Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
6 years ago today I bought the Crooked House. 3 years ago (not quite to the day) I finished my 6-month renovation and moved in. In Year 6, I finally faced my fear of the facade and took it on. At the start, I was afraid to take the awnings down. The windows were horribly…
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This is my “Oh shit it’s fall” post, part 2. The wood: I had kinda put it on hold because the Abatron Liquid Wood epoxy consolidant I used looked so thick and shiny on the surface. And because the brick needed months of attention. Anyways, I did a few rounds of the epoxy consolidant and…
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Don’t be fooled by my previous post. I don’t know everything. I’m just some guy who teaches himself how to do things on the Internet. And I had a non-standard situation to work with here. With Window Number 1, we had (and spoiler: resoved) a catastrophe. But only briefly. First off, I spray foamed the…
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So, I have 2 new windows in place, but neither of them really finished. Here’s how that went. (I did one per day so I’m consolidating a bit.) First off came the cheapie plastic blinds and the sheets of 1/8″ Eucaboard that I used to cheaply cover up just how much of a mess the…
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That’s right, everything is picked out now! A few weeks ago when I was getting neurotic deciding whether or not the windows should have muntins like I originally planned, or not like the house was originally, Tito looked confused about why this even mattered because he didn’t think it would look that different. Blog readers…
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This is an important question and I want lots of advice. I’m… ordering windows! Very exciting! And I want the windows I can to be at least somewhat respectful of the architecture of the house. To review, really cheap vinyl windows. Cheap vinyl windows that are showing their age because they are 20 years old…
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After I’ve restored my brick front, it will be time to replace the windows. I’ve been looking forward to their demise for a long time Let’s have fun exploring exactly how bad they are. The top few inches of the openings are built down with haphazardly stacked-up boards. Then the window jambs are racked so…
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The title references a city ordinance cracking down on blight by requiring owners of vacant properties on occupied blocks to install doors and windows and make them look occupied. More info here if you’re interested. I’m a big fan. I love it that the city is doing something effective to prevent vacant properties from being…
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But things are still coming out, too. If you’ll recall from this spring, the back bedroom in my house had only one long, narrow window. And since you don’t recall it, here it is, back when the room still had walls. The ceiling is on the floor, in case you were wondering.