by bungalow101 | Jul 22, 2022 | Wood floors
Use this bungalow wood floors restoration glossary when you’re ready to have the wood floors of your bungalow refinished or when you need some installed. After having dealt with myriad contractors, you have learned a great deal about each trade & realize that the next time you restore a bungalow, it will be a dang sight easier!
My purpose is to educate you sufficiently so that you will know more about this particular phase going in, instead of after it’s done & you’re wondering why it’s not exactly like you wanted it to be. I can’t make you an expert, but I can impart enough information in this wood flooring glossary so that you will understand the process before it begins, giving you better control over the final product. It starts with knowing the terminology.
So, when you get your wood floor refinishing proposal, make a nice cuppa ginger tea (hot or cold) & really read it. You also might want to get my 7 Vital teps to Hiring a Contractor e-book that you can get for FREE by just signing up for my mailing list.
I’m also thinking reading my hubby’s article on refinishing would be good too.
Let’s make it easier this time! And if you run across words in the any that I have missed, let me know & I’ll add them to the bungalow wood floor restoration glossary. I spent 45 years of my life educating people about historic wood floors so I want to get it right!
Acclimation
Allowing wood to adjust to the humidity in your home before installing & then again before sanding. This is important because wood expands & contracts based on the amount of moisture in the air.
Ambering
A red/yellowish color change in a floor from certain finishes. Your existing floor has ambered over the years. When your floor gets sanded, it will be a much lighter color.
Baseboard
A molding designed to be attached to the wall to cover the edge of a floor.
Blind nailing
Nailing at a 45 degree angle into the tongue so that the nail is not seen on the top of the floor.
Borders
Simple or intricate designs which frame & customize a flooring installation.
Buckling
Extreme warping of a wood floor from moisture, where some of the boards are actually lifting up off of the subfloor.
Burl
A rounded woody swelling on a tree trunk. The grain of the wood milled from such a knot is patterned & unusual.
Chatter marks
Patterned markings left on a floor by improper handling of a drum sander.
Crowning
A convex or raised appearance of individual strips, with the center raised above the edges.
Cupping
A concave or dished appearance of individual strips, with the edges raised above the center. Cupping is always caused by a moisture imbalance and is often the sign of a water intrusion or wet crawl space issue.
Cure
There’s dry & there’s cured, which is when a finish has reached its fullest hardness potential. Different types of finishes dry & cure at different rates.
Dimensional stability
Wood is a natural product & reacts to changes in humidity and temperature-warping, expanding, shrinking. Different species of wood react & change in differing degrees.
Domestic woods
These woods are harvested from trees that are native to & grown in the United States.
Drum sander (AKA big machine)
A type of sander used to smooth the floor, using replaceable abrasive sandpaper sheets to the surface of wood flooring to prepare it for finishing & sometimes staining.
Dustless sanding
Today’s technology features machines that have an integrated dust collection system. Most companies promote 99% efficiency. Many of our former customers reported 100% satisfaction.
Edger
A powerful, large, orbital hand (It spins around & around, flat against a surface) sander that allows you to sand the edges of floors, right up to baseboards and walls.
Engineered flooring
A wood flooring product that is made of layers of wood pressed together, with the grains running in different directions. Do not
Exotic woods
Woods that are from trees native to, & grown in countries other than the U.S.
Expansion
Wood is a product of nature & is affected by changes in the environment. It expands when it is exposed to water or humidity.
Expansion spacing
A space is left at the baseboard to allow for the floor to expand, which occurs with moisture. The space is covered by the base shoe molding.
Filler
Material which fills cracks or nail holes in a floor. It is tinted the color of the floor.
Finish
Protective coating applied to a wood floor.
Gloss level (Also known as sheen level)
The amount of light reflected by a particular finish. Your choices are satin or matte, semi gloss and high gloss.
Grade
The appearance of wood is judged (graded) by the number of visible knots & other natural markings.
Hardness
Refers to the strength of the hardwood species, based on a scale which measures the amount of force it takes to drive a .444 inch steel ball into a plank of wood .222 inches.
Hardplate
Use of equipment that will give you the flattest floor. It will remove high spots, such as chatter marks, without taking out soft grain.
Hardwood
A botanical group of trees that has broad leaves as opposed to needles. The wood of these trees is normally harder than needle bearing trees. Common hardwoods found in bungalow floors are oak, maple, mahogany.
Heart pine
Wood from the center of old-growth long leaf pine that is darker, denser & somewhat harder that newly harvested wood. Heart pine is much valued amongst bungalow owners.
Heartwood
Slightly harder & darker, non-living wood at the center of a tree at its center.
Intercoat abrasion
You want to ensure that the finish will be well-bonded to the floor’s surface. In order to achieve this bond, each coat applied must be lightly abraded after it is completely dry- so dry that the finish will form a powder when it is abraded.
Job finished
Floors that are sanded, stained & finished in your home.
Joists
Framing members, often a 2″ x 8″ pieces of lumber, which are usually spaced every 16″ to 24″ & support the sub-floor & flooring. Joists usually ‘sit’ on a sill beam (the structural beam that lays on top of your piers) or, toward the center of your house, right on the piers. In older homes, the flooring is often laid directly over these joists, with no subfloor.
Lacing in
The practice of replacing boards that are discolored or damaged, while leaving the remaining floor. The new boards are of the same wood (ideally reclaimed) & same width as the exiting boards.
Mill
To cut wood into a desired shape, e.g., strip or plank flooring, etc.
Moisture meter
A special device for testing moisture content in wood floors. Moisture issues should be detected & addressed before sanding your floors.
Moldings
Pieces of wood milled to install in a floor, giving it a finished look.
Nosing
A hardwood molding used to cover the outside corner of a step.
NWFA
An acronym for the National Wood Flooring Association which sets the standards for, & provides education & training for the industry.
Old-growth wood
Lumber that has been cut from trees that grew in America before the settlers came. Some of these trees were hundreds of years old when they were harvested. This is the wood we treasure in our old houses.
Parquet
A wood tile composed of individual slats assembled together, forming a pattern.
Penetrating oil sealers
These oil-based sealers are spread across the floor, allowing them to penetrate the surface, offering a stain and a finish to protect it. Excess is removed with a sponge or cloth. They offer differing levels of protection.
Photo sensitivity
Refers to the likelihood a wood floor’s color will change as it is exposed to light. The existing floors in your bungalow have spent 100 years doing this!
Plank
Wood flooring boards 3” & wider designed to be installed in parallel rows. In random width plank, the boards vary in width from 3” to 8”.
In very old floors, these planks can be just boards, nailed side-by-side. Newer floors have a tongue pattern cut into 1 side & a groove on the other side.
Plain sawn
The usual way of cutting a log. It gives a random mix of grain patterns.
Polyurethane
Type of finish for hardwood that does not require waxing.
Prefinished
Factory-finished flooring that requires only installation.\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_text _id=”43″ ][cs_content_seo]Quarter Round
A type of trim used between vertical walls and the floor.
Quartersawn
Wood which has a grain that runs parallel to the length of the board. (It is sometimes called “vertical grain”.) In oak the boards have ray-like markings running diagonally across them.
Sapwood
Wood near the outside of a tree. It is usually lighter in color than heartwood.
Screen and Coat
(Also referred to as “Recoat”.) A light scuff sanding of the existing urethane finish, followed by application of a coat (or coats) of urethane.
Sealer
Any finishing material that seals the wood.
Shellac
A resin substance secreted by female lac bugs. Used to form a cocoon, the resin comes from India and Thailand. Processed as dry flakes, it can be added to denatured alcohol to create a liquid. This liquid is then used as a food glaze or floor finish. It’s a natural option which is highly resistant to stain and odor. It provides a high gloss finish.
Solid flooring
Made from boards which are single pieces of wood from top to bottom.
Splintering
Can occur at the side of the boards when a floor is at the end of its useful life, or otherwise damaged.
Staining
The act of changing the color of wood without disturbing the texture or markings, through the application of transparent, pigmented liquids.
Strip flooring
Solid or engineered boards, “1 & 1/2” – “2 & ¼” wide, installed in parallel rows.
Subfloor
A foundation for a floor in a building. It can be concrete, plywood, or in older homes, pine planking.
Tongue & groove
In strip, plank and parquet flooring, a tongue is cut on one edge & a groove cut on the opposite edge. As the flooring is installed, the tongue of each strip or unit is interlocked with the groove of the adjacent strip or unit.
Top nailing (face nailing)
The old plank floors were nailed from the top of the planks while tongue & groove floors are nailed into the grooves so that the nails are hidden.
Trim
The finish moldings, such as baseboards or base shoe.
Urethane
Most common finish for wood flooring, available in various gloss levels
Vapor retarder
A material, such as foil, plastic film or specially coated paper, with a high resistance to vapor movement, used to control condensation or prevent migration of moisture.
Wear layer
The sandable wood surface above the tongue and groove. On 3/4″ solid wood floors, the wear layer is typically 6 millimeters (0.23622 inch). This is why you want to take good care of your floors!
Hopefully this bungalow wood floors restoration glossary helps you make sense of what you are seeing in your flooring proposal. If you still have questions, feel free to send them them to me & if I can’t answer them, I can pretty much guarantee that my brilliant husband can.
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by bungalow101 | Jul 20, 2022 | Doors & windows, Why Preserve
I mean really! Why is it such a big honkin’ deal to preserve your bungalow wood windows? If you’re lucky enough to have wood windows in your bungalow that aren’t painted shut, the dang ropes are broken, the wood is rotting & there’s a cracked pane or two. Rain is getting in, maybe it has for some time. Not to mention heat & cold. What’s to preserve?
And people are so vehement about it, either way. On the old house FB groups there’s a ridiculous amount of high volume contention coming from both sides. And I don’t believe any claims made about the loose morals of anybody’s mother.
Anyway, it’s so-o-o-o easy to just pick up the phone, call a Big Box store (or one of the window companies that relentlessly pop up on your phone because you have searched for window solutions) & presto, you can get nice new ones installed, maybe even out of a fabulous new, no-maintenance material- vinyl. They provide the product, the labor & a 15-year warranty. With increased R-value. And you can pay with a credit card. Poof! Good-bye to peeling, leaking, moldy windows in your lovely bungalow!
SORRY, BUT HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD PRESERVE YOUR BUNGALOW WOOD WINDOWS
The Preservation Brief 17 of the Heritage Preservation Services’ section of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is called, “Architectural Character—Identifying the Visual Aspects of Historic Buildings as an Aid to Preserving their Character.” It provides a process to identify the visual characteristics that give a building its unique style- Dutch Revival, Colonial, Mid-Century or, tah-dah!- a bungalow. It explains how the visual character is most frequently determined by the often-related surface qualities of the materials & craftsmanship. The original choice of materials often plays the dominant role in determining an architectural style.
Well, old bungalow wood windows are made of exactly that- wood. An added factor to this is that they are made of old growth wood which is harder, denser & more rot resistant than any windows made today out of farmed, quick-growth wood. They have a particular set of lite patterns & they operate in the same fashion.
But none of this solves your own peeling, leaking, moldy problem so let’s see if I can help.
HOW TO FIND PROFESSIONAL WOOD WINDOW RESTORERS
These are some dedicated folk who live their lives in service of old windows. How do you find one? Or for that matter, any tradesperson sensitive to historic materials?
1. Live in an old neighborhood? You probably have a neighborhood association that could offer suggestions. If you don’t know if there is one, your City website can tell you. They usually have neighborhood departments. If you don’t find one, try groups in nearby historic areas.
2. Call your local historic preservation advocacy group. I have a woefully incomplete list of them here, but promise that I am working on expanding it.
3. Call your city preservation office for referrals. If you don’t have one, try county or state.
4. The old stand-by- Google. As with all the ablove sources, it is important to have some knowledge of wood window repair before you start to talking to repair companies. They will appreciate your interest & be better able to help you understand what they will be doing. You’ll be better able to ensure that you get the project that you want.
5. SEE JOHN LEEKE’S BOOK BELOW.
In his book, John Lists over 200 wood window repair pro’s all over the U.S.
DIRECTORY OF WOOD WINDOW PRO’S
Wood Preservation Alliance
A group formed to help homeowners who wish to save their windows with professionals who can provide the needed services. They also offer great information on window restoration & train the pro’s in further mastering the trade. They have a page in which you can enter your state & find windows professionals. Many of these guys work in more than one state & even those who don’t are not usually opposed to traveling.
These tradespeople tend to be booked far in advance so I would suggest that you contact them even before you have an executed contract on your house. I have included DIY information for you in case you get tired of waiting. I always encourage people to learn about the various trades required to keep an old house in good shape. You’ll get a better project & you will just feel better about old house stewardship.
John Leeke’s book below also includes a directory.
As always, use my tips on hiring a contractor to minimize your risk, as well as your own perceptions, experience & smarts when you choose the people for this task. I don’t know these people & I’m not recommending them, just pointing!
LEARNING HOW REPAIR THE WOOD WINDOWS IN YOUR BUNGALOW
I am not a hands-on preservationist, but I am a maniac researcher, so when I needed to preserve my bungalow wood windows, I got help from the pro’s to teach my carpenter how to do it. So, here’s how you can learn & either DIY or, teach someone else with a greater strength & a higher aptitude for construction & more of a willingness to get dirty.
I strongly recommend that anyone hiring a professional know something about the process so you will experience fewer surprises. It will also help you understand the high price tag of this exacting, multi-step process. Or, you could teach your handy-man!
BOOKS ON HOW TO PRESERVE WOOD WINDOWS
Old Windows In-Depth
by Scott Sidler
Scott is a master preservation professional & has written a detailed guide on window restoration. The guide is a clearly written, tutorial showing each tiny step written for the homeowner.
Old Windows In-Depth is nearly 200 pages of picture filled tutorials detailing all of the major information that you’ll need to successfully restore any historic wood or steel window.
The predecessor to this book is the one I used to teach my carpenter how to repair my windows. Scott is very aware of all the little crunchie bits that go into restoring a window that are part of his DNA (Sorry if that’s a weird picture.) but are totally new to us. We didn’t run into any mystery parts or steps that just didn’t work. Learning from Scott’s materials was smooth as silk.
The Window Sash Bible
by Mr. Steve Jordan
Read this book to learn why most replacements are unnecessary & why your existing windows will serve you better than any replacements.
Whether you are a homeowner hiring tradesmen, or a DIY-er, this book will teach you how to evaluate your windows & plan & execute the needed repairs.
The book introduces you to the history of windows & teaches you about all the pieces & parts so that you can discuss your windows with tradespeople & fully understand what they are telling you about them.
The basics of wood repair are explained in detail from removing sashes, to installing sash cords to, to replacing glass & muntins to weather-sealing.
Save America’s Windows
by John Leeke
177 pages, 257 illustrations.
John is the O.G. of wood window repair as well all the other trades related to historic preservation.
This book is the new, 2013 edition which covers the newest in high-tech window materials & techniques in addition to traditional methods. He gives you step-by-step instructions in how to maintain & how to repair old wood windows.
Here’s another cool part: He includes a National directory of 200+ window specialists who know how to repair your windows instead of selling you cheap quality windows that you will have to replace in a decade.
And another: If you follow this link, you can request for him to send you digital downloads that you can you right now.
Dare I add one more? He includes his phone number so that you can order directly from him & ask him any questions plaguing your mind about windows.
You’re welcome.
ON-LINE WOOD WINDOW RESTORATION LEARNING
The Craftsman Blog
The Window Course, a step-by-step course to teach you everything you need to successfully restore historic wood windows. You’ll get written posts and dozens of videos for every part of the process. You can see a preview on this page. It shows printed steps & a video demonstrating his tried & true techniques.
Scott offers 3 packages, the most comprehensive of which is about ½ the price of having a window professionally restored. Now, like my own delicate self, you may have an aversion to getting your hands dirty & want to hire someone. You still need to know how to do this! There are many trades for which you will hire people on blind faith & Google reviews, & have no clue whatsoever about the quality of their work. This is not one of those trades. You can learn this & I suggest that you do before you fork over good money to a stranger.
As I mentioned, I used Scott’s book to teach a carpenter how to do this & I learned right along with him. Had Scott offered this video & book package then, I would have bought the ‘spensive one to gain the certainty that would have made the project less overwhelming.
SCHOOLS/WORKSHOPS
Many local preservation organizations offer workshops in wood window restoration. I recommend that you become a member so that you can stay informed of every program that they produce or promote. Follow me on Facebook because I try to announce workshops of various topics there.
Belvedere School for Hands-On Preservation
Hannibal, Missouri
For decades Bob Yapp has delivered hands-on preservation workshops all over the U.S. In 2008 he founded the Belvedere School in Hannibal, Missouri where he trains students to be artisans in the historic preservation trades.
His school is housed in a 5-story. 7,950 square foot 1859 Italianate house which was in deplorable condition when he discovered it. He has used it as a laboratory to teach students hands-on restoration skills. Now that the house is mostly restored, itself is mostly restored, his students now do the hands-on work on their neighbor’s neighbor’s historic houses in the Central Park National Historic District in Hannibal, Missouri.
If you are ready for a totally immersive experience, attend a workshop at whatever level of physicality suits you. Stay at his wife’s bed & breakfast in the restored house, play billiards in the parlor & fortify yourself for the workshop day with a delightful homemade breakfast.
Craftwork Training Center
History Reveals Methods and Materials which are Lasting.
We Teach using Knowledge, Time, and Practice to perfect your art.
Telford, Pennsylvania
Hosted by LimeWorks, a masonry material manufacturer, Craftwork Training Center holds training workshops throughout the year to teach people to properly use their products & to understand proper architectural restoration of masonry- plaster repair, repointing brick & stone, surface repair.
They also have workshops that teach the skills needed to restore & repair wood windows.
Their objective is to educate people so that they can enter the trades as professional & earn a good living, however, their classes are appropriate for a homeowner. Give them a ring to find out if any particular classes would be right for your skill level.
YOUTUBE
I have saved some great videos to my channel, many of them made by the experts mentioned about. This is a great way to get oriented to the subject of wood window repair. Watch several of them! Paired with a book, you’ll earn your degree in wood window repair.
I also have many videos on many preservation subjects, each one teaching you more about your bungalow, it’s history, its construction, its possibilities.
BACK TO YOUR BUNGALOW WOOD WINDOWS
Yes, I think that you ought to restore them. If they are past the point of no return, you can build new ones using old growth lumber which is harder, denser & resists rot to a greater degree than quick growth, farmed, newly harvested wood. You can generally get this wood from a local salvage yard & have it milled into window pieces that you or your handy carpenter can join yourselves. Carefully save the glass from the old windows to install into the new frames. Both you & the kitties will enjoy that wavy glass view into the garden.
TIP: TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OLD GROWTH WOOD, WATCH SOME GREAT VIDEOS HERE.
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by bungalow101 | Jun 26, 2022 | Kitchens
by Jane Powell, author & Linda Svendsen, photographer
Many people consider LINOLEUM by Jane Powell to be their favorite book in the series. There are others who don’t get this beautiful, functional material & consider it to be a cheap, substandard product. Nope!
Just so’s you know, these are not images from the book & sadly, not images from my own kitchen, though you can see from this story that I really tried hard. They are ones that I have found in my own research & am including to whet your appetite for the real ones in the book which are WAY COOLER!!!!!!!!!!
Linoleum is not vinyl. Vinyl, flooring, manufactured since the 1980s (The decade alone should tell ya somethin’.) is composed of colored polyvinyl chloride (PVC) chips smushed into solid sheets by heat and pressure.
Lino, on the other hand, is made of all-natural materials- wood flour, rosins (made from pine trees & is used to make things stick together), ground limestone, powdered cork, pigments, jute and linseed oil. It is so green that you can recycle old lino to make new lino.
Admittedly, a great feature of vinyl flooring is that it can be made to mimic wood, stone, marble, brick & even linoleum! Why use the real deal when you can have the fake one?!?!? And it’s way cheaper!
A miracle of modern technology, most easy-care vinyl flooring, is made from toxic chemicals which waft into your home where they are ingested & inhaled. Members of your household who spend time on the floor, some of whom lick their paws to clean them, are most at risk.
This article is supposed to be about a book, but like I said, I think I’m everybody’s mother & for a quarter of a century, I’ve had a phone pressed up against my ear telling people why it’s not a good choice. Jane was taken from us way too soon so I take this issue personally.
Writing about this book gives me a perfect opportunity to leap into my soapbox one more time. Read this, please.
WHAT WOULD MORRIS SAY ABOUT LINOLEUM?
Let’s look at vinyl from an Arts & Crafts viewpoint, shall we? My BFF here is William Morris, the founder of the Arts & Crafts Movement in England who asserts, “If you cannot learn to love real flooring, at least learn to hate sham flooring & reject it.”
Well, not really. He was talking about art, but he could have said it about vinyl flooring. There is nothing about vinyl that complements the natural materials for which he advocated, & are so loved in bungalows. It’s too slick, too shiny, too vinyl.
So let’s take see what Jane has to say in her book, LINOLEUM.
FOREWARD
“This book is not about vinyl.”
“Nuff said.
INTRODUCTION TO LINOLEUM by JANE POWELL
This section opens with a full-size image of a pattern from the teens. Made to resemble hand-painted tile, the colors are magnificent! The section has several patterns that make my heart beat a little faster.
Here Jane talks about her first encounter with linoleum when as a child, she played on the floor at the home of her paternal grandparents. Years later she recalled the “big, feather gray leaves pattern.” When she began renovating houses is when the love affair began.
HISTORY
After treating us to yet another amazing lino pattern image, we get Jane’s take on the progression of flooring, from living in trees, to caves to buildings as our ancestors searched for materials that would allow them to have a clean floor. She treks through these materials, referencing dirt, cork mixed with India rubber, oilcloth & finally, in 1860, linoleum was born. Below are examples of Linoleum Fabrik made in Paris in the 1880’s.
She trots along, showing us patterns made through the 1950’s. Many of them are incredible pieces of art. At one point, she entreats us to write the manufacturers of resilient flooring letting them know that if they were to make these patterns, we would buy them, & she includes their contact information. I wouldn’t mind seeing someone organize a demonstration. While my knees wouldn’t allow me to participate, I’d be more than glad to create press releases & kick in some funding for bottled water for the picketers.
You can read about another solution here.
CARE AND REPAIR OF LINOLEUM
Linoleum deteriorates from use & neglect. It just does. Jane teaches us how to clean them & teaches us how to roll a lino rug.
PATTERNS
There’s not a great deal to know about this material, but I do not mind at all seeing all the designs. She also shows us some very cool vintage lino ads, which I love because they place the materials within the context of the time period.
The ones made for the nursery are precious with story characters, bunnies, kitties & lambies. Yep, you’ll need to get ahold of the book to see those.
URINE THE MONEY- AN ELEGANT CHAPTER OF JANE POWELL’S BOOK, LINOLEUM
Like Jane, my kitties are my babies & I love her, (You can read our story here.) so I forgive her for the chapter (& its not so lovely name) about pet pee.
After my first perusal of LINOLEUM by Jane Powell almost 20 years ago, I shed a few tears for these wonderful lino patterns that are now extinct. (Sniff. Sniff.) Howevah, I painted a lino floor in the 80’s with great success & I did some research to see if I what I did was brilliant or just dang lucky. Here’s what I discovered about how to paint a lino floor.
Jane’s book on kitchens features some great lino floors & placing them in context makes the material even more appealing. This group of curated videos about lino will amuse you too.
READ ALL JANE’S BOOKS ABOUT BUNGALOWS!
BUNGALOW BATHROOMS
Everything you need to know to restore or create a beautiful & functional bungalow bathroom.
BUNGALOW DETAILS: EXTERIOR
What makes a bungalow.
BUNGALOW DETAILS: INTERIOR
Your inspiration for a beautiful home.
BUNGALOW: THE ULTIMATE ARTS & CRAFTS HOME
All things bungalow.
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by bungalow101 | Jun 25, 2022 | Features
by Jane Powell, author & Linda Svendsen, photographer
For BUNGALOW DETAILS: EXTERIOR, as with DETAILS: INTERIOR, I’m going to go chapter by chapter highlighting the contents of this wonderful & informative book, while pointing out the pages that have pictures of my house!
The very first image in the book, is a full-pager of a river rock column topped by a lantern. Though unidentified in the book, this column was crafted by the steward of the Hanson Puthuff House in Eagle Rock, California. (As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Archaeological stewardship is the preservation, protection and maintenance of cultural resources. This involves making sure that cultural resources are not looted, vandalized or destroyed. Stewards are both caretakers and advocates of the archaeological record.”)
Hanson Puthuff was the father of the plein air movement (which just means painting outside) in California. The current owners of his home, both artists themselves, meticulously preserved, protected & maintained this valuable cultural resource, researched its astonishing & varied history (It spent some time as a sweatshop where indentured workers toiled for hours all day & then slept at night, in the crawlspace, under the house.) & submitted it for inclusion as a Los Angeles Historic Landmark. Not surprisingly, it was accepted.
Allow me to take this moment to suggest that you take advantage of our BUNGALOW DETAILS: EXTERIOR, GLOSSARY should you run into any terms that you might not understand. It will enhance your education & your enjoyment of the article.
FOREWARD OF BUNGALOW EXTERIOR: DETAILS
Jane was a dear friend (Read about our story here.) & spoke often of her father & this book is dedicated to him because he taught her that details matter. I think so too.
CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS A BUNGALOW
In this section Jane gives us a brief history of the bungalow & what she terms “The Reader’s Digest of the Arts & Crafts Movement.” The first illustration is the quintessential American A & C house, Gustav Stickley’s house at Craftsman Farms in Parsippany, New Jersey, followed by vintage ads for bungalow plans & then more of Linda’s photos of houses with unique features.
CHAPTER TWO: GOOD HOUSE KEEPING
In this chapter, Jane stands with one hand on her hip, shaking her figure, admonishing us to maintain our houses or buy a condo. In it she includes Erik’s Bungalow Manifesto, of course, with comments.
CHAPTER THREE: TAKE IT FROM THE TOP
If you want to know about every type of bungalow roof made, you can learn it here, with illustrations. She also covers materials such as tile, slate & asphalt. My favorite is one that is composed of over-lapping metal barrel lids. We get to see a variety of chimneys (including mine on page 57) & gutters. We see dormers & brackets in all configurations. She includes an image of pre-fab rafter tails that are very cool & I’m think of houses on which I have seen with such tails.Jane lists 2 full pages of resources for roofing materials of all types, chimney parts, gutters & anti-pigeon devices. She’s really not a fan of pigeons & is often eloquent in stating her low opinion of them.Throughout the chapter she again offers restoration solutions, both obsessive & compromising.
CHAPTER FOUR: THE ENVELOPE PLEASE
It’s all about the walls- logs, shingles, brick of all types, colors & textures, wood siding, board & batten, beadboard, half-timbering, molded concrete, hollow tile, stucco- the good.
Asphalt, aluminum, vinyl-not so much. A key point she brings up here is the fact that vermin love that “maintenance-free” siding. It’s hidden. It’s dark. It’s damp. It remains undisturbed for decades.
She shows us some creative gable ends, with unique attic vents, rafter tails & other ornamentation.
At the end of the chapter- more resources for materials.
CHAPTER FIVE: GRAND OPENINGS
Jane loves windows, referring to them as the most important part of the bungalow. She gives us a brief history of window & glass development, with plenty of illustrations in both Linda’s photos & manufacturer pictures. These images also show different muntin (the strip of wood separating & holding panes of glass in a window) configurations.
Jane enumerates the “obfuscations” used by window manufacturers to confuse people in making clear judgements regarding window replacement. It’s worth reading the list & if you are considering yanking your windows, I’d so go far as to call it mandatory.
She teaches us how to make a storm window & then talks about screens. I highly recommend having screens on your windows so your cats (Jane loved cats.) can smell the outdoors. I also recommend that your windows are in good repair, with some sort of stop, so that you don’t experience a sash come crashing down on an innocent kitty.
Then on to doors where she provides us with some beautiful images. Many styles were appropriate & she thoughtfully has 2 pages of historic manufacturer images giving us a grand array.
If you want to know more about windows, you could read what I have to say about them here!
Her resources list closes the chapter. (Get it? Like you close a door? Are puns contagious?)
CHAPTER SIX: THE FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE
This is a short chapter ‘splaining how a foundation is built. It’s a good thing to know because your bungalow has one.
CHAPTER SEVEN: LET’S PORCH THE PLACE
“…It is impossible to live upon own’s lawn in privacy. The veranda offers a compromise between indoors & outdoors, and had developed into a species of open-air room, the furnishings of which is quite as important as that of any other room in the house.”- Esther Singleton in American Homes and Gardens, May 1907
This is a nice, long chapter featuring images of many porches in a multitude of styles. While Jane’s favorite feature is windows, mine is porches. I love the opportunities for the variety of columns, double, triple, elephantine in an abundance of materials.
Although doors were in the previous chapter, she covers door hardware, another one of my most appreciated porch features. Hardware is well represented in this book with several pages of historic manufacturer images!
And once again, Jane did her homework with a nice list of resources.
CHAPTER EIGHT: OUTSIDE CHANCES
The history of garages is interesting. People used to put their cars in the carriage house with the carriage & the horse. Poor horses!
We learn here about porte cocheres, about the many styles of garages, & about garage apartments.
On page 190 is my very most favorite image of my house. See the little old lady standing under the arbor with her walker? It’s the ghost of my dear mother. A couple days before the shoot, someone had decided to “trim” the honeysuckle growing on my willow arbor. I was devastated.
My 80-year-old mother had arrived for a visit from Northern California & gasped when she saw the massacred vines. Without even going in the house, she asked for plant ties & clippers. She stood outside, under the arbor, propped up by her walker, coaxing the tendrils up, up, up so that they finally covered most of it. She’s gone now, but the image of her there, standing determined, has never left my heart.
And more resources.
CHAPTER NINE: FINAL CONFUSION
Jane gives the last word in BUNGALOW DETAILS: Exterior, to Ernest Freese whose merry bit of prose, A Bungle Ode, was published in The Architect and Engineer of California in 1918. A nonsensical composition, poking fun at all things bungalow, Jane explains that including it doesn’t mean that she’s not serious about bungalows.
It just means that Jane is not serious.
READ ALL JANE’S BOOKS ABOUT BUNGALOWS!
BUNGALOW KITCHENS
Restoring the heart of the home.
BUNGALOW BATHROOMS
Everything you need to know to restore or create a beautiful & functional bungalow bathroom.
BUNGALOW DETAILS: INTERIOR
Your inspiration for a beautiful home.
BUNGALOW: THE ULTIMATE ARTS & CRAFTS HOME
All things bungalow.
& last but not least
LINOLEUM
It’s not vinyl!
ConnectSTAY IN THE BUNGALOW KNOW!!!
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by bungalow101 | Jun 19, 2022 | Noted architects
Most people don’t know about preservation architects & how the hiring of one can save you headaches, time & money.
How many times have you been house hunting, out for a Sunday drive, or just looking at images of houses online & been dismayed by choices made by folks wanting to “improve” their bungalows? These choices can include:
-Adding an attached garage- a triple one!
-Doubling the house’s size in a variety of strange configurations.
-Cladding the front exterior in marble (only the front, mind you. Marble’s ‘spensive!)
-Adding trim or features appropriate to other style periods, Victorian gingerbread being my favorite. I always feel like the bungalows are embarrassed to be wearing all this “fancy stuff.”
-Etc.
To be fair, I have also seen homeowners attempt period sensitive renovations, but due to a lack of understanding of the history & philosophy of the period, spend thousands of $$$, only to fail abysmally. Given that most of them also lack basic construction knowledge, not to mention building code intricacies, I’m going to make a bold suggestion- Maybe next time they should contact a historic preservation architect before they remuddle their poor, defenseless bungalow.
For those lucky enough to live in a historic district, such an architect will help you comply with the local regs as well as basic building codes & still get what you need to satisfy your tastes & lifestyle requirements. A good, experienced old house architect will be able to refer you to contractors who understand preservation & they can hook you up with the materials that you need. A preservation architect will understand everything about your historic bungalow & will be able to teach you a great deal.
BEST PRESERVATION PRACTICES
Best preservation practices are laid out in the The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. Though it sounds grand, scholarly & scary, it is actually a common sense guide to rehabilitating any cultural/historic structure, including your bungalow. Developed for registered buildings, it applies to any project aimed at preserving a property’s significance, providing guidance on the procedures, methods & materials to do so. These guidelines form the basis of historic district regulations all over the U.S.
The National Park Service, a section of the Department of the Interior, states that a historic preservation architect is “a specialist in the science and art of architecture with specialized advanced training in the principles, theories, concepts, methods, & techniques of preserving prehistoric & historic structures,” i.e., The Standards.
HOW DO YOU HIRE THE BEST PRESERVATION ARCHITECT FOR YOUR PROJECT?
1. Educate yourself on the history & design of your house. Even when hiring a pro, the more you know, the better your project will turn out. I always suggest Jane Powell’s books on bungalows because she’s done all the hard research & the photo’s are beautiful! A good place to start is BUNGALOW: The Ultimate Arts & Crafts Home. If this one merely whets your appitite, there are 5 more on various bungalow topics, each one more informative & fun than the last.2. Familiarize yourself with the 10 points listed in the Introduction to the Standards.3. As much as possible, have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish with your changes- reconstruct its features to return it to its original charm & character, add living space, increase its livability. Have a clean-ly stated purpose.4. Check your state preservation trust or other preservation websites for their lists of architects. I’ll be doing profiles of architects, but I certainly won’t be covering all of them! What I will do is the cover the most important points about each architect so that you can have a better idea of what you should be looking for in hiring one to design changes to your bungalow.5. Study their website & reviews, looking for training & credentials, awards, images of their work & happy clients.
Decide on a budget, the more itemized the better.6. Select 3 to interview. Some charge for interviews, so ask if there is a fee.
7. Be sure ask about & meet the person who would directly manage your project. Inquire as to their credentials & qualifications & ask about their availability. Ask for references on that particular architect on similar projects and check them. Drive around & look at their work.
8. Ensure that you understand everything in their proposal.
9. Feel confident with the firm & the architect before proceeding.
Have a great project!
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