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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOA notesIf there is any project/change that is not mentioned here that your office or the commission would like to see done to the house/property I would like to know. HVAC – replace 1 of 2 old package units in existing location at the rear of the house. Add 2 bathroom exhaust vents and 1 kitchen vent either through the roof or soffit, I would like to know if your office has a preference? I see pros and cons to both ways, but I am ok with either option. Whichever route taken I would conceal the vents as best possible. Outdoor lighting – The front porch needs a light. I'm not seeing anything in the Narkinsky photos, but it appears the “original” electric light was flush mounted and centered above the front door. Does it need to be exactly like that? Or could a period or period looking light from a chain be acceptable as well? I do not yet have a specific fixture in mind, just trying to figure out what is acceptable. I'm guessing moving the light fixture location wouldn't be acceptable? I need some sort of lighting on the sides and back of the house. These could be recessed in the soffit or security lights tucked away up high. Would recessed soffit lights be appropriate for a house in the district? I would think not, but most of the security lights I see around aren't historic looking either. I need to figure something out that would look appropriate. Maybe I could use landscape lighting that is discrete and doesn't mount to the house? The truth is my neighbors are currently lighting the sides and back pretty well. However, I still feel I should provide some sort of light from my side as a “good neighbor”. The front area is very dark currently. There are 2 street lights across rock st on this block that have been out since I bought the house. I have called 311 and asked entergy directly, but they are still out. It's probably just the bulb. I will eventually look at them myself. I know this isn't the place to rant, but there are a lot of people that park on walk down this portion and rock st and it's pretty dark. I only mention this as my outside lighting could help this, even if it's only the porch light. Tree trimming – the trees in the front yard and south side of the house need trimming. I would like to do this soon while the trees are dormant. I have spoken with my neighbors at DD&F about my trimming of the trees and they were on board. I will consult with them again before any work starts just to keep them in the loop. Outdoor security cameras – I would like at least 1 on the front of the house, (maybe a doorbell camera?), and 1 on the back of the house. Window above back porch – Repair the rotted lower rail of the window sash. This window really needs a storm window. The way the back porch roof is right at the bottom of the window and the drip line from the upper roof come together makes this a highly vulnerable spot to weather. I would like to do something to protect this window from excess water. Foundation, brick infill – Remove existing plywood infill. Use like-kind reclaimed brick set in approximately 2” from face of existing piers to close crawl space. Infill would be 2 courses thick and have a footing so that it would act as a foundation and strengthen the existing structure. By sitting approximately 2” in from the existing pier faces the infill will catch the rim joist/beam and floor joist adding addition support. I would use lime mortar to match the existing piers. Painted piers and varying brick color/style. The existing piers are painted blue like the house's siding. I would rather not have painted masonry, but in this case it might be best. The piers from the original house and the 1900 era addition vary in color quite a bit. (I can see the colors from the back side of the piers) It seems like on the addition they used various reclaimed brick. If painting the foundation I would choose a red tone that matches closely to the house's original piers. I'm open to suggestions on this. Cast iron vents the same as or similar to the provided photo will be installed in every other infill section. On the front facade I would like to add similar size/style lattice in front of the infill to match the old photos. Crawl space doors. I would like to install 3 smooth steel crawl doors to be painted a color that blends in. Example of door style in photos. 1 door would be located towards the front concealed in the alley between the neighboring apartment building. The other 2 would be located in the back of the house. Rear steps, (I'm adding this here since the brick infill effects these) The old photos show wood steps and the existing steps are wood. They will need to be rebuilt. I am ok with wood steps, but would like to know if brick steps could be used instead? If so I would build them to be seamless with the brick infill. In either account the design of the steps would stay the same. I need to add 1 more step to make the individual step rise fall within current code. The existing steps have multiple risers over 8” high. I would like to add a black cast iron handrail to the right-hand side. Align Baseboards – I would to align the baseboards along the bottom exterior of the house. The original house and addition don't match up and I think this would help the appeal of the house, clean up the lines. Front Facade – I would like to put the house back as close as possible to the old Narkinsky photos. I haven't yet researched anything before the Narkinsky family to see what changes may have occurred. Either way, considering the Narkinsky's large addition to the back of the house maybe it's ok to just set the house to their time period? It seems like the front facade likely didn't change too much from the first owners. I attached a simple front elevation drawing to render the house from the Narkinsky photos. Chimneys – rebuild the 2 prominent front most chimneys. They still exist under the roof. I can easily match the brick/mortar style and location since they are existing. Fortunately, there is 1 photo each that show these chimneys. In the photos you can see that they are fairly simple in design with only maybe 1 band and some cantilever work to decorate the tops. I think I can get the height pretty close by referencing the old photos with the chimneys in relation to the dormers and roof outlines. I would not make these functional chimney's. A discrete, non-visible cap would be installed on top. The chimney on the north side of the house might need a small “cricket” to help divert water since it is turned wide in the direction that would catch roof run off. Porch roof – I would like to install a standing seam metal roof and flashing to replace the existing roll roofing. The roll roofing is “pun intended” rolled up onto the siding to form a flashing. I would loosen the siding and add a proper flashing. With the low pitch of this porch, maybe a 1 or 2 out of 12 pitch, the metal is the best thing I can think of. I'm am open to suggestions. Porch ceiling – remove Masonite and baton strips. I would like to say restore the original ceiling plaster, but I'm fairly certain it's toast. We'll see when it gets revealed. Restore or re-plaster the ceiling like-kind to the original. Porch floor – remove existing brick and concrete. I would like to rebuild the pier and beam porch with tongue and grove wood floor as seen in the Narkinsky photos. While I'm fairly certain the porch floor was tongue grove would it be better to use 5/4 treated with no tongue and grove to allow for drying and drainage? For longevity of the floor? One nice aspect to the tongue and grove is you can nail it through the tongue hiding the fasteners. I could install the floor joists on 12” centers to stiffen the floor. The front steps are the main detail that, at this time, I see any problem with recreating exactly what's in the photos. Their design can be overall the same in width and number of steps. However, If I build the new ones to code I would need to make more equal the rise of the steps. As you will notice the old Narkinsky steps have at least 3 different rise heights. Out of curiosity could I rebuild the steps out of brick instead of wood, for easier maintenance? Whether wood or brick steps I would like to add a black cast iron hand rail to both sides. Columns – The columns would be temporarily removed to be restored. I don't know how much you guys want on this. I would like to recreate the design of the outer column bases using the existing half columns and the photos. I would like to create molds and make them from concrete. I believe once painted they will blend nicely. The current location of the outer columns needs adjusting as well. As seen in the Narkinsky photos the columns are approximately centered on the porch's outer beam. When the current porch was built the columns got moved back towards the house to be flush with the outside of the roof beam and it's causing some distortion/ sagging with the porch's roof and column caps. Fascia crown on house and porch – I would like to replace the existing crown on the facia with what I believe was the original profile as seen in the Narkinsky photos. I found a short piece in the attic that likely came from one of the dormers. It's very similar to the existing colonial crown except there is no cove at the bottom. The existing crown is also finger jointed pre- primed interior grade material. Eave brackets – repair and reconstruct missing eave brackets. Some are only missing the finial. Storm windows – Personally, I don't like the way they look, but I do like the protection they offer the original windows. What if I removed the storm windows from only front facade to show off the cool arched windows and leave the sides and back of the house intact, but paint them to blend in a little better? Shutters – I see in the Narkinsky photos that there were shutters on the house at some point by the remaining shutter hinges. ( note I have a couple of these from 2 back windows that the Narkinsky's removed during the addition and used the trim for inside closet door trim. The shutter hinges remain on these pieces of trim. ) I have not yet found any evidence of what the shutters looked like. While I like the idea of the shutters on the front facade I think it might be best to leave them off in this situation. Mostly because they would hide the interesting window casing on the house's facade. I only mention it to get the commission's opinion. Front porch approach side walk and side walk around north side of house. (alley between apartment building) I would like to re-brick this side walk straight from the street side walk the width of the front steps. I can reuse the existing brick. I believe this existing brick came from the demolished chimneys. Should this front approach start at the city sidewalk or the street? The existing approach starts at the sidewalk. There are examples of brick being used in the Narkinsky photos. Street sidewalk – The Bradford pear tree in the front yard is pushing the sidewalk up. I see one of the Narkinsky photos shows a herring bone brick sidewalk in front of the house. If the city liked I could remove the messed up sidewalk for the length of my property, 50', and lay a concrete base then brick over it. It would be smooth and the same elevation as surrounding sidewalks etc. It could also be rebuilt in concrete if the brick wasn't desired. Personally, I like the brick sidewalk.