Homes… Your Thoughts… Old or New?

[WinterDeere]

Glass flows... in theory. But not in any way actually measureable on a human time scale at room temperature. Much more heat and many more centuries would be required, to satisfy some of the claims that have been made about how glass became wavy.

 

[etpm]

Years ago I looked into how glass panes were made. Before float glass was invented. There were various methods employed. One method involved glass blowers making really large discs and after the glass was cooled and annealed the discs were cut into rectangles. This glass was pretty consistent in thickness but if someone wanted truly flat and ripple free glass the rectangular panes would be ground and polished. I can't imagine just how much labor must have gone into this process. Anyway, there evolved other methods of making flat glass, such as pouring the glass onto large cast iron flats where it was allowed to cool enough to become solid but not cool enough to crack. It was then annealed.This glass was not particularly ripple free, but it was cheap compared to ground and polished glass. I love the old rippled glass panes and it seems like the reproduction stuff, the modern stuff, doesn't have the same look.
Eric

 

[ultrarunner]

A lot of 1922 windows have multiple lites and also some angular.

What I like about small lites is cheap and easy to repair!

Still remember a 4-plex that was updated and the owner wanted double pane with white grid windows so that is what we did.

They looked nice and inside was quieter with double glaze…

The owner came to regret it because replacement glass had to be ordered, took time as the window had to be boarded and the cost increased at least 8 fold.

 

[Dftodd]

Also it's often easier to get permits for a remodel, which can be a big deal in places where permits take a lot of time and money. I used to see this a lot in parts of the SF bay area.

The only permits required are a plumbing and septic permits where I live. No building permits, electrical, or HVAC permits.

Plumbing permits required because we tied into city water.

If we drilled a well, the only permit required would be for the septic. And that's because we are under 10 acres.

If I had 10 acres or more, the only permit required would be plumbing if I tied into city water.

 

[Dftodd]

When I was in High School around that time I took a drafting class.
Once we were taught the basics of drafting we were to design and draft our dream house.
Almost to the person everyone had a sunken living room.
I always thought they were dumb.

My aunts place has a sunken living room. I found it treacherous and odd. Especially in low light if your not used to the place.

Her husband designed and built the house himself.

40 years later, he regrets the decision, but the house is paid for, so they deal with it.

 

[Dftodd]

Wasn't that a design fad at one time? Trouble is, once the fad goes out of style, you're stuck with a house that's kind of a white elephant.
When I was in my early teens, my aunt & uncle had a house that looked like a ranch house on the outside, but had 3 levels inside...almost like an upper story & a lower story on one side and a room or two that were midway between the two on the other side. This would have been in the early 60s. Even then I thought it was a dumb layout.

Had a friend in highschool whose house was a split level.

I always thought that was odd as well.

The split level was where the bedrooms were, and had the basement under it.

So the basement only covered half the house and the living room and kitchen had a crawl space under it.

I always thought it was odd since the second story was only 6ft higher then the living room and kitchen area, with a 3ft hallway with open railing going the lengh of the living room.

The house was beautiful, but awkward.

 

[Dftodd]

I had to look them up as I had no clue what people were referring to. That sounds like more expense in building, and an oddity to keep heat from circulating well.
I am naturally cheap so come from the school of keep it simple.

The sunken living room was awkward in my aunts home since you had 3 steps to go down into the area.

I could see myself falling going in there the first time in dim light.

 

[ultrarunner]

Had a friend in highschool whose house was a split level.

I always thought that was odd as well.

The split level was where the bedrooms were, and had the basement under it.

So the basement only covered half the house and the living room and kitchen had a crawl space under it.

I always thought it was odd since the second story was only 6ft higher then the living room and kitchen area, with a 3ft hallway with open railing going the lengh of the living room.

The house was beautiful, but awkward.

Grew up in a split level on one of the very few on a level lot… all the other lots were sloped side to side and the spilt was a natural conforming to the topography.

On my parents the crawl space had 6’ headroom and I had it filled with antique car parts

 

[ultrarunner]

The only permits required are a plumbing and septic permits where I live. No building permits, electrical, or HVAC permits.

Plumbing permits required because we tied into city water.

If we drilled a well, the only permit required would be for the septic. And that's because we are under 10 acres.

If I had 10 acres or more, the only permit required would be plumbing if I tied into city water.

Hard to imagine because where I live a public hearing is required to remove a planted backyard tree, pull and reset a toilet, replace a gas range or dryer, replace a framed window, etc.

 

[Dftodd]

Hard to imagine because where I live a public hearing is required to remove a planted backyard tree l, pull and reset a toilet, replace a gas range, replace a framed window, etc.

Nothing like that here. The county offices would laugh you out of there if you stopped to get a permit to change your toilet out.

The only exception here is anything on the historic registry. Then you really have to watch what you do inside or out

Anything outside city limits stays on the market for a super long time if it's on the historic registry.