Hiraeth Restorations, LLC

01/16/2025

Just a jar with some random mud, right? Nope!

Tonight, after years of mixed results, I was able to reconstitute a historic mortar without damaging the aggregate. The substance in the jar is, in fact, a mortar that was mixed almost two hundred years ago. Deprived of carbon dioxide through intense heat, it fell into its primary elements of calcium hydrate and sand.

With a bit of effort, I’ll be able to put this mortar right back where it came from in the weeks ahead. Just need to finishing working up a few hundred pounds of the old mortar.

To me, this isn’t simply a matter of environmentalism or economics. Rather, in a small way, the mason or mason assistant who mixed this mortar in the 1830’s is alive again. It is almost like striking the ground with a staff and calling the dead back to their work.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the names of the masons who built this particular springhouse. Regardless, I hope that wherever they are today, they’re able to get some small satisfaction in knowing that their work is still appreciated to this extent. For workmen like them, and me for that matter, our labor is our life, leaving an impact, no matter how seemingly insignificant, on our world.

It’s strange how my Catholic spiritualism, my love for history, and my devotion to my work have merged so completely to bring me to such a state of exultation over a seemingly minor achievement but so it is and always shall be.

01/13/2025

Replacing a couple of lintels… FINALLY! December and the first half of January were incredibly tough.

A lintel, after almost two hundred years of service, was ready to fail. It is pretty impressive how long a simple two by six plank will survive when it’s covered in a lime mortar. The new lintel, going in tomorrow, consists of four by six white oak planks. Hopefully, it’ll last as long or longer than the original lintel.

Can’t wait to release the video over on YouTube on Friday, especially now that I’m monetized as of yesterday!

01/03/2025

The grave of my 5th great grandfather up in Lancaster County. Wounded on this day at the battle of Princeton, shot in the thigh, in 1777.

12/31/2024

Back in business! Got the truck yesterday afternoon and picked up materials for several projects today. The Amish sawyer charged me $110 for a TON of lumber. I handed him a hundred and he tried to wave off the other ten. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that he had to take the other ten bucks. If word got out that I had cheated an Amishman out of ten dollars, it would be akin to kicking a puppy in some circles. In that pile are the new lintels for the springhouse, materials for the house, and so much more!

Probably spending the rest of the week burning lime for the month ahead and putting this lumber to use before it dries out completely.

12/27/2024

No truck for over a month now and STILL WAITING!!! Definitely will NEVER recommend this body shop to anyone I don’t actively dislike. If I had known it would have taken even half this long, I could have done it myself in three or four days. Just a fender and a tailgate. Absolutely disgusted.

12/23/2024

Glad to see my shingles doing good service!

In May of 2024, we moved the Navarre Cabin to its new permanent home. With a new roof and stairs, its looks beautiful this time of year.

If you want to help us continue our mission to maintain local history, please consider donating to this year's annual fund. Donate today at https://www.historymuseumsb.org/support-us/giving-to-the-museum/

12/20/2024

Patience is something that is absolutely essential in this line of work. Lime mortar takes weeks or months to fully cure. Timber and lumber takes months or even years to dry. Slaking lime for plaster can take months. Finding the right tools and materials for different projects takes time. It’s frustrating but it builds character and has benefits. In October of 2021, I published a brief video showing a recipe for a 19th Century paint stripper. For two years, it did nothing. It was the only video I ever posted on that channel and I just quietly focused on another channel. Last week, the Youtube algorithm seemed to be pushing me towards creating one or two new channels due to audience discrepancies, so I went back to rebuild the other channel, finding a shocking revelation. At the two year mark, that single stupid video“hit” an audience and has accumulated almost 60,000 views in a year! Patience is crucial in life, whether that’s finding a wife, restoring a house, building a business, or building a social media presence. Patience and a bit of tenacity makes up for a lot of other faults.

12/18/2024

Some things never cease to amaze me. Two lintels, just simple two inch planks, held up about seven hundred pounds of stone for almost 190 years! Unfortunately, I think it’s time to replace them. I would usually replace them with identical materials but I’m going to cheat a bit and put four inch planks in their place. The new lintels should be ready to install by Monday.

12/17/2024

It’s been an INCREDIBLY frustrating few weeks since my truck and that deer had an unfortunate meeting. The body shop was playing some games with the insurance company, leading to a ridiculous delay of over a week and a half. Fortunately, it ought to be done in a couple of days and I’ll not have to use my dad’s truck(a pain in the neck to drive due to loose steering that makes it feel like I’m driving on ice).

In the evenings, when it’s too wet to work outside at the kiln, I’ve begun putting together a series of google maps which illustrate the various industrial, commercial, and institutional buildings in the region.

A few weeks back, in a discussion with a client, I tried to explain to him the sheer number of lime kilns operating in his area. It was a hopeless task, so I marked them out on a map.

Not being one to stop at that, I’ve decided to turn my hobby of finding and exploring early American industrial sites into a little side business. Nothing much really, just studying historic maps from the Library of Congress, comparing them to modern maps, and plotting in their approximate locations.

Sometimes, I’m dead accurate. Other times, I’m within a few hundred yards. Such is the nature of old maps.

While this is mostly for my clients who will each receive a link to their particular county map as it’s developed, I’ll offer this as a map in google for anyone interested. The fee would probably be five bucks per county.

I would mark out every old building but that would be too mentally draining, like reading the obituaries of close family members over and over. I’d just want to cry over all the history we’ve lost.

I’ve started with Chester County, Pennsylvania and will do sections of New Castle County, Delaware next. It’s a laborious task but fun. If I had a computer in the garage, able to smoke while I worked, it would be almost a pleasant avocation. As it is, sitting at a computer for more than twenty minutes at a stretch is almost painful to me.

There are maps of TONS of different counties in the eastern United States that I can use for this. If you’re interested in any particular area and want to support my work, check out the sample map(link below) and message me. Even if I’ve never set foot or will set foot in your particular county, no matter. I love to learn about new places and this is an excuse to do so.

Cecil County, Fourth District https://maps.app.goo.gl/8NzrgnPKATvJS2SYA?g_st=ic

11/29/2024

Timber varies widely in growth rates even today. The “old growth” forests are pretty much all gone and, here in the east, have been gone for centuries. However, it’s not as detrimental to restoration work as is commonly believed. In the case of oak, particularly white oak, good quality material is still available and accessible for anyone willing to look. In this photo, I compare three samples.
The top is from the remains of a white oak harvested around 1760. The growth rings are fairly tight but vary somewhat. This variation comes from the amount of sun and precipitation over the course of a growing season. Unseen in this photo, the sapwood does appear on the old timber, showing me that this tree was no more than fourteen inches across. The middle and bottom samples are from white oaks harvested within the last six months. The middle sample is comparable to the top, probably a shade tighter, showing a slower growth rate. The bottom is considerably wider, showing that this timber grew with little competition for sun and possibly in a moister environment. Many times, in historic work, I’ve seen that smaller trees seemed to be preferred. In my experience, it’s far easier and faster to hew out a log that’s closer to the size of the desired finished timber than to try getting smaller stock out of a significantly larger log. In historic buildings, it’s common to find entire logs, hewn on one surface for flooring, complete with bark and sapwood. Smaller, slow growing timber is comparatively easy to find and if one hangs around a log yard long enough or wanders through the woods frequently, high quality material inevitably comes along. Pine and poplar with a tight growth pattern is harder to come by but it, too, can be found with enough patience. “The “old growth” was always better myth” needs to go away. Timber is timber and it all comes down to the environment and weather. White oaks did not suddenly morph into something weak at some point in history. Careful forestry practices could provide timber of a quality comparable to historical timber for generations to come. If I had a hundred acres, I know what I’d be doing with it…

11/29/2024

Smacked a deer coming home from the mill on Wednesday night. The deer got away but he probably feels it now. My fender and tailgate sure do.

*Don’t worry, I survived unscathed.

11/26/2024

Shingles for the Delaware spring house are now in production. The perfect job for the cold and damp weather. The first lumber for the new ceiling joists and rafters are on order, too. After a long discussion with the Amish sawyer, he’ll be watching for pine logs with a tight grain to match the original 1830’s timbers. He could have them in a week or he could have them in a month but having something of a comparable quality is important, especially in this context. There isn’t a price difference so may as well go for the best.

If need be, I can go out in the woods and find a slow growing tree for harvesting. There are a few tricks to finding slow growth trees that I learned years ago in Kentucky and they almost never fail. Look for trees on rocky slopes, trees that are significantly smaller than those around it, and in the midst of a fairly dense but dry woods. The more a tree has to struggle and compete for survival, the slower it grows and the tighter the growth pattern. Hopefully, some logger down state will bring in some good material in the next couple of weeks but if not, I’ll be out in the woods myself by Christmas.

11/20/2024

Two of four timbers hewn out and ready to go in a 1760’s brick farm house. One of the most common problems I’ve seen in historic buildings are deteriorated floor joists. It causes most people to panic and with good reason. However, it’s generally a relatively easy and inexpensive fix, especially in stone or brick buildings. Next, I’ll be removing enough bricks in the front wall to slide in the new Timbers. Then jack it into position, reinstall the bricks, and the floor should be good for another two hundred years.

Incidentally, I try to keep two or three different projects going at the same time. Proper restoration work requires a fair amount of time just finding and preparing the right materials. While the materials are being prepared for one project, progress on a second or third project can be made on site. It’s an odd way to do business but, for me and my strict adherence to authenticity, it’s my best option while keeping prices as low as possible to encourage historic preservation.

11/15/2024

I don’t get to do contemporary work too often. When I do, though, it’s usually a lot of fun. Putting up timbers in my living room today that’ll serve as trim. There’s one catch:

I absolutely REFUSE to use any “reclaimed” materials in my work. The only exception is when a building has been properly preserved and restored and the “reclaimed” materials were original pieces that were unusable(timbers with rotten ends, for instance) in the reconstruction. Also, I try to keep these materials with the original property. This keeps these old Timbers and such in context.

From my collapsed barn, I took out several hewn timbers that were rotten is places, totally unsound for a reconstruction. Instead of pitching them, I put them up in my living room. Not having enough, I hewed out the difference from poplar slabs. My work compares favorably to the earlier 1820-ish work… which was, incidentally, done by my great great great great grandfather. If I took his timbers from the property, they’d lose context and old Samuel Burnite would no longer be relevant to the story. As it is, he’s very much with us today and every time I sit in the living room, I remember him. Loving one’s ancestors is difficult when they’re just a name on a screen. When the work of their hands is a part of your daily life, it becomes impossible not to love them.

11/08/2024

While finishing up the springhouse foundation work for the winter, I used stone from a modern retaining wall built when the foundation was wrecked by a badly thought-out doorway. While digging up the stone, I came across a stone step(also modern) leading to what had been the doorway. Then another step below that. And another. And yet another. In the course of fifty or so years, these steps had been buried by a layer of sediment almost three feet thick! Definite confirmation that resealing the foundation was the right move. The doorway in the foundation turned the springhouse into nothing more but a massive catch basin, home to swarms of mosquitoes, and exposing the internal woodwork to a constant stagnant dampness.

Too bad the steps were too tightly held by an old stump to be retrieved for later use. However, when I need them(I have plans for them already), I’ll know exactly where to find them.

I finished editing and publishing a video covering this subject over on YouTube.

When I made it home, I found these two, comfortably situated on the furniture. With the foundation done for now, I can take a day off and finish up the living room of my own house.

11/07/2024

Poor little fellow. Lost his rock to a wall. I gave him another stone just as nice.

11/06/2024

Should be finished closing up this badly conceived and poorly executed doorway by tomorrow evening. Tying my work into the original stone work is extremely important for reasons both aesthetic and strength. Matching the somewhat loose early 19th or 18th century masonry has been a fun challenge. I like tight mortar joints and it’s been a struggle to keep myself from overdoing it. Most of the stone came from a wall built when the doorway was opened. Based on faint traces of old mortar and white wash, the stone is pretty much going right back where it came from. Ive watched a lot of the old British series “Time Team” over the years and have seen many “robber trenches”, ditches dug to retrieve stone from old foundations for new construction. Here, I have a “robber trench” of my very own.

Found a 1963 dated license plate buried behind the newer wall, giving me some estimate as to when this work was done. For fifty or sixty years, rain has washed down into the spring house, carrying literally tons of dirt and rubbish with it. Glad the foundation is about wrapped up! The roof should be fun after this.

One of the last things I’ll do on this project will be applying a fresh lime stucco over most of the stone work, giving it an extra layer of protection. But I’m still several months away from that. Back to the mill for lumber and logs for shingles come next week!

11/04/2024

A bit chilly for mortar work this morning, so the focus is on shingles for the springhouse and exploring the creek beds for any clean sand deposits. Just a short walk from my front door(if this ugly old addition had a front door), visited a pair of stone bridge abutments built by my great great grandfather(James T. Birney) around 1900 and the shallow stone quarry he used in his work. Alas, very little sand. The creek is low and the lack of rain means my usual sand sources are rather thin. Reckon I’ll go down to Elk Mills and see what’s down below the railroad bridge. Should be gorgeous the rest of the week to finish up the spring house foundation work.