2011

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A couple of weeks ago, I did my annual pre-heating season ritual of flushing my 42 year-old Weil-McLain steam boiler in preparation for the ceremonial relighting of the pilot light. I learned later from a plumber that you shouldn’t flush a cold boiler because the fresh incoming water will leave chemical deposits. It was academic in this case however because the boiler drained dry. WTF? The low water cutoff (LWCO)/autofeed should have replenished the boiler with fresh water. It didn’t. Granted, the LWCO looks like some sort of World War 2-era device and it had never been serviced since I […]

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DIY For the Masses

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The #1 question I get asked on this blog is “What’s your #1 piece of advice for a novice DIYer?”   I sort of hate that question because every situation is unique. Is it “prime before you paint?”  Or “measure twice, cut once?”  Or “dull blades are dangerous?”  Or “make certain the breaker is really off?” Fact is, you’ll find lots of sites with lots of Top Ten lists for do-it-yourselfers.   Just read the first thing on the list, I guess. My answer is usually to reject the question.  Or maybe it should be, “If you think that a #1 piece of

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Primer Failure

Leave a Comment / back yard, paint / By /

I know it’s been six months since my last update here but there hasn’t been much DIY stuff to blog about at Brooklyn Row House… not even something worthy of a Facebook status. Fact is, most of the work here is done but now I’m facing Phase 2 — maintaining all the new stuff which has begun to show the wear and tear of the years and the many boisterous animals. For that reason I think I’m going to jog this blog into slightly different direction, beginning with this post. Three years ago, I had the back of my house

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Welcome to Brooklyn Row House

This blog is about the challenges of renovating an old (1903) Brooklyn, New York row house.

My last major renovation project was the master bedroom, most of which is about finish carpentry. You’ll find other completed home improvement projects in the Projects submenu at the top of this page.

I’m not a professional builder and don’t pretend to be. I’m just an experienced amateur raised in a family of committed DIYers. I try to closely follow local and national building codes but don’t mistake anything on this site to be professional or even accurate advice! Your mileage may and definitely will vary.

This is the third iteration of BrooklynRowHouse.com, from scratch-built to Drupal and now Wordpress. I hope you enjoy your time here.