This New House: Restoration Tips You Can Use
The Lititz house, as it was called by the staffs of Country Living and Popular Mechanics, went from hulk to polished showcase in one year.
They sure built 'em right in the rolling Dutch Country of southeastern Pennsylvania. The abandoned 1890s farmhouse on designer David Drummond’s 5-acre spread had withstood decades of weathering with barely a rotted clapboard to show for it. But it was the home's architectural style — which Drummond labels "folk Victorian" — that convinced him he had the makings of a winner. Country Living, a sister magazine of PM, was similarly impressed, and teamed with design company Drummond-McAndrew to make the farmhouse its 2007 House of the Year. On the following pages, PM looks behind the walls and underneath the floor at one of the most ambitious and successful renovations we've seen. The first step was hauling the house a few hundred yards from a busy roadway to a more attractive site. Even that couldn't knock this sturdy survivor out of plumb. Still, the house, located near the crossroads town of Lititz, was long past its prime. The floor plan was cramped, the shell uninsulated, the wiring and heating systems antique, the roof shot and the windows drafty. But when the dust settled, Drummond and Country Living had their showcase. The most evident changes were a new two-story addition, which yielded a generous living room and master bedroom, and an inviting wraparound porch. Inside, details such as window and door trim, faithfully re-created by skilled carpenters, catch the eye. "I'm not interested in saving a home as a museum," Drummond says. "A house is a living thing — and people have to live in it."
Windows That Insulate Like Walls
Throughout the farmhouse, custom triple-glazed windows replaced heat-leaking single-pane sash models. The Energy Star-rated windows will ensure lower utility bills. In the kitchen, a wall of Pella Designer Series double-hung windows (above and right) highlight a nook. The windows' blinds, sealed inside the glass, and optical coating help control light and heat gain on this sunny exposure. Details include the window seat flanked by built-in bookcases. Although most of the home’s original door and window trim could not be preserved, carpenters matched the period style using standard millwork. Added flair came from using an easy-to-install crown molding with precut corners.
Pliable Plumbing
 A plumber fits PEX tubing on the barbed end of a T fitting, then fastens it with a crimp ring. |  PVC was used for drains and vents. |
Water flows to the Lititz farmhouse's sinks, showers and appliances not through rigid copper, but via flexible cross-linked poly-ethylene tubing known as PEX. It's very easy to work with because few joints are needed. The plumber unrolls it from a spool, feeds it through holes bored in the framing and connects it to a fixture. A single length of tubing can run all the way to a manifold in the basement. PEX, approved by many plumbing codes, is capturing a growing share of the residential market. "It is a superior product," says Bill Martin, general contractor on the Lititz project. "It won't corrode or crack if frozen. And it’s easy to add valves and connections."
Foam Home
Spray foam seals the gaps where siding and wall framing meet.
Prefab Style
Window trim was installed. Next came the wainscoting rails and stiles, which fit togther with matching notched ends.
50-Year Roof
Each roof panel is a zinc or copper sheet formed into a slatelike shape and covered with ceramic-coated quartz crystals.
Systems Upgrade
The fan-coil unit for the SpacePak heat pump is tucked into the attic.
Good Saves
 Although extensive modern materials were used, patient restoration reclaimed original building elements. | |
Door hinges and locksets were stripped of paint, buffed and reinstalled. Martin went to great lengths to preserve other period details, such as decorative brackets, soffits and built-up returns on the gable end. To replace several sections of clapboard, the restoration team hired a local Amish sawmill to cut siding from mahogany, not pine or cedar. Most of the home’s shutters were too far gone to save, and Drummond liked the look of the home once they were removed. The few that were in good condition were recycled to make an enclosure to hide electric and gas meters.
Finishing Touches
The fanciful stairway railing (above), commissioned from a local joinery shop, references the farmhouse’s history as a watermelon farm in a repeating pattern of ovals and dashes designed to suggest melons and seeds. The free-standing porch roof over the main entryway (right) was a late addition designed to mimic the rooflines on the rest of the house. “I got the idea for the bracing brackets by driving around Lititz and sketching other porches,” Martin says. Tiles in the entry foyer (at right) were found at a nearby antique store, then framed with oak flooring, set with mortar, and grouted. “The Lititz house has the best of the old and the best of the new,” he says.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4211241.html?page=2
