JLC Online: Front porches are an important architectural element on the older housing stock where I work just north of Boston, and I’ve restored a lot of them over the years. Most of the time, the restoration doesn’t have to be historically accurate, but I like to try to match the porch’s basic style and materials while fixing its problems and bringing it up to code, and I like to incorporate details that will help the porch last a long time.
3 comments:
I really appreciate the level of detail and planning Silva brought to this project. It reminds me a lot of what we focus on in theatre Production Management. Just like we must carefully choose the right materials for building a set, plan out how things will be cut and put together and think ahead about any issues we might face during installation, Silva approached the construction of the wooden structures in a similar way. Preparing ahead of time and being organized helps everything go smoothly and reduces problems during the actual build. The process of building something like a sturdy, attractive porch and managing the construction of a set for a theater show have a lot in common. Both require good planning, attention to detail, and efficient workflows. In both cases, success depends on staying organized, solving potential problems early, and working efficiently to achieve the result.
If anyone I met was ever curious about how to do handrails, I would definitely point them to this article. This is one of the most detailed article I have seen about it, and I enjoy how far he goes into describing why he makes certain cuts and even telling about the kerf of the blade. It's also nice that the article gets broken down into each component of the handrails, making it much easier to break down into a step-by-step set of instructions which is much easier to understand and follow. Doing handrails without a guide can be very hard and it is easy to get lost and forget about key interactions between components, so this article is truly the best thing I have seen for understanding each step from start to finish. I do also like that the article even talks about paint treatments, because wood handrail needs to be sealed well if it's being put outside.
For a production of Titanic I did last year, I remember we had a wood railing on top of the steel set that we had had, and I thought that was such an interesting choice, especially because one night an actor had pulled on the railing and it had literally broken from its spot! So immediately I was drawn to this article because that moment still scares me because what if he had really leaned on the wood the wrong way? Which is why it's so important that things that we do in the theater are checked and durable. So it was cool to hear about "A Durable Wood Railing" and the approach that this person took to restoring and constructing traditional wood railings not for theater but for front porches in older homes. In theater sets, a lot of the time we were trying to use materials that fit into our budget. However, something I noticed in this article is the use of stronger and more forgiving material that has advantages unlike regular woods.
Post a Comment