Hiraeth Restorations, LLC

07/08/2025

Tedious work. Removing the Portland mortar from the oldest law office(1735) in the United States without destroying the fragile bricks is going to take time and a delicate touch. We pointed a small area two weeks ago to see how our new lime mortar will do. It’s surprisingly hard and durable. However, the colour isn’t quite to my liking. Will probably add a touch more lime and use a lighter coloured sand to brighten up the joints a bit. The darker sand gives it a natural look that, for this particular building, doesn’t seem quite right to me.

I kind of suspect that this little building may have been stuccoed when it was first built. If it was a field stone building, I’d be willing to bet that it was. Colonial era brickwork, however, could easily go either way. The stucco would add an extra layer of protection to the underlying materials and, honestly, it’s much faster and easier to stucco a surface than to fill in each individual mortar joint. With no clear evidence otherwise, we will simply point the joints.

05/22/2025

Another wet and weary day. Despite the weather, it’s been an exciting morning. The first plate went on with no real struggle. That’s relative, of course. If you consider wrestling a 250 lbs white oak timber up a pair of ladders and having it win a couple of rounds to be not a struggle, then it’s an uneventful morning.

The second plate, the subject of this post, is going to be the real challenge. It is a couple feet higher than the first due to the grade of the ground. It’s longer to span an opening, naturally making it heavier. However, I won’t complain about that. I’m happy to be challenged. Once I hit forty, I came to the conclusion that when a white oak six by six could whip me, I’d be ready to go to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. Until then, I’ll give a good old “ooorrah” reminiscent of my old man’s Marine Corps exclamation and do what needs done.

However, that isn’t the point of this post either.

It’s rather more exciting than that. In removing the old top plate, I was pleasantly surprised to find clear evidence that the attic joists were tied into the plates on one half of the building with mortise and tenon joints. I even found the fragile remains of the broken peg!

This complicates things a bit but, in another way, simplifies the work. It’s a complex little building we have here, altered from a springhouse to an office building in, I believe, the 1830’s. These alterations are clearly evident in the subtle construction details between the original springhouse and office. This simple mortise and tenon joint is one such piece of evidence.

05/19/2025

Almost ready for installation! The roof framing for the springhouse is roughed out. Two more rafters and the first section will be ready to go by the end of the day tomorrow. Just my luck, they’re calling for rain Wednesday so we’ll likely be soaked to the skin when we slide them into place.

The joints are a bit loose at the moment. This is by design. In most old buildings, stone outbuildings in particular, perfect measurements are hard to get and there is so much variation that all but rough measurements would be almost meaningless anyway. When these rafters are slid into position, there will be a bit of chisel work to be done to make each joint as close to perfect, both for aesthetic and structural reasons, as possible. When the wooden pegs are driven home, every joint should be almost a work of art if you think along those lines. I don’t really. It’s just practical work using methods that take the most advantage of the natural strengths and durability of wood.

At least the shingles are ready. Just need the lath and we’ll be ready to finish the first half of the roof. Once the buzzard moves out later this year, we’ll tackle the other half.

05/18/2025

We finally finished the rafter seats in the top plates for the Newark springhouse! It went moderately well despite sporadic rain over the past week. In these slots will sit the new rafters, each carefully notched to fit firmly and safely.

As far as tools, a couple of chisels, a mortising axe, a simple mallet, a couple of squares, and a 120 year old saw were all the was needed. Actually, the mortising axe was never needed. Too bad. I love using it.

The most essential step in the entire process was producing a simple pattern. When making complex joints by hand, identical pieces are almost impossible to produce. Instead, there will invariably be some slight variation. The pattern is simply to serve as a rough guide. When the rafters are cut and shaped to fit, each will be made for a specific rafter seat.

Tomorrow morning, plates and rafters and tools will be taken across the crick for final fitting. With almost no level spaces in my own yard, I’ll have to do the rafter fitting at my dad’s shop. Tomorrow is not going to be especially difficult. Stressful, yes. One bad cut and a rafter will be ruined. It’ll require a great deal of patience and precision to bring it all together without serious loss.

If tomorrow goes well, these rafters should be firmly installed in the springhouse and ready for shingles by the middle of the week.

A video covering the production of the rafters is now on my YouTube channel. Preparing the plates and fitting the rafters will be a presentation released this Thursday.

05/12/2025

Found this fellow trying to cross the road in front of my house. He’s not very shy. Guess he and I will take a walk deeper into the woods in a bit.

04/30/2025

The first new rafter for the springhouse roof is just about finished. A bit of tweaking to get the right pitch, then drill out the holes for the pins, and they’ll be ready. Just six more to go!

04/12/2025

Yesterday, in the pouring rain, I carefully examined what is purported to be the oldest law office in the United States. This will be the subject of my next YouTube video, covering any issues that need addressed and how I propose to resolve them.

In my research, I learned that the county courthouse was built the same year(1735) practically across the street from this office.

Before the advent of formal brickyards, bricks would often be produced on or close to the proposed building site. Due to the high probability of losing bricks in the firing due to breakage, underbaking, etc, many extras would be produced.

My theory is that the bricks were produced in the same firing, a massive clamp being built using the dried but unfired bricks. The extra, less desirable bricks, would be used on something like this small octagonal building. This would explain why such a high proportion of the bricks used in the construction are so much softer than others.

The real question I have that would resolve the matter: were cupolas in early 18th century buildings typically supported by any masonry? The courthouse cupola is an octagon. If any sort of stack was built in the center of the structure using specially molded corner bricks, it may explain why this office building is also octagonal. Corner bricks would be more liable to damage and failure in firing, meaning that a higher proportion than normal of these as extras would be made for the courthouse. Their unique shape and size would make them more difficult to work and fire than typical rectangular bricks.

Just a theory. All 18th Century buildings I’ve studied have been too modest to include a cupola so it’s simply a theory. Reckon I’ll find out eventually.

04/09/2025

Another day on the springhouse. It’s tough working alone. Six by six white oak timbers are heavy. Once they’re over about twelve feet in length, they become downright ornery.

In 1924, one of my uncles(Eli, my Grandmom Birney’s older brother) was killed when a timber fell on his head while working on a barn in Newark, Delaware. With that always in the back of my mind, I’m careful to an almost nonsensical level. I never place myself directly under a timber. It makes for slow work. I could easily(relatively speaking) simply lift these timbers up and onto the stone work, it would put me in a bad situation if something slipped or if the stone ledge wasn’t quite large enough. The ladders were my best friends today.

The original timbers were locked into position by iron brackets. It appears that these were only installed on the two ends. I’m going to do a bit of overkill and install new ones with two on each timber. This will support the roof far better.

The mortise and tenon are a bit loose. Once I drive in the wooden pins when I install the trusses, these joints will tighten up dramatically.

Deep in the foundation, I could just catch a glimpse of a crude set of steps. This was probably the genesis for this particular springhouse. Just a limestone-lined pool of fresh spring water on the roadside, later converted to a springhouse. I can almost picture a British grenadier filling his canteen in this exact spot while Howe was on the march to the Brandywine. The army passed within a quarter mile of this spot so it’s entirely possible.

The other half of the building has not flooded despite the recent heavy rain. Any moisture comes through the leaky roof above. I’m thrilled to see that my conclusion about the source of the stagnant pool of water formerly in the foundation has proven correct.

Alright, one final question: I grew up dealing with hardwoods. Identifying the differences between pine species and hemlock has always been tough for me. The timbers in the last two photos, do you think they’re hemlock or white pine? I’ve got more samples at home and I’m willing to bet they’re hemlock. The separation of the wood along the rings gives me that impression.

Barring any further evidence to the contrary, I’ll probably use hemlock throughout this reconstruction except where white oak would be more effective. The top plates just installed for instance. Solid white oaks that should last out the century.

04/06/2025

In my work, finding this “raft lumber” is not uncommon in buildings in northern Cecil County. I’ve got more than a few solid pieces that, due to decay on the ends, were unsuitable for further use as floor board or siding. However, the solid sections remain for possible use in a second life for people that can appreciate the history of the wood.

03/01/2025

Shingle season is almost over! These ought to be on a roof within the next couple of months. It’s been a challenge to finish these and the small mountain of shingles I’ve got drying out back. Ignoring all but the most important phone calls, dodging visitors and pretending not to be home, and barely leaving the shop takes almost as much out of a fella as the labor itself. Can’t wait to get back into the field next week, laying stone and rebuilding stuff. Winter time SUCKS!

When a man is sitting on a shaving horse for endless hours, he has plenty of time to think. One thought has been: since these take so much effort to produce, I’ll limit all sales for these shingles to pre-1880 structures. It’s only a sideline and until next winter, it’ll be work relegated to rain days and nights. The cost of $700/square keeps the tire kickers away and covers the labor and material costs. Having what I know is a superior product means that clients find me and not t’other way ‘round. The supply will always be limited but the demand is pretty limited, too. A happy balance me thinks.

Tomorrow, I’ll be loading up the truck and getting back into the field where I belong. May 2025 be my best, most productive year yet!

02/23/2025

The problem with catering to a niche market is the absence of readily available tools for production. It sometimes requires one to build a piece of equipment from a vague description or, if one is lucky, an equally vague sketch.

This morning, I finished a shingle press. After today, carrying shingles in loose stacks, always an irritating process, is a thing of the past.

This is just a proof of concept. The next step is to refine the process and add a couple of pieces. Hickory bands will be much more efficient than the poplar I used for this test. The pins are some of the waste from making the shingles themselves, rather satisfying to include it in the final steps of production.

White oak shingles, when fresh made, are heavy! This is but a quarter square(25 feet squared) and it was too heavy to lift from the ground. After drying out for a week or two, however, they’ll be considerably lighter.

With that finished, I’ll proceed to work on my own house. Plenty to do on a Sunday.

02/21/2025

Damn but I wish I knew someone with connections! I’d do the restoration work on a volunteer basis just for the YouTube content and knowing I did something useful on a battlefield.

After multiple rehabilitation attempts by the National Park Service, the Klingel Farm is in dire need of reconstruction to save the stories preserved in its walls, and its presence on the iconic viewscape of Pickett’s Charge.

Join our mission to for future generations: https://ow.ly/C4fu50UYKGu