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Has Achieved Nirvana |
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
I don't understand what we're looking at in the first photo...
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
3x8 joists. Beefy.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Attic joists, which are the same under every floor. Something’s gotta hold up that slate roof. | |||
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Minor Deity |
My son's into woodworking, and he pointed out that there could be American chestnut in a house that old. Maybe so, but I have no idea what American chestnut looks like. I do know that the floors are pine (yellow pine, I think?) and they were made while they were clearcutting the longleaf pine forests in the southeast, so some of the planks are like 16 feet long without knots. There are still longleaf pines in the world, but sadly they're not making them like that any more. The ornamental woodwork has all been painted at some point over the years, other than the staircase's newel, banister, and balusters, so there's no way to know what kind of wood is under the paint. The staircase parts are a dark wood, so maybe it's mahogany or walnut. Anyway, I really like the stairs and floors. 
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
Mary Anna, that's gorgeous! So that slate roof is yours? It looks so cool! (I was thinking it was a neighbor's house, oops.)
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| Minor Deity |
I saw that Steve asked about whether the framing on our house was 3x8. I don't think so. I've been looking through the photos our architect and contractor have sent us since they opened up the wall, but they've been pointing the camera at the new framing, not the old stuff. The left side of this one shows a little bit of the exterior wall frame. Do you think that's 6"? 4"? Replacing the windows on the first and second floors with modern double-paned ones will be cost-prohibitive because of those pretty arched tops, but our contractor's going to clean them up and seal up any leaks. (The windows on the top floor have been replaced with modern double-paned ones.) There are storm windows on all the old windows. If new storms will keep the heat in better, we can replace them. On the plus side, we'll get tax incentives/rebates/whatever, for the new HVAC, the windows, and probably the insulation.
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| Minor Deity |
Oops, forgot the picture: 
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| Minor Deity |
Oh, and he asked about the roof, The flat (actually, low-hipped) part of the roof is fairly new rolled tar roofing that looks to be in good shape. The slate shingles are on the part of the roof that's nearly vertical, which has served to protect them over the years. They're a lot likely to be banged up by tree limbs or hail than if they'd been on the horizontal part of the roof.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
First class work!
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
It’s easy to tell. Measure the thickness of the wall at a door frame.
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| Minor Deity |
Glad to hear that the work is good. Everybody we've talked to says good things about our contractor, and our architect has been to the house several times while they were working and she said that the framing looks good.
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| Minor Deity |
We will have to ask the contractor about how thick the walls are as we're not sure we'll be back before we move in June or thereabouts.
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| Minor Deity |
I can't find the edit button these days, but I left out a key word in my post above, so I capitalized it below. Although I imagine y'all could figure it out...
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
I’m surprised to learn that the Palladian arch top windows are expensive to replace. It’s all vinyl these days, and computer generated to boot. Have you checked some of the second string manufacturers? Quirt’s young and strong now, but how much longer will he want to install storms in the winter and screens in the summer?
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