Things have been busy around 83 Durant, and we haven't been able to make a lot of progress since our carpenter left. Jake has finished caulking holes and edges in the trim, and has mostly finished sanding the trim. I don't have any pictures, becuase it's really too toxic for me to go in there right now. Hopefully he'll be able to get some painting done this week, but it has been hard to fit in project time with our work schedules.
Jake switched out all the air vents on all the radiators in the house, so that's a nice thing to have done before the weather turns. The new vents should make things a bit more efficient and hopefully a little less bang-y. Now we're trying to figure out crafty things to do with the old vents.
Other than that, not much to report. I can't wait to get the baby's room finished so we can move all the baby stuff up there!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Baby Room Carpentry Complete!
We're thrilled to announce that our carpenter, Bill Champagne, finished up work on the baby's room today, and it looks great.
He put the door back on, so now it's a real room! We'll need to strip and paint it, but it fits nicely.
He put in some new red oak flooring in the area where the built-in once was. It's very nice. We just need to stain and varnish it.
He also dealt with the mess at the bottom of the original built-in, adding some baseboard and molding at the edges, and putting in plywood for the floor area inside the built-in.
And we're very pleased that he was able to restore the original built-in to its original glory, with new shelves and sturdy shelf brackets. This, too, will get a good paint job, and we're also going to ask our electrician friend if she can run the wires through the wall instead of through the built-in.
It was a tricky job at several spots, such as around the original trim of the window and door. Since the drywall is much thinner than the plaster and lathe, there was a big gap around the edges of the door and window frames. Bill fixed this with small pieces of wood. It looks great:
Here's the new piece of baseboard by the closet, including the base cap molding on top.
So now it's our turn. Remaining tasks:
--sand all the trim to get a smooth surface for painting
--paint the radiator
--paint the ceiling
--paint the walls
--paint the trim
--get electrical taken care of (overhead light and re-run built-in wire)
--move in all the baby's stuff (finally!)
And then we're ready!
He put the door back on, so now it's a real room! We'll need to strip and paint it, but it fits nicely.
He put in some new red oak flooring in the area where the built-in once was. It's very nice. We just need to stain and varnish it.
He also dealt with the mess at the bottom of the original built-in, adding some baseboard and molding at the edges, and putting in plywood for the floor area inside the built-in.
And we're very pleased that he was able to restore the original built-in to its original glory, with new shelves and sturdy shelf brackets. This, too, will get a good paint job, and we're also going to ask our electrician friend if she can run the wires through the wall instead of through the built-in.
It was a tricky job at several spots, such as around the original trim of the window and door. Since the drywall is much thinner than the plaster and lathe, there was a big gap around the edges of the door and window frames. Bill fixed this with small pieces of wood. It looks great:
Here's the new piece of baseboard by the closet, including the base cap molding on top.
So now it's our turn. Remaining tasks:
--sand all the trim to get a smooth surface for painting
--paint the radiator
--paint the ceiling
--paint the walls
--paint the trim
--get electrical taken care of (overhead light and re-run built-in wire)
--move in all the baby's stuff (finally!)
And then we're ready!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Carpentry Madness!
This week our carpenter has been here working on a few jobs, including installing the trim for the bedroom. So far he has accomplished quite a lot! He has re-installed the original trim around the window:
He has replaced the large piece of baseboard that we busted when we were doing demolition:
He has also started on a promising solution for the mess where the built-in once was. He's going to put in some new flooring, and has already ripped out the bungled up old stuff. You can also see here that he is fixing the problem with the baseboard and molding around the bottom of the original built-in:
And here's the top of the old built-in:
He'll be back next week to continue the job. We're very pleased with his work!
Jake has also taken up carpentry, and is installing new storm doors. Here's the U-G-L-Y (and broken, and highly ineffective) storm door for the door off the kitchen:
Here's the inside view:
As you might be able to see, the lower window doesn't fit, and the thing is literally held together with tape. The latch handle is broken, and sometimes it doesn't stay shut. We also don't have any screens for it. It's time for an upgrade!
We ordered the doors (custom of course, nothing in this house this old can be found in a "standard" size) from Lowes during the Massachusetts tax holiday. Plus there's the energy-saving tax credit. Woo hoo! After some struggles (which perhaps he will detail here himself) we have a LOVELY storm door (in "cranberry") installed. It lets a lot of light (via the window) and air (via the screen) into the kitchen. And it should provide more energy efficiency for the winter.
Of course, the most important improvement, according to one of 83 Durant's residents is the Dog Visibility Factor (DVF). Carter is really enjoying being able to see in and out (the old door was too high for him).
The pink room has a door to the back porch that had no storm door at all. It was a serious point of cold air entry, as we discovered back during our infrared report. We have another door -- much like this one, but white instead of cranberry -- that Jake will install soon.
He has replaced the large piece of baseboard that we busted when we were doing demolition:
He has also started on a promising solution for the mess where the built-in once was. He's going to put in some new flooring, and has already ripped out the bungled up old stuff. You can also see here that he is fixing the problem with the baseboard and molding around the bottom of the original built-in:
And here's the top of the old built-in:
He'll be back next week to continue the job. We're very pleased with his work!
Jake has also taken up carpentry, and is installing new storm doors. Here's the U-G-L-Y (and broken, and highly ineffective) storm door for the door off the kitchen:
Here's the inside view:
As you might be able to see, the lower window doesn't fit, and the thing is literally held together with tape. The latch handle is broken, and sometimes it doesn't stay shut. We also don't have any screens for it. It's time for an upgrade!
We ordered the doors (custom of course, nothing in this house this old can be found in a "standard" size) from Lowes during the Massachusetts tax holiday. Plus there's the energy-saving tax credit. Woo hoo! After some struggles (which perhaps he will detail here himself) we have a LOVELY storm door (in "cranberry") installed. It lets a lot of light (via the window) and air (via the screen) into the kitchen. And it should provide more energy efficiency for the winter.
Of course, the most important improvement, according to one of 83 Durant's residents is the Dog Visibility Factor (DVF). Carter is really enjoying being able to see in and out (the old door was too high for him).
The pink room has a door to the back porch that had no storm door at all. It was a serious point of cold air entry, as we discovered back during our infrared report. We have another door -- much like this one, but white instead of cranberry -- that Jake will install soon.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Some more house history
I like finding out about the history of our house. Some recent time staring at old maps has led me to believe that the house is older than I had initially thought.
Here is Durant Street in 1879, from this atlas:
http://nmrlsdli.cdmhost.com/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p4034coll20&CISOPTR=580&REC=3
We're not sure, but we think we might be one of those houses in the cluster of four. It's hard to tell, because none of the outlines exactly matches our house. The outline on the 1896 map (the one I blogged before) looks exactly like our house, but all of the outlines on this map seem a little more basic. Anyway, we're not sure if that's us or not.
It has been hard to trace things back, in part becauase all the deeds are actually about the LAND and not specifically about the house, so it's unclear if any individual transaction included the house, or just the parcel of land where the house now sits. Spending some time at the online Registry of Deeds for Middlesex County, I have been able to figure out the chain of custody for the land at least:
We bought the house from Maria Mazarakis and Luis M. Lima on August 31st 2006
Luis M. Lima and Maria Limabought the house from Robert G. Basnett and Lori E. Basnett on February 26th 1998 for $97,000.
Robert G. Basnett and Lori E. Basnett bought the house from the executor of the will for Veronica Crowley on December 8th, 1989 for $115,000
Margaret M. Crowley and Veronica Crowley bought the house from Fred J. Crowley and Mary L. Crowley on July 29th, 1947 (Book 1072 page 584)
Fred J. Crowley and Mary L. Crowley bought the house from Frank Wiech and Veronica Weich on July 16th 1921 (see book 647 page 163)
Frank Wiech and Veronica Weich bought the house from Mary A. Garvey (the deed notes that she was unmarried!) on August 6th 1920.
Mary A. Garvey bought the house from Augustia Sullivan on May 4th 1920 (Book 624, page 423).
Augustia Sullivan (married to Thomas B. Sullivan) bought the house from Fred M. Chase (for one dollar!) on December 4th 1909 (book 443, page 285). This was the last deed I was actually able to read. It includes the following information:
Fred M. Chase was the sole heir of Joseph Chase
Joseph Chase conveyed to Susan Murray by deed dated August 5th, 1878. The Sullivan deed refers back to this deed: Book 130 page 337; however, I was not able to find this deed (admittedly, I was tired and didn't try for too long). I think it may be that I mis-read the book or page number (the handwriting was pretty tough to decipher). I might try to go back to it another time. You can check it out for yourself here:
Now this Joseph Chase's name appears on the 1879 atlas that I wrote about in a previous post.
All this and more is available at the Middlesex Registry of Deeds: http://www.lowelldeeds.com/
I might have to go to the registry and see if the original copies they have there are any easier to read. It's been fun looking at all these old maps and documents!
Here is Durant Street in 1879, from this atlas:
http://nmrlsdli.cdmhost.com/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p4034coll20&CISOPTR=580&REC=3
We're not sure, but we think we might be one of those houses in the cluster of four. It's hard to tell, because none of the outlines exactly matches our house. The outline on the 1896 map (the one I blogged before) looks exactly like our house, but all of the outlines on this map seem a little more basic. Anyway, we're not sure if that's us or not.
It has been hard to trace things back, in part becauase all the deeds are actually about the LAND and not specifically about the house, so it's unclear if any individual transaction included the house, or just the parcel of land where the house now sits. Spending some time at the online Registry of Deeds for Middlesex County, I have been able to figure out the chain of custody for the land at least:
We bought the house from Maria Mazarakis and Luis M. Lima on August 31st 2006
Luis M. Lima and Maria Limabought the house from Robert G. Basnett and Lori E. Basnett on February 26th 1998 for $97,000.
Robert G. Basnett and Lori E. Basnett bought the house from the executor of the will for Veronica Crowley on December 8th, 1989 for $115,000
Margaret M. Crowley and Veronica Crowley bought the house from Fred J. Crowley and Mary L. Crowley on July 29th, 1947 (Book 1072 page 584)
Fred J. Crowley and Mary L. Crowley bought the house from Frank Wiech and Veronica Weich on July 16th 1921 (see book 647 page 163)
Frank Wiech and Veronica Weich bought the house from Mary A. Garvey (the deed notes that she was unmarried!) on August 6th 1920.
Mary A. Garvey bought the house from Augustia Sullivan on May 4th 1920 (Book 624, page 423).
Augustia Sullivan (married to Thomas B. Sullivan) bought the house from Fred M. Chase (for one dollar!) on December 4th 1909 (book 443, page 285). This was the last deed I was actually able to read. It includes the following information:
Fred M. Chase was the sole heir of Joseph Chase
Joseph Chase conveyed to Susan Murray by deed dated August 5th, 1878. The Sullivan deed refers back to this deed: Book 130 page 337; however, I was not able to find this deed (admittedly, I was tired and didn't try for too long). I think it may be that I mis-read the book or page number (the handwriting was pretty tough to decipher). I might try to go back to it another time. You can check it out for yourself here:
Now this Joseph Chase's name appears on the 1879 atlas that I wrote about in a previous post.
All this and more is available at the Middlesex Registry of Deeds: http://www.lowelldeeds.com/
I might have to go to the registry and see if the original copies they have there are any easier to read. It's been fun looking at all these old maps and documents!
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