The newsletter of the Cleveland Restoration Society's Heritage Home ProgramSM.
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The city of Parma Heights has rejoined the Heritage Home Program! We are very excited to work with their residents on their home repair or renovation projects.
Check out our website for a full listing of participating communities in 2021.
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DIY books, magazines, journals, videos, and social media seem to be everywhere! For older homes, it can be confusing to find the right tips to help in your situation. Sometimes looking back can be a good way to secure the future for your older home.
Avoiding the praise for asbestos products and lead paint, DIY books and publications from the early 20th century can give insight into how homes of that period were made and the materials used for repairing them. Here are some examples of home repair advice from the past:
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The Handbook for House Repairs, c. 1949
Repairing Stiff Windows. Double-hung windows sometimes move with difficulty because swelling of the sash or because too much paint has made them larger. Paraffin rubbed on the tight places will often ease the situation; if not, planing or sanding will do the job.
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Today a sticky window can be repaired with specific spray lubricants or wax, depending on the type of window. An important first step before using spray or wax is thoroughly cleaning the window to determine if there is damage, paint, or dirt build-up causing the window to not operate properly.
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Fix It Yourself: Home Repairs Made Easy, c. 1929
Flashings that Leak
Water often gets in around chimneys and walls because of rusty or defective flashings. The flashings are strips of tin, copper, or other sheet metal which are laid against the brick and go under each shingle as it is placed. A penknife point pushed down on the flashing, especially if it is of painted tin, will often disclose that is has been nearly destroyed by rust.
Materials for repairing flashings are: copper or tin, fourpenny galvanized shingle nails, and a few eightpenny and tenpenny common nails for nailing flashing into the chimney. Often upon a repair job the liberal use of asbestos or elastic roofing cements will do well enough as a makeshift for repairing flashing instead of using a solder...
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Today a chimney flashing issue can be corrected by an experienced roofer. Small holes in the flashing can be repaired with roofing cement or patches the same material as the flashing. Corroded flashing will need to be replaced with care (or by a licensed roofer) since some roofing shingles may need to be removed. Flashing seals can be fixed with some masonry caulking or roofing cement around the step flashing and the chimney. Before doing any work on your roof and chimney, make sure to do your research on the project and materials before safely checking out the roofing.
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Some tips are an interesting read for the modern DIYer but not applicable in light of today’s safety regulations. (Adhere to safe practices if/when working with lead paint, coal burning heaters, and batteries)
From The Handbook for House Repairs (c. 1949):
Do not buy a poor quality material - the best in the market is well worth investing in, considering the labor required to put it on. White lead, linseed oil, and turpentine are the basic ingredients of a good outside paint: very little of anything else should be in it.
From Fix It Yourself (c. 1929):
Methods for Removing Soot
Soot is the enemy of heat and should be removed from flues, smoke pipes, and chimney periodically. First attack it by means of the fire. Every week of two throw a heaping handful or common salt on the hot coals. This will loosen any small accumulations that may have formed and send them flying. Then, each month, throw an old doorbell battery or radio battery into the fire. The zinc fumes combine chemically with the gases in the furnace to loosen any remaining soot scale. There are also commercial preparations for doing this, but they all have the basic properties of zinc, and old batteries will do the trick very well.
Not surprisingly, both books had good sized sections devoted to freezing pipes and how to fix them.
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The Cleveland Restoration Society's first virtual SNOOP is coming up!
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Virtual SNOOP! of the Dall-Mays Houses
CRS Members Only Event
Saturday, March 13th, 2021
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
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Located at 2225 and 2229 East 46th Street in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood, these landmark structures from the 1870s were originally erected by Andrew Dall, Jr. and his brother, James, sons of master mason Andrew Dall, Sr. For over 40 years, James and Frances Mays owned and cared for the houses, making one their home, and renting the other, always honoring and respecting the Dall history. The Cleveland Restoration Society has been working diligently to stabilize and save these severely threatened homes from demolition.
After a virtual program to tour the houses and learn about their history, there will be a Q&A with CRS Board Chair and Chair of the Dall-Mays task force, Scott C. Holbrook; task force member, trustee, and principal at Hiti, DiFrancesco and Siebold, Inc., Anthony W. Hiti, AIA; and task force member and nephew of James and Frances Mays, Norman Mays.
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Does your community have an eNewsletter?
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With all of our presentations going virtual this spring, we have little announcements promoting our various programs that will be available throughout the next few months.
If your community has a newsletter or place to post information about events coming up - let us know! We can easily send over our program announcements as PDFs or image files to be shared.
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216-426-3116 I hhp@heritagehomeprogram.org
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