Aging Well

Recreating the Past
Aside from the old newspapers stuffed in the wall that were once used for insulation, the surprises found by builders during restoration remodels are not the kind that make homeowners’ eyes light up. “People often say, ‘They don’t build houses like they used to!’ And it’s a good thing they don’t,” Amudson says. “While the finished carpentry of the old home is wonderful, there weren’t the structural requirements back then that we have today.” During a restoration of a 1906 home in the Kenwood neighborhood of Minneapolis, Jones uncovered unrepaired structural damage from a 1917 fire. Jerry Roelofs of Roelofs Remodeling and Renovation in Minnetonka recently completed a restoration of a 1880s home in Minneapolis built without electricity. “Later, when the home was wired for electricity, rather than opening the wall surface, they built new walls (which contained the wiring) alongside existing interior walls,” Roelofs says. “On the original walls were perfectly preserved 100-year-old wall coverings.”

While those types of discoveries create lots of excitement, the more common discoveries are missing built-ins, sprayed ceilings, window and door trim that was removed and replaced by inferior materials, both in size and quality, and trendy updates that don’t fit with the era of the home. “In the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s people came in and painted, they put in carpeting and removed the details,” says Jones. “The existing oak trim and floors were often stained very dark,” when people wanted a clean, modernist white-box style. “Everyone was told to get clean lines and white walls.” So how do remodelers undo the damage done to traditional homes by passing trends? “It’s very common for us to scrape ceilings and apply a skim coat to make them smooth again,” says Amundson. Yet perhaps the most common form of restoration can be found in the home’s millwork. One of the first things Jones does in an old home is determine what’s under the paint. Was the original trim a painted pine or maple? Or was it a beautiful quarter-sawn oak? “We find both,” he says.

“Even when homes were built in the 1920s, corners were cut to make the home more affordable,” Boyer says. “For instance, there might be oak trim on the main floor and fir upstairs, or maple in the kitchen and oak in the living areas.” One thing that many owners of older homes are unaware of is that older floors can only be refinished three or four times, says Boyer, before the tongue in the tongue-and-groove pattern is worn through. This could mean putting in new wood floors altogether. Restoring the thick trim around doors and the eight-inch mopboards is also common. “Often you have to have the mopboards and molding custom made, but you don’t need to build a squeak factor back into the old floor,” Boyer jokes. Replicating older woods takes skill. “We have quarter sawn oak today but it is not as high a quality as the quarter sawn oak of years ago,” says Amundson. “There’s a richness to the old wood that is not in the newer woods.

“People don’t want sudden transitions,” says Roelofs. “We have to apply exterior coats of finish to make the various products look harmoniously connected, so that 100-year-old floorboards blend with a one-year-old floorboards.” For instance, Roelofs says, a new door may need several extra coats of finish for its patina to match that of the trim surrounding it.

Wall finishings can also be time consuming. Faux finishes, for example, often require several different layers and colors of paint and glazes—sometimes as many as ten, says Mike Killa of Authentic Construction in St. Paul. But when completed, this lovely finish resembles historic wallpaper.

Windows in old homes are often sorely in need of attention. “Wide window frames had a structural function,” notes Boyer. “They hide the three-inch-wide weight pocket. If you are doing a true restoration, you want to keep the old windows, but you can get rid of the ropes and weights and put in a vinyl window jam.” If the wood of the old windows is rotted, however, homeowners have no choice but to put in new windows—and all of the restorative builders recommend using wood.