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Exterior Restoration Work Plan

Authors: nina smith

This is an overview of everything involved in the exterior restoration process of my house.
  • Remove aluminum siding.
  • Pull staples (which held aluminum) from wood siding.
  • Remove and replace cedar shake siding on front of porch.
  • Replace porch lattice. 
  • Replace or repair rotted wood.
  • Replace split clapboard.
  • Fill or repair large holes
  • ...

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Cleveland Scene Magazine

Authors: nina smith

My story was featured in Cleveland Scene Magazine. Below is the direct link:
Lakewood Lady Ripped By City for Restoring Century Home
Lakewood Lady Ripped By City for Restoring Century Home

POSTED BY MAUDE L. CAMPBELL ON WED, OCT 12, 2011 AT 1:00 PM

Nina Smith and the City of Lakewood appeared to be a match
...

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Historic Preservation: A Criminal Offense

Authors: Nina

I was recently criminally charged by the city of Lakewood Ohio for the historic preservation of my house. More specifically, I was charged with noncompliance for "peeling paint" while in the process of stripping and repainting my house after having removed the aluminum siding that's been covering it for 40-50 years.
I bought my house...

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Historic Preservation: A Criminal Offense *UPDATED*

Authors: Nina

I was recently criminally charged by the city of Lakewood Ohio for the historic preservation of my house. More specifically, I was charged with noncompliance for peeling paint while in the process of stripping and repainting my house after having removed the aluminum siding that's been covering it for 40-50 years.
I bought my house...

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3 Year Anniversary

Authors: Nina

Wow, three years already! I’m more than half way into my “five year plan”. I can’t manage to get much done during the winter months when I should be working on my interior projects. I have no motivation to even work inside when it’s cold, dreary, gloomy, and crappy outside. But I did get a lot of work done during the summer. We had an...

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Front Door Refinishing

Authors: Nina



I was going to wait until I finished stripping the exterior paint to do the front door. But I changed my mind. While I was using the heat gun to remove paint on the front exterior wall trim, I couldn't help but remove some of the peeling black spray paint from the front door. Then, after giving up on my porch ceiling project for this...

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Vestibule Demo

Authors: Nina

At some point in this house's life, someone added a little vestibule onto the front of the house so that there were two front doors. It protruded out onto the porch a few feet. When I moved here, the main door was on the very front, and the inner door was a thick wooden door with about 15 panes of glass. However, I always had a...

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Old Picture

Authors: Nina

I went to the historical archives building today to find an old picture of my house. I wanted to see the trim before it was destroyed to accommodate the aluminum siding. I needed a reference to go by to recreate this trim. In the 50s and 60s, pictures were taken of every house in Cuyahoga County for tax assessment purposes. I found...

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2 Year Anniversary

Authors: Nina

I can't believe it's been two years!
My original intention was to finish the interior projects before starting the exterior ones. But after a year of being in the house working, I wanted to see the outdoors again. My new plan is to work on exterior projects in the summer and interior projects in the winter. We had a really bad summer...

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Porch Ceiling Restoration

Authors: Nina


When I removed the aluminum siding, I was disappointed to see that the original beadboard porch ceiling had been painted over. All the porch ceilings in this area were originally stained beadboard. I have taken on the painstaking process of removing this paint. Paint removal is particularly grueling when working upside down. For this...

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