Notes on permits, materials, and the parts of owning an old house in Delaware County that nobody hands you a manual for. Organized loosely around the trades and topics in the directory, added to as they're written.
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01
Historic District Rules in Delaware County: What Actually Requires a Permit
National Register listing and a local historic district are not the same thing, and only one of them means a review board looks at your windows. A walk through how Certificates of Appropriateness actually work in towns like Radnor and Media, and how to find out if your address is covered before you hire anyone.
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02
Why Repointing Old Masonry with the Wrong Mortar Makes Things Worse
Most stone and brick built before 1930 was laid up with lime mortar, not cement, and mortar is supposed to be softer than the masonry it holds. Get that backwards during repointing and the wall face itself starts eroding within a few years.
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03
The Case for Restoring Old Wood Windows Instead of Replacing Them
A drafty original sash usually isn't the energy problem it looks like, and a restored window with a good storm window often matches new replacement windows on performance, for a lot less money.
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04
Why Plaster Walls Crack, and When It's Actually a Problem
Most cracks in old plaster are cosmetic. A few mean the keys holding the plaster to the lath have failed. How to tell which one is on your ceiling before anyone starts patching it.