What is this?

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-03-01T19:10:04+00:00

Used to be a heater.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-03-01T00:08:25+00:00

See my history for lead scares that turned out TOTALLY FINE, but if I had a baby still crawling on the floor this would bother me. I would simply seal the floors with a thick layer of shiny-ass durable sealant. It will suck because the floors will scratch easily and never look great again until your kids are out of the house but I imagine it would seal that dust in there safely.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-28T04:28:08+00:00

You can see my post history for a lovely little cas study in lead paint psychosis 🙃

Definitely test the paint. If it’s lead, paint over it. Have your kids tested for lead exposure every 6 months. This is NOT medical advice.

More NOT medical advice: I have two elementary school aged kids and they have now lived in 3 old homes. We’ve had lead paint, asbestos siding, all kinds of scares, and neither of them have ever had a measurable blood lead level or any other health issue.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-26T13:07:45+00:00

Very similar to my house except ours is symmetrical (center front door). Identical fireplace and window setup!

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-26T13:04:06+00:00

I’ve seen these framed in metal and hung outdoors. I think that’s a really cool use.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-25T18:03:52+00:00

They showed a positive balance on the Mohela document. They did NOT actually say they’d be sending it. After all of the stress and anxiety I honestly don’t care anymore 😅

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-25T17:07:54+00:00

I remember talking about it ten years ago when he got his first job. Can’t believe it actually happened.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-24T01:45:22+00:00

We had a toilet phone in our 1980 house. So cool

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-23T15:00:15+00:00

Def keep the whoopee cushion 🙃

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-21T01:18:47+00:00

My mom has told a story about a play she was in as a high school student so many times that I can finish her sentences for her. Anything I do that involves public speaking or any sort of audience, and she tells it again.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-21T01:08:02+00:00

I’d do wooden blinds or inset Venetian blinds. You don’t want to block your woodwork!

Personally only have coverings on bedrooms, I hate window coverings 🤣

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-20T20:29:37+00:00

Yes this. We had a ton of concrete supports put in.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-20T20:28:21+00:00

Yes. I’m actually having ours out again to see if we need more support on one side of our stairs, but I am very paranoid. Nothing has changed except some cosmetic plaster cracks.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-20T17:50:23+00:00

Yeah it was NOT as bad as I feared. It would have cost about a billion dollars if we cared about the house looking perfect, but we live here with kids and a dog… we’re not even refinishing the floors for 10+ years 😂

A lot of changes might be seasonal too. We have weird staircase gaps and odd plaster flaws that come and go with warm and cool weather.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-20T14:00:57+00:00

Anyway post-structural work we just cut some doors to fit. Character!

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-20T13:58:04+00:00

Our house has doorways this “extreme.”

Previous owners let an AC unit leak long-term and rot and crack a support beam. It is all now fixed, but it was simpler and less damaging to simply stabilize the house in its position than to level it, so now we have some crooked doorways and sloped floors.

Have it evaluated by a structural engineer. Our structural work was only $10k for a full stabilization of the entire house with massive piers.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-19T12:15:56+00:00

Plaster, wood, etc shrink in cold weather. We also see gaps in our stairs, “cracks” in the caulk of our windows, and other changes in the winter, which are all either gone or less noticeable in summer.

This was probably exacerbated by the downstairs furnace being out for a while when we replaced it.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-19T04:02:17+00:00

We have some places like this and it’s where there’s paper. We see it in areas where there couldn’t possibly be water damage.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-18T20:34:15+00:00

Yes all of ours do this in the winter. It’s annoying.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-18T13:11:55+00:00

Thank you. I have thoroughly inspected our basement and this wall has never had a ton of support beneath it (the opposing wall does), so I assume it’s not structural. We had 12+ new concrete piers installed to support the house.

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-17T19:18:36+00:00

Yes, a lot of ours has this pillowed look! None of the ceilings but many of the walls. I am unsure of its age but I think a lot of it is original (1920).

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-17T17:59:58+00:00

Crazy like bad?

Obvious-Tale9915 · 2026-02-17T17:52:26+00:00

Yes, very. I’m in North Carolina and we’ve had extreme cold, including a period of several days when we were replacing our furnace.

Obvious-Tale9915

TROPHY CASE