HISTORIC PROPERTIES WE HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN RESTORING (To see more pictures of a particular project, please click on the thumbnail.) For a printable version of this list, please click here. Public Projects Petersen House Perhaps our most famous project, the Petersen House is the 19th Century house across from Ford’s Theater that President Lincoln …
HISTORIC PROPERTIES WE HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN RESTORING For a printable version of the complete list of projects we have been involved in, please click here. Public Projects (To see more pictures of a particular project, please click on the thumbnail.) Petersen House Perhaps our most famous project, the Petersen House is the 19th …
What looked like a duplex house with 50’s asbestos siding on the exterior, revealed its true “inner beauty” to be instead a c. 1800 log house. The owners wanted to expose the logs and create an art gallery to show their work and the works of other artists in the community.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too” might apply in the kitchen, but when you’re building houses, you sometimes can have both. If you like timber-frame houses but can’t afford one, consider a hybrid. Although a complete timber frame usually costs 10% to 20% more than a comparable stick frame, a small timber-frame …
Achieving energy efficiency without compromising historic integrity in old buildings is always a high priority, and sometimes surprisingly easy….. when you learn to compromise on the right thing. Recently we restored an early 1900’s wood exterior door for a private residence. When this door was constructed there would have been no door sweep or …
It probably comes as no surprise to most of us that history is very important to us here in Lancaster County. So important, in fact, that Lancaster County’s Historical Society and President James Buchanan’s Wheatland are working together to recreate Wheatland into an entire campus dedicated to Central Pennsylvania history. Here is the press release …
3. Replacing Original Wood Windows. Technology and architectural styles have shaped the design of windows throughout history. The windows are one of the few parts of a building that serves as both an interior and exterior feature, and they usually make up 20-30% of the surface area of a historic building. It is for these reasons …
Your House is a Money Pit more Common Mistakes.. Read More »
This weekend I read about the decline of McMansions – the average house size has begun to decline with the crash of the housing market. (The new home builders have really been hurt by the current housing market – they built and promoted the McMansion “lifestyle”). I was reading about the housing trends and thinking …
This list was taken from the Directory of Preservation Resources complied by the Historical Architectural Review Board in the Borough of Columbia, PA. Encouraging regular maintenance (true preservation) rather than quick-fixes that will fail in a short amount of time this list highlights seven common “repairs” or “upgrades” that do more harm than good. 1. …
The April/May 2010 issue of Old-House Journal listed the top ten restoration mistakes. Following these tips can help to save time and money (in the long run). The entire article can be found at: http://www.oldhousejournal.com/top-10-restoration-mistakes/magazine/1673 Cheap Paint (good paint is hard to find – we are trying linseed oil paint on our house available from …
© 2022 Practical Preservation | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Service