And those are some downspouts!

Soon, the house will be dressed in its new cedar shingles, and I am excited to see this happen.

We are also working on the garden plan for the front and the back. We have purchased three planters for the front yard, nice 32” tall ones, two will be 8’x2’ and one will be 42” around, in olive green.

Also, we have purchased two water barrels, along with circular diverters to plumb into the downspouts. The gray one will go in the front and the brown one in back.

We also picked up a fountain which is kind of a small replica of a village fountain in France.

We’ll need to bury and electrical line for the fountain.

We have six yards of compost soil mix coming and will plant a couple of hundred bulbs. Fun times! The work never ends.

The back yard also needs work and we want to replace a fence if we can find someone to do the work.

The white cedar shingles have started to go up! I love the way the four colors work with each other, the green shingles, the white trim, the gray of the zinc gutters, and the red of the brick.

And, to Circus Peanut, yes, I am enjoying the return of sharp lines!

Beautiful! Exciting progress!

Thanks!

Coming along.

Latest progress.

Work has begun on the front. The gutters are getting close to being finished. The one issue is what to do about sills that are partly rotten. Can they pounded out like in this video without shifting the window boxes and causing problems with putting in the new sashes?

https://youtu.be/x8iu9dLrV-E

Thoughts?

It’s like I’m talking to myself over here, but, oh well, why not?

Things are coming along nicely. We should easily have enough cedar shingles to finish the sides of the second story and the dormer. We’re really happy with how the house looks, in terms of how the green, red, and gray of the zinc come together.

I had a sewer guy out, he had scoped the line when we bought, and he discovered that we have a good stormwater line that does not hook into into the sewer. Oh lucky day! The previous owner was not using it but we can. Anyway, the sewer guy said he did not recognize the house, haha.

I got a delivery of soil/compost mix. We will work on the landscaping in the front, and fill those three large planters, vegetables for next year. That, plus lots of flowers and shrubs. We get wonderful sunlight in the front yard and are not going to waste it on grass.

My builder came up with a clever way of replacing the horns on the sills. The vinyl siding hacker had cut all of the horns off of the sills. Smacking my head.

Lol - it does seem as if you are talking to yourself. I am enjoying following your progress. Your house is looking really nice !

Looking good! Can’t wait to see how the plantings turn out. Isn’t it wonderful to see your vision unfold? Rooting for you from KS

Thanks for your kind words Gargamel and Mrs Hacker! Much appreciated. It gets lonely out here, haha.

It is exciting to see things coming together. We started planning the work a year ago.

Next year, we’ll be able to concentrate more on the plantings, although fall is a great time to plant, and we will be planting shrubs and bulbs. We ordered three planters from Vego for vegetables. It’s nice that the planters can be purchased in olive green. We have two that are 2’x8’ and one that is 40” around. They’re about 30” off of the ground so we won’t have to kneel to garden.

My wife has a garden plan, it’s a work in progress. We want to put stone steps up the middle of hill and put a low picket fence on the top of the hill, with a small gate.

The plan does not include the planters, they need to be fit into the scheme.

Ever closer. One side of the house now has a roof vent that my roofer fabricated. You can barely see it from the ground, it is tucked in at the peak. The other side will have the same vent.

Before, the roof had a hodgepodge of passive vents, and a dead solar fan. Now, I have one good powered fan, and will have vents at the peak for air intake.

The cedar is close to being finished on the front and then it needs to be finished up on the sides of the second floor and dormer. A lot of the molding has gone up, that adds a finished look.

The downspouts are coming soon. They’ll all be parallel so it will look balanced, and there will be pipes running into each lower gutter from the downspout above, so, no washing water across the roof, which causes staining and moisture problems over time.

The driveway side lowest downspout will not be opened for now. I need to have a trench dug down the middle of the driveway in order to put in s drainage pipe. I was planning on doing it by hand but after hurting myself trying to move some of that heavy soil/compost mix, I’m rethinking that plan, haha!

The work should be completed soon. Final molding has been going up and touch up painting is in progress. Downspouts need to be installed, and a little bit of cedar on the sides of the dormer have to be put on.

I’m really happy with how the house looks now. I think it looks sharp with those crisp lines.

The colors are just what we wanted. My wife worked hard to come up with this color scheme, which we feel blends together nicely. The zinc gutters work well, and will continue to weather to a soft gray/blue.

When we finally get the windows installed, it will really come together. The windows look exactly the same as these originals, being sash replacements, so, no major changes in the look, except crisp muntins and operable windows.

The work should be completed soon. Molding has been going up and touch up painting is being done. The last final touches add a lot to the look.

There is a little bit of cedar to finish on the sides of the dormer.

The down spouts have to be installed, that will also tie things together, visually.

We’re happy with how the house looks now. We love the color scheme, which my wife worked hard on. We feel the colors blend well with each other. The zinc gutters will continue to weather to a soft gray/blue.

When we finally get the windows installed, it will really pop. There won’t be any changes to the look, as the windows are replicas of these windows, and are sash replacements. We’ll get crisp lines from the thin muntins and operable windows. Oh, we’ll have clean windows to look out of now that the awful storm windows are gone and we’ll get better sound insulation with the double paned Spacia glass.

Next year will be all about the garden and the various plantings in the front and back yard.

We have come up with a plan to put a low picket fence around the top of the hill in the front yard and have stone steps going up the hill to a gate. We’ll stain the fence some shade of green.

We’ll put in a lot of plantings on the hill, and have a curved path between the front gate and the front steps.

We will also paint or stain the back porch, as we feel that the brown no longer works. We’ll probably go to a gray. First, we need to stain the new wood to the same brown, and then take the color somewhere else. Any advice on doing this?

Oh, and we will have a chimney cap installed, as a final touch.

Now, almost all of the gutter has been installed. We decided to tie in the upper gutters with the lower ones so no water washes across the roof, which leads to staining and moisture problems. Many houses in my neighborhood suffer from such problems. We get a lot of rain.

The zinc will patina to a gray/blue color. Google “Paris zinc roofs” to see what zinc looks like after 150 years. Over 80% of the roofs in Paris are made of zinc.

Yesterday, the work was wrapped up! We’ve been under construction since the end of July. We’re happy with how the house turned out.

I have nothing but kind words for Coffey Contracting, the company that did all of the work. They’re the real deal. They have a lot of experiment and they do things right. You can find their previous projects on Facebook.

*experience

Nice! What a relief for both of you! Turned out great

Thanks Mrs. Hacker. Yes, it is a relief. We’re so happy we had the work done. We love the look, the colors, everything about it.

Now, we can devote ourselves to the garden!

Looks fantastic! Enjoy!

Thanks Newideas.

You know, it requires a lot of labor to put up cedar shingles. There are a lot of cuts involved, especially in a house with a roof like mine.

These days, we have laser levels so it is easier to transfer the lines around the sides of the house and over protuberances. In 1925, they just eyeballed it and accepted that they were off.

I don’t think many people replace the shakes, they just cover them over, but I wanted to address any rot under the 100 year old cedar shakes. Luckily, the wood was overwhelmingly solid, a good thing.

Here you can see one side of the house and all of the cuts that had to be made.

I looked at your garden plan. Please be sure to source your plants very carefully and really do your research. You may need to work with a local nursery to find the appropriate plants/shrubs instead of a big box store. There are cultivars of artemisia that are quite invasive (as in take over prairie land) and some viburnums grow to 8-10 feet tall. Otherwise—your house looks great! Love the color!

Thanks for taking the time to study the garden plan! We are working with a well known local nursery, Plumline.

The viburnum is an Allegheny Vibernum and, yes, it can grow big, but we hope to trim it to keep it under control. Thoughts?

The nursery was out of artemisia. Any recommendation for a noninvasive species?

I’ve taken out three out of five Rose of Sharon plants from the backyard. Talk about invasive.

I keep thinking of excuses to go outside to look at the house, haha. Once spring rolls around again, I’ll have daily work in the garden to keep me outside.

Here are some pictures of the house in the sunlight, a rare thing in Pittsburgh.

I’m working to get stone steps installed up the front of the hill to create a path to the front door, and also install a low, 4’ high, picket fence for the top of the hill in the front yard.

It’s happening! In the last week, all of my old wooden windows have been replaced with reproductions from Heirloom windows out of Indiana. I’m so happy I went this way, as the thin Spacia glass allows for a window that reads like a single pane window.

All of my windows are now functional. It was a major annoyance that five of the windows on the first floor were nailed and painted shut.

I still have work to do painting the inside and outside of the window frames. One can’t expect perfect wooden frames after one hundred years.

Given the amount of rot I see in the sashes that were pulled out, I’m glad I went with replacement.

Sash replacement allowed me to preserve the existing look and sight lines of my windows. I’m glad I didn’t have pre-hung modern windows shoe horned into the openings. I hate vinyl windows. I haven’t seen a vinyl window yet that doesn’t break down in ten years or less. All of the plastic parts break, in my experience.

My windows are made from treated pine, Accoya, and have no plastic parts whatsoever. They use a hidden stainless steel balance system that allows you to set the window at any height.

I’m happy with the results. It was worth waiting for these windows.

Some pictures.

They look really nice! I agree about the short life span of awful vinyl windows. I was just thinking this week that the only crappy windows in our house were the vinyl ones…which have to be replaced. The original wood ones in our house are great.

Thanks Gargamel! The original windows lasted a hundred years, what more could be asked of them?

We couldn’t face another winter behind single panes. I disliked putting in storm windows in old aluminum frames, or dealing with triple track, so, all of that got pulled off, except for the frame in the dormer, which my wife insisted on keeping for screens.

I need to figure out some half screen solution for the bottom sashes. That is another project. I don’t need a screen over the top sashes as the top sashes do not move.

I’m sure vinyl windows are profitable for the window industry as they have to be torn out every few decades and replaced. For the homeowner, I don’t see vinyl windows as a good deal. I’m surrounded by vinyl windows so I know those vinyl salesmen can sell them. Same for the vinyl siding salesmen.

Here are a couple of pictures from the inside that show the thin, 3/4”, muntins that match my originals. Of course, this is not a true divided lite, meaning separate panes of glass like a single pane window, but the 1/4” double pane Spacia with these muntins is a good enough trick of the eye for me. The second picture here shows one window during installation. The installation process is not too bad and mainly involves hammering out the outer molding, middle stops, and then putting in the sash replacements. A hole has to be routed for the hidden balance.

Beautiful job! AND well worth it…in the long run. For looks AND function! Yours will be a thread that is referred to over and over again here on Houzz! Thanks for sharing your journey!

They look very nice. Thanks for updating us.

Thanks ptreckel and cat_ky. I’m glad you enjoyed the trip. We’re not done but we have managed to get quite a bit accomplished. Overall, the house is modest compared to the Victorian behemoths we live next to. We would not want to take on a bigger house. This one is just the right size for us. Every room is used and nothing is wasted.

Just a quick update. The new windows and new furnace have made a tremendous difference. Last winter, we froze in the house behind single pane windows. This winter, tha house is nice and cozy after having the Heirloom windows installed with the double paned Spacia glass.

We also put in a gas furnace with a variable speed blower and gas nozzles that can adjust by increments of 1%. The house holds a steady temperature and does not exhibit huge temperature swings, as it did before. The fan is almost inaudible.

Putting in a big Aprilaire filter unit has reduced the amount of dust in the house.

We have a sophisticated thermostat that lets us program temperature settings for blocks. We push the temperature down to 67 at night for sleeping and maintain 72 during the day.

Another update! After waiting four months, we got a fence installed in the front yard. We think it does a good job of defining the space and it presents a tripping hazard for the deer.

Here are some pictures. My wife’s garden has started to take shape. What was once a boring lawn is now a place full of interesting plants, and populated by many bees, butterflies, and birds, such as gold finches and hummingbirds.

You sure have been busy, both you and your wife. Is deer a big problem, where you live? It looks very nice.

Lovely! What a great job you have done with your home! Enjoy the fruits and vegetables of your labors!

Thanks guys! Your comments warm my heart.

Yes, deer are a big problem. There are woods at the end of the street so they have an easy path to walk up to our house.

We hope the fence will deter them. I read that they won’t jump if they can’t see where they’ll land so, we will see.

We’re going to stain the fence white once the humidity drops in the fall. We were promised a white picket fence when we moved here, lol.

I’m also working on getting a railing for the steps. They’re bluestone so I don’t want them drilled into. They’d have to somehow mount in the ground, which they don’t like to do.

Any advice would be appreciated.

We are thinking of this style railing, made out of welded steel:

Wow! You’ve accomplished so much! Everything looks great.

Those deer are such a pain. I used Deer Away this year and it worked very well. It doesn’t smell awful (sort of pleasant actually) and stayed on the plants for quite a while after it rained, although it was VERY expensive imo ($100 Cdn) . My neighbours used Bobbex (cheaper) and it seemed to work as well, but it stinks and they had to reapply it more often.

I don’t have any suggestions for your railing.

Thanks for the recommendation of deer repellent products. Maybe we should use it as a backup.

If one winds up inside the fence, it will probably crash through a side in a panic. That’s would be a pity.

Thanks so much for your kind words regarding our work. We’re trying. Our vision is being realized right before our eyes. We have to decide on the plantings for the area just outside the fence and do more planning for what gets planted inside the fence too.

Sunshine makes all the difference in the world.

Look for deer resistant plants outside your fence. It isn’t too late to buy bulbs and plant them. Deer tend not to eat Daffodil and grape hyacinth. We have the same problem with them in NEOhio. A few have jumped our 5’ aluminum fence. When our terrier spotted them, though, you should have seen how high they jumped to get out!!! AMAZING! Our groundhogs and skunks, however…. Don’t get me started!

The other thing we want is a nice wooden Craftsman door with no screen door.

We just trapped a groundhog the other day and relocated it. Honeydew melon was its downfall. We only trapped during the day to avoid getting a skunk.

I find it very difficult to find attractive screen doors without all the “Victorian/Country” embellishments. I wish door manufacturers made matching screen doors (but maybe they do and I’ve not looked hard enough).

I follow a website ( called - Garden Fundamentals - Robert Pavis) and in one of the episodes he goes into how high a deer will jump when he is jumping into a confined (possible leg breaking) space. Apparently the fence doesn’t have to be very high if it is a confined space)

So, maybe this fence will deter them!

My wife has 50 tulip bulbs for the middle of that little enclosure. She loves tulips and the deer do too.

I think we’re going to skip the screen door, for the reasons you mentioned, plus, why buy a nice door and hide it behind a screen door?

Here are a couple of ideas.