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Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable > Episode 16: Refurbishing Wrought Iron, Custom Kitchen Cabinets, Profile Molding

Restoring the Brownstone Facade and Working on the Wrought Iron

Project: Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable, Episode 16, Part 1

The facade of the Manhattan Brownstone has its wrought iron work, carvings, and Brownstone paint stripped and refurbished by Erik Nadoban of Nadoban Painting. Inside, a huge kitchen is outfitted with floor-to-ceiling custom cabinets designed to replicate the painted finishes and panel design of a Victorian kitchen. Thomas Bump of Fine Custom Cabinetry shows Bob the Maple veneer interiors, paint-grade mixed hardwood face frames, doors, and panels on these cabinets and drawers. The tinted, sprayed catalyzed finish is so durable and easy-to-clean that it is epoxy-like. On the doors, concealed hinges can be tightened three ways for proper hanging. On the drawers, concealed hardware supports self-closing drawers. In the front of this floor-through apartment, grand one-over-one windows replace 1940s conversion casements. These windows have a box casing on the interior that is the depth of the masonry wall. Victorian profile moldings surround the windows and soar to period-style, custom fiberglass cove moldings at the ceiling. Landmarks Commission approval for these windows may have delayed construction on the Brownstone for nearly a month, but Bob and Chris Vila agree it was worth it as they look at boarded openings on a neighboring building where custom windows were removed for lack of approval.

Part 1: Restoring the Brownstone Facade and Working on the Wrought Iron: Bob focuses on the exterior of the Manhattan Brownstone, where paint has built up over the last 100 years and now obscures the details and carvings on the facade. Erik Nadoban of Nadoban Painting joins Bob to talk about stripping the paint and restoring the facade to its original appearance. Nadoban used an alkaline-based product and paper to peel away the layers of paint on the Brownstone and carvings. This method removes up to 30 layers of paint. On the wrought iron he used a methane chloride product. The intricate detailing and iron flowers required five or six applications of stripper to dig out the paint. Once stripped, he applied an oil-base rust inhibitor followed by a single, light coat of oil-base paint. He uses a technique that prevents drips and buildup, first dabbing around the details with an angled ox-hair brush, then using a light-hand coat to sweep across the dabs and give a smooth finish.
Part 2: Custom Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers
Part 3: Custom Moldings, Window Casings, and Coves

This project deals with two very different notions of home. Bob begins on New York City's Upper West Side, where an 1890s Brownstone is revitalized through high-quality craftsmanship and sensitive design. New York's past meets its present, as the entire floor is recaptured and refurbished to create a spacious urban apartment on the doorstep of Central Park.

At the same time, Bob works with a Cape Cod developer to apply Massachusetts land use statute 40B to create affordable housing, and a neighborhood of homes in Mashpee, MA. These Energy Star certified homes show how quality building practices and reasonable asking prices can work together to provide livable, affordable homes and neighborhoods to those who work in our communities.

Also from Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable

Episode 1 - A New Lift for a Manhattan Brownstone
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Description:
Bob is on Manhattan's Upper West Side to renew a 2,000-square-foot Brownstone apartment. First, he looks at what made Brownstones significant, including their details and façades.<br> <br> Inside the building, Bob shows how the space was cut up in the 1940s to make a warren of rooms. These walls and finishes will be removed as the space is gutted to prepare for new studs, walls, plumbing, and finishes.<br> <br> Pieces will be salvaged for architectural resale, including the pink sink from the bathroom and the retro cabinets in the kitchen, but everything else will go. Bob also visits Central Park, its caretakers, trees, and monuments.
Episode 2 - Demolition in the Manhattan Brownstone
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Description:
The big story is the cornice molding found in tact when the drop ceiling came down. The molding will set a tone for the main living space, where the bricks have been removed to install a flue liner and drafting fireplace. All of the 40s wall, surface, and ceiling treatments are gone, along with the lath and plaster, leaving the bare brick and exposed joists from the original construction. Remodels have cut into the joist work or damaged it, so some reworking will be necessary to build up for the floors and ceilings. The floor joists are sistered to make a level, solid footing for the Georgia-Pacific Plytanium subflooring that goes under the wood floor. Laser levels allow the carpenters to set level lines throughout the apartment horizontally for the floor and vertically for the new steel studs they are installing. Finally, a flexible flue liner is run through the wall, and up the chimney for the new fireplace.
Episode 3 - Building Affordable Homes on Cape Cod
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Description:
Affordable housing is the story in this project as Bob heads to Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, where a state law is helping put higher density, affordable housing in place for four families who live and work in the community. Bob meets Pat Fiero of the Housing Assistance Corporation who explains the hurdles faced by families needing to live near their workplaces in a town where the average home price is $450,000. Bob visits Mashpee Commons and looks at mixed-use development that is providing a town center, housing, commercial property, recreational space, and a new church as a start to this new town development. Bob also meets the developer, Joe Valle, who explains the challenges in developing affordable housing and how this project was made possible by invoking Massachusetts? 40B land use and development law. On site, Bob Bevilaqua moves the earth to prepare the sites, shows the tie-offs for electrical and phone lines, and explains the drainage plan.
Episode 4 - Falmouth's Model for Quality Affordable Housing
Episode 8 - Installing Drop Ceilings, Custom Windows, and Mechanicals
Episode 9 - Paneling the Kitchen, Installing Hot Water, and Hanging Doors
Episode 10 - Cladding, Insulating, and Zoning for an Affordable Home
Episode 13 - Installing Pre-Hung Doors, Hardwood Floors, and Gutters
Episode 14 - Affordable HVAC, Painting, Kitchen Cabinets and Counters
Episode 15 - Installing Glazed Wall Tile and a Pedestal Sink
Episode 17 - Kitchens, Feng Shui, and Energy Star Homes
Episode 18 - Finishing Details in the Manhattan Brownstone

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