Bill Kibbel

I think you missed a big point made in the article. Many Quakers, Menonites, etc, seemed to have an aversion to the wasted space of a center hall, which is needed for a single entrance door. The two doors was the method of having facade symmetry without the center hall. I'm talking about how the architectural trend started. You're referencing buildings constructed well over a century later. Plenty of time to make stuff up after the original intent was forgotten.

If what you claim was true, why did they make every other possible effort to meet all the other details for the Georgian period style? Old-house, bullshit folklore is mostly kept alive by many of the "expert" interpreters and curators of public historic sites and the tourists that believe them. Ask them to show you primary sources for their claims.

It looks very much like a lyctid PPB and 1/8" long is just the right size. Are the ends of the antenna clubbed?

It's not any type of animal hair and yes, it is quite common under very old porches. It's called wood defibration and it's from the breakdown of the lignin between the fibers on the surface of the wood. It's usually from very slow, gradual decay. It can also be caused by salty air or salt used for melting ice. It's also been called defibrosis, delignification and "hairy timber" rot.

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/two-front-doors.shtml

I don't see that in the picture. Click to Enlarge 26.16 KB Yes, I've seen it - and I thought to myself, there's a tragedy waiting to happen. Joe, if more than half the ladder extended beyond the front cross-bar, it would teeter onto my hood every time I removed the straps. Your yellow lines added to my picture are not in the correct place. There's something called visual perspective that you may have forgotten or are ignoring. It seems like you're makin' stuff up... Car Jousting! The 28' ladder is 14' retracted. Exactly 6'-6" extends beyond the rack. The end of the ladder is 26" back from the front of the car. In a collision, the other cars windshield would have to be more than 26" into my car! The ladder would not be a factor in the certain fatal injuries.

Um, it's less than half of the length of the ladder. The same thing as that ladder on the roof rack of most any vehicle. Look in the parking lot of a Tri-State meeting. You,ll see 28'-32' ladders on all kinds of cars and SUVs.

It's no different than a ladder on most SUVs. I have a Ford Explorer for snow. The cross bars are in the same position and are only spaced 5 inches further apart than the HHR.

It's really no problem at all, other than smacking my head on the ladder the first day. I'm used to much taller vehicles. The rear window wiper arm bumps the ladder, but it's almost fully open. I just added Thule cross bars to the stock roof rails. Click to Enlarge 67.06 KB

My wife thinks it's ugly too. I think it's just mildly goofy. I've only driven full sized vans and SUVs for this gig. For personal use, I only drive cars the size of battleships. When I purchased the HHR in '08, when gas prices spiked, I was sure I'd be cursing it daily for not being able to keep up with what I do and all the stuff I drag around. For almost 3 years now, I'm still amazed at how it has handled everything. The HHR design was based on the '49 Suburban. Click to Enlarge 45.52 KB

I've posted this here before.

I'm runnin' an HHR with a 28' ladder on top and 2 other ladders inside. Sometimes I carry a 32' and sometimes a 10' stepladder. I do very little highway and I'm averaging 26 mpg.

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This diagram illustrates what I tried to describe: Click to Enlarge 322.8 KB

The 2 steam mains are directly aligned with the 2 risers from the boiler. A proper manifold configuration has the mains connected to the manifold between the risers and the equalizer. Also, swing joints need to be installed to offset the manifold from the risers. The installation in your picture will result in the pressure in the header (supply side) and the return side of the boiler not being equal. Water won't stay in the boiler.

Well, the manufacturers' instruction I've read and the Plastic Pipe Assoc. says it can't be installed where exposed to direct sunlight.

If it's obvious that it's for cleaning up bar glasses, dishes and BBQ equipment, it needs to connect to the sanitary. If it's for potting and gardening, ground dump isn't really a concern.

When Michael B. brought up this thread in another post, it reminded me that I came across a cool diagram for these old on-demand water heaters. Click to Enlarge 79.21 KB

I see quite a lot in the pictures you posted that would support the declared date of construction. It's not an authentically restored living history museum. It was a home to many families of several generations, each with their own ideas of what should be a part of the house.

If you looked at the exterior of the door, you would see a keyed lock. After turning the key, the lock can be pulled out of the door. Give it a tug and it will release the trolley from the drive chain and you can manually open the door.

I've occasionally come across the same panel. While it is a bit different layout from the more common older model, it's still a Stab-Lok by FPE.

There's no hardware there that dates back to the presumed date of original construction. The box locks are the type from the latter part of the 19th century. The fireplace grate is as well. The fireplace crane and beehive oven door are recent, awful attempts at reproductions. Cranes weren't even created until after 1785 and were extremely rare. They are almost always added later to 18th century homes as an attempt to return to it's "colonial" appearance. The HL hinges and latch are store-bought, mass-produced reproductions. None of the doors in the pictures are original. The sidelights flanking the entrance were added later. There's a lot of wood components in and on the home that I suspect were added much later too.

You no doubt heard that from blue-haired tour guides clad in polyester "colonial" costumes. That bit o'folklore is right up there with every spring cellar around here was an "entrance to the Underground Railroad". Mike, dig a hole anywhere near that house and you'll find some of the best brick-making clay in the Mid-Atlantic. For some of the very earliest colonization attempts, in the first quarter of the 17th century, there were some building materials brought by ship. Since that time, no one has ever produced any primary documentation that brick, stone, "chalk" (lime or gypsum) or any other building material was used as ballast in ships headed to this colony from Europe, and used for building construction. The colonies were a vast resource of quality building materials. There is plenty of documentation however, that brick, stone, glass, timber, etc. was always being exported FROM here to Europe since the mid 1600s. For inbound ships, there was little need for ballast due to the amount of goods being transported to supply the colonists/Americans. If there was ever a need for ballast, it's always been coarse sand or rocks, that would be of no use in buildings.

I checked just a couple publications and didn't find a diagram of that exact device. I did find this description in Mechanics of the Household, 1918: "As a means of changing the dampers of the furnace from the floor above, to suit the prevailing conditions, the arrangement does away with the necessity of a journey to the basement, to remedy each change of temperature". We should write like that in our reports!

The home was built just shortly before the "automatic regulator" (thermostat) was invented to control coal furnace dampers. The dial turns the center shaft that goes back into the wall cavity. There is an arm or sprocket on the shaft that raised and lowered a pair of chains simultaneously. The chains operated the draft and check-draft dampers of the furnace. The words that become visible in the openings of the dial will include "open" and "closed". Below the wall of that stairwell, the holes where the chains entered the basement are likely visible.