This Old House - Charleston

For the first time in their 39 year history, This Old House has come to Charleston to film home restorations for their show.  Two projects and ten episodes!  The first two episodes have aired and they're great.  I wanted to take a moment to encourage people to watch since I've really enjoyed what I've seen so far.  The houses are old with plenty of work to be done and they're amazing.  They're in terrible shape, but the potential is impossible to miss.   

The first episode was simply an introduction to both projects and their respective home owners; Scott & Kathleen and Judith & Julia.  Mark Regalbuto of Renew Urban was also introduced as one of the general contractors.  

Episode two covers demolition of both homes, some archaeological digging in the back yard and under the kitchen house, and a visit to The American College of The Building Arts at their new campus on Meeting Street on the peninsula.  In this second show, viewers meet Lindsay Nevin of Flyway, the GC of the other house.  

Some articles with more info and before pictures:

Charleston Post & Courier article by Robert Behre

KPBS - San Diego - by Jennifer Robinson

Step 37 - Carpet

When I have carpeting on my renovations, I wait until the wood flooring work is complete. (see Step 34)

Carpet is wonderful sometimes and must be addressed.  Better late than never, but since it's one of the last scopes on my projects it's naturally at the end of my step-by-step breakdown.  It almost feels like I forgot about it.  My apologies to carpet and any DIYers after information on my 35th step to renovating a Pig's Ear.  

I love wood floors, but carpet has been the answer in certain rooms of my projects as well, especially in bedrooms.   Come on now, it's understandable.  When hopping out of bed in the morning most people like to land on something comfortable before hunting for slippers.  Carpet works and is practical.

In two decades, I've done almost all the scopes of work on my renovations at least once.  Some of the tasks I enjoy with a passion.  Wood flooring is one and an example of something I take on as often as I can.  Others I've tried and then said, "From now on I'm going to find someone to handle this for me."  Sometimes it's cheaper to get a trades person with the experience and the proper tools to come knock it out more efficiently than I can myself.  This applies to carpeting and everything else on a rehab.  I may enjoy it, but if it's not practical within the remaining schedule I will find the right people, stay out of their way, and thankfully write them a check after they've worked wonders with their trade.

I did carpeting once... on a closet.  It looked okay, but not as well done as the pros.  That was the one and only time for me and from then on I was happy to let the carpet experts work their magic.

BERCHADOR: A Special Place to Live and Work

Berchador

For two decades, I've lived in a region made up of three counties: Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester. Grouped together, they’re comparable in size to the U.S. State of Delaware, and I bounce between the three throughout the day, every week, month after month. With things like property research and the organization of our local school districts, it’s three distinct areas. However, in my work life dealing with contractors, real estate agents, banks, and vendors, it’s one unofficial region. If I’m within these three counties, the conversation flows routinely, but if I venture into neighboring counties such as Georgetown, Colleton, or Orangeburg, it’s as if I’ve wandered out of bounds. And when I’m outside of our triad of counties it’s common to hear, “Sorry, but that’s too far.” As I describe my life and renovation career in this tri-county region, I simply call it Berchador.

This pleasant-sounding montage created from the first three letters of each county is not something I came up with on my own. Although it’s uncommon, it’s been used by others. There was once a popular teen hangout in Berkeley County named the Berchador Coliseum, and the local technical college, Tri-Dent Tech has campuses in all three counties and was ini-

tially called Berchador Tech. And over the years, some tri-county businesses have used Berchador in their names as well.

    On my first visited to Berchador in 1996, I felt like I had stumbled onto a big secret, but I would learn that this exotic and semi-tropical region oozes with contradictions. Here there are saltwater dolphins and freshwater alligators, majestic egrets and blue herons, but also anoles and skink lizards. This area is a spiritual place in the buckle of the Bible Belt with the Holy City of Charleston as it's crown jewel. But it's also inhabited by haints, boo hags, and the plat eye who all own the night with ghosts, some three centuries old. And the BCD is an incubator of tolerable fibs, where cockroaches are called "palmetto bugs," wharf rats are known as "river dogs" or hate is called "heritage" and the Civil War has been tagged "The War of Northern Aggression."

    Here, in this humid haven of South Carolina's Lowcountry, brilliant flowers, leafy palms, and ancient gnarly oaks draped with Spanish moss grow abundantly next to swamps and abandoned rice fields. And these three counties bewilder English speakers with streets like Huger which is pronounced "Hugh Gee," and where the Cooper River is called "the Cupper." And finally, Berchador has unique meals like shrimp and grits, Frogmore stew and chicken bog, with sweets like pralines and benne wafers.

 

Berchador is my tri-county part of the world. It’s unique in ways that I’ve grown accustomed to, and it’s a special place that I’ve been fortunate to live, work, and call home for the last twenty years. It wasn’t home when I got here, but it is now. Since I’m not a native, I have a fresher perspective than folks who have lived here for their entire lives. And this setting is noteworthy in the context of this blog since it has enhanced my home renovation adventures.

Rewritten February 28, 2021

Trent
bloodsweatandpigsears@hotmail.com

Renovating Takes Time... And That's Okay.

If you've seen any of the American Rehab Charleston or Restoring Charleston episodes, than you understand that I'm really into history.  We're at the end of football season and all the teams I pull for have been eliminated.  But the thing that holds my attention to the NFL's season finale in February is the historical ramifications.  As much as the action on the field, I know the history of the sport and that's significant in why I watch professional football.

I enjoy college football for a different reason.  There's still a historical element to my interest, but the action on the field is different, and for this fan better than the pro games.  College football is a little slower.  Not a lot, but enough that it's noticeably easier to see plays develop.  I like that.  Things happen so fast in the NFL and this leads to the propensity for significant injuries (which stinks), but it also makes it tougher to follow the action without instant replay.  

It seems like I'm off topic when I start writing about sports, but this is still about renovating old houses.  I've never considered myself a house flipper.  Flipping houses is a fast deal like the NFL action.  What I do when I renovate a Pig's Ear is a little different.  However, I think my approach is not just a better fit for my family and I, but it's also more practical for most people renovating a home of their own as a do-it-yourselfer serving in the role as their own General Contractor or Construction Manager.  In this way (in this football/rehab analogy) it's more similar to college football.  It's slower and you can see and understand things differently than in a flip that's laser focused on schedule and budget where you save time that costs money and along the way miss some valuable or worthwhile things.  

Just like I enjoy history, and the history of a sport like football, I also have a constant appreciation for the history of each of my properties.  For me, that's just part of the adventure of fixing up a house.  And not just the houses, but the neighborhood and the town.  I know some may see these things as distractions to the bottom line profit, but this is not a numbers game for me.  It's also a way of life and I'm thankful for this awareness.

I've seen how home rehabbing shows make the projects look easier than they actually are or more difficult (see Renovation Realities on DIY).  But since I've also renovated a few houses with the film crews I understand why and how the producers do it... and I get it (sort of).  A thirty minute or two hour house rehab on television is fun and can be inspirational, but it's not like the real thing.  That I do know for sure.  The real life, hand's on experience is so much better.  It's more exciting and more enjoyable in a different way, and sure it takes longer than a half hour.  But if your a DIYer, embrace the time it takes to complete your project.  Realize that it's part of the experience.  Savor it.  Appreciate it.  And make the most of this extra time.     

BTW - I'm cheering for the Philadelphia Eagles on Super Bowl Sunday, not just because they're the underdog (the Beagles), but because they've never won the big game before.

If Necessary, Just Slow Down  (May 3rd, 2012)

Step 36 - Sanding and Wood Floor Finishing

I did all the wood floor work on The Cottage myself. 
I had a super tight budget... plus I wanted to give it a try. 

Sanding and finishing the wood floors (if you have them) is one of the last steps.  This scope takes a few days and you need to plan to vacate the inside while this work is underway.  This can be tough since the end of the project is typically  crunch time with a lot of punch list items.  However, the fumes of the polyurethane are strong and the floors are wet which adds up to leaving the home to the crew inside and being sure not to schedule any other interior work while this scope is being knocked out.

I'm not saying the house has to be totally off limits, but no one really needs to be in there for too long.  When we were filming some of the final scenes of Restoring Charleston in the summer of 2016, we tried to shoot some dialogue in the front of The Appleby House while they finished the wood floors in back.   We thought we could squeeze in some work despite the poly going down, but we were wrong.  The entire production crew felt the effects in a big way and we had to take a break to recover.  For a half hour we laughed and moaned some Cypress Hill lyrics as we cleared our heads on the front porch.

Finally, before I even schedule Step 34, my interior trim is 99% finished.  The only thing not done is the shoe molding (or quarter round).   This is completed after the wood flooring work is done since the edging sander can only get within 1/8" of the base molding.    Words of Advice:  Keep in mind, that if you have a deadline (for example a final inspection), you may want to consider postponing this little bit of trim until after your home has been checked off.  You need the shoe molding, but it  can eat up some time to install, caulk, and paint properly and it's not critical to receive a Certificate of Occupancy. 

Don't rush  Step 34.  Be sure to allow the necessary time and do it right the first time.

That's All Folks

Happy New Year, Friends!

I've really appreciated the inquires about upcoming projects on television.  These notes have meant a lot as well as the words of support and enthusiasm for the shows.  

As many of you understand or can imagine, renovating a house that's been condemned is a big challenge and doing this work with a film crew on site makes everything more interesting and exciting.  In many ways, the network's role makes things easier and in others, it makes them trickier.  It's certainly a give and take, but without a doubt the TV involvement in the effort makes the renovation work more expensive.  

Schedule is significant in renovating houses, but with a Pig's Ear or extreme rehab, it's just one factor.  For me, it's never been the top thing.  I know it's really important in home flipping, but that's not what I do and this disconnect in priorities was an obstacle that I didn't anticipate.  My objective is to save the house, make the most of whatever I have to work with, and come away with some profit.  But the producers have different goals.  They have a show to make with an awareness of what viewers will tune in for.  Along with that they're diligently focused on the schedule in a way that takes precedence over everything.  As an example, the producers came to South Carolina to film me four times and we wrapped production as scheduled all four times.  But this adherence to the schedule comes with a cost and our rehabs were extremely costly, especially on Restoring Charleston where we completed both homes in nine weeks as planned.    

I'll always be grateful for the TV experiences I enjoyed and will continue to share my work through this blog as well as my Trentovation page on Facebook.  

Best wishes for 2018 and as always, please feel free to ask any questions or comments below or email them to bloodsweatandpigsears@hotmail.com.

My step-son Covington getting a feel for the
weight of the camera, Summer 2016.