On a whim, I ventured into the unfinished part of the attic last week. A previous jaunt had revealed some antique drapery rods and curtain hardware. What else may be hiding between the dusty joists?
A chimney, ever so slightly stepped to the left, marks the transition from the floored portion of the attic to the windowless portion without flooring. The chimney was stepped in this way so that it would emerge from the roof perfectly centered on the ridge.
Here we can see inside the jerkinhead gable above the front porch. Between the joists we can see the dusty backside of ceiling plaster in the two front parlors.
I found these drapery rods with brass finials on my first trip to the attic, along with assorted curtain rods and shade rollers. The drapery rods seem to be a bit wide for the windows in the house, so I’m not sure if they were used in the house or not. I like them, so I’m hoping that they were.
Also between the joists were some wallpaper remnants! I suspect that this finely textured specimen was intended as a ceiling paper; it has a subtle shimmer to it.
The North jerkinhead gable. Note how the boxing was installed diagonally, forming a “V” at the center of the wall. This was done to increase the structural integrity of the wall and prevent leaning.
More tidbits between the joists! A portion of a wood shingle suggests that the original roof was painted green. What’s that beyond? It looks like a wallpaper border…
That’s exactly what it is! In keeping with the rest of what we’ve learned about the house, it’s a bit loud. It even has a fair amount of gold in it for some subtle bling. I’m guessing that this is more 1890’s than 1880’s, but I’m really not sure. It was a fun find either way!
Your comment on bracing was cool. I would not have noticed that, but when I looked, it makes perfect sense, and would add a lot of structural stability. Neat! Eye’s opened to something I would not have noticed. The wallpaper border is pretty cool. Is the wiring still live, or just a remnant?
Some of the knob and tube is still “hot”. We are going to leave it all in place, but disconnect it and run all new wiring throughout. Fishing new wire is a great way to really get to know your house inside and out! We’ll do it all ourselves… a contractor will never treat an historic house as gently as its owner, and we’re tired of patching plaster in the aftermath of electrical contractors.
Your attic has many parallels to ours. When we had some work done right after we bought the house, the workers found a few things up there including a couple of bottles, and some hand written notes which were definitely written in old pen and ink. They also found a small stack of advertisement flyers for an insurance company from the 1870’s, but because they were printed on a high acid paper, the pieces crumbled in their hands. I managed to get a photo of one of them, but was not able to salvage any intact.
We also have remnants of knob and tube which were live until we had the house wiring updated so we could get insurance. And of course, there is lots of dust… There was a foundry one block away, and between the foundry and everyone burning coal, the attic floor is black with soot.
I actually haven’t been in the attic for almost two years, baring a leak, there isn’t a lot of reason to go up there, besides, the opening is a very tight squeeze.
Attics have always fascinated me. They are usually the most “time-capsule”-like space of any house. I had to enlarge the trap door to the attic in the last house we worked on because it was too small for a lot of people to go through. We’re a lot bigger than we were 150 years ago!
Your comment on bracing was cool. I would not have noticed that, but when I looked, it makes perfect sense, and would add a lot of structural stability. Neat! Eye’s opened to something I would not have noticed. The wallpaper border is pretty cool. Is the wiring still live, or just a remnant?
Some of the knob and tube is still “hot”. We are going to leave it all in place, but disconnect it and run all new wiring throughout. Fishing new wire is a great way to really get to know your house inside and out! We’ll do it all ourselves… a contractor will never treat an historic house as gently as its owner, and we’re tired of patching plaster in the aftermath of electrical contractors.
Your attic has many parallels to ours. When we had some work done right after we bought the house, the workers found a few things up there including a couple of bottles, and some hand written notes which were definitely written in old pen and ink. They also found a small stack of advertisement flyers for an insurance company from the 1870’s, but because they were printed on a high acid paper, the pieces crumbled in their hands. I managed to get a photo of one of them, but was not able to salvage any intact.
We also have remnants of knob and tube which were live until we had the house wiring updated so we could get insurance. And of course, there is lots of dust… There was a foundry one block away, and between the foundry and everyone burning coal, the attic floor is black with soot.
I actually haven’t been in the attic for almost two years, baring a leak, there isn’t a lot of reason to go up there, besides, the opening is a very tight squeeze.
Attics have always fascinated me. They are usually the most “time-capsule”-like space of any house. I had to enlarge the trap door to the attic in the last house we worked on because it was too small for a lot of people to go through. We’re a lot bigger than we were 150 years ago!