Schenectady Restoration Project

By Chris White and Christopher Marney

While many of you had the chance to come through our house at 205 Union Street during the incredible 2024 Walkabout, we didn’t have time to talk through our house updates in great detail, so we wanted to share them here. Over the last couple years, we have been trudging forward with many of the things that (hopefully) will never be visible. We had the west foundation wall along the alley repaired and rebuilt and a drainage system installed in the backyard. We also installed batts of rockwool insulation on the entire third floor, in the kitchen and a few other areas where we could squeeze it in.

We think we are finally done with the “undoing” phase of our restoration project – pulling back the 1900s and often 1800s layers of wallpaper, floor boards and creative drywall “fixes.”

The most visible change has and continues to be to the facade. If you recall, a few years back, we discovered the original wood siding, called rusticated weatherboard meaning cut to look like stone blocks. We spent hours painstakingly and safely hand stripping the layers of lead paint with infrared and painting the gorgeous wood anew. This year, we re-adjusted the top of the foundation, which had been artificially built up with lath and plaster in the 1800s to give the illusion of a higher stone wall, and returned it to the original 1700s level. We then started making replacement weatherboards to fill in missing or heavily damaged areas, which mimic the spacing and style of the original boards above.

On the west wing, we carefully removed heavily deteriorated wood siding from the late 1800s and replaced it in kind with wood siding. Our exterior paint is gray linseed oil, tinted to match the original facade color we discovered inside. During the off-season, we give the boards an initial coat of paint, especially the back and sides, with sample colors. We are using period-appropriate rosehead cut nails to attach the siding to the house.

Inside, we spent many hours repointing the kitchen foundation, sistering and leveling joists, and adding 2×6 supports between the giant beams for extra support. As the kitchen will be a primary showcase room, we decided to showcase the incredible 1700s wide plank floor boards we had discovered on the third floor. So we brought those down to the kitchen where we will spend the winter scraping and installing them. These boards were originally the main flooring across the entire third floor, on top of which were added walls and oak flooring in the 1960s.

Along the way, we continue to discover many artifacts, which now number in the thousands. Pottery, clam and oyster shells, animal bones, nails, glass and more. All of these items are carefully cataloged as they tell the story of different parts of the house.

In the cold months ahead, we will be working on the kitchen and primary bedroom. We will be re-adding lime plaster to the walls and we are contemplating installing hydronic loops in the ceiling to provide radiant heat.

We know many of you follow us in person and on social media. If you don’t already, we’re on Facebook and Instagram under @SchenectadyRestorationProject. Your support means the world to us. Stay tuned for what’s coming in 2025!