Dryer Ductwork

 Like many houses, our laundry set up is in the basement. It's not a room space and for whatever reason the electrical and piping has the washer and dryer on an inside wall towards the center of the house. This means a longer-than-you-might-like run for the dryer ductwork. When we moved in, the run up from the back of the dryer to the (mostly) horizontal run that headed outside was crunched by the shelfing above the washer and dryer. As part of trying to clean things up, I installed a periscope duct to run behind the shelves up to the horizontal run. For the most part it worked well enough for more than two decades (with the occasional partial disassembly to clean out built up lint.

In 2011, we replaced the washer and dryer that came with the house, and when we replaced the washer in 2024 we kept the (2011) dryer. In February of this year, we had the heating element go our on it. During the repair I found out there was more of a build up of lint in parts of the dryer than I imagined. So, in addition to trying to clean things out better, I replaced the ductwork from the periscope to the wall, cleaning up the connections and bends and using more rigid tubing. It's not like the ducts were full of lint, but I thought it helped.

Last week, the thermal switch went out. During this repair, the appliance guy noted that the seal on the lint screen was worn out and recommended replacing the screen. He also noted that the periscoping duct didn't afford enough airflow and constricted things at the point where the exhaust left the dryer. So this weekend, I spent the morning reworking that vertical run. The periscope was replaced by the same sort of rigid duct tubing used for the horizontal run, which required notching out part of the shelves. I also added a Hoomsun in-line duct lint trap as a secondary lint filtering system. I don't know if it will make much of a difference, but for the longer run, it seems like a reasonable idea.

With the periscoping duct I had things arranged so that I could separate two parts and pull they dryer out from the wall to access the back panel. In retrospect I could have done something similar between the lint trap and the downward ducting. Instead I went with a Tearalu DV-90 magnetic vent coupling system. The basic concept is pretty good (and the Reddit reviews were positive), but it was a bit of a pain getting the magnet to connect when you can't really get behind the unit and the flexible tubing didn't really collapse well without some awkward poking with a broom. We'll see how well it holds up over time...

A Few Bathroom Reminders

I don't recall exactly when it was (I don't believe it was part of the 2011 bathroom renovation), but at some point we replaced the upstairs shower fixtures. We'd been investigating a possible leak and found out that some of the running up to the tub were basically dissolving ... to the point where the mineralization on the pipe was basically holding the water in more than the pipe in a few places.

As part of that, we had a Price Pfister 20378 three-way diverter installed (at least that's the number stamped on it; I can't find any original documentation) and some nice new old-style faucets that complemented the 1940s look of the bathroom.

So what's the reminder? Next time the ceramic cartridge is failing, the replacement piece that's needed is a Pfister S10-030 cartridge, and it takes a 1¹⁄₃₂ socket to replace. Having the right tools and parts, especially for a project that requires shutting off the water to the whole house, makes things so much easier...

Which leads to another reminder: Next time we have to replace any pipes that lead to a fixture, if there's a way to access things, install a shut-off valve close to said fixture.

Lost in the Walls

C— was working on her art capstone and needed a box cutter. The blade on the one she has was too dull for the work, so we swapped it out for a fresh one. At uni, she disposes of old razorblades by wrapping them in tape before putting them in the trash. (I guess she could also use a sharps container, but that's not the school's usual process.) I started to pull out some duct tape to wrap up the old blade when I had an idea ... C— thought of it at the same time and her eyes lit up!

Like many houses built prior to 1970, there's an odd little slot in the back of the bathroom medicine cabinet. It seems like an odd thing, but before the advent of disposable razors, the safest way to get rid of an old safety razor razorblade was to seal it up somewhere not designed to be opened ... like a wall. Bathrooms commonly had a slit in the medicine cabinet (or even a custom bit of ceramic tile, as seen in this 99% Invisible article) for this purpose.

Your blade is dull, just pop it into the wall! Apparently it's not uncommon nowadays in renovations of old houses to find literal pounds of old blades in a bathroom wall. It's a hazard, and disposal of them can be an issue, but I doubt adding one more blade to our current stash is unlikely to increase the problem significantly.

Once a Car Ran Free Here

Back in 1940, authorities in the DMV (long before it was known as that) came up with what they felt was a plan necessary to ensuring speedy emergency response for fire, police, and other services. They changed all the street names. Not all the names, but for the suburbs that had grown up in Montgomery and Prince George's counties the plan was to extend the street naming system used in the District. The problem was that the actual grid didn't always connect the city with the suburbs. That didn't stop them form developing a rough overlay with the occasional additional new street name that sort-of fit the pattern. They didn't all line up, the definitely didn't connect, but the system was put into place with street signs starting to change in 1941.

I haven't found records with our house's original street number, but when it was built (at least for a few months) the house was on Bayly Avenue. In searching for that name in old newspapers, I turned up one wild tale.

That version is from the Washington Evening Star, but the Washington Times–Herald also ran a version of the story. The the ditch where the car ended up coming to rest is likely the old creek bed that once ran through our side lot.

House History

Searching old newspaper archives for our address, I found some 1946 ads for our house! 

The first one is from late July, the second from early August. The $16,000 sales price appears in this Open House ad, but ones printed in a different paper gave the sales price as $6,000. I'm not sure which is correct based upon the title records.

I'm not sure how they counted rooms back then, but I guess the six rooms are the three bedrooms, the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I'm assuming the ½ bath in the first ad means the basement bathroom is at least partially original. The lot size in the first ad is the correct one. Thanks to last summer's implementation of WMATA's Better Bus Network reorganization, we're no longer a ½ block from the bus. Back then we would have been about a mile to the 82 streetcar stop; now we're around the same distance from two Metrorail Green Line stations (as well as from the nanobrewery named after the old streetcar line).

The lot was originally platted as part of resubdivision of Johnson's and Wine's Third Addition to Hyattsville Hills, and sold in January 1940 to Mrs. Tanya Ritzenberg. Ritzenberg seems to have been involved in building houses in the area; a 1941 Evening Star item says she was erecting 13 two-storey brick and cinderblock houses in the 4600 block of Clay Street NE in D.C.

Our house may have been a similar project as she sold the property a year later, in January 1941, to the Kelley family. The Kelley's turned up in some newspaper searches too as their son was a World War II aviator who was lost over Germany in November 1944 and declared dead a year later. [The side yard lot was also originally bought by Ritzenberg in February 1941, but she apparently abandoned it. In September 1943, the county seized the lot and in January 1945 sold it to the Kelleys for back taxes.]

The Kelleys moved out Spring 1946, selling to the Harold and Helen Distad. Harold was born in China, the son of Lutheran missionaries, and he and Helen had wed in DC in 1940. It's not clear if they were buying the house (and side lot) as an investment or something, but they only owned it from April to September 1946 (and clearly had put the house up for sale as late as July 1946).

The house and lot were purchased by the Bennett family in September 1946, and it stayed in that family for the next 32 years. Fred J. Bennett, the principal of Bowie Elementary School, died in 1947, just a few months after purchasing the house. He was a Mason and it appears the house's deed transferred to a fellow; perhaps the member or lodge held a lien on the house. However, the same day, the deed was again transferred to Bennett's wife and son.

There may have a been a connection between the Bennetts and the Kelley's prior to the sale too. A September 1944 newspaper notice was placed by a "John D. Bennett," using the Kelley's address, saying that he was responsible only for his own debts. Fred's son was John Joe, not John D., so maybe this may just be a coincidence.

About a month before her death in November 1978, Leo (Fred's widow and principal of West Lanham Elementary) and John Joe sold the house. It then went through a series of owners selling in September 1980, March 1983, November 1989, and November 1992. The next purchasers, in June 2000, were us!

Again With Lights

Back when we did the whole kitchen remodel, it was at a point in time when CFLs were dominant, but LED bulbs were coming to market. I very much wanted to use LEDs when we could, but going with what the marketplace offered meant most of the fixtures were made for CFL or incandescent bulbs. For the most part that wasn't that big of a deal: I could either use LEDs in the fixture as it was or with a slight modification. The central light in the kitchen, however, was a bit different.

The Kichler fixture we chose was fluorescent with four-pin G24q bases. Eventually, I found LED bulbs that worked in it without having to rewire things and removing the fluorescent ballast, but apparently that technology was not long for the market. When one of the replacement LEDs went out, I had a hard time tracking down a bulb that would supposedly work, and after trying two that either didn't work or only worked sporadically, I was getting frustrated.

It didn't help that the way the fixture housing was designed was a bit of a pain to work with ... which is how I ended up dropping the (acrylic) diffusor, shattering part of it. Remaining frustrated, we lived with it like that for a while—a broken diffusor and one bulb that worked intermittently—but when the diffuser fell out and almost hit Evelin, it seemed the time to move from frustration to action was at hand.

I'd tried when it first broke to source a new diffusor from Kichler or one of its dealers, but no-one was willing to sell a replacement. The fluorescent version had been replaced by an LED version and while it looked identical online, I would only be able to see if it worked if I bought a whole new lighting fixture.

Searching around, I eventually landed on the Access Lighting Solero III, which was the same diameter as the original fixture. It didn't look as sleek, but it also cost a lot less. It's an LED fixture with the bulbs integrated, so when/if they start to die the whole thing will need to be replaced. I'm not wild about that, but it seems to be the trend these days.

Purple Door

For years now, Evelin has—on and off—mentioned wanting to do something with the front door. Ideally, we'd have one that let in a little more light, but she also has talked about painting it. Fast forward to this past weekend when Celeste and I went to a hardware store.

The intention was to just find some 2-inch machine screws that would fit the Ross door knocker (more on that shortly) that I brought home from a visit to my parents. The old eagle knocker that came with the house aways partially blocked the peep hole and was nothing particularly special, but it used smaller screws than this one needed.

While I went looking for screws, Celeste was on the phone with Evelin looking at paint chips. They ended up picking Pratt & Lambert PL320 "Tyrian Purple," which closely matched the color of the sweater Celeste was wearing. We had can of Valsapar semi-gloss cabinet door and trim deep base (82003) tinted with that shade and suddenly a project was born.

After taking the door off the hinges and then removing all the hardware, we set it up on the porch and primed it. I also plugged one of the holes from the old door knocker and drilled a new one to fit the Ross one.

Since we started late in the day (and it was getting cold after the sun went down), that was all we achieved the first day and the door went back up for the night.

The next day the door came off the hinges again and Celeste put two coats of Tyrian Purple on it, all the hardware was reattached, and it went back up. There are few places where some touch-ups are needed (it was still a little tacky when we hung it up—it was getting cold again), but overall it looks pretty good. We probably need to consider if we want/need to paint the door frame (either purple or at least touch up the white), but that can wait until later.

(It was also noted that the tone of the different bits of hardware—mail slot, knocker, deadblot, and handle—are different hues that noticeably don't work well with each other, something that didn't jump out as strongly when the door was a dirty white. We may be replacing handle and deadbolt in the nearish future too...)

The Ross door knocker originally came from the Pontchartrain Hotel on Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans. My father's grandfather had an apartment there, and after he and my father's grandmother divorced, she took an apartment in the hotel. (I'm assuming he'd moved out by that point.) The family lore, as my father shared it, was that the apartment my great-grandmother got had been my great-grandfather's, but if she'd realized that, she would have demanded a different space. To disguise the room, the door knocker engraved with "Ross" was removed from the door and replaced with a plain one ... and that removed door knocker is the one now on our front door.