Bugs to be sure, but then who opens their windows with the comfort and ease of central heating and air conditioning? In 1822 the American Farmer catalogue offered mesh cloth screen to keep bugs out of your home, and of began the humble window screen that allowed windows to be opened in the heat of […]Read More about Window Screens? Why?
The Rest-Well Bed Board
With today’s mattresses that support you and wrap you in a cloud top it’s hard to believe that a sheet of plywood under your thin 50’s or 60’s mattress would make you sleep better! In the attic of an old Dayton home there was, an abandoned antique, if you can believe it, the “Famous De-Lux […]Read More about The Rest-Well Bed Board
Arrow-Hart & Hegeman Lives & Glows
A Long-Gone Company name on an old piece of service equipment in the basement of a building built in the early 1900’s had a manufacturers tag: Arrow-Hart & Hegeman. A name I didn’t recognize and wondered if it still existed. It turns out that Charles G. Perkins founded the Arrow Electric Manufacturing Co. in 1905 […]Read More about Arrow-Hart & Hegeman Lives & Glows
The Company No Longer Exists, their doors do!
An old bank building from the early 1900’s has a series of these heavy fireproof doors dividing up the basement so that any fire caused by exploding boilers would not spread throughout the building. These “Fyrgard” doors were made by The Richmond Fireproof Door company of Richmond Indiana. Founded in 1891 and had a 50th […]Read More about The Company No Longer Exists, their doors do!
Rare Gasoline Powered Saw
Having spent an hour on the internet I cannot find any information on this portable gasoline powered saw. It has to be one of the earliest portable self powered saws made, one cylinder engine, belt drive (the original was probably leather), steel wheels, wooden chassis with two handles for maneuvering it, a sliding cutting table, […]Read More about Rare Gasoline Powered Saw
No Key Required for Bank Safe
One of the most interesting things about inspecting older buildings is the history of the building. Being able to touch and feel something that was made by true craftsmen in another century, too be awed by the exquisite workmanship and the longevity of the building. In this old building that was originally built as a […]Read More about No Key Required for Bank Safe
Is it a Treasure or Hazmat in the Barn?
We inspect more than homes, add barns and you might be surprised what we find that has nothing to do with the structure or it’s components. Everything from vintage cars to antique firearms that have been forgotten or disguarded by their owners so long ago they do not realize what they may be worth in […]Read More about Is it a Treasure or Hazmat in the Barn?
A Home Inspection ? How Things Have Changed.
Back in Rome in 35 BC it was all about “caveat emptor “ as Julius Caesar would have counseled his friends when buying a house off the Via Apia! In fact up till the early 1990’s it was the same in Dayton until the first Home Inspection company appeared in the Yellow Pages and gave […]Read More about A Home Inspection ? How Things Have Changed.
A Kind Mail Carrier At Christmas
Evidently in times gone past the local mail carrier who walked from house to house treated Christmas as a special time. This mail carrier gave all the homeowners on his route a gift , how times have changed. “Happy Holidays”, it nice to thank your mail carrier for getting the mail to your door no […]Read More about A Kind Mail Carrier At Christmas
Submarine in a Dayton Basement?
You might be forgiven for thinking that this inspector was inspecting a WWII submarine, it looks like a moment from Red October. Down in the basement of an old Dayton school in that has been repurposed into a lovely apartment building are a bank of old abandoned distribution panels that looked like something from a […]Read More about Submarine in a Dayton Basement?
Hidden Beauty In a Church Attic
As often as this church has been used over the last 100 years, the thousands of hours parishioners spent in the pews, the thoughts they must have had of the beautiful sanctuary, I wonder how many people thought of what was above the ceiling. The attic above the sanctuary is twice as large as the […]Read More about Hidden Beauty In a Church Attic
Long Forgotten, Xenia Lumber Company
Inspecting an older home there was a stamp on most of the floor joists visible in the basement. It was hard to make out what it said, most of the stamps were all faded or blurred and illegible which made me more curious. It was obviously something to do with Xenia, but what? It turns […]Read More about Long Forgotten, Xenia Lumber Company
What Is “A Light Switch Away”……Electrocution?
There have been many comments about light switches and this is “one light switch away from” electrifying or possibly electrocuting the user. We take modern wiring for granted, fumbling for a light switch in a dark room without the possibility of getting shocked. This is more like something Dracula would have used to terrify movie […]Read More about What Is “A Light Switch Away”……Electrocution?
Forgotten Dayton: Rike’s Department Store
In Englewood inspecting this lovely one owner ranch and came across this box in the garage. It’s “dated” color and design invoked a happy memory of Rike’s, one of Dayton’s lost landmarks. The owners of the house bought it new in 1961 and may have had the box for years, the box has to be […]Read More about Forgotten Dayton: Rike’s Department Store
