The workmanship on a porch I repaired recently was excellent. The guy obviously had some great woodworking skills. He made one major mistake by using white pine and he did not instruct the homeowner on keeping it caulked and painted. Also, he did not prime any endgrain before installing. A tree is designed to suck […]
A neighbor called me asking if I could help him replace some porch parts that were rotten. I find the work very satisfying so I dove right in. Here is an original post base that is in good condition. Here is the rotten one that needed replacing. Here is the new one that I turned. […]
In the late 70’s this house was a run down two unit with terrible asphalt siding. A young couple bought it because it was was all they could afford. It was in a bad neighborhood with some serious drug dealing going on. A friend bought the house next door and he bailed out of the […]
Mike Howell with Carpentry with Integrity was asked to rehabilitate the old house porch at 815 N. Spring. Here is an old picture of the house and porch. The Xes in the balustrade were not original to the house. Notice the steps and sidewalk before being renovated. Here is a more current picture of the […]
In 1981 after many remuddlings over the years the house looked like this. A friend bought it and slowly, over several years started to bring it back. Here is how it looked after the aluminum siding and enclosed porch were taken off. Notice there are no arches on the second story porch. It was sold […]
The owners of the Wing mansion in Elgin ran across an old picture of their front porch showing details that were no longer there. It is the half cross in the middle of the balustrade with the ball on top. For some reason someone in the past took them all out. The owners commissioned […]
373 Park had been a sad, unmaintained, multi-unit for all the years I have lived in the neighborhood. A flipper bought it and with grants totaling over $100,000 from the city did a good job of bringing it back to a nice single family home. It is now owned by a great couple with kids […]
We bought our first old house in 1975 only because that was all we could afford. I calculated what I could afford and it was $30,000. This one cost $29,500. With 10% down my monthly payment was $250. At the time it was tough to make the payment as a teacher I was only making$9000 […]
128 College was covered with aluminum siding. The Gifford Park Association has a program they call the Great Unveiling. The name and program was borrowed, with their permission, from Rock Island, IL. It is an old fashioned barn-raising event where volunteers take off the substitute siding. When the Gifford Park Association started the program they […]
352 Prairie has been an eyesore and problem property in our neighborhood for a long time. It looked bad as seen at right and had a lot of police calls. A flipper bought it and applied for downsizing and architectural rehabilitation grants from the city. He was set to get over $100,000 in grants to […]