This home was foreclosed upon and purchased by two flippers from Chicago for $78,400 in July of 2017. The porch had a lot of rotten parts that needed replacing and I was hired to do that. Some of the curved rails were rotten. The previous contractor had done some good work but did not […]
The Resurrection of 12 Hill 12 Hill was designed by prominent Elgin architect David Postle. Most of his houses in Elgin are a lot larger and fancier. Like this one on Douglas: Here is a Postle designed house on Rugby Place. The Historical Society museum has the original plans which were used to bring 12 […]
After the crash President Obama funded a huge program called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Cities nationwide were given money to buy and rehab properties made vacant problems by the crash. Elgin received over 2 million dollars. With it they bought eight properties. One they tore down as it was too far gone. Just […]
Porches recreated by Neighborhood Housing Services In the early 80’s Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) and the city of Elgin bought 326 E. Chicago with the upper level to be for the NHS office and the bottom floor to be rented out as an apartment. It was purchased for $55,000. A neighbor came forward with an […]
In 1975 we inherited a nice rocking chair from my wife’s grand parents. It was missing a spindle. We looked everywhere for someone to make one spindle for us. We found places that would make 100 but not one. I was starting to get into woodworking as a necessity in rehabbing our first house so […]
This house on Douglas Street in Elgin has four columns with unusual large beading on the top 18 inches. The two in the rear got a lot of water from the roof and were rotten. I was hoping that some epoxy could give them several more years. When they were taken down the top […]
126 Hill was foreclosed upon. A flipper bought it for $60,000. She was having a hard time finding contractors to do the work and asked me for some advice. While I was there I noticed the clear marks for a porch post on the front of the house. I asked her if I could […]
Overthe years I have collected a lot of porch apron designs, especialy sawed ones. When a customer is considering installing a new porch apron I often take my mockups and actually place them on the porch to give the customer a choice as shown below. When we were rehabbing the house next door I […]
162 Summit Elgin, IL After the crash President Obama initiated what he called the National Stabilization Program (NSP). It gave money to cities to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed problem properties that were having such a negative impact on our neighborhoods. The City of Elgin was awarded over two million dollars. I was lucky enough to […]