Less small houses, more retrofit
Good brick is mostly a series of small, unglamorous decisions. I wrote most of this on a calm Thursday morning. Thanks for reading, and for the gentle notes that keep arriving. We start every project by spending time on the site at different hours.
A few details
If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you. We draw by hand early on; it keeps decisions loose. I tested the modest version first. It did not last.
Small things
I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. The best renovation keeps more than it replaces. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about small houses. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out.
Nothing here requires a tracing paper, though it does make things easier. Materials should age well rather than stay new. Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I worked out them.
The shift showed up bit by bit, then all at once. I would rather do one thing with care than five things in a hurry. Small buildings demand the same care as large ones, sometimes more. The first three weeks were mostly about unlearning. Good small houses is mostly a series of small, unglamorous decisions.
Second thoughts
What surprised me most was how little equipment it needed. Good daylight is mostly a series of small, unglamorous decisions. The best advice I got was just to slow down.
Some of this will be self-evident; some of it took me years. Most problems with thresholds turn out to be problems with time. I keep a short list of things to try next; working with light is near the top. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about daylight. The local part is rarely the hard part; consistency is.
- Ask someone at an old warehouse
- Compare against last winter
- Do less renovating, more working with light
- Write down what you change
- Budget twice the time you expect