04/09/2026
Historic housewrighting.
This part of the Samuel Fosdick Curtis House in Penn Yan was built as a kitchen on the first floor with servants quarters above. almost 200 years of sag from the rafters to the floor joists was corrected, and the unused servants quarters was sacrificed to raise the ceiling of the 1st floor from 7&1/2 ft to almost 11ft tall. The process started with the removal of several tons of plaster, lathe and insulation. The 2nd floor windows were removed. I built a custom 3 window transom unit to fit above the existing windows.
The new ceiling was constructed of original lumber connected to modern structural girders disguised as original beams, and the original floor boards were installed and left exposed. insulation lays in top of the floorboards in the attic.
