Hi All,
I bought a nearly condemned 1899 Victorian in Sacramento, CA and proceeded to recreate the front facade (as well as renovate the whole darn thing). I don’t have a digital photo of the front “before” since I only recently got a digital camera. So, I included a current picture of the rear. The rear has had an old porch torn off, but it looks allot like the front did when I started. We are waiting for a permit for a rear addition that will be an interesting steel structure that ties all 4 floors together. I will post photos as I go. Meanwhile, I built the front stair case and added most all of the “gingerbread”. The turnings were done by my friend Gary Meyer (Meyer’s Turning Works) here in Sacramento. He is a master! The staircase and detailing took nearly three years from start to finish. It is made of vertical grain old-growth redwood, epoxied together with stainless steel screws. It eventually got to me to continue to paint over this rare and beautiful wood. Still, I hope that the staircase will last another 100 years or more, so the wood went to a good use, in my opinion.
By the way, I have put a new foundation (concrete), new electrical and plumbing. I will be working on this foolish project for the rest of my life I am sure.
Replies
Naw...not a foolish project but a fine wonderful project! Keep the posts and photos coming in! That part of front's stairs reminds me of the photos of my grandparent's house in Chicago in the 1900's.
What a great place. Thanks for showing it.
Here's two of the pics lightened up a bit to help with the detail.
I know that somebody will think I'm a little nuts for saying this, but the structure will pay you back for the love. They always do.
Thanks to all for the moral support. I have been working on this Victorian for a long time. Next week I will post some photos of kitchen cabinets that I recently completed with "before" and "after" shots. I think the most important part of this project is my easy going and understanding wife. She tolerates all that construction...all of the time! What a blessing!
Neat stuff. Thanks for the pictures. DanT
Here here for the easy going wives that stand faithfully beside us.
Great looking stairs. You should be very proud.
Well done and keep the pictures coming.
Doug
Nice details, really like the way you handle the details under the stringers, is their storage underneath?
Danusan,
Yes, I built a bicycle garage underneath. Since I built it myself, I wired it with electricity, phone, and added compressed air outlets plumbed through the house from my shop compressor. Now the kids can pump up tires, basketballs and such. We are the hit of the neighborhood on Saturday mornings. Lotsa flat tires here in Sacramento. Tomorrow when the sun is shining, I will take a photo of the bike garage and post it. Then I might as well post the undercarriage detailing. I used micro-lam stringers (6 of them). I epoxied the whole thing together and used stainless steel screws to hold it in place while the epoxy set. There is absolutely no deflection...they are solid as a rock. Here are a few additional photos. I still have to make the porch spindled arch details that connect the columns to the little "honycomb" turnings centered in each column bay. The facade photo shows the obvious missing components. I have milled the lumber and created the templates. However, I stopped for a year and one-half to build kitchen cabinets...but that's another story...
Thanks for your complements. It means allot to a diy'er.
Regards,
Steve Kasower
Great stuff. Beautiful work!Hear, hear for the ladies!!
That is some fine looking work.It looks like you need to quit your day joband take this up full time.......Excellent detail, keep posting pictures
As promised, here is the same staircase with the bicycle garage door opened. You can see that even though it was designed to be a bike garage, like all garages, each member of my family has stocked it with some kinda junk. I even have my doggone leaf blower hanging it there. And it is convenient!
The balustrade work looks fantastic! The detail work too. Show us more as you get it done...
Matt
Nice work. The detail explains why it's a long term project. Keep it up. I'm curious about the spacing on the spindles of the stair rails. Were you working from a model, or did you space them for current codes - 4" or so? Usually the old ones were further apart.
Don
Don,
I spaced them so that no open distance was more than 4" to comply with code. The railings were "plowed out" for the balusters and I milled an intricate fillet that fills the plowed-out portion. I have attached some detailed photos that show the fillets. The paint job is starting to need touch up after a few winters. However, the bloody wooden house needs constant maintenance and I am not EVEN close to being done! Again, while this has been my passion, I know that it is the first sign of insanity.
Thanks for the support,
Steve Kasower
Steve
Your work is impecable!
Dont forget to show some pictures of that kitchen, and any others that you have.
Doug
Doug,
I am humbled by your incredible cabinetry. I have attached a photo of the "before and after" of my downstairs kitchen in this Victorian. Not to go into an overlong story, but the house has allot more square footage than we presently live in. When completed it will be 5800 sq ft. Now, we live in 1150 sq ft. I really need to apprentice myself to you and Stan Foster for a couple of decades to really implement my vision. I am a white-collar guy who used to be the "gofer" on the construction crew working my way through college. You know the type...I used badger the crew to teach me everything they knew. Still, I was gonna get the dirt outa the fingernails and work in an OFFICE! WOWEE! Well, I got the office gig and missed the dirt. I missed it so much that we moved from suburb to downtown city and bought this nearly condemned hulk so I could get back to building. I have been in heaven ever since (in the evenings and on weekends). So, pretty much I am self-taught nowadays. I read FHB, chat with all of you experts, and then I plunge in and do it. Each project has mistakes that I know are there and would never do that way again. To the rest of my friends and family they are impressed, so I feel good about that. The quality of my work has been improving allot.
Anyhow, please realize when you look at the "before", we lived with that mess since 1986! The only reason we moved in to the "nearly finished" 1150 sq ft was that there was no heat in the rest of the house, and really old leaky plumbing. Now most of it is all gutted out and our little 1150 sq ft space is pretty nice.
Did I mention how absolutely patient my sweet wife is? I would not get away with this with anyone else I am sure.
Here goes...don't laugh!
Regards,
Steve Kasower
Steve
Looks great!
Sounds like you got a labor of love on your hands. I'm sure that when(if) you get finished your going to have one of the most beautiful places in the hood.
From what I've seen so far your doing a damn good job.
We all have one of those wives! Somehow women like these must just gravitate towards carps, I'm sure its a gene flaw of some sort. :)
5800 sq. ft. man that's some house. I've been luck to get to rehab a couple house's that were on the brink of falling over. Feels good to save them, and a damn shame that more of them aren't being saved.
Looks like your doing everything right.
Oh, BTW get in line, we all want to work with Stan. If he only knew how much he wouldn't have to do any manual labor for the next 25 years!
Doug