Old House Handyman retires, but will continue this column
Thirty years ago this year, I began writing this column about historic preservation and old house repair, along with personal anecdotes about my family as we restored two old houses and then branched out into the homes of our children.
Some of you who followed our antics and didn’t connect this column with the work of the mild-mannered journalist who started at The Dispatch as a news reporter in 1984 wondered how the Old House Handyman became editor of The Dispatch.
I wrote about the frustrations of leaky roofs and pipes, of measuring once and cutting twice, and of all sorts of plumbing, which I hate because it stinks or leaks or both. I also wrote about the joys of working alongside little girls, our daughters, who at age 3, helped strip wallpaper in the space that would be their bedroom, or at age 5, helped soap screws so that we could drive them into century-old wood to create another space for them.
They became young women who moved on to their own homes and now fearlessly attack virtually any home-repair project because they gained that knowledge and confidence through experience — all the while providing me with material for a column.
I toyed with ending the column when I was named editor of The Dispatch in
2015. I figured I’d be too busy with editor stuff to write this column. I mentioned that to my bride and three daughters, and they scoffed in unison.
Daughter No. 3 said, “Dad, you know you’re going to do the work, so you might as well write the column.”
She was right. We — all of us — did continue the work, and for most anyone else, the projects would have been a weekend pain in the rear. For us, they were never work. They were bonding moments and opportunities to share stories about the history of these old houses, or the history of how they were put together, or the history of our ancestors who built some of them.
And for me, they were column fodder. Every one of them could have given me the material for another column. There were more projects than column slots, so you heard the best of the stories, or those that I figured might help others among you who are facing similar old-house challenges.
I have never portrayed myself as an expert. I am not. But I talk with a lot of them, or read their books, and I offer what I learn with the preface that, at most, these stories might help you with a project, and, at least, they might entertain you.
I have heard from many of you who have said that you’d never tackle one of these projects, but that you enjoy reading about them, or at least about our family’s antics as we try to maintain our old houses and outbuildings while also maintaining our composure.
All of this is to say that, after 30 years of writing this column, I can’t stop now. I retired last Monday after 37 years as a reporter and editor at The Dispatch, but I’m not going to stop working on our old houses. In fact, in retirement, I’ll have more time for projects that will supply fodder for this column.
Features Editor Becky Kover says she would be happy to see me continue writing about our exploits, and I am grateful.
Many thanks to all of you who have written letters and emails over the years with questions about your old-house challenges, or with uplifting comments about something in the column that resonated with
you. I appreciate you and the opportunity to write about the place we all call home.
Alan D. Miller, former Dispatch editor, writes about old-house repair and historic preservation. youroldhouse1@gmail.com @youroldhouse