debris.  These can scratch your polyurethane finish.  Vacuuming also works if you move the setting from “carpet” to “wood floors.”  Next mix a half a cup of white vinegar with a gallon of warm water.  Vinegar can be purchased for dirt cheap prices—buy the generic because it’s the same stuff.  Keep your bucket on a towel to avoid unfortunate water rings.  Soak your mop in the brew but make sure that you wring the mop out thoroughly several times so it’s damp but not sopping.  Mop the room, making sure that you change the water/vinegar solution regularly when the water turns swamp brown.

 (As an aside, I also adore the Ms. Meyer’s organic lavender cleaner to on floors.  It’s pricier than the vinegar, but it leaves your whole house smelling of lavender and that can make a day more joyful.)  www.mrsmeyers.com

Don’t let puddles sit on your wood or you can get splitting and cracking of the boards.  I like to take a towel rag and mop up the super wet spots as I go, but that’s just my little quirk.  It also ensures that the floor is fairly dry when I’m done.

Here are some tips for taking extra care of your wood floors:

• Place rugs or mats at heavy traffic point entryways to catch abrasive dirt and grit
• Don’t use oil soaps as they’ll add a film to your finish
• Rotate area rugs to protect your floors
• Use pads and protectors on chair legs and heavy furniture
• Keep your pooch’s nails trimmed short
• Tread softly in your stiletto heels

Banana in Early Spring

My banana tree has far exceeded my expectations of its growth.  On year two of its planting, it hit 20-some feet and produced three massive bunches of green bananas, inedible since our Atlanta growing season is shorter than Costa Rica’s.  And then there are the canna lilies that shot up past the eight foot mark.    My parents arrived for a visit and my tiny mom got out of the car, took a look at my “maximized” front yard and burst into gales of laughter in the middle of the street.  Dad wandered into center and then commented that he was having some Vietnam flashbacks.  Hilarious—they should take it on the road.

I don’t care if it’s unorthodox; I am pleased with how my urban jungle is thriving.  City folks have, if we’re lucky, approximately one fifth of an acre to play with.  If you happen to enjoy gardening and also happen to have a shady backyard and large wooly destructive Siberian huskies, then you are left with only the front yard as a gardening option.

I don’t have any real education regarding gardening except that I checked “Gardening for Dummies” from the library and read it and then decided to do whatever I liked.  The real credit for my overly thriving plants is the demise of the century-old oak from next door.  When the tree died from its fire wounds (the house next door burned to the ground) and was cut down, I claimed two truckloads of oak mulch and shoveled a 12 inch layer into the front yard.  Transferring that much mulch took three weeks, mucho sweat and sore biceps, but paid off mightily. Our Southern red-orange clay turned black with organic decay.  The once “Charlie Brown” windmill palm grew 8 feet in two years.

And now this small front yard is its own ecosystem.  We have honeybees, hummingbirds, blue birds, robins, and butterflies galore.