Victorian Restoration - Exterior

This project is very typical of exterior repairs. Although the building is technically a Dutch Colonial rather than a true Victorian, it has many of the features (and potential problems) that Vics have.

In the pictures you can see the detail, including the lovely "spider" windows over the sun room. You can also see the extensive damage to the siding. The damage is primarily caused by a combination of sun damage and mold/mildew, combined with the age of the previous paint job.

In this case, the cedar shake siding is resonably available, and, once the building is cleaned, to ensure that all loose paint is scraped off, new shingles can be installed hwere old ones are in poor condition.

For most Victoiran or historic homes, even this can be an issue, as we discovered -- although the building was powerwashed and scraped vigorously, when the primer was applied, there was still a lot of compromised paint. It showed up and bubbling and blistered paint even before the primer was dry. In this case, the best course of action was to remove the siding and shingles one by one and replace them with virgin wood, which was then re-primer and re-painted.

What cannot be seen is the although the home has modern "k-style" gutters, it has the antique version of the soffits, built into the builing the same way a Yankee Gutter used to be. Extensive carpentry on the soffits and the facia was required prior to the final coat of paint.

Questions? As always we welcome them. Feel free to post here, to e-mail us at lillandbill@aol.com or to call (908) 380-0055.

Victorian Restoration

This is one of our favorite projects -- believe it of not, this beautiful home was once boarded up and almost 40% of the building was badly compromised.

The first things that had to be fixed were the roofs, both the flat roofs and the slate. We are often asked by home owners if they should get rid of a slate roof?
In historic areas (such as this one in Plainfield, NJ), that is not really an option. Also, we often advise customers that a slate roof is a 150-200 year product life, whereas contemporary asphalt shingle is a 20-30 year product life at most. So, if the slate can be repaired or maintained, that is preferable. In this project, the slate was repaired and then sealed with stone sealer -- just as you would seal a stone countertop. If you insist on demolishing a slate roof, please call us for the salvage before your roofer turns the slate into a pile of gravel!

Next came the dreaded YANKEE GUTTERS. In this project, the gutters had several large holes in them, causing water to leak into the building. This is a very typical problem with Yankee Gutters. The Yankee Gutters were first demolished in rotten areas. Then new fascia boards were customized. The old fasia were constructed of 12" boards, but modern boards are only 11 3/4" so we fabricated the fasia on on site. Once complete, the Yankee gutters were relined with metal and then sealed. Even though Yankee Gutters can be lined with rubber or metal, we recommend metal. Either way, we recommend sealing.

Finally, the project was finished with custom millwork (see previous post). And, at last, the interior work could begin.

For more questions on Victorian Restoration, Yankee Gutters, or any home improvement project, e-mail us at lillandbill@aol.com or call (908) 380-0055.