back porch to her bones and put new clothes on her - clothes that she would have worn in the era she was built.Looking back, someone thought she might look nice with some nice, modern, airtight aluminum windows. Like putting the rims from a 1986 Lincoln Continental on a Model T Ford, aluminum windows in a victorian bungalow somehow misses the mark. The casements we installed are built like miniature exterior french doors, one is active, the other stationary, as well as weatherstripped suprisingly well. They seal like a modern front entry door.
Seen from the exterior, the newly installed casements go well with the rest of the house. We took extra time to get them proportionate with the other windows.The interior presented some difficulties. Most older homes have settled here and there, some more than others. This house is no different, challenging us with some uneven floors and walls - differences in elevation. What do you do in such a case? Think aesthetically. Go perfectly level and something will obviously be off. Go with the framing as it exists and the windows might not work properly. This time I took a middle of the road approach to acquire a happy medium.
You can judge for yourself if you attend the Seminole Heights Home tour that is this Sunday, April 1st. My company has worked on at least two homes in this year's home tour.
The last picture in this entry highlights assembling a cased opening in the same house. This example has a simple crown at the top with the header trim separated from the side casings with a rounded parting bead. Many of the doorways have a transom overhead, as this one shows - hence the separation.Eric and I have agreed to take a break from this project until well after the home tour. We'll work on it as fast and furiously as we can until it gets here, but when the home tour finally arrives, I think we'll both plop flat on our backs from exhaustion.
You always bash others as being "gorillas". However, after seeing the "craftmanship" on Eric's house (including the windows) I would encourage you to take an unbiased look at your own work. While it is good, it is not up to the quality I would expect to see from a self-proclaimed master woodworker or craftsman. Clearances not even, joints less than tight, etc. Normally I would not have an issue with the work except for the fact that you boast about your work so much. It's better than the average local handyman but not spectacular. I understand that once you are "in" the group you have plenty of work, but that does not mean you are top-notch.
ReplyDeleteI wish you wouldn't hide behind the anonymous tag. Not knowing who my critics are makes it hard to defend myself.
ReplyDeleteBut really, I don't have anything to hide, the people who know me and my work ethic also know what I am capable of.
For those who want to know, I am fully responsible for the work in question that our anonymous caller speaks of. There are things that our anonymous friend doesn't know though. In all honesty, my critic is right in at least one respect - the workmanship on some things is lacking. Some of the work performed there embarrasses me. Some things were home runs, other things, utter failures. Hopefully the home runs went unnoticed.
I really have to hand it to the project's owner. Not only did he have deadlines he needed to meet, he also had an enormous financial burden to bear - in addition to my fees. When things didn't come out great, he rolled with it and we talked about it. We made a list of priorities with regard to our deadlines, focused on those priorities and pressed on.
My critic may not know this next detail, and although it doesn't excuse what my critic saw in my work, it is the truth. That detail is this:
I didn't do most of the work.
I subbed it out to the most capable people I could find. Knowing what I know about "gorillas" in Tampa, I didn't hire local people. I hired carpenters from up north. One was from Chicago, another was from Maryland and yet another was from Vermont.
I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. I saw an enormous workload ahead of me and knew I'd never get it done in the timeline given to me. I put an ad in Craig's List for "Restoration Craftsmen" and picked the best out of the bunch.
Here's the hard part - I really didn't know in my heart the level of craftsmanship I am personally capable of until these guys started making mistakes. Not to put these guys down or slander them - they all have their talents and roles - but none of them could do what I can do.
I thought that if I paid these guys what they wanted, they would give me what I wanted. But it didn't happen.
There were days on that project when I literally pulled my hair out frustrated to death with what I was seeing.
One day we needed a certain moulding on the house and one of the carpenters took the challenge of making it. It was super freakin' simple (at least in my mind) and so I let him run with it. He fumbled with it all day, bringing in another carpenter to help in figuring it out. They ruined probably $100 dollars of material on this thing.
I almost fired everyone that moment - but I decided to give them another chance thinking that it may have been a fluke. I ended up having to make the same moulding later on. I made all we needed in about 1/2 an hour and it came out perfect.
Doors hung poorly, trim put on crooked, hinges in the wrong place, broken glass, wasted material, wrong trim in the wrong place, shims not cut off, framing screwed up - in many ways it was an honest to goodness nightmare.
I repeat - in many ways it was an honest to goodness nightmare. And it had my name on it. Everywhere I looked I had to re-do something else. I was redoing stuff the night before the home tour.
As a matter of fact, I was there today to fix things that were done poorly, or were missed all together.
It'll be a while before I realize I no longer ask myself, "why did I hire those people?" But fortunately they are all gone. It's just me and Sparks. Sparks is the only one who was spared.
I work alone most of the time. I feel like I get bit every time I think someone else could do what I can do.
By the way, have you seen the porch I did down the street? How about the built-in fireplace surround in Hampton Terrace? Have you seen the arched top buffet I built for the people in St. Pete? Or the Shark-Boat Bed in the finding Nemo Room in South Tampa? What about the kitchen I remodeled on Powhatan?
Gosh, [my critic] I hear you. Much of the work on the house doesn't deserve a grand title. But some of it does. And ask the owner if I am not there on my own time taking care of his requests. I'm sure he'll give you good reviews.
The people who know me and my work ethic also know what I am capable of and support me 100%. I only wish your first impression of my work wouldn't have been there at that house.
But I appreciate your feedback. I don't deny anything you said. How's that for self awareness?
Fist of all under Steve's direction we milled Heartwood Pine Bead Board from the upstairs walls into beautiful hard wood flooring. Nobody else wouldv'e tried such a thing. Secondly our windows were pristine casement windows that we made out of cypress. The entire siding was milled out of cypress back to its original state. I cant see how anyone would walk into this location and notice any discrepancies from its original early 1900 state. - Sparks
ReplyDeleteThanks Sparks. Call me sometime. I'd love to hear from you.
ReplyDeletethank you
ReplyDeletehttp://casement-windows.blogspot.com
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