2022-10-23 23:45
Back in September 2008, I made my first set of bulk head doors but they only lasted a few years. It seems that wood doors in this location are subject to wet and dry rot fungus. I made a sec… Read More
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This Old Crack House Blog
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Renovating an 1840s mansion that has seen much drug activity in the past.
2022-10-05 00:37
For many years our upper porch deck has looked awful. There was a roof leak and gutter issues that caused sections of the floor to rot out. There were also no railings around the upper porch… Read More
2022-09-24 04:11
If you have been following this site for any amount of time then you may remember the images of the house we lived in before finally moving into the Old Crack House in 2009. In case you forg… Read More
2022-06-12 17:35
Back in 2014 I was doing this. Then we had issues with the box gutters at the front of the house and water pouring down on the front door feature. That forced me into doing t… Read More
2022-05-15 05:16
Long awaited update is happening at "This Old Crack House". It would appear that the web hosting service that I have used since 2005 when I started this blog has gone "Kaput" and much… Read More
2021-03-11 04:14
Back in 2014 through 2016 I wrote a series of posts about “Helen’s House” which was built in 1900 by Leonard Volkenand. We turned it into a short term rental and mark… Read More
2020-10-23 14:19
Wow. I didn't realize that my roof was done two years ago. It seems like yesterday I was out there risking my neck. Well, I have not been dormant. In fact, I have been fixing up other… Read More
2018-04-30 05:03
One day I will have the most famous roof in Dayton. Back in 2010 I had to write this post to counter an attack on me by the local newspaper while I was mayor of Dayton. Their article no long… Read More
2017-12-14 07:16
Here we are 16 years into our 3 year renovation project. My daughter is now 14 years old and I have FINALLY painted the bathroom. Here is a photographic recap of what we did to get this far… Read More
2017-04-04 17:02
I hate to slam a local business but I will no longer be using Dayton South Veterinary Clinic located at 3200 Wilmington Pike Kettering, Ohio 45429 or the services of Dr. Daniel T. Brauer.On… Read More
2016-07-24 01:58
Here is a series of photos showing current roof progress!It takes a while to remove four layers of shingle, clean it up. Tar paper a roof and then put metal on it. This was a repair. A… Read More
2016-07-19 15:25
It seems that is is raining just about every two days so far this year. This is a problem when you are trying to tear off a roof that has 4 layers of shingle over the original cedar shakes t… Read More
2016-07-14 03:30
If you have been following this blog for many years then you may remember that I tried to sell my original Dayton home in September 2008 when the mortgage crisis struck. I rented it for seve… Read More
2016-07-05 17:30
It seems that is is raining just about every two days so far this year. This is a problem when you are trying to tear off a roof that has 4 layers of shingle over the original cedar shakes t… Read More
2016-04-25 04:59
There is what really appears to be an enclosed porch at the back of the house. Helen used to have a clothes dryer back there and a large cupboard on castors. There is also a built in set of… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
For years the hallway door to the dining room looked like this.I really needed to put molding around the door frame to cover the brick. Well, finally in 2013 it happened. So thisnow looks li… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Do some of you remember back in April 2008 when I wrote a post about these two houses across the alley from me?Remember how I said I was so mad that I was going to run for mayor? Well, that… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Several years ago, right after buying this place, I had to rebuild the front porch and balcony because it was collapsing. So I reused some old porch flooring that we salvaged and got the edg… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
I have always wanted beaded shades for our dining room chandelier. After a while I realized that if I wanted beaded shades, then I was going to have to make them myself. So I bought a whole… Read More
2016-02-23 22:31
If you recall, back in January I was stripping wallpaper from the bedroom walls and ceilings leaving the rooms looking like this.Well, now they look like this!We need a few more pictures hun… Read More
2015-09-19 03:41
I'm not one to complain. I am pretty tolerant of most things but the time has come to expose the City of Dayton's Building Inspection Department for their total lack of professionalism and t… Read More
2015-09-13 03:09
OK, I promised this months ago but sometimes life catches up with you and you lack the time to blog about what you are doing. The kitchen at Helen's house is not conducive to modern living… Read More
2015-05-20 06:36
Let me tell you about Helen's House. We bought Helen's House in October 2013. Helen was our neighbor. She was born in 1921. Her mother, Mary Farrenkopf had tuberculosis at a young age… Read More
2015-05-20 06:35
Here is a postcard picture of Helen's house taken before 1915. I am not able to identify the person with the dog in the photograph. Here is how the house looks today. Helen kept… Read More
2015-04-03 03:58
More work has been done on my hall. I am only 14 years into my three year project at this point and I have been meaning to paint the hall for, say 10 years. So while the weather was cold I g… Read More
2015-02-26 05:45
Today was trash collection day. However there is more to today's City customer service story. I went out to my truck that was parked across the street from my house to get a sheet that I had… Read More
2015-02-21 02:29
Let's see how long it takes the City of Dayton's waste collection department to empty my garbage can. Here is the scenario. Over three weeks ago, on February 4th to be exact, I put out the g… Read More
2015-02-11 17:27
See this picture? It was taken in November 2007. It shows the doorway between the hall and the dining room. To the right is a door that we bought for $5 at a yard sale. The plan has always b… Read More
2015-02-10 17:34
Back around 1996 I bought this phone from Design Tuscano. I think I paid around $200 for it. I bought it for several reasons. I liked it. It went well with the decor of the house and, since… Read More
2014-08-28 03:45
Remember this from 2009?Well, it is happening again. If you missed your chance 5 years ago, now is the time to catch up!Gary Leitzell For Montgomery County CommissionerYou are respectfully i… Read More
2014-07-24 03:23
I posted years ago about Charles Edgar's patents. He invented an automatic gate, an improved hay rake and a carburetor that I haven't figured what purpose it had. When he died in 1876 the ca… Read More
2014-07-21 14:08
Way back in 2001, one of the first things I had to do was replace the shingle on the roof to the kitchen. At some point in the past a tree limb had fallen on it and for a while it must have… Read More
2014-06-13 13:53
There is a woman who lived across the side alley from us who is now 93 years old. She lived in her house since she was four years old. I used to visit her every so often and often sat in her… Read More
2014-05-28 03:43
It's the end of May you say! What have I been doing for 5 months? Well, lots really. Not so much work on the Old Crack House. Though I have been purging stuff that is still in boxes from the… Read More
2014-01-14 05:45
Hey everybody, guess what? I am no longer the mayor so I have some freedom back for a short while. That means that I can do some long overdue updates. I can fill you all in on some of the ch… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
There are two bedrooms upstairs at Helen's house. Both rooms were wallpapered and both rooms had experienced water damage in the past. The smaller bedroom looks like this from the hall. Ther… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Here are two pictures of the upstairs bathroom. This room used to be a closet and sometime around 1940, when Helen's uncle became ill, they converted it into a bathroom and added the window… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
If you have been following this blog for the last 10 years then you will know just how much I hate plumbing. Well, we had some plumbing problems with Helen's House. If you used the ups… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Here is my second rant about the City of Dayton's Building Services Division and their total lack of professionalism and their inability to communicate effectively with their customers. On J… Read More
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