5 Year Anniversary

Hard to believe it's been five years already. Funny that I thought I'd have the whole house restored in five years. Now I see why people laughed when I said that was the goal. Here is what was accomplished in the past year:

• I painstakingly disassembled an entire 2-car carriage house in less than a week and moved all the materials to my yard where I built a rack for all the 2x4s and siding and it is stacked neatly.
• I acquired a lot of architectural salvage for resale or use in my home. The things I've acquired that will be used in my house someday are: a full size clawfoot tub, a very unique 2-basin 100 year old pedestal bathroom sink, coffered ceiling, wide crown molding, a big oak room divider with square columns, sandstones stair treads, heat registers, and some other misc items.
• I purchased 18 sq of new Vermont slate in random widths and historic color blend. I plan to have the new roof installed sometime in the next few weeks. The current roof, consisting of original slate covered with asphalt, will be completely torn down, some wood repairs are necessary, and the new slate will be installed with copper accents. The roof over the built-in cabinet kick out in the back of the house will be done in standing seam copper. And I will put a copper ridge vent along the entire peak as well as eave vents to circulate air in the attic.
• I completed the restoration of the South side of the house. This consisted of stripping all the paint down to bare wood, replacing all of the window sill edges and drip caps of every window, repairing or replacing all broken clapboards, sanding the entire surface with 80 grit, washing with TSP, priming with Sherwin Williams oil based primer, and caulking all vertical seams.
• I also removed the gutters, cleaned them with degreaser, primed with an appropriate primer, and rehung them. They will be painted along with the house until I am able to put copper half-round gutters on the house.

I didn't work on any of my indoor projects this winter. I think I just needed to recuperate from everything done over the summer. I have a tendency to over exert myself in the summer months. This has been a horrendous winter. It started early and doesn't seem like it will ever end. I'm hoping this is the final week of the bad weather and planning on setting up scaffolding next week to finish the back of the house.

Merry Christmas - 2013 Sneak Peak

Merry Christmas everyone! I have a sneak peak of a 2013 project coming soon. Today I received a truckload of 7 pallets of brand new Vermont roofing slate. This is my Christmas present to my house.

I am using slate with random widths in a historical blend of colors consisting of grays, greens, blacks, and purples, like the picture to the right. Of course, all the flashing, valleys, vents, etc will be copper. It will transform the house and last forever.

I have been planning on getting a slate roof and was taking steps in that direction when we got hit by part of the hurricane a few months ago. There was a lot of damage throughout the city, trees and power lines down, roofs damaged by the high winds. Some areas of the city were without power for a week.

I put in a claim for the wind damage to the roof and received a check which enabled me to pay for all the roofing slate with some left to spare. I got an amazing deal from Greenstone Slate and got 18 sq of slate plus 100 linear feet of starter slate delivered from Vermont for under $6000. That was cheaper than a lot of the reclaimed salvage slate I had seen. So basically, between the unexpected insurance money and the great deal I found on the slate, I am able to get a slate roof for close to the price of a regular asphalt roof.

New Architectural Salvage Warehouse

A fellow architectural salvage enthusiast is having an open house of his huge warehouse soon. Looks like he has some really cool and unique pieces. I had met him before when I salvaged the 3 houses nearby. Then I recently attended a huge architectural liquidation of Antiques in the Bank and Antique Arcade and saw him again. He bought most of the inventory of those 3 buildings. He has given me some good deals on things when I didn't want to buy the whole lot and he did. So be sure to check it out December 1st, starting at 1pm. Let John know that Nina sent you. The warehouse is located at 2401 Center St in the flats. 

Architectural Salvage

Along this journey I have salvaged many architectural treasures for use in my home. Some items I've discovered while scouring architectural salvage/antique stores, some have been given to me by awesome neighbors, some I have salvaged from houses and a church slated to be demolished... This is a list of some of them.

The clawfoot tub above was salvaged from a nearby house that was recently demolished. I got 3 of them: that full size clawfoot, 1 full size pedestal tub, and the smaller 4 1/2 ft size clawfoot tub. The one above I kept for my house. I sold the smaller one and the pedestal tub here. The fun part was removing them all from the 2nd and 3rd stories of the houses they came from.

One of my favorites is something I've wanted for a long time. A room divider between Living Room and Dining Room. I salvaged the one below from one of the houses that the tubs came from. I paid a pretty penny for it. But it will look amazing in my house.

 

And again from those houses I got a Coffered ceiling. It has been painted over but was originally stained oak, and will be again someday, when I install it in my dining room.

And some big wide crown molding for the living room.

 

Here is a porch light I found in a salvage store. I think I paid like $5 for it. The original glass was an ugly yellow color and it was missing one piece of glass and another was cracked. So I ordered some of this cool green stained glass and repainted the frame black. This will go on my front porch ceiling.















One of my awesome neighbors was kind enough to give me their original mailbox, which they had kept in their basement. I had wanted a mail slot but refuse to cut a hole in my door for one and had no room on either side of the door for a horizontal mail slot. I considered a vertical mail slot but couldn't pass up this original mailbox from the neighbor. It is made of very heavy cast iron.















FOR SALE: I got 2 sets of sandstone stair treads from the demolished houses as well. One for my own house (the narrower rock faced ones in the back), and a set of five 4-inch thick ones that I have for sale. There was also one additional piece of long narrow sandstone that went along the side of the porch. I recently sold that.







I got this set of 13 original sunroom 9-lite windows from one of the demolished houses as well. They are all the same size, original stained interior, white painted exterior. They had two brass turn style knobs and catches. I sold the whole set to an art studio in Michigan.

I got this wood staircase panel out of one of the demolished houses as well. It was originally stained, not painted. I will strip it and install it in my house. My staircase is enclosed by two walls. I am removing one wall and installing a beautiful salvaged newel and banister. This will go on the living room side of the staircase.

I rescued a lot of doors from the houses right before they were demolished. I've sold them all except one of the mirrored closet doors which I kept for myself, and one regular closet door which is still for sale. These mirrored closet doors weigh a TON. It is the original beveled mirror, built into the door with a matching stain wood trim border.

I make a weekly Saturday morning trip to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (if you have one in your area, I'd recommend checking it out, you never know what they'll have). They usually have some vintage stuff at mine. Today I spotted this pedestal sink made in 1919. I had to have it. I tried to leave it there. I really did. It wouldn't let me. I kept getting sucked back toward it. I even made it as far as back out to my car, and even got it started, but then was sucked back in again and had to buy it. I might try to fit it into my bathroom remodel plans. If I can't, I'll sell it. Paid $65 for it. They also had a really cool 1899 toilet. Too old for my house but it was cool.

And of course, the carriage house that I disassembled in record time which will one day be my garage.

 

I saw this 1910s salvaged newel, banister, and balusters set listed online at a Columbus architectural salvage store. I had to have it. I drove 3 hrs to Columbus to buy it. It's all quarter sawn oak. It all has to be modified to fit the angle of my staircase.

  

I recently went to a huge liquidation auction of a local architectural salvage store. Everything went for pennies on the dollar. A lot of 50+ historic front doors went for $25. This happened again and again. There was so much stuff. I didn't feel like hauling anything though. So all I bought was a lot of about 45 baseboard registers. I needed some for my house. The rest I will sell. I'm going to sandblast them first. 

At the same auction was a bunch of wrought iron fencing. I did not want to haul it but I wanted enough to make some security bars for my basement windows. I bought 3 of these fence panels from the high bidder. I will sandblast them, cut off the top rail, cut them down to size, weld some brackets onto them, paint them black, and make security bars for all 6 basement windows out of them. 

More to come...

Old House Journal

My story is in the June-July 2012 issue of Old House Journal. They had been following my story since the beginning and contacted me a few months back for an interview. Much thanks to Clare for contacting me and writing the story, and for all the support I've gotten from their online community. I am still in the housing diversion program. However, the city has been much more supportive of my restoration. They have been quite positive about the work I am doing on my house and the impact that it has on the community and market values of surrounding homes. I should have the rest of my house stripped and coated by the end of this work season. Again, I want to thank everyone for their support.







Here is the story from Old House Journal:

Restoration in Violation?

by Clare Martin


Nina Smith thought she was doing the right thing when she bought a 1914 Foursquare in Lakewood, Ohio, and carefully began stripping off its aluminum siding to restore the original clapboards underneath. So a few months into the project, she was understandably surprised when she received a notice from the local building department to maintain her siding. Despite attempts to cooperate with the authorities (while still taking the time to properly strip, repair, prime, and paint the original clapboards), Smith has found herself in the midst of a protracted court battle to fend of criminal charges of noncompliance levied by the building department.


Smith admits her case is somewhat extreme, provoked by a harassing neighbor and a building department with a less-than-stellar reputation. Still, it's not uncommon for DIY restorers to run up against local governments during the restoration process. 


If you're restoring a property that's been vacant or is particularly derelict, check your city's property maintenance requirements to make sure those items - which can include things like peeling paint, sagging gutters, missing shingles, and rotting eaves - go to the top of your to-do list to avoid being dinged for a violation by a neighbor or building inspector.


Most homeowners know to check whether permits are required before beginning repairs, and to follow all regulations and approvals mandated by local historic preservation commissions. However, keep in mind that permits may require the work to be performed within a certain time limit, though extensions are often possible if you can show progress (though in Smith's case, her careful prep work has repeatedly been met with claims from the inspector that "prep work doesn't equal progress"). Many homeowners are able to get around time-limit restrictions for exterior work by completely restoring one side of a building at a time, but Smith points out this probably wouldn't have helped her.


"This all started when I only had siding removed from the front of the house," she says. "I honestly have no idea what I could have done to prevent this from happening." For more on Smith's story, visit 1914foursquare.com. 

Historic Garage Disassembly

Recently, I've acquired a lot of architectural salvage. A neighbor a few houses away from me, who owned 3 waterfront houses, sold his property to a developer who's building condos there. The 3 historic houses, around 110+ yrs old, are being demolished this week. I approached the neighbor several months ago and purchased a lot of the architectural pieces for my house. One of the things purchased were the carriage doors on his historic garage. These are huge, heavy wooden carriage doors with 6 panes of glass on top. They had the original steel tracks and hardware. The method for removal of these was quite comical. Each one weighs a TON! We carefully pulled them down and then put them on a furniture dolly and rolled them down the street, one at a time, at night, in the dark. Most of the neighborhood was watching, trying to figure out what that noise was (furniture dollies are quite loud when traveling down the street).

My garage is a POS built in the 90s from the cheapest materials available. It's total garbage. I've been wanting to rebuild my garage and use the historically accurate siding that garages in my area have. So the more I looked at my neighbor's historic garage, the more I fell in love with it. It was in very good condition, still standing up straight, and solid. I decided to not only take the carriage doors, but the entire garage. Beats paying $5k+ to build a similar one.

But this was no walk in the park. I had less than 5 days to get the entire thing disassembled and relocated before the demo crew showed up. I had just spent 5 days straight working on my house to the point of complete exhaustion. Then I had a 2 day break, and by "break" I mean I went to my normal full time job. Then I started the 5 days of taking more architectural salvage, including this garage, 2 claw foot tubs (one from a 3rd story, one from a 2nd story), and a ton of other stuff.

If you want to know who your real friends are, disassemble a garage. You'll find out real fast. My "friends" who promised to help must be in a coma somewhere because I haven't heard from them since they were supposed to show up on day 1. Fortunately I had real friends that I didn't even know about and they stepped up to the plate. And, as I've stated before, I have the awesomist neighbors on earth and they pitched in and the one next door to the garage let me use his power for the tools. And my 80 year old grandpa helped every day.

I started by cutting large chunks of the roof off. This consisted of the asphalt shingles, plywood sheathing, and original wood slat roof sheathing. I used a circular saw for this and I think I may have ruined the motor. It did not want to cut through all that crap, even with a carbide blade. Once we removed all the roofing by cutting and prying and beating with a hammer to get it off, we pulled off the fascia boards. We also removed all the brown cedar fish scales off the front. Neither the roof, nor fish scales were saved. When I rebuild the garage, I will replace the fish scales with cedar shake to match the front of my house. I ended up cutting the A-frame 2x4 roof joists to get them off. These are the ones that overhang the sides of the garage leaving the exposed rafters on the exterior. They were not coming off and I did not have time to play games, so they were cut and won't be re-usable as roof joists again (the 2x4s can be re-purposed for something else though). I will probably use 2x6s in their place when I rebuild. After that, I cut the nails holding the rear wall at the top, tied a rope to the middle, and pulled it down. Once down, I pried the siding away from the framing slightly from the inside, just enough to fit a sawzall blade between and cut the nails all the way down. I originally thought I'd be able to pound the siding out, away from the framing, from the inside. But because this garage siding is tongue and groove, as soon as you pry or hit it, the wood will split. So I could only pry it the slightest bit away from the framing and even that was iffy. Once the nails are all cut, you can slide each piece of siding out from the one above, starting at the bottom row. Then the framing was pried apart enough for the  nails to be cut and was disassembled. There were a few 2x4s that broke during disassembly and a few that were rotted, but overall I'd say over 90% of framing, siding, and trim was salvageable. Truckloads of the lumber was driven by my neighbor and unloaded in my backyard throughout the process.

I literally spent 15 hours a day doing this. Climbing, sawing, prying, pounding, hauling, etc. I don't know if there is a word to describe the exhaustion experienced at the end of the day. And I'm certain (although I have never had children) that the amount of body pain experienced by day 5 was at least equal to child birth. I worked from morning till dark every day. Spent the first day working in the pouring rain, soaked and covered in sawdust (which sticks to you when you're soaked). By the end of day 5 I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to walk upright again. Thank god for Vicodin and Icy Hot. I have nail holes in my hands, scrapes and scratches all over my arms, bruises all over my legs, my finger muscles hurt so bad that I can barely grip anything and even clapping is extremely painful. The bottoms of my feet are bruised from wearing steel toe boots the whole time and it's excruciating to walk. I'm not sure there is a word to adequately describe the pain. But by 10pm on night 5, I had everything piled in my backyard.

One day in the distant future, when I'm done with the serious stuff on my house restoration, I will strip the paint off this garage siding, cut off the bad ends, demo my current POS garage, build this one back up, probably make it deeper and maybe wider, and have a historically accurate garage to match my house. In the meantime, I will pull all the exposed nails from the lumber and stack it neatly, wrapped it in plastic.

Popular Window Replacement Myths

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The Myth: “Vinyl is Final”

“Maintenance free” is a popular term used by vinyl window manufacturers; but with a product that is susceptible to seasonal fluctuations, weathering, and constant operation, how can anyone truly guarantee this claim?  Vinyl windows are made with stock parts that quickly become outmoded, making them difficult, if not impossible, to repair if a spring or other suspension component breaks (the same holds true for wood replacement window parts).  Vinyl is also prone to warping and fading in high temperatures.  Want to repair a historic wood window?  Tools, parts, and materials can found at your local hardware store!

The Myth: Old Wood Windows = Astronomical Heat Bills

Replacement window manufacturers will often compare their product to a historic wood window that has not been restored or maintained – a window that fits this description will undoubtedly be drafty and inefficient.  In most cases, however, a fully restored, tight-fitting, properly functioning, weatherstripped wood window combined with a quality storm window will have the same insulating properties as a double-glazed replacement window.  Other steps can be taken to reduce heating bills, such as insulating attics and floors; the U.S. Department of Energy notes that 31% of air infiltration is at floors, walls, and ceilings, and only 10% at windows.

The Myth: Replacement Windows Look Just Like Historic Wood Windows

A property owner or replacement window salesman will often make this claim when the snap-in grids or simulated divided lites in the replacement model match the existing muntin configuration of the original wood windows.  First of all, snap-in grids or simulated divided lites have a much different profile than the traditional putty profile on old wood windows, which is difficult to replicate.  Secondly, materials such as vinyl or synthetic cladding are shiny and glossy and present a much different look than traditional wood.  Third, installation details for replacement windows typically involve additional framing that reduces the rough opening of the window.  Lastly, replacement window glass is significantly different than the wavy look of historic glass.      

The Myth: Replacement Windows are the “Greener” Option

With all of the talk of global warming and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), replacement window manufacturers often tout the energy savings associated with their product and that a replacement window is a “green” choice.  While this claim may correspond to newly constructed, LEED certified buildings, the argument that a replacement window is “greener” than a restored wood window is highly debatable.  As discussed previously, a properly restored wood window combined with a quality storm window will address energy concerns.  A product with a “green” label must also be sustainable.  Historic wood windows, constructed of old-growth lumber and superior craftsmanship, will last up to 5 times longer than replacement models, namely because the wood is durable and they are easily repaired.  The same can’t be said for vinyl or new-growth wood replacement windows with plastic parts.  Moreover, the insulating glass found in double glazed replacement windows will eventually fail and the whole window will have to be replaced.  

The Myth: Old Wood Windows are Highly Susceptible to Rot

Wood windows will rot if they are not maintained.  Any natural material that is exposed to weathering and sunlight will be impacted.  However, proper maintenance will ensure a long-lasting window, whether it be priming and painting or installing a quality storm window.  Oftentimes, a wood window may appear to have rot, but is actually just badly weathered and needs some T.L.C.  Remember, historic wood windows have a high quality of craftsmanship and were constructed from old growth lumber; they were built to last.     

The Myth: “It’s pointless to restore an old wood window when it will just be covered up with a modern storm window” 

While it’s true that modern storms can conceal the character of historic window sash, a few facts need to be addressed.  First, storm windows have been around for over 100 years, originally made of wood, of course.  Although some modern (and cheap and flimsy) storms might be an eyesore, there are quality models on the market that are more appropriate for historic buildings.  Second, a metal storm window is a small price to pay for preserving original materials and character, and storm windows can be painted.  Third, the installation of a storm window is reversible, while the removal of a historic wood window is not.  Furthermore, as a bonus, a properly installed, quality storm combined with a restored wood window will be just as energy efficient as a double-glazed replacement window!     

The Myth: “It is more expensive to restore an old wood window than to replace it.”

The cost of restoring a historic wood window obviously varies due to many factors, and there is no guarantee that restoring a window will be cheaper than replacing it.  Studies have shown, however, that the payback period for new replacement windows can take decades.  In that span of time, it is likely that these windows will have to be replaced again, since most replacement windows only have a lifespan of 20 years.  Historic wood windows that have lasted 100 years will last another 100 years if properly restored and maintained.  Therefore, the payback period of a restored wood window equates to a much better bargain.

The Myth: “Old wood windows have lead paint and should be discarded”

While any house built before 1978 might contain lead paint, it is possible to remove lead paint from historic sash without posing serious health hazards.  Local municipalities often have guidelines for safe and effective de-leading, including windows, but it needs to be done by a professional.  An experienced contractor or window restoration specialist should be able to identify unstable lead paint (the most hazardous condition) and treat it appropriately.  Oftentimes, stable lead paint can be encapsulated with lead-free paint to comply with state laws.  With proper precautions and safety measures, historic wood windows with lead paint can be remedied.  For more information on lead paint hazards in historic buildings, refer to Preservation Brief 37: Appropriate Methods of Reducing Lead-Paint Hazards in Historic Housing from the National Park Service:
http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/TPS/briefs/brief37.htm

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The Vinyl Lie

The Vinyl Lie

by Gary Kleier

Every day unsuspecting owners of historic homes, believing they are actually making an investment in their home, succumb to the vicious lies of an unscrupulous industry. Unfortunately, most will never know it. Most will never see the immediate undermining of their property value or the long term destruction of the structure of their house. And what is this vicious lie? Vinyl siding. Vinyl siding installed over wood siding. And the most vicious lie is that it will improve the property value of an historic house.

Debunking the lies

Lie number one: Vinyl siding will increase the value of your home. 

As an architect involved in numerous historic restorations, I am frequently asked to evaluate an historic house prior to purchase. In virtually every case where vinyl siding has been used to cover original wood, the buyer wants to know the cost of having the vinyl removed and the original siding restored. In every case the same question comes up; "Why would they desecrate an historic house in this manner?"


Increasingly people across America are understanding the value of our historic properties. Like antiques, the closer it is to original the higher is its value. Frequently, the buyer not only sees vinyl siding as decreasing the value of the house, but wants the seller to pay for its removal. This removal and repair of the original wood siding is normally as expensive as the original installation of the vinyl siding.

Lie number two: Vinyl siding will make your house maintenance free. 

There is no such product! Every material, every installation requires maintenance! Vinyl siding installations require significant caulking, around windows, at corners, around doors, anywhere a "J" channel is used to terminate a run of siding. I have never seen a vinyl siding installation where caulking is installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Even the very best caulking, when improperly installed, will fail within a few years. And when it does, water will enter. Time to do some maintenance.


Vinyl siding is secured to the house by a nail or staple driven through a tab. This tab is designed not only to hold the siding to the house, but to allow it to move as it expands and contracts with temperature. If the fastener is too tight, the siding may buckle in the heat or break in the cold. This will usually result in the siding coming off the house in a windstorm. This rarely happens immediately. Usually it occurs a year or two after the installation, and after the warranty has expired. In addition, since the higher areas of the house are subjected to more wind, that is where the damage is most likely to occur. More maintenance, and maintenance the average homeowner cannot do.


Vinyl siding commercials will show you how the siding can withstand a blow from an object like a hammer. What they do not tell you is that the longer siding is on the house the more brittle it will become. Ten years later, that same piece of siding, exposed to the elements, may crack or even shatter under the same blow. A blow from a tree limb or from a ball and you have more maintenance.


In short, vinyl siding is not maintenance free.

Lie number three: You will never have to paint again.

Maybe we shouldn’t call this a lie. The truth is, you never can paint again.


Even the best vinyl siding will fade. The deeper the color, the faster it will happen and the more noticeable it will be. In 10 to 15 years vinyl siding will show a significant change in color.


Vinyl siding will also become dingy through an accumulation of dirt. Contrary to what the commercials would have you believe, we are talking about dirt that spraying with a garden hose will not remove. In ten to fifteen years many home owners are dissatisfied with the dingy look of their siding and want to do something to restore it. (Sounds like maintenance, doesn’t it?)


Sorry folks, not a lot you can do. Scrubbing the siding with soap and water (not just spraying it) will help a little. While that is faster than painting, it is far less satisfactory. Painting, however, is totally out of the question. At this time there are no paint manufacturer’s I am aware of that will guarantee their paint over vinyl siding. Within a few years the paint will begin to peal.


By the way, if you do decide to wash your vinyl siding, never use a high pressure sprayer. The high water pressure may force water around the siding and through bad caulk joints into your house. Further, the high pressure may loosen the siding, or even remove whole sections that are already loose.

Lie number four: Vinyl siding will save you money. 

In spite of what the manufacturers would have you believe, the life expectancy of a high-quality vinyl siding installation is approximately 20 to 30 years. The life expectancy of a high-quality, professional paint job is approximately 10 to 15 years. Since the vinyl siding installation will cost approximately twice that of painting, there is virtually no savings.


Should you choose to remove the old vinyl siding at the end of its life, you now incur the cost of removal as well as the cost of the new installation. At this point painting has become far less expensive.


Now that we’ve discussed what they do tell you, let’s talk about what they don’t tell you, and hope you will never discover.

Destruction of details 

When you look at an historic frame house, you will notice a significant amount of detail. This may include moldings and brackets at the eaves, details in the siding such as fish scales or beaded edges, headers over windows and doors, and shadow lines at window and door trim. Virtually all of this is covered up when vinyl siding and vinyl eaves are added to a house. In addition, eave details such as brackets and moldings are frequently removed to facilitate the installation of the vinyl material. In short the installation of vinyl siding and eaves significantly reduces the character of the house.


To the individuals seeking to purchase an historic home, the installation of vinyl siding and eaves has not improved the value of the house but rather has destroyed the character for which he/she is looking. Therefore, the value of the house has been significantly reduced.

Destruction of Walls.

In a typical historic house of wood frame construction a wall would normally be composed of the following: plaster on wood lath, the wood studs, exterior sheathing, and wood siding. While these materials may seem solid to us, water vapor easily moves through these materials and escapes from the house during the winter months.


During the installation of vinyl siding a layer of styrene insulation board is applied over the wood siding, and the vinyl siding is applied to that. This insulation board forms an effective barrier to the passage of water vapor, thereby trapping it within the wall. During the winter months this water vapor will condense to liquid water and began rotting the wood materials. Over a period of years the structural integrity of the exterior walls can be completely destroyed. Further, the presence of deteriorating wood has been shown to attract termites and other wood attacking insects.


In summary, it is my opinion based on my experience as an architect that vinyl siding is not maintenance free, and it is not less expensive than painting. It is also my opinion that vinyl siding destroys the aesthetic quality of an historic house, and decreases its value, and can, over time, destroy the structural integrity of the house.


Like many products, vinyl siding has a place. It works adequately in inexpensive new construction where proper precautions are taken to prevent water damage. However, when the industry tries to sell this product as a maintenance free improvement to older homes, they are doing the public a great disservice. And when it comes to historic homes, they are costing you money.


©2000-2002 Gary Kleier, OldLouisville.com
Webmaster's note:Gary Kleier is our resident Old Louisville Architectural Conservator.  He lives on Floral Terrace and is one of those folks who was instrumental in the landscaping and beautification of that little jewel of a walking court between Sixth and Seventh Streets.  Gary specializes in restoration architecture and architectural forensic services and has a wide range of  talents which are described on his own web site at www.KleierAssociates.com.  You can reach Gary by email at gjkleier@netscape.net

Drip Cap and Sill Edge Replacement

Two of the things ruined during the installation of aluminum siding are the drip caps above each door/window and the edges of each window sill. I had to have these custom milled by a local lumber yard. Finding the right profile is a bit of a challenge since I only had part of the original. I was able to find the right profile for the drip caps and had them custom milled in Cyprus. I primed all sides of them before cutting to length and installing. For the window sills, I had to cut a large chunk out of the middle of an existing window sill, cut it only as deep as the window sill edges are, and have long lengths of it custom milled in Cyprus, then cut each end individually for installation. I first coated all the edges in Abatron Liquid Wood to eliminate any chance of future rot due to my fear of water penetrating this seam.

 

4 Year Anniversary

Four years down and starting to see the results. I get a lot of compliments from people on the progress. Here is what I did during the year:

• I stripped all the paint on the 2nd story of the front of the house and the 3rd story dormer. I ended up sitting on the hot black asphalt roof for about a month during the hottest point of the summer, when the temps were in the 90s. I contorted myself into tiny areas under the dormer overhang, using an 1100 degree heat gun, trying to get all the paint off of everything. I got burns from touching the asphalt roof and burns from bumping the heat gun while trying to hold it in one hand and a scraper in the other and not slide off the roof without being able to hold on to anything due to the lack of a third hand. I also stripped the entire North side of the house down to bare wood in about a month, which I'm pretty sure is a world record. I can't say enough for scaffolding and the Paint Shaver Pro. I've had several people come over to ask how I did it and given enough demonstrations of the Paint Shaver that I think I should be an official salesperson at this point.
• All broken clapboard was replaced carefully. All holes, rotted edges, and the like were repaired using Abatron wood Restoration kit (another excellent product I'd recommend). All bare wood was sanded with 80 grit sandpaper. I then washed everything with TSP and a big deck/siding scrub brush and rinsed it clean. I then waited until the wood had less than 15% moisture content (using a moisture meter) before applying Sherwin Williams oil based primer. 
• I removed all the gutters from the front of the house. Although I intend to ultimately install copper gutters when I win the lottery, for now I am going to clean and paint the aluminum gutters. I had to replace the entire fascia board along the front of the 2nd story. It was rotted along the top. The  rafter tails were not cut at the right angle or cut evenly. So most needed to be re-cut so that the new fascia board would fit flush along the front.

• When winter arrived and I was forced to give up exterior projects, I decided to finally finish the front door project. I put up a sheet of plywood as a temporary front door, took my extremely heavy front door down for what was hopefully the last time, put it on sawhorses and decided I wasn't returning to work until it was completed. After about 5 days of bending over this thing, sanding, staining, sanding, cleaning, varnishing, sanding, varnishing, sanding, etc, I decided it was "good enough." I cleaned 100 yrs of gunk off the brass and was amazed at how shiny it became. I took off the masking tape that had been covering the windows for almost 2 years and rehung it. There is still some junk in the final coat of spar varnish but I wanted to let it completely cure/shrink before doing a final sand and buff on it.
• I continued with the floor leveling project but ran into more problems and put it off until later.
• I purchased an old porch light from an architectural salvage store, stripped it, and removed the old, broken, yellow glass. I repainted the metal frame black and purchased some really cool green stained glass, had it custom cut to fit. I still have to purchase a brass holder for it, the piece that actually attaches to the porch ceiling and holds the light bulb.
• One of my awesome neighbors gave me his original cast iron, 100 year old mailbox. I had previously intended to install a vertical mail slot next to the door. But this is a pretty cool mailbox and is probably the same as the one my house originally would have had. So I began stripping it. I'll repaint it and install it next to the door.

• I've also done a lot of salvage this year. I drove to an Architectural Salvage store in Columbus and picked up a beautiful quarter sawn oak banister, balusters, and newel post out of a 1910s house, with original stained finish in amazing condition that I will be installing on my staircase which was originally enclosed by two walls and had no newel or anything. Also, my neighbor has 3 gorgeous waterfront houses from the late 1800s that are being demolished for new condos. I purchased some salvage from him and they are all 99% original (one even has the original built in kitchen cabinets)! So far I have taken a beautiful claw foot tub, nice wood paneling that goes along the staircase - under the balusters, an amazing arts and crafts style Coffered (boxed beam) ceiling that will be going in my Dining room. Some extra clapboards and interior and exterior trim because you can never have enough of that, an awesome original balcony door and original storm door. Some built in cabinets with original brass butterfly hinges and latch, an amazing original garage with huge carriage doors (yes I'm taking the entire garage), an absolutely amazing original stained oak huge room divider with columns for between the living room and dining room, I'll be taking crown molding for my living room (which never had any), original laundry chute door, porch flooring and porch ceiling v-groove board which I need for repairs on mine, and a bunch of other misc items. I'm going to add a new section on my blog for architectural treasures and put pictures of all these items.

I've also learned this year that I have the most amazing neighbors on Earth. Since my story got out, I have had so many people from all over come to my house and offer support, offer free help, contact the city on my behalf, etc. It's been amazing to see how many good people there are and how many people had been following my progress all along but had never spoken to me until they saw my story. I had pretty much kept to myself, worked on my house, and didn't interact with anyone except for the occasional person who'd walk by and say I was doing a great job and I'd say "thanks" and that was it. But seeing how many total strangers were so outraged by what the city has done to me has been a true inspiration to me. Now when I see someone being victimized by something unfair, illegal, or wrong, I'm more likely to sign a petition, contact someone, write a letter, etc, rather than just sit around talking about how ridiculous it is.

Exterior Restoration Work Plan

This is an overview of everything involved in the exterior restoration process of my house.

• Remove aluminum siding.
• Pull staples (which held aluminum) from wood siding.
• Remove and replace cedar shake siding on front of porch.
• Replace porch lattice. 
• Replace or repair rotted wood.
• Replace split clapboard.
• Fill or repair large holes and damaged areas with Abatron.
• Remove gutters in order to strip aluminum and prime behind them.
• Remove all exterior cables and wires (to be run internally). 
• Demolish vestibule.
• Have matching side railing custom milled to reach front wall after vestibule demo. Prime, assemble, and install.
• Repair ends of every window sill which were lopped off to accommodate aluminum siding.
• Replace all drip caps above windows/doors which were also lopped off for aluminum siding.
• Research and fabricate all trim which was removed from peaks and columns to accommodate aluminum siding.
• Strip paint from porch ceiling.
• Repair rotted wood in porch roof.
• Replace rotted v-groove porch ceiling boards.
• Refinish porch ceiling.
• Strip paint from original clapboard siding.
• Sand all siding.
• Wash siding with TSP and rinse.
• Allow siding to dry to less than 15% moisture content.
• Prime with Sherwin Williams oil based exterior wood primer.
• Clean aluminum gutters and downspouts, prime with metal primer. Reinstall.
• Strip and refinish front door.
• Replace side door and surrounding trim with period style wood door.
• Replace exterior lights with period style.
• Sand, repair, and paint porch floor.
• Replace removed and closed off rear balcony door from bathroom with period door.
• Replace removed balcony rails with custom milled period-matching rails.
• Install period authentic rear door.
• Possibly replace removed and closed off rear bathroom window with custom double hung matching wood window.
• Remove aluminum triple track storm windows.
• Strip paint from window jambs.
• Disassemble and completely restore original wood window sashes, adding weather stripping.
• Install custom built wood period matching storm windows with correct hardware.
• Fill staple and nail holes with putty.
• Lightly sand exterior, wash with TSP, and apply 2nd coat of primer.
• Caulk all vertical seams in siding/trim.
• Paint with high quality latex paint, applying historic color scheme.
• Tuck pointing repairs to brick columns, foundation, and chimney with matching color mortar.
• Total tear off of existing roofing materials. Repairs to wood. New slate and copper roof. (eventually)
• Install copper gutters. (eventually)

Cleveland Scene Magazine

My story was featured in Cleveland Scene Magazine. Below is the direct link:

Lakewood Lady Ripped By City for Restoring Century Home

Lakewood Lady Ripped By City for Restoring Century Home

POSTED BY MAUDE L. CAMPBELL ON WED, OCT 12, 2011 AT 1:00 PM

Nina Smith and the City of Lakewood appeared to be a match made in heaven.

With its streets lined with century-old houses, the West Side suburb is all about encouraging folks to restore homes to their original charm. Smith, too, is all about restoring the 1914-model abode she bought in 2008 partly because of the city’s commitment to maintaining residential character.

But that was three years ago, and things change.

An IT specialist by day, Smith is also a member of the Lakewood Historical Society and the Cleveland Restoration Society, a graduate of many restoration workshops and seminars, and a Lakewood auxiliary police officer to boot. She’s not short on love for restoring her home. She’s just short on time, what with all the city inspections and court visits.

In April 2009, Smith set out on her quest to return the home to its original splendor. Taking her cues from suggestions prominently offered on Lakewood’s website, she single-handedly started tearing chalky sheets of 1970s aluminum off the house and restoring original cedar shaking on its front. That’s when the trouble started.

A neighbor complaint about the aluminum tearoff triggered a next-day inspection and a building department notation to “reinspect often.” And often they did — two days later, four days after that, again in eight days … and so on.

“It would be like being cited for not having a door on your house because you had just taken it off to replace it,” Smith says.

After two years of explaining to city officials how these things take time, then receiving an extension and doggedly working to strip old paint and repair and sand the wood underneath, Smith has been told she’s now out of time. She’s up for a fine or jail over the peeling paint.

Smith responds by brandishing a city-issued home improvement and maintenance guide clearly stating that Lakewood imposes no time limit for paint jobs. (The city, in turn, cites the actual ordinance stating that peeling paint must be fixed within a “reasonable” amount of time.)

“I think everyone involved in the process — the building inspector, the prosecutor, the judge — has bent over backwards to balance the need of the community with the need of the homeowner to take her time and do things to her standards,” says Lakewood Law Director Kevin Butler.

Smith’s neighbors, meanwhile, seem to be taking a somewhat more forgiving approach.
“For one person, I’d say she’s working at a pretty fast rate. I couldn’t even do it half as fast,” says Will Sawicki, who lives next door. “The way the house looked before — the style didn’t fit anywhere in any neighborhood.”

Smith’s blog, 1914foursquare.com, documents her restoration progress and struggles — and it’s starting to get national attention.

“We have had a lot of calls,” Butler admits.

Smith’s next court appearance is scheduled for October 19. Stay tuned.

Historic Preservation: A Criminal Offense *UPDATED*

I was recently criminally charged by the city of Lakewood Ohio for the historic preservation of my house. More specifically, I was charged with noncompliance for peeling paint while in the process of stripping and repainting my house after having removed the aluminum siding that's been covering it for 40-50 years.

I bought my house three years ago with the intentions of doing a restoration. I house-hunted for over a year and looked at around 200 houses before choosing this one because it retained all of its original architectural elements. I am a member of the Lakewood Historical Society and the Cleveland Restoration Society.  I run a historic preservation meetup group with a friend of mine. I've attended various workshops and seminars such as the Ohio Historical Society's Building Doctor Clinic, Bob Yapp's seminars on wood window restoration and exterior paint, Cleveland Restoration Society's seminar on exterior paint, and more. I've even had the Cleveland Restoration Society over to pick a couple of historic color schemes for my house. This city supposedly encourages people to be involved in historic preservation. At least that's what one would assume based on this recent Historic Preservation Community Workshop involving the Mayor. Yet I am doing just that and being criminally charged for it.




When I began removing the aluminum siding from the front of the house, I received a complaint letter from the building department stating, "maintain siding and trim"...clearly what I was in the process of doing. Despite my full cooperation with the inspector and complying with exactly what he said (to take care of the few small areas where there was peeling paint), I was summonsed to the prosecutor's office for noncompliance. I called the inspector back to my house to tell me what exactly I was in noncompliance of and he was unable to point out any violations.

A quick check of Lakewood's website revealed this Exterior Building Permit Checklist which states that no permit or inspection is required for exterior painting and that there is no time limit for the job. So obviously there can't be an issue of noncompliance when one is in the process of doing something, let alone something with no time limit. It would be like being cited for having no door on your house while you were in the process of installing a new door.

I went to the prosecutor in November 2009 with the above permit checklist and pictures of everything I had done on the exterior.  Someone on the board of the Historical Society and very active in programs designed to help in housing maintenance actually called the prosecutor on my behalf, saying how great of a job I'm doing to my house and that this is exactly what they want to see people doing. I mentioned that I am a federal employee with a security clearance and also a volunteer auxiliary police officer for the city and could not get a criminal record all because I chose Lakewood as the city to restore a house in. To which the prosecutor responded, "nobody said anything about you going to court, we are willing to work with you and will continue to give you extensions as long as you are showing progress...we only take people to court in extreme cases". I failed to see why I needed an extension for something that has no time limit but I went along with this plan. I never heard from the prosecutor again.

I got another letter from the building department in August 2010 for peeling paint and giving me one month to correct this. At this point I had removed the aluminum siding from the rest of the house and began the process of stripping paint off the entire house. Clearly something that is physically impossible to accomplish in one month. I decided to bypass the inspector this time and called the head of the building department and explained that I was restoring the house, that I was very actively involved in the local preservation community, and that it was already above the building department and the prosecutor was giving me extensions. He said that "every day is a new violation" so my extension was meaningless (so why do they have extensions then?) but that the inspector must not have realized I was currently working on it and to send a letter and he'd "take care of it".

I sent a large envelope full of pictures of everything I had completed to that point, proof of all the historic preservation seminars, workshops, and classes I had attended, and a long letter explaining everything. I mentioned that I hoped to get the house stripped by the end of the 2011 season. I said if there was anything else, not to hesitate to contact me. I didn't hear anything back. Finally, I thought I had gotten through to someone with some sense.

This season I have worked diligently, stripping the paint off my house. As many know, this is a long process, especially after synthetic siding has been removed. The aluminum was probably covering the original siding for 40-50 years so the original siding hasn't seen the light of day, let alone undergone any maintenance in that time (imagine the amount of work involved in restoring the exterior of a house which hasn't been touched in over 40 years). A lot of trim is broken or cut off the house to accommodate the aluminum. All the drip caps above every window, and the edges of every window sill (about 4") are cut and broken off. All of this has to be fabricated and repaired. Then, if there was any water infiltration over the years, nobody knew about it because synthetic siding hides all of that, so there is rotted wood to replace or repair. There are hundreds of long, rusty staples imbedded in the wood, which had held the aluminum in place. These all have to be removed, sometimes dug out of the clapboard. There are cracked or split clapboards that have to be replaced without destroying surrounding ones. All of the gutters have to be removed in order to remove the aluminum and strip the paint behind them. Then of course the tedious, most time-consuming process of all - removing all the paint to bare wood. The paint stripping in itself takes multiple "seasons" (in Ohio we only have certain months a year that are warm enough to work outside). Everyone I've talked to who has stripped paint off their house (and didn't even have synthetic siding to remove first) took between 2-4 seasons. And that's not even taking into consideration the other projects I've done: replacing the cedar shake, demolishing the vestibule, replacing the custom-milled side railing, refinishing the front door, etc. Then every vertical seam in the wood siding has to be caulked, and the house has to be painted. I have invested in all the tools and equipment to make the process go as fast as possible. I own 4 levels of contractor grade exterior scaffolding, the paint shaver pro (a very expensive tool specifically designed to strip lead paint from clapboard siding in the fastest way possible), numerous professional scraping tools, etc.

Throughout this whole restoration process, I've had many people - neighbors and random people driving or walking by - stop to tell me what a great job I'm doing and how much they admire all my hard work and dedication. Many saying they wished they had the energy to do the same to their houses. On average, I have at least one person stop per weekend to compliment me. A few weeks ago, a neighbor from around the corner whom I had never met parked in front of my house, got out and stood in my driveway clapping and saying "bravo" while I was working on the dormer. He explained that he has been following my progress all along and wanted to tell me what a great job I was doing. In fact, I have the full support of my surrounding neighbors, some of which have already contacted the building department to tell them how much better my house looks since I bought it, and many of which are even willing to go to court with me. 

Suddenly, without warning, in June of this year I received a certified letter from Lakewood stating that I was being criminally charged for noncompliance. This was 11 months after I had last spoken to the building dept and told that it would be taken care of. Over a year since I had spoken to the prosecutor and told that I wouldn't have to worry about going to court. This was completely out of the blue. No second notice, no call, no letter, nothing whatsoever. So naturally, everyone thought it was some kind of mistake on the city's part that could be easily cleared up.

At this point I had given up hope on the building department (which has a pretty bad reputation anyway) and went straight to the Mayor. I had previously met the Mayor at the auxiliary police Christmas party, spoke with him about the importance of historic preservation, and mentioned that I was restoring my house. I again went through the whole story and showed all my documents and pictures. He seemed as baffled as everyone else who hears about this. His theory was that it was some kind of paperwork mix up at the building department. I mentioned that this is something that I will get an award for from the restoration society and yet the building dept considers it a criminal offense and these are two agencies that are supposed to be working toward the same goal. I was upset over the fact that this city is willing to jeopardize my career and give me a criminal record as their way of showing gratitude for everything I've done for them -risking my life volunteering for the police, volunteering for the Community Emergency Response Team, on top of restoring a house within the city. To which the Mayor said, "that's not going to happen". He thanked me for restoring my house, and said he'd ask around about it and get back to me. A couple days later he called me and told me that they all think I should enter this "housing diversion program". This is basically probation for people with housing code violations, people whose houses have fallen into disrepair and haven't done anything about it. Basically people who are on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum as me. Not people who are so dedicated to working on their houses that they've given up the years of their life that it takes to restore one.

I only agreed to enter this program because it gets rid of the criminal charge completely from record once the program is completed. I was told that this program takes control away from the building department and puts it in the hands of the court (I'm not sure which is the lesser of two evils here). I said to the Mayor that at any point, the court could change their mind and send it back to criminal court. His response, "but that's not going to happen, I talked to the Judge..." I was contacted by the man in charge of this program. I explained the situation to him and he said he was on my side. Basically as long as I was showing progress, (which has never been an issue considering it's an obsession of mine), I'd be fine.

However, much of this turned out to be untrue. The only person the judge cares to hear from is the building inspector, who stands next to me at the hearings. The guy running the program stands next to the inspector and agrees with whatever he says (in every case I've seen). I've taken pictures and offered them to the judge more than once and he has declined to even look at them. The inspector has said that there's basically been no progress when I have over 100 hours into something and my neighbors are commenting on how good it's looking. The judge has already threatened to kick me out of the program at the next hearing (something the Mayor assured me wouldn't happen) and I've only been in the program a few weeks. When trying to explain the common sense factor that house restoration (or car restoration or boat restoration) is something that takes years, not weeks, they don't care. I'm expected to do something that's never been done before and is not physically possible. But realistically, if it was an issue of time, then everyone who's restored a house would have been criminally charged and I wouldn't be the first and only one to go through this. In fact, I know of someone locally who is still stripping the same side of the house that they were stripping last year. On top of this, the rules seem to change at each hearing. At one hearing they are fine with something, the next they aren't. They bring up things that have nothing to do with the citation and add things they want me to do which aren't backed by any code. I was told by the judge that since I work full time, I can afford to pay someone to do this. I didn't realize that working full time meant I had thousands of dollars sitting around. I don't know anyone who's paid contractors to restore (or even strip paint off) their house. The estimates I got to fully strip and paint the house were around $30k.

In this time, several people - neighbors, auxiliary police officers, representatives of the Cleveland Restoration Society, etc have contacted the Mayor and/or building department expressing their unhappiness over this situation and support of me. Yet the city has not backed down. They've been given multiple opportunities to do the right thing and haven't. They even put down the wrong code for what they were charging me with, coming back to a chimney code violation (which I don't have). When I brought it to their attention, the prosecutor responded with, "well I'm just going to refile it and you'll have to come back here" (to court) if I wouldn't agree to let them correct it then and there. When I mentioned that "I'm not the first person to restore a house", the prosecutor responded with, "it doesn't take them two years!"  Really? I'd love to meet someone who's done it in one, especially when you subtract the 5+ months of winter/cold/rain/snow/ice. In fact, at the first hearing, everyone including the head of the building department showed up for my case. The prosecutor and head of the building department said I'm doing a "fantastic job" restoring my house to "historic likeness" but that it's taking too long. It took 100 years for all the paint, aluminum, broken/removed trim, damaged/rotted wood, etc to happen, but I should be able to undo it all in less than one.

Basically, they are saying homeowners are not allowed to restore their houses because it takes too long... unless they can afford a team of contractors to do the work. So they are discouraging historic preservation for anyone but the wealthy. If I had left it covered in ugly, faded 40+ yr old aluminum siding covering all the architectural character, they'd be happy.  I'm being punished for doing historic preservation of my house.

I think my only hope now is to bring as much attention to this as possible, in hopes that the city will get tired of the bad publicity and finally do the right thing. I think they owe me a pretty big apology and maybe some gratitude for everything I've done for them, from the work on my house to the volunteer work.

I'd appreciate if people reading this blog could forward my story to as many people as possible. If you have any media connections, historic preservation connections, or anything else that might help, please let me know. And I'd really appreciate if you could take a moment to send emails and/or make phone calls to the following parties, letting them know how ridiculous this is. Thanks for reading and please comment.



Tom Ostromek
Housing Diversion Program
(216) 529-6704

Mike Summers
Mayor
(216) 529-6600
mayor@lakewoodoh.net

Dru Siley
Assistant Director, Building Department
(216) 529-6270
housing.building@lakewoodoh.net

Kevin Butler
Law Director
(216) 529-6030
law@lakewoodoh.net

City Council
(216) 529-6055
council@lakewoodoh.net





I now accept paypal donations, as has been suggested to me. It is not my intention to profit off of my misfortune but I do have to hire an attorney to represent me in this matter which is beyond my financial means at the moment. However, if it came down to someone contacting the city on my behalf or sending me a donation, I prefer they contact the city. I feel my best hope is to get these city officials educated on the realities of historic preservation. Any donations are greatly appreciated.

UPDATE 10/20/2011
Yesterday was my first hearing since this story has gone public. The city has received a lot of phone calls and emails complaining about this. My story has been in local media as well as all over the internet and will probably be in a couple national magazines. I had to hire an attorney to represent me. I've received tons of supportive emails and comments and I appreciate it very much. I've also received a couple donations and would like to thank those contributors.

Yesterday I went to court with four of my immediate neighbors who support me and my restoration. My attorney and I went up before the judge and he asked the inspector about the progress made since my last hearing Sept 2nd. The inspector responded with his standard, textbook response, "no progress made." I'm pretty sure I heard my neighbors (sitting behind me in the courtroom) whisper "no progress made?!" They later told me they would have been held in contempt of court "within the first five minutes" if they were in my shoes and were amazed at my composure. My attorney then told the judge that there has in fact been substantial progress made and asked to approach the bench with the photographic evidence. The judge told him to talk to the inspector about it and we were excused to go out to the hall and talk.

My attorney showed the inspector the pictures of what's been done since the last hearing. The dormer, including window jambs, has been primed (after being fully stripped which was the most difficult challenge so far in the stripping process), the storm windows replaced.  And the north side, which hadn't been touched yet at the last hearing, was fully stripped to bare wood (including the upside down bead board on the underside of the overhang and each and every bead), and cracked clapboards replaced. I have begun sanding the north side and I figure there are probably 4-5 more days of work that need to be done on that side, including priming, if it would ever stop raining.

He shows all this to the inspector and the inspector responds by saying that he doesn't consider "prep work" to be progress! Literally, that's what he said. He said only paint counts as progress. So basically, all of the hard work, the most time consuming work, the most challenging work, the most important work of all, that completely determines what the finished product will look like and how long it will last, does not count. Only the easiest, simplest, quickest, final step of all is what counts as progress. In percentages, we could probably say that 95% of this work is prep work, and the final 5% is paint.

We go back into the courtroom and the inspector states to the judge that there is a discrepancy as to what constitutes as progress and that he doesn't consider prep work to count. Thankfully, the judge and everyone else was in much better spirits. The judge even stated that I could take the following day off work and spend it painting the whole house, but without the prep work, and with the nonstop rain we're having, the paint would probably start peeling again by May. I couldn't agree more. The prosecutor told the judge that we have broken the record for the most rainfall this year. When things started to go off track, the prosecutor reminded everyone that I was only cited for peeling paint. My attorney told the judge that I hope to get the north side done before the end of this year and the entire house done by the end of next season. The judge was apparently satisfied and I was allowed to remain in the diversion program, and given the next hearing date in December.

The inspector then told the judge that he wants to be able to inspect my house without worrying about any kind of confrontation, acting as though he feared I would attack him or something. The judge asked him if there'd ever been a problem like this with me. The inspector hesitated and I honestly thought he was going to say that there had before finally admitting that there hadn't. I informed the judge that I've never even been home when he's been over to do an inspection, I've never seen him on my property ever except for the one time mentioned previously in this blog when I called him over, during which I was sitting on my front steps and calmly asked where the violation was. Also, I am a 5'3" female living alone and this guy is probably 6'4". And as mentioned, I have a security clearance (i.e. crystal clean record) and certainly have never committed any violent acts. So he told the judge that sometimes, when they do inspections, they are confronted by homeowners. The judge told him that we'll worry about those people then, and not the people who have never caused any problems.

Anyway, I've begun sanding the north side. The weather has been horrible. It rains every single day. I probably have a couple days worth of sanding to do. Then wash the side in TSP. Then hope for enough dry days for it to dry to less than 15% moisture content so I can prime.