Our gutters are made of old-fashioned galvanized steel. That type of gutter was on the house when we bought it 32 years ago. We have since replaced all of the gutters with new galvanized steel.

After a short burst forward, knocking down old walls and smashing glass, the mayor extolled the virtues of urban renewal in the name of fighting a war on drugs. Except that it was the wrong house.

Alan D. Miller is a former Dispatch editor who teaches journalism at Denison University and writes about old house repair and historic preservation based on personal experiences and questions from ...