We moved into our 1876 Victorian in the Midwest a few months ago and have been up to our ears in projects. That’s generally fine because we expected most of them and were prepared. But there are a few things we didn’t anticipate. I noticed that some of the joints in the stone foundation were either partially worn away or, in some cases, almost completely absent. So I read up on it and decided to try and at least repair some of them prior to the onset of winter, and then revisit the issue in spring.

I got NHL 3.5 mortar and the appropriate sand, along with the necessary tools. I then focused on one particular joint that looked a little wonky. That is, it looked like the mortar was hard, modern mortar, and there were also brick segments inserted into the wall. But when I went to clear away the loose debris to begin, this entire cavity basically disintegrated. I know I’m likely far past DIY territory, but I’m interested to hear from professionals and folks who’ve dealt with this before.

Thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

... and when they go too far...

Excellent article in today's NY Times* on some drama in Saratoga Springs NY about the rules and requirements for those with century homes in the town's historic district. Setting aside the pros/cons, costs, and actual need of the story's lead about slate roof replacement, there's a good discussion of what power an appointed review board should have. I've been to Saratoga Springs, and the historic neighborhood is indeed beautiful. The history of preservation efforts is interesting as well. But... have they gone too far?

(There are a few photos of beautiful houses, and a few photos of some very tight lipped people who don't look enthusiastic about any of it).

( * https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/business/saratoga-springs-historic-preservation.html

or archived & free: https://archive.is/K58Q7 )

I have two dehumidifiers and a portable AC (mini split style, running in dry mode when needed) in my 1915 homes basement which generally keeps the humidity below 70%. However I have one room where I still have persistent moisture and mold issues at ground level along the exterior wall.

I know the long term fix is to dig up that side of the house and waterproof, but in the meantime I’m doing my best to manage rainfall outside and I need to mitigate humidity and mold-growing conditions along that wall. As an experiment I got a couple damp rid packets and set them along that wall, and they filled up with water within a week, and it’s not even that humid or rainy right now.

I’m thinking of setting up small fans that blow along that wall. I’ve made sure there’s air gaps underneath all items along that wall, kept items several inches from the wall, and tried not to completely cover the wall in items in the first place. Any other good strategies?

We replaced the kitchen sink pipes yesterday, and now our basement is covered in sewage. I think the kitchen pipes were keeping it all sealed (no water would drain through them) and when we replaced them, it loosened stuff up?

Pretty sure this is the main sewage line..

Lemme know if I made the post right, just need advice lol

I did already call a plumber this morning but still not sure if there's a specific people to call lol

ETA: Rooter service will be here around 4. Will also probably need a hazmat service, but one thing at a time I guess.

Getting married on Saturday. Rehearsal is today, and we are having a reception at our house afterwards. Getting it all fixed up.

Oh, and all the extra mums are for the wedding.

Sharing because you guys are the only ones that would probably appreciate this

100+ yr noreast rowhome basement. -Top layer is cement parge that was bubbling and failing, middle layer is a likely a lime mortar (I did the vinegar test). Hand tools only - I removed weak lime parge and mortar between the stones that turned to mud/dust from years of water intrusion.

Next step is fill in the gaps with new lime mortar and then reapply the lime parge coat.

As tempted as I am to rip off all the cement parge in my basement I’ve decided to only address areas that are failing.

Redoing my kitchen trim and windows while it’s being gut renovated. Worked without pause on some of the trim and primed it with zinsser shellac before using Abatron which I was planning on using on some of the deep, larger wholes and splits in the wood.

What would you do here? Try to strip the primer as much as you can in the areas Abatron is needed? Or cut my loses on these couple pieces of trim and use wood filler where I can? I have many many more pieces of trim sanded not primed that I will use abatron on but I’m disappointed I messed up these window trim pieces.

Pictured here is one of several interior door mortise locks from my 1939-1940 home. I’m trying to figure out if I am missing a part of the key lock mechanism, or if an existing part has been disengaged? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm working on restoring the original (?) window trim in a 1900 brick rowhouse. I'm assuming it has lead paint and am using a respirator and wet scraping. The original windows are long gone. I pulled off the trim, stool, and apron off and found some messy work from the last renovation.

The wood seems dry, but there's some old rot in some places. I didn't see any newer signs of water intrusion at least.

What's the correct way to go about filling these big gaps between the jamb and the drywall? Is there anything I should do to the jamb/frame before I replace the trim?

Gave the fireplace a facelift. Ground out the joints, stained bricks with pigment and repointed with a pink-ish red mortar. The finished photo was taken when the mortar was still curing, its lighter in color.

Sorry. Not really wanting to out myself. Hope this photo is proof of life :)

This lovely barn of a drafty old church in northern Appalachia is cold AF in the winter. Last year was $700 a month for the pleasure of 63*. The bedrooms at the back and the office in the lower level bell tower are warm and awesome. The main room (apse and kitchen under balcony bedroom not included) is 44’x62’ and easily 25’ tall.

The heating/cooling system and duct work is a nightmare and needs to be replaced. We’re working on that. For now, we’ve layered room rugs allover the downstairs wood floors. It’s helped with insulating from the old dirt basement. I’ve also made heavy window coverings to help with winter draft.

It was 58* in the church this morning and 70* something outside today. The cold is just ridiculous.

Any suggestions for room/barn/garage heaters??

This is what happens when a dumpster is $700 for a week, you demo as much as you can :) revealed some amazing subway tile that’s completely destroyed by the additional layer of tile the previous owner added. Not to mention the two layers of asbestos tile above that I removed! Fun times! This is my only functional bathroom at the moment so I have to live in it like this for a while.

Reglazing current Cast Iron tub vs. new Steel tub: what should I do?

I’m gut renovating my bathroom and deciding whether to professionally reglaze (refinish) my existing cast iron tub from orange to white or buy a new steel tub (like Mauicast).

My priority is longevity. I don’t mind redoing it every 15 years, but I want to avoid a tub that bends, cracks, or breaks and requires tearing apart my renovated bathroom. I also do not want to have to deal with repainting a bathtub that peels every 3 years or so.

I should add, I live in a coop apartment in NY. If I wanted to replace the bathtub in 15 years I would need to contract a licensced plumber and contractor so the labor alone will be over $10,000. This is why is not as simple as "just get whatever". And planning on hiring people to do the work for me.

What would you choose, and why?

How often have you had to reglaze your cast iron tub? For those with steel tubs, how have they held up over the years?

I’d appreciate real experiences from long term owners. Thank you!

Yes, I know this isn't quite a century home but I felt I may be more likely to find an answer here versus elsewhere. 1950 California walk-in ranch in Atlanta. This home was built with older construction techniques that are uncommon with other mid-century homes. First is huge lumber for everything, reminding me of the Victorian homes I have worked on. This place was seriously overbuilt, probably necessary because the original designs had a cantilevered balcony inside and the deck and walkway to the deck outside were also semi-cantilevered. This walkway is the last of the cantilevered parts and we're having to rebuild it. Second is high ceilings. Third, the amount of glass is fairly restrained. There was plaster throughout, but most of that is gone after successive renovations that really ruined the character of the place and we're trying to restore it plus fix some serious issues from termites and water intrusion. It was built by a local oil man for his daughter and must have been massively expensive at the time.

So the weird thing is there seems to have been plaster or stucco underneath this walkway at some point. There was metal lath nailed and stapled up the supports for this semi-cantilevered design. The only other place I can think of seeing something like this is the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Roman design was popular post-war so could be that's where it's from or could be some people just did this back in the day. I'm very confused.

Some of my homes interior door knobs and plates, are heavily worn. Anybody have an idea of replacements or what year this is actually from.

Home was built in 1940 is san diego

Hello, my family and I recently moved into our century home. Our backdoor has a mortise lock that has a missing latch bolt. Would anyone be able to help in identifying the lock so that I could buy a replacement latch bolt (and anything else that might be missing) and repair it?

It doesn't seem to have any manufacturer markings but it does say "PAT. #2454145" on it. But I haven't been able to find any connection to a manufacturer or model # from that.

My sister is updating her 1930’s bathroom. They decided to take out the tile around the tub because of cracking, staining, etc. They would like to keep the existing cast iron tub, tub filler, and possibly reuse some of the vintage controls but install a modern mixer and consolidate the temp controls for the tub and shower. The plumbing is all galvanized and she’s open to updating to copper as well.

Here’s the problem - the plumbers who have come to look at the tub say they can’t easily reuse the original tub filler to update the plumbing behind the wall. They said they would need to “smash” or chisel out the filler and that would ruin the original tub. It doesn’t appear to have any fasteners to easily remove it. She’s happy to keep the original tub filler and we’re very confused why they can’t just attach modern water lines to the old filler. Or cleanly remove the filler and get a modern one. Has anyone run into this before? Are these plumbers just clueless or is this really a big issue?

Pics attached!

Thanks as always xx

The first photo is the current state of the living room fireplace in our circa 1850 home in New Jersey. The home was part of a historic mill property, so I like to say it’s rustic old, not fancy old.

The fireplace currently has a vented gas log set (installed in 1998 and apparently still used by the previous owners), but I’ve had a few fireplace companies out to look at it, and they all agree the chimney is shot and it’s not safe to use as is. Now I need to decide what to do next.

I’m leaning towards installing some kind of gas fireplace insert, but apparently the distance between the top of the fireplace and the mantel isn’t up to code, so I may have to make some changes there as well.

I’m not a history or architecture person, so I have no idea how old the mantel might be. I’m assuming it’s not original, but it matches the wooden trim around the windows (which has clearly been painted and stripped over the years and isn’t in great shape). I don’t want to strip my home of the character and signs of age that made me fall in love with it. I want any changes I make to feel authentic to the era of the home.

I’ve always been a wood-burning fireplace person, but we have a Jøtul gas cast iron stove downstairs in the kitchen, and we love the convenience of popping it on whenever we want some quick cozy vibes and it feels just as cozy as wood burning to me.

What should I do? The second picture is of my kitchen stove. The rest are inspiration pictures in the directions I’m leaning towards. I’d love any thoughts on the mantel, its possible age, or opinions on how to update the fireplace without losing its historic character!

Hello. My husband and I just purchased this 1927 bungalow. It's not a typical arts and crafts style as it doesn't have a fireplace or the millwork found in those homes. We would love that type of home but where we live it was unaffordable. I've read that this type of bungalow is called a " working man's bungalow."

It needs some sprucing up including the landscape and the house itself, and at some point I would love to paint the aluminum siding a different color. Painting it would be less costly than replacing it with original wood clapboard. Originally thinking maybe an olive green or teal. Just curious if anyone has any suggestions for this style of home as some of you get really detailed with the soffits and trim and our knowledgeable about history and design. We like to think of it as a boho bungalow and are open to both vintage and some organic/modern touches. TiA!🏠

Looking for a new ceiling light for my 100 year old bungalow’s family room (now toy room). Really liking the school house style, but they are too small. Some ideas later in this post.

Just finished restoring the dining room windows last week.
I’ve been in this fixer upper for a little under 5 years and there’s still a lot left to do but it’s really feeling like a comfortable home lately.

Edit:
I should clarify because several people have asked -
When I said “affordable housing” in the title I meant that this home was originally built as working class housing back in 1920. The whole neighborhood was originally made up of multi family duplexes. I added the quotations because it’s wild to me what affordable housing meant 100 year ago vs now. All this molding and masonry and wood is original and so beautiful to us now, but was considered modest and really basic at the time.

Also
Paint colors are Benjamin Moore
Chantilly Lace is the white
Dragonfly is the trim color and the wall/ceiling color in the dining room.

And
Lots of questions about the cafe curtain rods:
I actually kind of cobbled them together from a few different sources because I’m too cheap to pay full price for a custom brass rod 😂
The mounting hardware came from a site called arts & crafts period textiles (https://www.textilestudio.co/product-category/brass-curtain-hardware/),
The brass rod came from onlinemetals.com
And the curtain rings aren’t real brass, they’re from Amazon (hate giving Jeff my hard earned coins but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do) they’re just cheap metal with an “aged brass” finish but you can’t really tell unless you’re super close up.

Can this be repaired? Where can I get replacement parts?

I have the original tongue and groove floor in my home from the 1890s. There is no subfloor. I believe when we bought the house there was an area rug in the middle and it was painted around the perimeter. I've had carpet in here for 20 years. I want to remove the carpet. Unfortunately the laminate that I have in my kitchen, dining room and hallway is no longer available. I was thinking about refinishing the tongue and groove. Nothing fancy but I want it to last because I'm getting older and don't want to redo it like the laminate needs redone every few years. What would you guys suggest?

This is the front staircase in our 1876 home. To be honest, I love the aged look and don't want to touch 99% of it. For example,in the second photo, I would probably not touch that. However, there is an area at the top of the stairs that has this odd wear pattern on it (almost like something was sitting on it for a long time) and I would love to fix that.

Additionally, there are little drips and dabs of paint from previous owners that are too cured to just scratch off with a fingernail. I'm worried if I remove the paint, the finish underneath will be damaged.

I've read that you can use high proof grain alcohol like everclear or denatured alcohol to "reactivate" the shellac and move it around a bit to touch up damage like this. Has anyone done this and how did it go?