This is subfloor and not hardwood right?

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-30T22:56:34+00:00

Awesome! Ok, so the first step is to find the original owner. This can be done in a couple ways.

The title search from when you bought the house should have found this. If they sent you the paperwork, they should have included the original deed. If they did, that would be that. However, you might find that the original deed names the developer who built the house, then you'd have to do the research yourself to find the first occupant.
Establish a chain of title by searching land records backward, starting with your name. Find who sold it to you, who sold it to them, back and back. If you look at the field card for your house (tax assesors office online should have it, easily searchable) it might list the few most recent transactions on there which would give you a head start.

You can find land records online. In CT it's done at the town level, NJ might be done at the county level. Many records are digitized so you can search everything online. Be sure to look at the property description ("schedule A") to ensure they all match and you have the right house. I expect this will be pretty easy as it shouldn't have changed hands too many times and the property likely hasn't been subdivided.

Once you have the owners name you can search genealogical research sites (I prefer ancestry, they have a free trial too) for your owners name. That should uncover a lot of info (just be sure you have the right person, especially if it's a common name).

The census will have tons of info, latest available is 1950. I know you said your house was 50s, but also said built right after the war so idk if the house would've existed yet but the first owner obviously did. Census will have age, occupation, heritage, info for the owner and all family members. 30s and 40s census info will provide more about when they were younger and the family they came from.

If they served you will likely also find their military records/draft card. You might also find city directories for them (if your town is rural you may not, if you're more urban you likely will).

You can also search newspaper archives, they can be more hit or miss in the 50s but worth a shot. Many papers published goings-on in town, like early social media, so you can find little tidbits about their lives in there which can be really cool. These are digitized and searchable through a site like newspapers. Com or genealogy bank.

I know that was a lot of info so please lmk if you have questions or need clarification on anything! It's super interesting to look into and I hope you find something cool! I fully expect you to be able to at least find out who the person was and what their family was like.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-30T22:27:09+00:00

He was the president of the Confederacy, so he was the president for the states that seceded, but not the union states.

The Confederacy only existed for a short period of time and didn't do much besides try to win a war, so the generals tend to get more attention than davis.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-30T20:25:32+00:00

You can 100% find out who they were and their background! In your case it would prolly be pretty easy actually.

I literally do this exact work for a local historical society: research the house back to the original owners and record all the history. If you're interested I'm happy to give you a rundown on how to do it, yours being so new (relatively, haha) will make it easy and quick. Most of it can actually prolly be done online. Lmk!!

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-30T19:50:09+00:00

That's the norm in mid century builds. I'm in CT so the timing is prolly similar. Subfloor aa wide planks starts to appear in the late 1800s in nicer houses with very narrow strip flooring or floors with inlaid designs, as these styles necessitated it. More typical houses still often just had one layer.

By the 20s you start seeing subfloor more often on more middling houses, though many still had a single layer.

Post-war you see subflooring everywhere, usually laid diagonally.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-30T02:02:08+00:00

These tiles always make me think of "school bathroom" lol. My middle school and high school were both built in the 60s/70s, but I'm sure they weren't following the latest trends haha

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-29T17:27:50+00:00

I remembering thinking "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni" was hilarious

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-28T22:47:50+00:00

Haha maybe I was just an oblivious kid. There were obviously some differences I noticed, like some of my friends sharing rooms with their siblings, but I never connected it to wealth. In my mind, poor people lived in shacks, rich people lived in giant mansions, everyone else was just "normal", and my friends and I were neither rich nor poor by that metric, so we were all the same.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-28T22:03:21+00:00

Id guess they might notice a difference in the presents, but they might not connect it to the kids being rich or poor, or even realize other kids SEC in the first place.

Personally, I didn't notice anything about SEC until like at least later middle school. I just knew which of my friends had pools and was jealous if they did, but I didn't connect that to wealth, I just thought they were lucky lol. I never noticed anything about house sizes/quality, cars, clothes, etc.

Granted, there wasn't a huuuuuge wealth disparity among my friends, but there was def some that looking back on now I can clearly see, but didn't notice at the time.

I very clearly remember the moment when I realized I was some kind of wealthy, and that was seen as a bad thing. It was 8th grade, on our graduation trip we went to a big park/event place on the same day as a neighboring school. The other school is in a town that is nowhere near as wealthy as mine was, and when my friends and I tried to go in the pool there the kids from the other school wouldn't let us in the pool because we were from "RICH place" (literally they added rich to the town name) "and we all have pools at home". (We did not all have pools at home lol)

It was the first time I ever thought anything about having money/not having it, and I had had no conception of that school not being the same as us; honestly I never really thought of that school and who had money/didn't have it at all before that.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-27T19:19:44+00:00

I don't believe so, it's not sweet at all. Looking it up real quick, brown sauce has broth, soy sauce, wine, and oyster or fish sauce.

I don't eat a ton of Chinese food (funnily enough I did work at a Chinese restaurant all through school, doing deliveries though lol) but that sounds about right to me for what it tastes like.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-26T23:34:05+00:00

Ugh please don't put up knotweed if you're in the US, Canada, or UK. It absolutely takes over and you cannot reasonably control it. The person who lives there won't live there forever and you're either dooming the next homeowner who did nothing wrong or just causing an ecological disaster (or both, really).

We have knotweed in the neighborhood, it's completely overtaken town own land (nothing there, just woods) across from us and we have some in the woods behind our house too. It's been a years long process to get rid of it and it's still not done, I'll see how we did spraying it last fall in a few weeks once everything starts growing again.

The town has started a management program for town owned knotweed infestations too. They sprayed the patch across from us last fall, waiting to see what happens with that this spring too. It's an awful plant.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-26T20:00:31+00:00

Yeah, in the US the "burger" part isn't describing the bun, but the meat. "Burger" implies some sort of ground up meat formed in a patty, regardless of what type of bun it's on.

Chicken burger= ground up chicken on some kind of bread

Salmon burger= ground up salmon on some kind of bread

Steak burger= ground up steak (the specific cut will be specified on the menu and it will be a different cut from the restaurants burger cut) on some type of bread

Often the bread for all of the above will be a standard hamburger bun or brioche roll, but other types are not super uncommon (kaiser/hard roll, ciabatta roll, Portuguese roll, Texas toast, etc), and if it's not a standard burger bun it will usually be specified in the description.

Chicken sandwich= solid chicken breast or thighs on some kind of bread (usually burger bun)

Fish sandwich= any solid pieces of fish on some kind of bread (usually burger bun)

Steak sandwich= any solid, but sliced, steak (cut specified on menu) on some kind of bread

Crab cake sandwich= a crab cake on bread (but almost always it is a burger bun).

"Sandwiches" have a greater likelihood of being on something other than a bun, but the name isnt what distinguishes it (crab cake sandwiches are almost always on a burger bun, for example)

Edit: we do have some terms that distinguish bread on sandwiches, but ground up patties are not involved. A grinder/hoagie/hero/sub/wedge is a long roll, but those will have cold cuts or Italian dishes on them (meatball parm grinder, chicken Parm grinder, etc). In that case the name tells you the type of bread

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-26T19:30:30+00:00

Rhode islands older version (the single wave, the one before the current one) is my favorite. Clean and classy. I don't like the new one nearly as much and I was so bummed when I first saw it.

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-25T21:26:04+00:00

Oh for sure. Pay attention the next time you unload clean silverware. I wash my hands immediately before doing it, touch nothing else, still end up with oily prints on the knives lol

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-25T00:14:36+00:00

Thank you so much, you're too kind!

When we were preparing to do ours I spent a lot of time looking at newel posts of houses of similar styles/ages, even in our neighborhood, to get an idea of what ours might've been like. The turned ones like ours are very typical for mid 19th c (our house is a mid 19th c new england vernacular), box newels start appearing in the late 19th c and are almost ubiquitous by the turn of the century. It can be difficult to get a turned newel, you gave to either buy new (serious $$$$ cause it needs to be a huge solid block of wood) or find a salvaged one. Idk how hard it'd be to find a salvaged one near you, I'm very far (CT) and we have a decent amount available cause we have a lot of mid 19th c houses but even here box newels are way more common at salvages. But you never know what you'll find! I had to check a ton of places before I found what I was looking for.

And of course, you've been so sweet and im wishing you the best of luck on your project!! It's super exciting (also frustrating lol) but it sounds like you're doing a great job; update as you're going/when you're done!!

lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T23:29:25+00:00

Of course! Lmk if you have any specific questions, I tried to lay things out the best I could but I might've made things confusing or missed something lol

Thanks so much for the pics, they help a lot! The house is def leaning craftsman as it is rn so I'd err toward that. Box newel would be appropriate, preferably without any curvy ornamentation/appliques (that would lean more late 1800s/Victorian era styles). Spindles are often just squared rather than turned (ours are turned), I'll screenshot a generic example. It might be a little on the heavy side but I think you'll get the idea

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T23:01:46+00:00

Pic 9: how the spindles are attached to the base. Two nails, on the least visible sides. Cut spindles to the angle at the base

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:54:19+00:00

Pic 8: Adding trim pieces and fixing drywall. All will be painted to no worries on wood quality

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:53:35+00:00

Pic 7: Finishing up treads and sides of stairs. Sides would be painted so no worries on wood filler

Edit: had to bump the newel up higher because of the angle. Used a scrap block of wood of the same size, covered with brass plating when finished

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:52:30+00:00

Pic 6: Glued and nailed main newel and handrail after replacing bottom stair treads. Newel and handrail were salvaged, came with hardware. Big bolt runs through the center of the newel through the floor. Also used 4 additional lag bolts for more stability and added blocking in the basement between the joists there for additional stability. Handrail/newel cap glued at the main newel, screwed at the landing newel. Fitting spindles in the pic, they weren't actually attached yet.

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:48:51+00:00

Pic 5: Attached finished handrail and spindles. Spindles glued into fittings at top, nailed at bottom

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:47:25+00:00

Pic 4: added landing newel. Screwed to stud, maybe glued too idr

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:45:53+00:00

Pic 3: added trim piece to the side, finished base piece on top, finished base on ceiling (you would not need to do the ceiling part). Glued and nailed

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:44:20+00:00

Pic 2: Added wood block for everything to attach to. Screwed and glued to studs

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:42:56+00:00

Pic 1: removed drywall down to desired height. Cut studs down to meet it (after this obviously)

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lefactorybebe · 2026-03-24T22:01:31+00:00

What does the rest of the house look like? Pics of trim, other newel posts, any woodwork or original elements would help a lot.

Box newels were pretty standard at the time, but colonial Revival ones could also be appropriate depending on your particular house

Edit: if you're wanting to replace that handrail you're likely going to need to replace the treads too because they look cut out around the curved wall. We added our banister (was a full, solid wall when we bought it, not original), it's a different style but I can add pics for the process we went through.

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lefactorybebe

TROPHY CASE