It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. That’s what wood looks like just before it falls apart completely. It’s possible to stick a pocket knife into that mess with basically no resistance. There are fancy ways that this could be repaired, most involving some kind of epoxy impregnation. The thing is, this …
That’s the flooring in the attic of a 1930s house. It’s the original, and it’s worn and has never been maintained in any way. Wood is simply a beautiful material.
Beautiful, isn’t it? What is it? It’s the joint between two sections of a fire-escape handrail in Brooklyn. Each section has a frame around its perimeter made up of small wrought-iron angles, which are bolted to the balcony framing below and to each other at these seams. So the angle on the left is part …
Those pictures (click on them to enlarge them) were taken about six hours apart on the day of our last spring snowstorm. The truncated-cone roof is standing-seam copper and encloses an open, unheated mechanical space. If you look closely, you’ll see that the snow ends a bit short of the corner where the slope turns …
In the recent discussion of wood skyscrapers (full disclosure: I think they’re a terrible idea) I have noticed any discussion of the extent of exterior maintenance necessary to prevent wood from acting like the biological material it is. A masonry curtain wall can go thirty years with no maintenance and not fail: a lot of …
