Home renovation – Whoopsie Piggle

I met 88-year-old Herman Dreisbach twice in 2003 before purchasing the house his uncle built in 1909 and gifted to him in 1946. Herman and his wife, Ruth, raised their two children in the home, the only one in which the couple lived as Ruth died in 2002. As regular readers know, I raised my three eldest sons in what I call Dreisbach House and am now raising my youngest two children next door in Cressler House, named after Claire Cressler, who lived in his home for six decades with his wife, Gloria. Claire was my neighbor and frequent dinner guest until his death in 2007. Both homes feel imbued by the love of the couples who lived in them.

For 11 years, I rented out Dreisbach House, which paid for both mortgages. When my last tenants moved out, I was in a relationship with the man I fell in love with at 17. Though external forces pulled us apart in 1983, we never lost contact. For four decades and many moves across the country, I kept a box of his letters because in a back pocket of my heart I believed we would one day reunite. And so we did in the spring of 2021. After 2 1/2 years of a long-distance romance, he moved to Akron. Together we decided to restore Dreisbach House beyond its former glory and live there for the rest of our days. Instead of finding new tenants, we began renovations.

By necessity, windows went first. While most of the main floor windows are original, several decades ago the Dreisbachs replaced the second floor and kitchen windows with vinyl ones, which had warped with age. Two remained permanently closed while one was stuck 4 inches open and had to be covered with wood and plastic. We replaced them with Andersen wooden windows that have color-matched exterior aluminum cladding in oxblood red, the exterior color of the windows in 1909. We discovered this when layers of white paint were scraped off the existing original windows. That, along with their non-standard sizes, caused the manufacture to take more than 16 weeks.

The next step was to begin the great undoing of Herman Dreisbach’s 1950s improvements of the bedrooms. I assume Dreisbach’s goal was to cover the plaster walls, which now and again form bubbles and cracks, and situate outlets. First he mounted heavy-gauge wire atop the 10″ baseboards. Then he installed drywall, with holes strategically placed for outlets to connect to the wire, over the walls and baseboards. Not exactly up to code, but it worked for 70 years without incident.

Last spring, contractors removed the drywall, revealing the original baseboards and window frames, which also had been covered, all of which needed repaired or replaced. In one bedroom I had a sizable hole cut into the wall of a closet that extended several feet over the stairwell so as to create a sitting nook.

Then, when the project was at the point where everything was undone, my relationship went topsy-turvy, as someone less besotted might have predicted. There will never be a love in my life greater than that for my children. The remorse for what my 15-year-old son was exposed to will stay with me all my days. But he also witnessed my swift and irrevocable response.

Where the brain accepts hard truths, the heart can be slow to follow. The loss of a dream I thought had come true pushed me into an unrelenting grief that too often doubled me over with sobs from the bottom of my gut, made me shake palsy-like and weep in public for no apparent reason. The only other time I felt as hollowed out was after the death of my grandmother. If you’ve run into me in the past year and what I said made little sense, you now know why.

But grief is not depression. I carry on, busily working on projects I had set aside for three years. Most importantly, I am held by the loving support of family and friends. My eldest sons have taken monthly turns traveling home to spend weekends with me, while faraway friends schedule calls to talk for as long as I need. Here in Akron, my friends Bruce and Jim share meals with me most weeks as they patiently guide me through this difficult passage.

Because it was in the middle of a renovation when I was thrown a curveball, I found myself with a house that could not generate revenue. My income last year was almost $20k, so I had to get creative. I took out $17,000 on two credit cards at zero percent interest for 18 months and began to put the beautiful Dreisbach House, and my life, back together. I’m eager to share some results in the weeks ahead.

This was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, March 2, 2025.

It all started with the Roper stovetop

I own two side-by-side houses and I’m slowly remodeling the one we call Dreisbach House, an Arts and Crafts home built in 1909. Meanwhile, I live in Cressler House, which underwent significant modernizing in the 1960s, including the installation of that Roper stovetop.

With two parallel rows of burners mounted into the countertop, the Roper was a romantic throw back, sexy even. After all, it produced visible fire and tangible heat. The busiest burner, on the front right corner, sometimes required assistance to ignite its flame. There’s a singular satisfaction in seeing a robust round of fire erupt in the presence of a lit match.

The Roper’s pilot lights ran high. Plates set on burners I wasn’t using, while cooking on others, quickly became too hot to touch with bare hands. The slightest wind would extinguish the Roper’s pilot lights, which, given its proximity to the back door, was frequent

Charming but dangerous, effective but inefficient, the Roper needed to retire. Rather than gas, I chose an induction stovetop. Induction stovetops heat cookware electromagnetically, thus, only cookware made with magnetic materials work. Caste iron is a go, caste aluminum is not. Most of the cookware I already own works just fine.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, induction stovetops are up to three times more efficient than gas stoves. Other perks include no release of the pollutants related to gas stovetops and shockingly fast heating times —induction stovetops boil water up to 40% faster than gas or conventional electric stovetops.

In researching which stovetop to buy, I looked at the website Wirecutter, which reliably reviews just about everything. I chose a GE Profile, which was more than I’d planned to spend. Like the Barbra Streisand song, I’m a second-hand rose. Most of my clothing (and that of my children) is thrifted, my car was used when I bought it and I’ve never been the first owner of a home. But with some purchases, particularly appliances, it is wise to spend more for better. Also, I found some kickbacks.

Before purchasing the stovetop at Lowe’s, I went to Get-Go, the gas station owned by Giant Eagle, and bought gift certificates for the hardware store using a credit card that gives me 3% back on gas station purchases. And because I have a Giant Eagle rewards card, I also earned a lot of free gas.

Not so fast. The induction stovetop is made of tempered glass and the kitchen’s copper-tile backsplash, which is probably as old as the Roper, was embedded with years of stains no amount of elbow grease and Pink Stuff (or Bar Keeper’s Friend, steel wool, etc.) could remove. In order to avoid damaging the new stovetop, the backsplash needed replaced first. But a new backsplash would accentuate how deeply worn the countertops were.

Which meant before the counters, backsplash and stovetop, I needed to pick new flooring as I use the floor to dictate the color of the other components. And that’s when I learned how out of sync I am with seemingly everyone else in America.

I will never install a tile floor in a kitchen. For someone who stands in the kitchen everyday, tile is too cold in the winter, too hard on joints everyday and when you drop something in a room with a tile floor, kiss it goodbye because whether it’s glass, plastic or a small creature, it’s going to break when it lands.

I love linoleum that unapologetically looks like linoleum. Akron’s First Flooring & Tile can order Marmoleum by Forbo, which is old-school vegetable linoleum. The patterns are beautiful, the material is both environmental and durable, while also gentle on the legs. In 10 minutes I chose Asian Tiger, an orange swirl with reds and grays that, yes, would be a perfect floor for children to play hot lava.

I then ordered a quartz countertop that looks like white marble with subtle streaks of grey and brown to complement the busy flooring. So, too, does the white subway tile backsplash with flecks of terra cotta.

The countertop, backsplash and induction stovetop have all been installed. When I walk into the kitchen and look at them, I feel a small trill in my chest, so long as I don’t look at the floor.

Home decor styles come and go. Thirteen years ago, when I put a new floor in Dreisbach House’s kitchen, First Flooring & Tile’s showroom had rows of vinyl linoleum on 12-foot rolls. Today they have none. It’s all ceramic tile and floating floor planks (think Pergo). There are appropriate places for both types of flooring, but not in my kitchen.

With the loss of sheet linoleum so, too, has gone the people who can install it. Two flooring companies and Home Depot have not been able find anyone who will install Marmoleum. At the suggestion of the flooring companies, I emailed Forbo and asked for help finding an installer. They responded by telling me to contact the flooring companies. Sigh.

Perhaps soon floating laminate and tile floors will peak and make way for the return of sheet linoleum. Until that time, my newly refurbished kitchen will include the old flooring with throw rugs strategically placed to hide wear and tear.

This column was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

Since publication, Akron architect Hallie Bowie contacted me with this very useful information:

“I want to be sure you know that you can get a tax credit if you had any electrical panel upgrades done to help with the installation of the cooktop. And you could mention that those earning less than 150% of the median income in our area will soon be able to get rebates on the cooktop itself, up to 100% of the cost of the appliance or $840 max. https://pearlcertification.com/news/electric-cooktop-rebates-and-tax-credits“