New Contact Information for John Stahl

Beginning in March, you can reach John Stahl at a different address and phone number.

John has moved to historic Willoughby, Ohio to begin a new company called Pinnacle Green Building Solutions.

www.pinnaclegreen.com

440-918-0720 office
607-760-6658 cell

Pinnacle Green
36580 Biltmore Place Unit#1
Willoughby, Ohio 44094

More information will be available soon on Pinnacle Green and contractor workshops.

Wood Window Repair Workshop

On Nov 9th and 10th we held our wood and wood Window Repair Hands-on Workshop.

This year it was held at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York. The Farmer's Museum was an ideal place for the workshop. It was held in the painting and carpentry shop. This gave us access to a great space to work. The Museum "donated" several wood windows, shutters, and a terrific wood gate to repair.

Contractors and interested homeowners came from Tennessee, Michigan, Connecticut, even South Carolina.

Topics included inspection and documentation, estimating and marketing just to name a few. The hands-on portion included epoxy wood repair techniques, window glazing, and window weatherstripping.

More details are available at: http://www.advancedrepair.com/hands_on_workshop/contractor_workshops.htm

Ample time was dedicated to the hands-on portion. We began at 9:00am and finished around 4:00 with an hour break for lunch.

The wood gate was of particular interest to everyone. This gate was in the shop to be repaired and offered a terrific opportunity to learn a few tricks for applying and sculpting the Flex-Tec wood repair epoxy.

A great deal of time was spent discussing various marketing and customer service issues. Discussions included how to find opportunities for repair in local markets, dealing with customer's perceptions and expectations of repair, and charging a fee for inspections and surveys.

In the future, I plan on expanding the information regarding the marketing and sales opportunities. These topics are vital to growing a solid repair business.

Our next workshop will be held in Denver, Colorado during the Colorado Preservation Inc. conference in February, 2008. Details will be posted here: http://www.advancedrepair.com/hands_on_workshop/upcoming_workshops.htm

I will also hold another workshop this spring at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown.

Join us next year!

Cheers,

John

A Little about "Restoration"

Repairing an old-growth redwood gutter, Marin County, CA

As mentioned earlier, I have been in the building restoration business most of my working life.

One thing that I have found baffling all these years is the use of the word "restoration".

Restoration, I have discovered means so many different things depending on the context.

In the early days of Clem Labine's Old House Journal, as opposed to the Restore Media's version of Old House Journal (post 1999 or so) restoration was defined mostly as "fix'n up the existing original material". Trade shows geared to historic restoration called themselves Restoration & Renovation and mostly attracted those interested repair and preservation of original building materials.

To make matters even more confusing there is the "restoration and waterproofing" industry which mostly deals with brick and stone re-pointing and re-roofing trades.

Then, of course there is the flood and fire restoration businesses as well ( bless them ).

So, back to historic restoration:

Today restoration trade shows and publications have changed the definition of restoration mostly to expand their market share and sell more advertising and trade show booth space. Today restoration is more "traditionally inspired new construction products and services"

So what's wrong with that you say?: Well, nothing really except one of things that attracted me to historic restoration in the first place was the notion that building materials could be fixed and put back in service rather than the typical "rip out and replace" approach.

Inspecting windows at Stanford University's Historic Main Quad

In my early days of contracting I was continually amazed to see how durable a 150 year old window sash was/is. This window was built with excellent craftsmanship from old-growth lumber harvested from America's ancient forests.

Even though this old-growth window was continually abused by neglect, it held on strong year after year providing it's owners with shelter from mother nature's worst and provided a Monet like view of the outside world through it's wavy, seedy, reemy, hand blown glass. That's history!

For more on old-growth visit: http://www.advancedrepair.com/architectural_epoxy/oldgrowth.htm

Today we have PVC "restoration" windows and composite "historic" porch posts.

So what's wrong with that you say?: Well, nothing really except perfectly repairable, durable, original materials are discarded into landfills and replaced with materials that are currently not repairable and have a service life of approximately 25 years.

The sad thing is most people today do not realize they have a choice. The media and trade shows we rely on for information are sending a very conflicting and different message. The big three window companies are not telling you to repair! Your local lumberyard is sending the same message: "rip it out and replace it with new"

So my message to you dear readers of this blog is: "It's best not to ask a barber if you need a haircut" There are viable, realistic options to you and your old buildings that are contrary to the market based approach. Be a little leary of restoration products that require the use of a crowbar, sledge hammer, sawzall and dumpster!

Let's respect the original building materials for what they can provide rather than have provided.

In the next several blogs I will discuss in more detail the pros and cons of window restoration ( or should I just call it window repair ? )

Copyright 2007 All rights reserved

Welcome to Repair Notes From The Field

Welcome to my new venture! This blog is about people who have worked on interesting projects and used innovative solutions to solve the daily problems of building maintenance, repair, and restoration. Specifically, we will address wood repair and restoration, window restoration, porch and exterior element inspection and repair. We will also look at paint and paint preparation issues.

This blog will fill with practical how-to tips and comments on contracting, working on older homes and tid-bits picked up from numerous architects, contractors and building owners I have had the pleasure to work with over the past 30 odd years. It will be my pleasure to introduce to you some of the smartest and most taIented professionals I have known. They have been my best teachers. We will also include some behind the scenes shots of interesting projects and tips on how to take photographs of projects and buildings.

Why do this? Well, I have found many conflicting opinions on surface prep, epoxy wood repair, window repair vs replacement. Even the term "restoration" has many definitions and continues to confuse and befuddle the American public. So I'm here to lend my experience and shead my perspective on these things.

I welcome your comments and suggestions on this blog....

I'll begin with a short (not) backround info:

My name is John Stahl, Technical Director for Advanced Repair Technology, Inc.,

Cherry Valley, New York http://www.advancedrepair.com/

I have been involved in maintenance and repair issues on buildings from Stanford University's Historic Main Quad to the buildings maintained by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to humble single family private homes.

My love for old buildings began back in my home town of Davenport, Iowa. My father owned a beautiful 4 story Victorian brick apartment building listed on the Iowa State Historic Register called the Edith Pullman House. I still remember the smells and creaks of this well built and well maintained property.

In college I had a part time job working for an owner of another historic register property. This time on the Utah State Historic Register. This property was in an area called the Avenues just west of The University of Utah in Salt Lake City where I was working on a BFA. The property is called The De Beers Mansion. Built by Dr. De Beers, a prominent physician of his day and a doctor for The LDS Church leader Brigham Young.

I moved New York City in 1982 to seek fame and fortune in the performing arts. I began a contracting company to support my daily habit of auditions, voice and dance classes. Needless to say fame and fortune still eludes me to this day! I still enjoy dancing around job sites :)

I have invented a few useful products and methods for working on older buildings and hold a US Patent for a unique weather-stripping system. I have held workshops and presented papers on wood and wood window repair and restoration ( and continue to do so ).

In 1992 I traveled to Holland to investigate methods and materials for wood repair using epoxy technology. This opened my eyes to a new way of doing things and gave me a healthy respect for the Dutch and their obsession with maintenance.

Back in the States, Stahl Restorations began working with the New York Landmarks Conservancy on numerous projects in the 5 boroughs. This lead SR to focus more on window repair and preservation.

In 1995 I put Stahl Restorations on hold while I served as the US Director for a Dutch Company that produced methods and materials for window and wood repair using epoxy based technology.

Also in 1995 I began a long and inspiring relationship with the folks at This Old House the PBS television show. Since then I have had the pleasure to be on the show several times and have assisted in numerous articles for This Old House Magazine.

In 1996 the Dutch and I parted ways. I contacted a brillant chemist specializing in epoxy and silicone technology and began Advanced Repair Technology. It took most of 1996 to perfect our flexible epoxy wood repair system.

In January 2002 I was awarded US Patent #6,341,449 for a unique weather-stripping system designed to weatherstrip double hung windows. We call this system Easy-Stop.

Taking the window repair solution a little further in 2003 my chemist friend ( now retired ) helped again to develop Glaze-Ease 601 an acrylic based glazing putty.

Besides helping others repair and restore, my wife and I have owned and renovated 3 historic properties. 1 in New Jersey and 2 in New York.

Today, much of my time is spent on the telephone and traveling to projects and trade shows introducing ART and helping building owners, architects, contractors and DIY's. And now blogging!

I also publish a monthly email newsletter called The Repair Report. Readers are welcome to subscribe to this newsletter by going to http://www.advancedrepair.com/ and entering your email address on the bottom of the home page: "Join Our Mailing List"

So that's it.

Oh, I forgot. Here's a few pictures...

Stanford University's Historic Main Quad

This Old House episode 1995

This Old House Episode 1998