I have beveled wood siding - cedar I guess - on a 40 year old house. I had an instance last fall/winter where mice found an entry point in my garage. The entry point was just outside the door frame where it meets the bottom run of siding, underneath. It appears that all of the bottom run of my siding does have a little space (an inch or so) up behind it, and overtime, at least at the door frame entry point it appears that time took it's toll and allowed the mice to squeeze in. The house is in really good shape, but I was thinking of using caulk (or something) to fill in that inch of space

Dear Mason,

I have an 1860’s house on a wood foundation. Over time the wood around the perimeter has rotted. I suppose this is because the outside of the building gets wet from weather and irrigation. The floor and floor supports are fine, just the lower part where it touches the dirt is gone. Underneath the house it is bone dry and the wood supports are perfectly preserved. The net effect is that over time the outside walls have drooped a couple of inches while the core of the house has

Mason - just caught your blog. What a great idea. This question may or may not rank on your list.

Many older (pre-WWII) homes in the Fan and West End areas of Richmond were constructed and finished with high-quality materials of the time, such as millwork made from old-growth hardwoods. Obviously, not all of our homes are on the historic landmarks registry, but these homes have a certain charm and scale not often found in more modern homes. In remodeling or adding-on to such a home, how do you balance the need to preserve original