How To Repair Iron Parts Beds

How to notice missing pieces for an iron bed

Plus, how to 'air out' a basement apartment

A salvaged iron bed has some missing and broken parts. Replacements tin be fabricated from cast epoxy or brass. (Reader photo)

Question: I recently salvaged an old iron double bed that is unfortunately missing the side rails and a few decorative pieces. 1 decorative slice at the superlative is crushed, and the pieces that used to be on the ends of the scrolls are gone. Tin you recommend a relatively local dealer who can sell me the missing items?

— Bethesda

Reply: Emerge Shaffer at Emerge Shaffer Interiors in Kensington (301-933-3750) recommended Ferdynand Dyba (240-305-5757; artsman54@msn.com). She refers by and large forest repairs to him, merely he repairs other kinds of antiques, too. He finished a contumely bed terminal week.

After looking at the pictures yous sent, Dyba said he could make the missing pieces from cast epoxy. Considering the bed will be painted, those parts would await the same equally the metal ones. Including refinishing, which he said would be the nearly expensive part, he estimated the cost at $800. But that wouldn't include the rails. "I've only worked on beds that had all the parts before," he said. "So I'd demand to practise some inquiry on where to become the runway."

Some other option, though farther abroad, is Brass Beds of Virginia in Richmond (800-409-0340; www.brassbedofva.com). The visitor manufactures new brass and iron beds and also does repairs. "There were about 50 variations of the dovetail joint for the side rail," Pat Hudgins, the owner, wrote in an e-mail afterward seeing your pictures. His visitor uses a similar connector, with the taper going from 1 inch wide to ¾-inch wide. If your connectors match, yous're in luck. If the openings on yours are smaller, the visitor could enlarge them. If the openings are larger, the work-around is more than complicated. "In the past, we have been able to remove the females from an old bed and weld ours on, simply this can be costly," Hudgins said.

Hudgins said his company can make the missing decorative pieces from brass. For refinishing, he recommended sandblasting to remove the rust and paint, then repainting via the pulverization-glaze process.

He estimated that replacing the side track would cost $84 if the ones his company makes will work. Whatsoever alterations would toll an boosted $50 an hr. Contumely pieces for the missing decorative parts would be nigh $35 each, plus labor to install. Sandblasting would cost around $135; the powder-coat finish, $85 to $225 depending on the number of coats and the caste of perfection you desire.

Question: I live in the cute basement apartment of a rowhouse. There are many benefits to this apartment — great location, custom fixtures, lots of built-in bookshelves. I accept a nice skylight, but unfortunately no windows that open. I do not accept a carve up archway. My door leads to my landlord's space upstairs. I have houseplants, simply there is still a lingering staleness to my apartment. Is at that place a fashion to "air out" my apartment?

— Washington

Respond: One obvious issue is whether your apartment is legal to rent. The city's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has a Web site that discusses issues involved in basement apartments that you might want to read; see world wide web.rentmydcbasement.
wordpress.com. Do you have an emergency go out? That's an accented requirement for any carve up living unit. But if you share your landlord's kitchen, the code considers you a roommate and the rules pertaining to basement apartments don't apply. Still, every bedroom needs an escape route to the exterior.

Because y'all dearest your apartment, y'all might be disinclined to get legalistic with your landlord. But knowing the rules might at least give you some bargaining room in finding (and paying for) a solution. Bruce Wentworth, an builder and contractor who owns the design-build firm Wentworth Studio in Chevy Chase (240-383-1227; www.wentworthstudio.com) suggests talking to a mechanical contractor almost installing a makeup air unit in an exterior wall, with a switch so you could bring in outdoor air as needed. Depending on how difficult it is to drill through the wall and whether power is easily available, he estimated the total toll might come up to virtually $ane,000. If your unit doesn't share any of the building's outside walls, a duct with an in-line fan could bring in fresh air.

If your edifice has a heating and ac system with ducts that run through the basement, adding a return air vent in your unit of measurement could also help. Information technology wouldn't directly bring in fresh air, but by increasing the circulation, you would get more of the fresh air that'south enjoyed by the upstairs space. Adding the vent would also send air into your unit through the HVAC system, conditioning it and making the air in your unit seem fresher and less musty. "I have one in my basement and it works really well to keep the basement pleasant," Wentworth said. However, he cautioned that if y'all do have an official apartment in the basement, adding this kind of vent could compromise the code requirement to isolate living units and so burn down doesn't spread rapidly from one unit to another.

Have a problem in your home? Send questions tolocalliving@washpost.com . Put "How To" in the subject line, tell united states where you lot alive and attempt to include a photo.

How to repair an heirloom radio

How to fix an old typewriter or flashlight

How to copy an old photograph in a convex frame

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Assembly Programme, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for u.s. to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.