Ed is a do-it-yourselfer who is happy to share some of his ideas and experiences in this monthly column. No matter how your porch was built, or how old or new it is, it should shed water. Many of the old-timers, who seem way smarter than we are today, cared less about how a porch with a slope looked than how water ran off of it. All you need to do is look at some old, well-built porches, and you can see the disparity between the handrail/banister (level) and the porch walki

Ed is a do-it-yourselfer who is happy to share some of his ideas and experiences in this monthly column. This is another one of my sagas that’s not really a “restoration” project, but showcases one way to fix an ongoing issue and go a bit high-tech. The problem is that sooner or later, every hot water tank will need replacing. It might have a crusty anode rod and doesn’t work like it should, or the bottom is rusting and leaking, or need some replacement control that’s made

Ed is a do-it-yourselfer who is happy to share some of his ideas and experiences in this monthly column. Howdy, do-it-yourselfers. The title of this month’s article really should be COUNTERflashing, but that didn’t seem like quite as much fun. Counterflashing is the more-or-less permanent metal attached to a house wall or a chimney, and under which step-flashing is used when installing roofing material. (Perhaps I’ll write more on step flashing in another article, another

Ed is a do-it-yourselfer who is happy to share some of his ideas and experiences in this monthly column. Hello, fellow do-it-yourselfers. I thought I’d show you this month how I saved a sink that most would have thrown away, and you can do the same thing! Here’s the patient: Actually, I did 2 of these, and they were equally bad, so pardon me if I get the pictures mixed up. You’ll see later why it was so important to save these cute little guys. Here’s another (before) phot

New Castle City Council authorized the creation of the Historic Architecture Review Board, (HARB), in 2009.  HARB was formed as an advisory board whose purpose was to provide recommendations to City Council regarding the advisability of issuing any permit required to be issued in accordance with historic preservation guidelines. Given the North Hill Historic District’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as the district’s status as the third large