While visiting Asheville, North Carolina, a picturesque city nestled between the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, Ron makes a very different kind of HouseCall. Ron visits America's largest private residence...the Biltmore Estate. Constructed in the mid 1890's as a country home, the Biltmore has 250 rooms of priceless antiques and works of art and is surrounded by 8,000 lush acres of world famous sculpted gardens. It takes a thousand person staff to operate and maintain this magnificent estate and Ron is eager to meet some of these dedicated people and pick up a few useful maintenance tips.
Find out more about the Biltmore Estate. |
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Window screen maintenance:
- Ron first met resident carpenter Andy Graves, who was working on a window screen project. There are twelve hundred window screens and doors at the Biltmore Estate so Andy has become very experienced at his work.
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- Andy began by prying off the molding and removing all the nails and staples.
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- He then ripped out the old aluminum screen.
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- Andy rolled out the new screen and trimmed the edges, leaving some excess.
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- He then secured the two adjacent sides with staples.
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- He placed the staples about every inch and a half to two inches apart.
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- Once Andy had the two sides secured, Ron pointed out that there was still a little bit of a sag in the screen. This is where Ron was really interested in getting Andy's helpful tips.
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- Andy explained that once the two adjacent sides were stapled, he stretched the screen across the width of the door and stapled the opposite edge. Finally he pulled the screen lengthwise to remove the last remaining ridges.
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- Andy placed his knife in the corner of the frame and made a 45-degree cut outward to the edge of the screen and then stretched the final side taut to staple it in place.
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- Finally, he trimmed off the excess screen, and replaced the molding. After bouncing a quarter on the screen, Andy determined that it was just right.
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Glazing maintenance:
- Older paned windows like the many found at the Biltmore Estate rely on putty, sometimes called glazing, to hold the individual panes of glass in place. Over time, this glazing gets brittle and needs to be replaced.
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- Ron met up with Wade Ledford, the Biltmore's resident expert, and was surprised to find him with a torch in his hand.
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- Wade used the torch to heat up the old glazing so that he could remove it from the window a lot more quickly and easily. Wade placed the putty knife up against the old putty and then allowed the heat of the torch to ride down the putty knife onto the glaze instead of hitting the glaze directly.
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- Wade said that trying to chip and pry at old glazing without heating it can result in a lot of broken glass. If there is not a torch available, a hairdryer or a heat gun can be used. The important thing is to never apply the heat directly to the glass. Wade explained that sometimes he may have to repeat the process a couple of times to get all the old glazing off the glass, but normally it works quite well the first time.
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- Fresh glazing is very sticky, especially to your putty knife and to your hands. Drying up some of the oils can be very helpful and what Wade used for this was just plain, everyday baby powder.
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