1. If your raking out old mortar, do so cautiously. We recommend keeping it simple with hand tools over power tools.

2. Ensure you dampen down your background to control suction. This helps prevent the mortar drying out and cracking.

3. While it might be tempting, don't over work the mortar when placing it in the joint. If you do, you'll likely smear mortar on your stonework.

4. Once you're ready to compact and finish the joint, grab your churn brush. If you strike the mortar and see pinholes, it's likely too wet and needs a bit more time.

5. Always budget for hessian. Fresh lime work requires protection from the elements.

#lumberyard #locallumberyard #carpentry #milllwork #woodisgood #oldgrowthlumber #sawmill #oldhousrresources #oldhousedirectory #oldhousrdirectory #myoldhousefix

I have a typical unfinished basement with masonry walls. The walls are constantly shedding dirt - which I think is dried up lime mortar. The dirt is getting all over everything in the basement and making it very difficult for me to use the basement for storage.

I was thinking of covering the walls with some sort of temporary curtain, just so I can actually keep things down there. But now I'm wondering - is this something that would be solved by re-pointing? Or is there some other solution I haven't thought of?

Thank you,

Eliza

𝗤: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗞𝗶𝘁?

𝗔: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝙐𝙇𝙏𝙄𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙀 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀-𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟭𝟬𝟬 & 𝗥𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿!

Hand-held Infrared Paint Strippers get 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 in a hurry, am I right? Additionally, they spend 50% of the time on, sitting idle, and just hanging there while you are scraping. To make matters worse, it’s difficult, if not impossible to have one setup that 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢, fast and efficiently!

What if you could have your Infrared Paint Stripper simultaneously heating for you…while you scrape, and access nearly your entire work surface/area from one initial setup? The InfraRed Rack™ Kit solves these issues! I really hope you enjoy it! Check out all the details here:

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Pro Tip: Hide your backsplash plugs and switches 👍

Stunner Alert: Vintage inspired kitchen design and remodel featuring @houseofrohl @verona_kitchen_appliance @veronaappliances @shawsoflondon 😍

Can we go back to the "good old days" - basic appliances that last. No software, no WiFi, smart features, etc? 👍

I'm back again with another radiator question. We hired a painter who went rogue and painted our golden, ornate cast iron radiators. He says he used special radiator paint and color matched it, but it looks nothing like the original gold.

We want our radiators looking the way they did before, or at least, we want them looking historic. Does anyone have recommendations for authentic looking gold (or other) radiator paint?

Thanks,

Eliza

I have two questions:

1) In my dining room, we have cast iron hot water baseboard radiators that wrap around the room. We also have an antique wooden corner cabinet that we would like to put in the corner of the room (for much-needed storage). However, we are worried that putting the cabinet in the corner with the baseboard radiators will start a fire or damage the cabinet.

Is this a bad idea? If we leave 2 inches of clearance, would that be okay? How much clearance is the minimum?

2) Elsewhere in our house, we have standard, free-standing non-baseboard radiators. We would like to put slabs of marble or other stone on top of them, so we can put plants, lamps, etc. on top of them. Is this a bad idea?

Thank you,

Eliza