The thing about owning a Bungalow built in 1918 is.....

[OICU812]

... That you have all these extra light swtiches that no one knows what they turn on or off.

[OICU812]

... That you find red linoleum under the beige linoleum under the red linoleum under the checker linoleum under the blue linoleum under the green orange stripe linoleum under the black linoleum under the criss cross yellow purple dotted linoleum under the fake wood linoleum on top of amazing oak wood floors.... wait... that's linoleum too... and there's red linoleum under that under beige linoleum under checker linoleum....on top of a thick grey sticky glue that won't scrape off... dammit... Now I gotta go buy some linoleum..hmm what color..

[watcher]

... That you have all these extra light swtiches that no one knows what they turn on or off.

That you have 12" of solid brick (thermal mass) with no insulation except furring strip/lath/plaster.
That your home contains a fair timeline of technology advancements with evidence of cook stoves, gas lights, knob and tube, cloth romex, early bx, fuse panel box, circuit breaker panel, lead pipe, black pipe, early galvanized, copper, PVC, coal "chute", oil drums, gravity heat (octopus), asbestos, linoleum, lead paint...

And I still LOVE my bungalow!

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

... That you have all these extra light swtiches that no one knows what they turn on or off.

Not exactly a bungalow, but I have an American Four-Square that we bought 17 years ago and I was SO excited when I saw the wooden door built into a second floor wall (covered over by a picture when we looked at the house) and thought it was a laundry chute down to the basement and how I had so cashed in a great and wonderful convenience that would make all my friends envious.  Turns out it opened up into an electrical apparatus with a lever that reminded me of the Frankenstein movie.  Still does.

[littlealexa]

Ohh, Mrs. NS now that sounds cool any pics of the door (inside)?

[Bonster]

... That you have all these extra light swtiches that no one knows what they turn on or off.

That you have 12" of solid brick (thermal mass) with no insulation except furring strip/lath/plaster.
That your home contains a fair timeline of technology advancements with evidence of cook stoves, gas lights, knob and tube, cloth romex, early bx, fuse panel box, circuit breaker panel, lead pipe, black pipe, early galvanized, copper, PVC, coal "chute", oil drums, gravity heat (octopus), asbestos, linoleum, lead paint...

coal-to-gas conversion kit!

[OICU812]

yes.. lol. there is a huge concrete, unmovable, superman-kryptonite,  coal bin in your back yard.

[dukesdad]

That's an ash bin, not a coal bin. It was concrete so that you could put hot clinkers in it and not catch anything on fire. The coal bin was in the basement.

[OICU812]

AHH... Makes sense.. We had to remove the coal bin door on the side of the house and have it rebricked because it was leaking like crazy. Tried sealing it a bunch of times to no avail.

[berwynguy]

That's an ash bin, not a coal bin. It was concrete so that you could put hot clinkers in it and not catch anything on fire. The coal bin was in the basement.

Here is a discussion we had about those trash incinerators on Forgotten Chicago.

http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/2/1849/page=1/_subject_

[dukesdad]

They were built as ash bins, they morphed into bad incinerators by lazy people who threw garbage in on the hot ashes. If they were designed to be incinerators, they would have had chimneys, they didn't. In the winter people shoveled the cooled ash (clinkers) onto walks and steps to get traction on ice, same with streets and alleys. One of the big things street sweepers, both manual and mechanical, swept up were the clinkers deposited over the winter.

[berwynguy]

Dukesdad, are you saying that garbage was NOT supposed to be thrown in them?  I am almost sure I have an ad in one of my old books ca. 1920 or so that is selling them as trash bins. I will try and find it and post it here.

[berwynson]

... That you have all these extra light swtiches that no one knows what they turn on or off.

That you have 12" of solid brick (thermal mass) with no insulation except furring strip/lath/plaster.
That your home contains a fair timeline of technology advancements with evidence of cook stoves, gas lights, knob and tube, cloth romex, early bx, fuse panel box, circuit breaker panel, lead pipe, black pipe, early galvanized, copper, PVC, coal "chute", oil drums, gravity heat (octopus), asbestos, linoleum, lead paint...

And I still LOVE my bungalow!....

Ours, ca./ 1923, still had numerous glass doorknobs here and there when I first became aware of such things, 1940s-wise. All the electrical wiring was run in rigid steel conduuit, pretty safe, but the insulation on the wire: sheesh! woven cloth impregnated with tar! The Electrical service entering the houser consisted of two overhead wires strung about 8 inches apart from each other, hanging above the back yard. Only 120-volts (on a good day!), no 220 at all. The fuse box in the basement above the electric meter, also indoors, had only 4 fuses which fed the entire house. They were the glass screw-in type.

The basement floor, was concrete except for a section in the back corner, room-sized, directly below the back bedroom, it had a wooden floor, beneath which those damned gray centipedes lived! One bit me at night once, not pleasant!

The kitchen walls were covered with something we called "oil-cloth". The rest of the house had wallpapered walls. There was no insulation; lath & plaster was applied right over the inside surface of the brick. One winter, the south wall of the living-room, had FROST on it, the outside temp. was -23`!

The house I was born & grew up in!   berwynson 

[Noble Falcon]

Having old gas lines everywhere. Trying to install a ceiling fan to fine cork in an old gas line that fed lites back in the day.

[watcher]

Ours, ca./ 1923, still had numerous glass doorknobs here and there when I first became aware of such things, 1940s-wise. All the electrical wiring was run in rigid steel conduuit, pretty safe, but the insulation on the wire: sheesh! woven cloth impregnated with tar! The Electrical service entering the houser consisted of two overhead wires strung about 8 inches apart from each other, hanging above the back yard. Only 120-volts (on a good day!), no 220 at all. The fuse box in the basement above the electric meter, also indoors, had only 4 fuses which fed the entire house. They were the glass screw-in type.

The basement floor, was concrete except for a section in the back corner, room-sized, directly below the back bedroom, it had a wooden floor, beneath which those damned gray centipedes lived! One bit me at night once, not pleasant!

The kitchen walls were covered with something we called "oil-cloth". The rest of the house had wallpapered walls. There was no insulation; lath & plaster was applied right over the inside surface of the brick. One winter, the south wall of the living-room, had FROST on it, the outside temp. was -23`!

The house I was born & grew up in!   berwynson 

My kids can say that about this place! We are the eighth owners. First owner was the builder. He sold it 5 years later. They were here for 60 years. We've been here 24 years. The 15 years during which there were 5 different owners were very hard on this old house. I'm still undoing the damage.

10' ceilings with those stapled up fiberboard tiles. (what a great salesman THAT guy was!)  Built in hutch. 6' tall windows. Oak Woodwork.
Full front porch. Beadboard ceilings in basement. (Again covered with ceiling tiles until I removed them). Upstairs was "paneled" with 3/4" crating plywood installed with ring nails then covered with wallpaper. Then skinned with fugly Plywood Minnesota panelling. (installed by the kid who lived across the alley... he says he was 13 when he did the job.)

Overall, my favorite "feature" is the picture molding. Hanging tapestries from them does help with the lack of insulation. If I could get my wife to agree that the "woodsy" flannel lining of vintage sleeping bags qualifies as "tapestry" we could be snug bugs.

[OICU812]

[\quote]
Overall, my favorite "feature" is the picture molding. Hanging tapestries from them does help with the lack of insulation. If I could get my wife to agree that the "woodsy" flannel lining of vintage sleeping bags qualifies as "tapestry" we could be snug bugs.
[/quote]

Ahh Yes We have those too. (I think)

We still have the original Multi Pane door off our kitchen with glass transom. Big window off kitchen is original glass that has flaws in it and kinda looks like a funhouse mirror

[watcher]

Overall, my favorite "feature" is the picture molding. Hanging tapestries from them does help with the lack of insulation. If I could get my wife to agree that the "woodsy" flannel lining of vintage sleeping bags qualifies as "tapestry" we could be snug bugs.

Ahh Yes We have those too. (I think)

We still have the original Multi Pane door off our kitchen with glass transom. Big window off kitchen is original glass that has flaws in it and kinda looks like a funhouse mirror

If you have them, you should use them! The hooks aren't easy to find locally, at least not good ones. The hardware stores, if they have them, typically have the flat sort of S hook type that can be finicky.
Van Dyke Restorers has the better design type but they're pricey.

The brass ones are currently on sale for 99 cents each. White or Nickel finish are $5 a piece.
I've also used the "over door" wreath holders, bars and hooks with decent results.
They're great for "decking the halls" for holidays.

All of the transition french doors (entry foyer and dining room) were removed prior to our buying. I still look for replacements from time to time, but haven't found the right deal yet.

This summer's project is to finally get the electric sorted out and up to code.

We're also debating our storm door upgrade. The price difference between an 80" tall door and an 86" is staggering. We'd likely be the only ones who'd notice the filler that would be needed, but...

[dukesdad]

Dukesdad, are you saying that garbage was NOT supposed to be thrown in them?

I'm saying garbage was not meant to be burned in them. Burning garbage in them was a bastardization of it's original purpose.

[berwynson]

We still have the original Multi Pane door off our kitchen with glass transom. Big window off kitchen is original glass that has flaws in it and kinda looks like a funhouse mirror

My folks always referred to it as the "French Door". berwynson

[berwynguy]

Big window off kitchen is original glass that has flaws in it and kinda looks like a funhouse mirror

The glass back then was hand blown which explains the "fun house mirror" effect.  I think it's cool!