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1. Know your maintenance cycles. Most buildings require tuckpointing maintenance every 50 to 60 years.

2. Match the mortar. New mortar need to match as carefully as possible in color, consistency, and elevation. Using too much Portland cement in the mix develops difficult mortars, which can damage old buildings.

3. Never grind out joints. Only scrubby mortar ought to be eliminated. If somebody tells you otherwise, run.

4. Never use sealers. Sealers trap moisture, compounding problems throughout freeze/thaw cycles.

5. Replace in kind. Damaged masonry units must be changed entire or through Dutchmen of the same product. Spaces filled with putty do not last.

-- Jacob Arndt, Preservation Specialist, Architectural Stone Carver

Radiators

6. Do not throttle a one-pipe steam radiator The steam and condensate need to share that restricted space. Keep the valve either completely open or totally near prevent water hammering and squirting air vents.

7. Develop a perfect pitch. One-pipe steam radiators must pitch toward the supply valve. Use two checkers under radiator feet-- they're the best shape and size.

8. Gain control. Thermostatic radiator valves are a great way to zone any radiator and conserve fuel. Hot-water and two-pipe steam radiators get them on the supply side; one-pipe steam radiators get them between the radiator and the air vent.

Old radiator.

( Picture: Sylvia Gashi-Silver).

9. Get a great surface. Pros concur that sandblasting followed by powder finishing provides the very best, long-lasting, non-sticky finish-- however do not attempt this in the house.

10. Do not stress over fires. Even with steam heat, a radiator gets just about half as hot as the temperature level required to kindle paper, so you can rest easy.

-- Dan Holohan, Author, The Lost Art of Steam Heating.

Woodworking.

11. Usage heartwood. Heartwood is constantly the most disease-resistant. Sapwood of a lot of species should never be used.

12. Rift or quarter-grain cuts are best. These cuts are the most stable. Flat grain frequently expands and contracts seasonally at two times the rate of quartered stock.

13. Set up plain sawn lumber with the heart side up. Flat lumber will use better with the heart facing up. If there's cupping, the edges will stay flat, and just the center will hump slightly.

14. Discover to utilize hand tools. Many historic woodwork was produced by hand tools, and a lot of machine-made millwork (late 19th century and after) was installed with Montclair Home Restoration Companies them. Historical woodwork finishes produced with hand airplanes can't be recreated by modern-day machines like sanders.

15. Usage traditional joinery. Part repairs ought to be used standard joinery rather of non-historic techniques like a wholesale epoxy casting of a missing part.

-- Robert Adam, Founder and Senior Advisor, Preservation Woodworking Department, North Bennet Street School.

Slate Roof, refurbishing old homes.

Slate roofing system on a turret, remodeling old houses.

Slate roofing on a turret. (Picture: Nathan Winter).

16. Identify your slate.To correctly care for your slate roofing, discover what kind of slate it is. Just as you can't repair a Chevy with Ford parts, you need to never ever utilize New York red slate on a Pennsylvania gray slate roofing.

17. Understand your roofing's longevity. If your roofing just has 100 years of durability and is 95 years of ages, it's unworthy sinking cash into. But a roof with 200 years of durability that's 75 years of ages is a young roofing system that must be extremely valued and properly maintained.

18. Inspect your roofing system routinely. At least when a year, walk your house (use field glasses if necessary) and look at your roofing system. If you see missing, broken, or moving slates, or flashing that looks suspect, call your slater.

19. Search for quality. Excellent slaters are out there, but you have to look for them. It deserves the effort to have somebody who genuinely knows what he's doing.