Small Piece of History...

This morning, I was carefully removing the hinges from the bathroom doorway so I can refurbish them.  While removing the bottom hinge (these are original hinges, by the way), I noticed it wasn't positioned in the mortise, but, rather, slightly above it.  After removing the hinge, there seemed to be a piece of paper being used to shim the hinge. But upon carefully removing the paper, I noticed it was three layers of paper, plus a piece of very thin cardboard.

Immediately, I noticed handwriting and plain as could be, the name "Zirkel".  It was a post card letter from 1958. It's the first historical proof within these walls I have found of who has lived in our home.

Renovation begins...

The renovation, officially, began last week.  I'll share pictures in a later post of the progress.  It's been hectic and will be completed in stages. The bathroom has been demo'd and was done in a meticulous manner, which I appreciate.  I joked that it was as if they were dismantling a nuclear bomb.  A few days later, the back steps were jack hammered and hauled off.  It was another job done with care to ensure no damage was done to the foundation wall. There was concern the steps were, possibly, attached to the house with reinforced metal, but that was not the case.  In fact, there was no reinforcement in the steps, yet they stood with nary a crack for almost 100 years!  Now that the steps have been removed, it's obvious they were an original part of the house.

It has been very difficult, for me, to watch the work that has begun.  I've never had this type of work done by someone else.  The knowledge I do have is an emotional weakness as I am not in control of the process.  But, we know we are in excellent hands and I need to trust the process and the very high level of experience (i.e. many decades!) entrusted to our home.

Today, I decided to see if I could remove the corrosion on the original wrought steel door hinges that are attached to the bathroom door stored against the wall in my office.  I wasn't certain if I could remove the discoloration and what appears to be rust (it isn't).  It didn't take long to make a drastic change, which I'm thankful. Just a few more steps and I'll be satisfied, but here is the before and after. These hinges were manufactured by Hager. The manufacturer name is embossed on the mortise portion of this hinge.

Before removing from the door

After...

 Huge improvement!!!