I happened upon an article in the paper yesterday that saddened me. My previous post discussed getting ready for the winter and my concerns about my heating source. This newspaper article is about another issue that is important as the seasons change, and that is fire safety and old houses. Fire safety is an issue no matter what type of home you live in, new or old, and no matter ...

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In case you aren’t familiar with the term,  a newel is a central column around which winding stairs are attached.  A newel post is (the often highly decorative) post at the end of a stair that anchors the railing.  Newel posts are an architectural detail that had many style changes throughout history. In the early American colonies, simple lathe-turned posts, often similar in profile to the balusters of the railing, or ...

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When This Old House recently featured "Best Old House Neighborhoods" -- spotlighting one great neighborhood from each state -- I first looked to see if where I live made the list (it didn't). But I couldn't stop there. The magazine organized the list in a number of ways, including the best places to buy an old house if you … want to live in a college town, are seeking a fixer-upper, ...

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