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Habitat For Humanity project

This home was purchased by Habitat For Humanity as a project house to rehab.

They had an architect draw up plans to put back appropriate porches.

The Gifford Park Association donated money to buy the materials and I volunteered my labor to make the treads, sawed porch apron, balustrade, newels, finial, frieze and brackets. It was converted from a two unit to single family. Habitat stripped most of the paint off of the bricks. Here is a proposed design for a porch apron. They chose a different design found on a house in Elgin of the same vintage.

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Here are mock ups of proposed brackets.

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Here are the brackets, porch apron, balustrade and frieze that they chose that I made. Unfortunately Habitat chose porch posts from a big box store that are too slight. Old house porch posts are at least 5 to 6 inches wide.

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Here is the finished house. The neighborhood appreciates the improvement.

This house has a sister house four blocks away. These porches are probably not original to the house.

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Fascinating Story

4 N. Jackson in Elgin started out as a very fancy Victorian/Mansard home built in 1875.

W.W. Abell, a very prominent Elgin architect was commissioned to “Modernize” the home in 1897. Here is how it looked a few years ago.

Here is how it looks today with a new paint job.

Click here to read some history on the house from the Housewalk booklet page when it was featured in 2007

For twenty years the Gifford Park Association had asked the owner to let us feature his amazing house on the house walk. He refused. The home had had about twenty-five years of deferred maintenance so the owner approached me about replacing rotted details which was a huge job. I gave him a bid and then said I would do the work for the cost of materials only if he allowed the home to be featured on our house walk. He agreed. I was basically on a retainer for the entire summer to make his parts.

In the early 70s the home was vacant, rundown, and had vagrants living in it. They built fires in the basement to stay warm using wood taken from the interior of the house. The current owner was a teacher with a limited salary so he and another teacher went together to buy the house for around $30,000. The owner camped in the house to make sure the vagrants stayed out.  The two owners shared the house for a time but then one owner bought out the other and started on an interior and exterior rehabilitation of the house.  He made repairs and repainted the home. After rehabbing it he basically left it alone for the next 25 years so it needed rehabbing again in 2006. Many of the porch post bases and tops were rotten so I duplicated them exactly. Here are some bases that were rotten.

The bottom of this post was rotten so I turned a replacement for it.

Here are the new bases and tops made from old growth cypress.

Here are posts with new tops and bottoms that I turned.

The diamonds on the side porch were rotten so I replaced them. The tiny molding was replicated exactly. This picture also shows my new column bases.

The parade porch balustrade and floor were rotten. A new rubber floor was added and I recreated the balustrade including a curved rail. The box in the middle was rebuilt.

There is the second tiny parade porch that I made two small balustrades and curved rails for.

The vagrants had burned 17 spindles from the interior balustrade. I turned them without using a duplicating lathe. Since then I’ve actually purchased one, used it a few times and quit. I don’t like it. After 40 years of hand turning you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

The owners did a very nice job of matching the finish to the existing. I’m glad they didn’t ask me to do it because I never do any finishing as my wife has spoiled me by always doing it. I guess she doesn’t trust me to do a decent job.

 

The dining room in the house is all trimmed with quarter sawn sycamore, including a tall wainscoting and built ins. It looks amazing. The vagrants had taken four cabinet doors and two drawers to use as firewood. The owner was never able to find or afford anyone to remake them. I agreed to do it even tho it was above my skill level I went to The Hardwood Connection in Sycamore, ironically to look for Sycamore wood. I believe it was destiny because they had just quarter sawn and dried a sycamore log. It was still on a cart and had not been put away yet. I bought a lot. A month later I went to buy more and it was all gone as it is such a beautiful wood. The owner lived with this built in cabinet without doors and drawers for 30 years:

Here are the drawers I made even using dovetails. I had never made them before but did not do them by hand but instead bought a dovetail jig for the router. You can see the fancy flecks in the quarter sawn sycamore. The original drawer has machine made dovetails.it is

The panels in the doors were duplicated from an existing door in another cabinet shown below.

The owner did a very nice job of matching the finish on the doors and drawers. Also shown are the new cabinet doors I made. Notice the wonderful wainscotting and the warming compartment in the radiator. The first floor has moldings to match the upgraded exterior. On the second floor the moldings are still from the original house. The study in th home was origanly the owners office. It is trimmed in the wildest grain, quarter sawn southern yellow pine. It is amazing to see.

This home has several different exterior crown moldings on it. Several had to be replaced.Prominent architects in the old days designed their own moldings and had local millwork companies make them. We had a huge millwork company in Elgin called Reinheimer brothers. I have made several hundred custom knives for molding making. Seldom do I use one twice. I have worked on several properties designed by W. W. Abell. He has a common denominator with his moldings in that he always puts steps in them. One of the moldings I had to replace was the largest crown I’d ever seen on an old house exterior. It has two sets of steps in it. Here’s a picture of the custom knife and molding I made to duplicate one of the crown moldings on the house.

 

My favorite architect in Elgin is W. W. Abell. I created a web page about him showing some pictures of his work.

Click here to find out more about W. W. Abell

 

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Making a re muddled porch steps into ones that are appropriate for the house

An investor purchased a home in the Historic District and decided to put new steps and balustrade on the front porch.


He used store bought newels that are not the correct style and too slight. The lattice on the steps apron is also wrong. The cities preservation specialist informed him that he wold have to redo it. He came to me for help. I made custom spindles and rails for him to match the rest of the porch. I also made new appropriate treads for him. He found old interior newels for the balustrade which turned out to be a terrible mistake.

The newels were not kept caulked and painted so they rotted off in a matter of a few years.

New owners purchased the house but did not know what to do about the rotten newels. For months I had mentioned to the owners that I was interested in helping them. The City inspector informed them that the newels had to be repaired so they finally approached me for advice. Being short of funds they wanted to do the work themselves but needed some advice. I suggested buying fiberglass round columns from a big box store. They are about $100 and need to be cut in at least half for a newel. I then suggested that they take the bottom tread off and beef up the back of the first riser with a 2 X 6 to give something strong for the newel to attach to. They bolted a 4 X 4 to the beefed up riser making sure to line it up with the rail. Square holes need to be cut in the tread and column bases to slip them over the 4 X 4. The fiberglass column is then slipped over it and screwed to the 4 X 4. If the column is too small to fit over the 4 X 4 the corners may have to be sawed off. Below is the finished project. Notice they added a new cement first step when they put in a new sidewalk.

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Replacing fancy rotted porch elements

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 water up it so if any water is allowed to touch endgrain it sucks the water in, keeps it there and eventually rots the wood. All wood on a porch that gets weather should be treated lumber. It is very inexpensive and if you take your time going thru the pile you can get relatively clear, dry wood. It is a myth that you have to wait to paint treated lumber. In fact, it needs to be at least primed immediately, if not sooner. If you allow treated lumber to get wet or exposure to the sun it will warp and twist. We have had great luck with a latex primer called Gripper manufactured by Glidden and sold at Home Depot.

Here is what a white pine baluster looks like on a porch after 5 to 10 years. This shows houses susceptible the end grain is.

I made new balusters from treated lumber duplicating the beading down the middle exactly.

I turned some balls, replaced some brackets, many of the balusters, and most of the top and bottom rails. I assembled the balustrades on the bench to be installed as a unit. Much easier than piece by piece on site.

I remade all of the porch post bases including duplicating the panel molding exactly. Everything was made with treated lumber. The new porch decking is Azek. She had the original finial for the newel post but the little cap was missing so I turned that.

I made mockups for a possible porch apron. It is difficult as it is so low.

Here is the finished porch. The homeowner is a single woman with a limited income. Periodically the Local Carpenter’s Union does jobs for people in need. I supplied the parts, she supplied the materials and they did all the work at no charge. She painted the balustrades herself laying them out on the kitchen table. She cannot decide on an apron design. Perhaps I will make more mockups for her.

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Replacing rotten porch elements

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. The wood is old growth cypress salvaged from a water tower taken down in Chicago. Bora Care preservative was applied and both sides were primed. Water was able to reach the endgrain of the old one allowing it to rot. All joints need to be caulked and painted so no water can get in.

Old and new.

The bottom ten inches of the post were rotten. Again, water can never be allowed to get in the end grain of wood. A tree is designed to suck water up it so this post was doing what it was designed to do – suck.

I turned a new bottom of the post and attached it with a large dowel in the center and epoxy. The boards are to keep the new straight with the old.

The porch roof had to be jacked up to accept the repaired post and base. I love my antique house jacks.

Here is the porch with the repaired base and column. It is very satisfying to help this homeowner do it right. Without me he probably would have replaced all the columns with new ones from Menards. If you find yourself needing to replace columns use new fiberglass posts and bases. They are reasonably priced. The wooden ones are white pine and finger jointed. They will not last.

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Appropriate modifications to a porch make a huge difference

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 neighborhood after a year or so because it was so bad. We called the young couple urban pioneers because they came to a rough neighborhood and house with the determination to improve both. We just hoped these pioneers didn’t get burned by the Indians.

They tackled the house without any previous experience but with simple common sense they did everything right. They made the home single-family before it was popular to do so. Today $25,000 grants are given by the city to downsize properties. They took off the substitute siding before it was popular to do so.  Several years later the Gifford Park Association started a substitute siding removal program they called the Great Unveiling, borrowed from Rock Island. They gave the homeowner a $1000 reward to take the siding off.  Using volunteers in an old-fashioned barn raising type of event they take off the  siding. Later the city took up the grants giving a  $5000 reward to anyone taking their siding off. Because of budget constraints the city no longer gives the reward but the Gifford Park Association has gone back to giving $1000.

View Great Unveilings  done by the Gifford Park Association.

Over several years the couple rebuilt the porch and with some help from a professional had it nicely painted.

They fell in love with a bigger and better project house and moved.  They never got to finishing the porch apron, the newels at the bottom of the steps and  the apron on the the side of the steps. The store-bought lattice was added for the apron as a temporary fix. As so many temporary things go it was there for years. A subsequent owner added to the store-bought newels that are too slight and not appropriate for the house.

I was hired by a subsequent owner to build appropriate newels, and a porch apron to match the old picture. Here is an old picture showing the original apron and a little girl that is probably 80 years old today. The owner wanted an apron with triangular cutouts instead of half circles.  Both were done in that era.

I made newels to match the porch post bases. They look much better than the store bought ones they replaced as seen above.

I made a new apron as seen below.  The horizontal boards are PVC so they bent nicely with a just a little kerfing. They also will not rot.  They are a little expensive but well worth it.

I put an apron on the side of the steps using bead board and replaced the 2  x 12 treads with 5/4 x 12 which was the norm in that era.  I also put a little cove molding under the steps which was always done.  Click here for my guidelines on how to make the treads and cove molding.

I was very fortunate to have this project as the owners gave me an absolute freehand on what to do and were willing to spend whatever it took. They knew me and trusted me and knew I would not rip them off.

I can see the porch from our house so it was a very nice improvement to my neighborhood.

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815 N Spring

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 porch. Notice the newer balusters that are too tall and too thin.

 

This shows the steps being rebuilt. Great new sidewalk. Check out the difference with the previous picture. New PVC flooring was used. All wood used has to be treated. Stair treads need to be painted on both sides before installation to reduce the warping. The paint is to be porch floor enamel, never white exterior primer.

All Posts

Check my porch guidelines for instructions on how to make classic treads, the cove under them and laying out the stringers.

 

I made new column bases and tops to replace the rotten ones. The wood is old growth cypress recycled from an old water tower taken down in Chicago. Everything was coated with Bora Care preservative.

This is an original post top before it was replaced.

Here is the finished porch.

What a nice improvement
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An incredible transformation

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 in 2003 for $196,000 and was used as a halfway house for alcoholics and drug abusers.  The owner lost his federal funding so it was closed and foreclosed upon. Another friend bought it in 2012 for $91,800. It was his second rehabbing project in the Historic District so he had a lot of experience.  He went gangbusters and put a new kitchen in it, a new porch with spindles and had it painted.  A professional paint consultant chose the colors for him.  Here is how it looks today except there is now a balustrade on the porch steps which I helped install:

The owner had an old picture showing arches in the second story porch that were missing.

 

I made arches and frames for the arches for the porch.

Here is a picture of the arches I installed:

 

I also made a window for the basement that had been boarded up for decades.

The home was on the Elgin Historic Housewalk in 2016.  If you would like to see the booklet page to get some history on the house, click here.

It sold in 2018 for $232,000.  Click here if you would like to see the listing and interior pictures.

 

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Putting back missing porch elements at the Wing Mansion

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 me to make new ones. Here they are ready to be delivered.  The cross pieces have a stop chamfer on them.  The plastic bag is full of half spheres to be applied,  Each vertical piece was cut with a V groove in the bottom to fit onto the bottom rail. The rail has a  beveled top to shed water.

The owner and his wife painted them before installation.

Here they are installed on the front porch:

Here are more on the back porch.

I made smaller ones for the second story porch.  I also made the little squares with a square hole in the center in the balustrade to match an old picture.

Here is the third sorry porch.

Here is the whole house:

 

 

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Carpenter Gothic porch

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 that love the home.  They have taken an active role in the neighborhood and our local school.

When a building and its apartments are not nice it attracts desperate people.    To break the cycle of nasty renters, you have to make the property very nice.  Here it is in 1981  before rehab:

Here it is 2008 when rehabbing was just starting

Here it is today.  A colorful paint job makes all the difference in the world.

Th side porch had rotten posts and a very plain, rotting balustrade.

Before reconstruction.

The posts were taken down and I brought them into my shop.  I cut the bottom 18 inches off and replaced them.  The wrap from the rail hid the joint. A large dowel up the center with a lot of epoxy keeps them aligned.

Here is a mock-up of a balustrade that I proposed:

Here is another mock up that I proposed that was chosen and I made. Notice how the wrap on the post will cover the cut mark. I replicated the wrap on the post exactly from an old piece that was left on the house.

Here is the finished porch.

We knew the verge board on the dormer was missing because we had an old picture.  I made a mock up and installed it as shown below to get approval from the Preservation Specialist.

She had me alter it slightly and I made new ones.

Here they are installed.  Very satisfying to put them back.

 

This house has a great Gothic front door

The skirting on the back deck was not done appropriately.  I was hired by the owners to alter it adding corner boards, a bottom frame and vertical members under each post so it appears that the posts are supported.  Very satisfying work. All of the wood is composite decking.  It cuts the same as wood, just smells differently.  I’m  probaly ging to get lung cancer from the fumes.  :  )

Here is the front porch balustrade and apron which I did not have a part in.

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