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Old 04-05-2014, 06:18 PM
 
6,462 posts, read 4,865,290 times
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A local house is (I'm guessing) being flipped and they are putting new windows in. Off the shelf new windows aren't the same size as the ones in the house, so they're installing MUCH smaller ones. I wanted pix but I think I missed the time where it would've shown the new window with the added siding to fill the hole.

JR-C, that's about my favorite time frame as well. Wanted to rep you for the kitchen comment but it wouldn't let me.

I was able to solve a closet mystery dating back to the first house I ever rented. It was a side by side 2 family, owner occupied and they had access to the attic. We get in the place and start unpacking, only to find that our clothes won't fit on hangers in the closets. No lie, we can't close the door or push our clothes beyond the door opening. We ask the owner if she buys special hangers and she acts as if we have 2 heads. We show her and she claims she's never seen that problem before and HER side is fine. We only lived there a few months anyway, and just dealt with it, and never had an issue in any other houses.

My current house has closets in each bedroom and the kitchen, and all hangers fit fine. Along the inside of each closet is a finished piece of wood, with hooks screwed into it. Multiple hooks. They come in handy for hanging things and I don't think about them.

A few years ago I had a chance to get into an abandoned house and was able to snap about 100 pix. Recently I was going through them for something and found this, which completely explains all the hooks in my closets and may explain the more narrow closet in the rental.
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Is Newer Housing "Disposable"-img_0141.jpg  
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Old 04-05-2014, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,244,119 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo View Post
JR-C, that's about my favorite time frame as well. Wanted to rep you for the kitchen comment but it wouldn't let me.
I have to say I don't get the kitchen comment. My mom was no "foodie" but she found her kitchen extremely inefficient and difficult to use (which it was).

Last edited by Katarina Witt; 04-05-2014 at 07:11 PM..
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Old 04-05-2014, 07:44 PM
 
8,680 posts, read 17,203,538 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nei View Post
One of other old house weirdness I've seen is doors between bedrooms (and there always was a separate hallway).
In some cases, one of the bedrooms may have originally been a "parlor" rather than a bedroom. That's the setup in our house, the front "bedroom" (which has no closet and is not considered a bedroom) has a window to the porch and a bay, with two doors, one to the dining room and one to the adjacent bedroom. The dining room itself is adjacent to a formal parlor, accessed via double doors and its own bay, while the room off the bedroom is an "informal" parlor.

There are also two doors in the bathroom, one to the bedroom and one to the kitchen. Kind of a lot of doors for a room of only about 50 square feet! Other houses I have seen built on the same pattern have "jack and jill" bathrooms, located in between the two bedrooms, but this one (with bathroom off the kitchen) is kind of unusual.
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Old 04-05-2014, 08:00 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana View Post
I have to say I don't get the kitchen comment. My mom was no "foodie" but she found her kitchen extremely inefficient and difficult to use (which it was).
Guess it boils down to personal preference, or making due with what one has. I'm a pretty simple person, and would personally never sink tens of thousands into a kitchen (or bathroom) to fit a "perfect" workflow. My fridge is in my pantry and it really doesn't bother me, except for the fact that the fridge that HAD been in there when they put a "new" counter in there many years ago was much smaller than what I have now (and apparently my size is now hard to find, ie "too small") and the door hits the shelves on the other side of the pantry. But it really only bothers me when I need to remove a shelf from the fridge to clean it, because I can't swing the door open all the way. I think a side by side would be too tall for the space without me cutting down one of shelves above it.

I don't have much for gadgets and I find the current code of outlets every few feet to be extremely wasteful and annoying. I have a toaster and microwave on a shelf above the stove and neither get used much (though the hold plants all winter). My SO has a coffee maker. That's it. If I bake, I pull my mixer from the pantry and plug it in, put it away when I'm done. Same with the waffle maker.

Before I had the counter space I do now, I used to cool cookies on the dining room table. Now that room is a workshop for my business and the table is in the attic. I don't entertain, and we only cook for 1-2 people (ie us). And if I REALLY need the space, I do have a workbench in the former dining room and can use that.

About the only gadget I really enjoy in my kitchen (besides a working stove and fridge) is a garbage disposal. And a working sink. OK, I like the natural light and air from my windows. I don't even eat in there, and really didn't when I lived in a place where my table fit in.

I have the same feelings about bathrooms. I was reading another thread where the OP was bemoaning the fact that her bathroom was just too small - and it was something like 12 x 16. Then someone came back and complained that she knew just where the OP was coming from, as her 200 sq ft CLOSET was too small. I was in stitches! My master bedroom (now office) is a "mere" 168 sq ft and I shudder to think of what their opinion of my bathroom is. It's got a nice tub that I can stretch out in (damn them for tossing the clawfoot!), a sink and toilet. There is a nice built in closet with drawers in the hall. And it works great, at probably 6' x 8', if that. But it's all personal preference and apparently huge (to me) bathrooms and closets were important to these people.

I just feel it's more stuff to clean, and I really hate cleaning bathrooms!
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Old 04-05-2014, 10:42 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,361 posts, read 16,890,821 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nei View Post
Odd. Why would filling in windows or making them smaller be more modern? Or desireable? [Unless there's so much the house is a wall of glass].
I've seen many old houses in Pittsburgh where this has been done. Shrinking windows is endemic here, and appears to have been done for the following reasons.

1. To "modernize" the house with contemporary (at that time) window dimensions.
2. Because the high ceilings were lowered to provide space for wiring (and perhaps ducts for central HVAC) and the windows then needed to be shortened.
3. To save on energy costs.
4. Kitchen windows are made small and horizontal to work with the counter height.
5. Bathroom windows are made small and horizontal to ensure people can't see you nekkid.

Windows are taken out entirely less frequently, but this tends to happen often with 19th century homes. I see this in the following cases.

1. They decide to put a closet on the front of the house.
2. They decide to put a bathroom on the front of the house.
3. Most of the windows along one side of the house are eliminated in order to provide more usable wall space to push furniture against.
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Old 04-06-2014, 12:09 PM
 
Location: Philaburbia
41,744 posts, read 74,721,167 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nei View Post
One of other old house weirdness I've seen is doors between bedrooms (and there always was a separate hallway).
Sometimes this was done between the master bedroom and a smaller bedroom designed to be a nursery.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo View Post
We get in the place and start unpacking, only to find that our clothes won't fit on hangers in the closets. No lie, we can't close the door or push our clothes beyond the door opening. We ask the owner if she buys special hangers and she acts as if we have 2 heads.
Some older houses had shallow closets called clothes presses (although clothes press can be a colloquial term for any closet); the clothes hung on pegs or on hangers hung on pegs. I've lived in several houses that had these instead of larger closets.
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Old 04-06-2014, 03:10 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,244,119 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo View Post
Guess it boils down to personal preference, or making due with what one has. I'm a pretty simple person, and would personally never sink tens of thousands into a kitchen (or bathroom) to fit a "perfect" workflow. My fridge is in my pantry and it really doesn't bother me, except for the fact that the fridge that HAD been in there when they put a "new" counter in there many years ago was much smaller than what I have now (and apparently my size is now hard to find, ie "too small") and the door hits the shelves on the other side of the pantry. But it really only bothers me when I need to remove a shelf from the fridge to clean it, because I can't swing the door open all the way. I think a side by side would be too tall for the space without me cutting down one of shelves above it.

I don't have much for gadgets and I find the current code of outlets every few feet to be extremely wasteful and annoying. I have a toaster and microwave on a shelf above the stove and neither get used much (though the hold plants all winter). My SO has a coffee maker. That's it. If I bake, I pull my mixer from the pantry and plug it in, put it away when I'm done. Same with the waffle maker.

Before I had the counter space I do now, I used to cool cookies on the dining room table. Now that room is a workshop for my business and the table is in the attic. I don't entertain, and we only cook for 1-2 people (ie us). And if I REALLY need the space, I do have a workbench in the former dining room and can use that.

About the only gadget I really enjoy in my kitchen (besides a working stove and fridge) is a garbage disposal. And a working sink. OK, I like the natural light and air from my windows. I don't even eat in there, and really didn't when I lived in a place where my table fit in.

I have the same feelings about bathrooms. I was reading another thread where the OP was bemoaning the fact that her bathroom was just too small - and it was something like 12 x 16. Then someone came back and complained that she knew just where the OP was coming from, as her 200 sq ft CLOSET was too small. I was in stitches! My master bedroom (now office) is a "mere" 168 sq ft and I shudder to think of what their opinion of my bathroom is. It's got a nice tub that I can stretch out in (damn them for tossing the clawfoot!), a sink and toilet. There is a nice built in closet with drawers in the hall. And it works great, at probably 6' x 8', if that. But it's all personal preference and apparently huge (to me) bathrooms and closets were important to these people.

I just feel it's more stuff to clean, and I really hate cleaning bathrooms!
The cooking thing is different when you're cooking for an entire family.
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Old 04-06-2014, 03:47 PM
 
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My mom and both grandmothers cooked for entire families.

Great article on windows here: Disposable Replacement Windows are Just That! | About Your House
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Old 04-06-2014, 04:02 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,244,119 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo View Post
My mom and both grandmothers cooked for entire families.

Great article on windows here: Disposable Replacement Windows are Just That! | About Your House
Well, all my female relatives cooked for whole families and so did I! Not sure what the point of that is.

That article really does seem more opinion than fact. I'm not interested in taking the time to look into it real closely, but let's say I'm not buying it. His constant use of "disposable" is annoying.

This: As a property developer my buildings must be energy efficient and I need to make a fair profit. I can't get either if I replace original windows. is a crock of compost.

As a property developer his buildings need to conform to code, and since he is a historic property developer, his buildings likely get a pass on some of the code. Even when we remodeled our house, we didn't need to bring the basement windows up to present code; we had to modify them to something partway between the code when the house was built and when we were doing the remodeling.

No one is arguing he needs to make a profit. I don't know why he put that in there. Yeah, it's cheaper for him not to replace the windows. Windows are expensive. I'll take my resident physicist/engineer's calculations over this ego-maniac's any day.
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Old 04-06-2014, 04:15 PM
 
10,219 posts, read 19,111,650 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo View Post
My mom and both grandmothers cooked for entire families.

Great article on windows here: Disposable Replacement Windows are Just That! | About Your House
Too bad almost none of it is even true.

BTW, since there's all sorts of pejoratives thrown around about it, "replacement window" is a term of art. It refers to a window made to be placed in an existing frame, without pulling off the siding. The main disadvantage is you then have an extra frame, and thus less room for glass. Since you can typically get the exact same window as a new construction window, pejoratives about "replacement" are kind of silly.
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