Hiraeth Restorations, LLC

Hiraeth Restorations, LLC Facebook home for Hiraeth Restorations, recreating the past one piece at a time. Working in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and, soon, Maryland.

It’s been an exceptionally wet spring, slowing progress on all exterior work. A quick visit to Salem to check on the con...
05/27/2026

It’s been an exceptionally wet spring, slowing progress on all exterior work. A quick visit to Salem to check on the condition of the pointing work done last fall confirmed that the mortar mixes used in the restoration performed beautifully despite everything the winter threw at it. I can now come in next month and finish pointing the final two walls. The original Portland mortar(first photo) was a primary culprit in the deterioration of these almost three hundred year old bricks. The lime mortar and brick dust mix I used to reconstruct some of the badly damaged bricks was based on ancient Roman texts and performed beautifully. After a few years, these patches will blend in with the originally material as it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere.
Thrilled to see the results and can’t wait to get back to this project and the springhouse when this damned weather cooperates!

05/03/2026

Some of our boys from Cecil County, serving as Co. C of the 2nd Delaware, were positioned just inside the tree line. These poor fellows, probably Georgians, were their opponents in a fierce firefight on 2 July 1863.

Five twenty foot hewn timbers heading to Virginia this morning for an historic log cabin restoration project.
04/26/2026

Five twenty foot hewn timbers heading to Virginia this morning for an historic log cabin restoration project.

And now the real work begins: hewing down a set of five white oak timbers for the restoration of a Virginia log cabin.
04/21/2026

And now the real work begins: hewing down a set of five white oak timbers for the restoration of a Virginia log cabin.

Sometimes, the most important piece of an historic building is a seemingly useless scrap of rotten wood. From the Delawa...
04/10/2026

Sometimes, the most important piece of an historic building is a seemingly useless scrap of rotten wood. From the Delaware spring house, I was able to salvage these two pieces of wood that offer crucial details to the roof construction.

The joinery wasn’t of a particularly high quality. However, these pieces are allowing us to produce copies down to the tiniest detail.

It also gives us vital information as to the cause of the failure after only about two hundred years. The failure of the roof was only part of the problem. Ultimately, the failure was due primarily to the heavy application of a Portland cement that covered the stone work and, worst of all, the wooden top plates of the spring house. This trapped moisture in and around the plate, causing a rapid(in terms of a historic building) deterioration.

Over the past several months, I’ve theorized that this building had seen extensive work in the 1050’s or 1960’s. The general workmanship and the materials gave me that estimate. Of course, it could have been a few decades before or after but sometimes, after doing this for long enough, you just get a “feeling” for such things.

I was surprised to find, tucked away under the eaves, a heavy coat of Portland cement with a date: June 1960. The destruction of this beautiful spring house was caused by poorly executed but well-intentioned restoration work conducted over two years before my father was born. Me, I was still twenty two years in the future. And here I am, sixty six years later, doing what I can to reverse the damage.

I absolutely love this work!

Twenty-five bushels of fresh oyster shells, hauled up from Virginia(a ten hour round trip) for a few different projects.
03/22/2026

Twenty-five bushels of fresh oyster shells, hauled up from Virginia(a ten hour round trip) for a few different projects.

New rafters are FINALLY where they belong. The old roof pretty much crumbled under the slightest pressure. New shingles ...
03/06/2026

New rafters are FINALLY where they belong. The old roof pretty much crumbled under the slightest pressure. New shingles start to go up, hopefully, by the end of next week after the sheathing is installed and the mess is cleaned up.

Between the snow and extreme cold, my girls have had a rough winter. They’ve not produced eggs in almost three months. N...
02/19/2026

Between the snow and extreme cold, my girls have had a rough winter. They’ve not produced eggs in almost three months. Nothing bothers me quite like seeing animals suffer, so I used some extra materials and a bit of spare time to build them a nice little log cabin. This is much more comfortable and, as soon as they were settled in, they began laying again!

With a coop like this, the Amish sawyer told me when I explained my plan, these chickens should start laying a dozen eggs each a day. Tongue in cheek, of course.

Took a quick trip this weekend to check out a simple pre-Civil War log cabin in Northern Virginia. A few rotten timbers ...
01/04/2026

Took a quick trip this weekend to check out a simple pre-Civil War log cabin in Northern Virginia. A few rotten timbers to replace, nothing too serious. It’ll be a bit of a struggle to source the white oak logs I’d want to use. The Amish mill I’ve been dealing with has sadly went to mostly softwoods. Half the battle in finding a timber source is making it clear to the supplier what exactly I’m looking for in the way of a superior material. In this case, I want smaller logs, no bigger than eighteen inches in diameter at the small end, sixteen to twenty feet in length. Knots are acceptable in moderation. I’ll probably end up paying $200 to $300 for each log, spending a couple hours hewing on each, and then assisting a local contractor install them on site.

Between finding new sources for hardwoods and springhouse work, it’ll be a pleasantly busy week. Can’t wait!

A fun week building rafters. Now to track down a big tarp, rip off the old roof, and frame up the new one! Next week wil...
01/02/2026

A fun week building rafters. Now to track down a big tarp, rip off the old roof, and frame up the new one! Next week will be even more fun!

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New Castle County, DE

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