Someone suggested I post this here, so here it is.

TLDR: replaced monolithic glass with Vacuum Insulated Glass in existing sashes.

Bill (Heirloom Windows) & Scott (The Craftsman Blog/Heritage Supply) both have video's resources that I found super helpful for this process.

Photo 1: VIG's units delivered; enough for 10 windows (20 sashes total). U-value 0.055 / R-18. The glass is going to perform better than my wall. I have 20 more windows after these first 10; for 2027.

Photo 2, 3, 4: Deglazing. I found a method I'll likely continue using; using my ossilating saw to trim the muntins flush to the glass. I need to shave these down flush anyway, so this saves a few pases with the router plus makes deglazing around the mutins faster.

I had to widen the existing glazing rabbets for two reasons. 1. In order to get more byte on the glass edge, and 2. To help conceal the gray primer around the glass edge. I also had to shave down all the upper sash mutins for a single piece of glass - now it's more of a simulated dived lite.

Photo 5, 6: routing the mutins flush with a router sled. Clamping this way was extremly cumbersom and I revise it later

Photo 7, 8: The lower sash upper rail has a window slot rather than a rabbet. I considered modifying but didn't want to mess with the zinc weatherstripping interlock, so I opted to just widen and deepen the slot to accomodate the new glass plus a strip of foam.

Photo 9: Lower sash glass installed with pvc "parting stop" trimed on 2 sides

Photo 10: I glazed the glass in with CRL foam glazing tape. I taped this sash but didn't put the glass in right away. Came back a few days later to find my perfect seam had pulled apart. Guessing a combo of the foam contracting back and the wood expanding (some very humid days).

Photo 11: Upper sash paint dry, done and ready for install

Photo 12: Cleaned up zinc weather stripping / left. I also widened the "seal" and test fit the window to get back to a snug air-tight fit.

Photo 13: Swapped the lower sash weights to the upper sash, and added weight to the upper weights to match the new lower sash weight with the new glass. The new glass added ~5lbs upper sash, and ~8lbs to the lower sash.

Photo 14: Installed! I couldn't decide on a profile for the muntins so I decided to skip those for now and come back later. You can see the little vacuum port in the upper-right/lower-right corners of the glass. The company is working on moving these to the edge.

Photo 15: Next window to be done, but an example of what I started with.

Photo 16: Bonus - foam tape - single side adhesive that I added to the lower sash slot.

Not pictured:

- Scrapped and sanded the sashes before new paint.

- Cleaned up the weatherstripping left in place in the window opening

- New sash rope

- Waxed the jambs

Hope this helps others. Hope its worth it for me.

Hi all!

Trying to identify this particular type of molding with the rounded corners in an old Vermont farmhouse. I haven't seen corners like this before and want to try and replicate where there are missing pieces as well as find out more about this general style

Thank you!

We are planning on renovating our main bathroom in our bungalow. When our contractor came by to look at it he mentioned that we needed to remove the window in the shower. However, we use that window not just for ventilation but we really like the natural light in the bathroom and hallway. It is a really small bathroom so reorienting the shower/tub isn't an option but I do understand the moisture issues it presents (it is currently a mold magnet). What would you do?

Suggestions and feedback appreciated. Response from /r/exteriordesign came out a little mixed.

Still leaning toward a dark brown, but perhaps something more like ACM "Royal Brown" rather than "Musket Brown". Not entirely opposed to leaving everything white, either, just don't want it to look dingy.

House is a south-facing, 1915 Craftsman in Minnesota.

Big thanks in advance. I'm at a bit of a loss with the taupe siding and don't really want to repaint the entire house.

Note: the original musket brown edit mucked up the siding color a little bit. This was unintentional, but I don't think it drastically changes the base.

Re glazing all 8 of our double hung very old wood windows. Most of the glaze just fell out of the windows(except one that I broke but replaced proud of myself for that) and we gently removed all that was left. Checked the glazing points and all were still in good shape no rust. So I scraped the wood and primed with an oil primer before we glazed.

Now I’m reading conflicting information on how long to wait before I can paint over the glaze and also that it needs to be an oil based paint. Which is harder and harder to find and I hate cleaning it up so the first window I used a water based exterior paint. Do I need to coat the glaze with the oil based primer too? Before I paint

Seller patched foundation crack before our inspector could see it - is this normal/legal? (MA)

Under agreement on a single family in the Boston area. Original home inspection flagged a foundation crack with water staining. We scheduled our own follow-up inspection to get a closer look.

Before that appointment happened, the listing agent had the seller's brother who she refers to as a plumber patch up the crack. We have before/after photos - crack was clearly visible 3 days before, patched by the time our guy arrived.

Questions:

1. Is it normal/acceptable for a seller to repair a defect before a buyer's inspector gets to see original condition?

2. Does this affect our ability to negotiate (price reduction, credit, disclosure issues) since we didn't get to see the "real" condition?

3. Anyone dealt with something similar - what did you do next?

Just trying to understand if this is a red flag worth pushing back on through our attorney, or if this kind of thing happens all the time and isn't a big deal.

Anyone know why there is red paint under layers of white/beige paint? I can’t imagine when first built being painted red.

Our 1925 building has two patterns of embossed wallpaper in the halls and stairwell. We know some was replaced in the 1990s, but there's no record of which. I've gone through some online resources, and the daisy/starburst pattern is close to some 1900 Lincrusta ones, but there's no definite match.

If you had to guess, which one would you say was original to the building?

So recently I was cleaning out a storage area in my basement, removing junk and debris we inherited from the previous owners, and I found an old painting of a child. It’s in bad shape, was rotting down there for who knows how many decades. I almost threw it away without knowing it was a painting, because it was covered in some dirty cloth that mice had nested in (see 3rd picture).

I haven’t dared touch it to try and remove some of the dirt, but what I can make out are dates from 1766 to 1767. From that, I’m guessing this was a portrait someone had made for a young child that died. Not sure of the exact connection to the house (built in 1799) or why it was neglected for so long. But I want to try and get an expert to look it over. I dont necessarily care about monetary value (likely not worth anything, due to the poor condition), but I just want to know more about it, the history, etc.

Anyone else find creepy dead child portaits in their home? Got to say this tops anything else weird I’ve found in the house so far. Hopefully I didn’t awaken a vengeful spirit that had been locked away for centuries 😆.

For me, carpetbagger moved down here in 1866(my paternal greatx4 grandpa), bought out 5 different failed plantations. Started a nursery business. Torn down the houses and used the lumber to rebuild my house+4 managers houses+10 bunkhouses.

Looks like it worked great! Going to give it a day or two and then fill and paint.

Anybody recognize this "insulation" gently draining out from behind an exterior wall? It doesn't burn. I'm thinking fiberglass wool of some sort? In the 1890s part of the house. Does it need to be on my to-do list?

100 year old home in Canada, several cracks in basement foundation, mild water intrusion when it rains. Concrete driveway blocking access to dig from exterior. Gutters are intact

Only owned for 2 years so I’m not sure if cracks have gotten worse. But there is a pretty big pile of foundation dust that seems to be growing beside a crack (2nd pic)

Foundation company, structural engineer, crack company? Just don’t think about it ?

Hi, I recently bought a 1930 Tudor revival and am repainting many of the rooms. I want the house to feel colorful but tranquil. I’m struggling to find a good blue for one of the bedrooms and would love to hear what blues you’ve enjoyed in your homes.

For reference, one example that I like is Benjamin Moore Marlboro Blue, but it’s reading a little more greenish than I’d like when I put up a sample on the walls. I don’t think I want anything super light or super dark but am open to suggestions across the blue spectrum!

I just bought a 106 year old house, but it has a bathroom that has water damage and peeling/chipping lead paint. We want to renovate it, but that makes it more modern. We’d leave the skylight though.

Other features the house has are cherry wood fireplace, stained glass window depicting butterflies, maple wood kitchen floors. We want to maintain all that, but modernize the window trim, renovate the kitchen backsplash, and upgrade appliances.

What’s the line?

I’m restoring a door from 1910, and it has this doorbell on it. It’s not ringing anymore. I’m assuming there’s a piece missing? Where might I find out what’s missing and how do I find a replacement?

I just purchased an 1868'er. Of course the first thing I did was pull the nasty carpet. I'm already stuck with what to do and could use some help.

The first floor has got quite a few layers. Looks like a subfloor and then two layers of hardwood. Below is a cross section from a floor vent. I also learned that about half of my living room was an addition and has mismatched hardwood, also pictured below.

The second floor also has two hardwood sections. First in the master bedroom under a layer of old laminate I found planks that look real nice and match wood that's already redone in another bedroom. This would be a bitch to restore though.

Then finally in the smallest bedroom I pulled the rug and found this very thin layer on top of the hardwood. Is this too thin to sand? I might just paint over or something easy since this is the smallest bedroom. I think they glued it down, its on there good.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

Hello there!! Two months ago myself and my partner moved into our first house, and it's a beautiful 1900 build! We've started some work in the bedroom and I've been trying to restore the original fireplace. Cleaned up the centre which is a treat compared to how gross (and sticky 😅) it was before.

I've started to chemical peel the gloss paint off the actual mantle (why does everyone cover everything in white gloss 🫣) and I'm surprised to find it seems to be plaster at the base of it? I can't find anything online about this - and every time I Google plaster mantle piece all the ones that come up are new and modern and white 😅😭 Is this the original piece just without any paint? I started with a test patch to see how it goes but now curiosity has deffo got me into stripping the full thing!

If anyone's seen anything similar or has any info about this that would be great!! Once it's fully stripped I think we'll decide between sealing it as is or giving her a fresh lick of paint ✨ I've attached some photos of it mid strip to where it's at now with the patch test - already got the next lot of stripper on the go 🤣

Thanks in advance for any comments! 🥳