Chimney Safety 101 + Fixing Slanted Floors + Maggie Smith’s Quirky Foursquare

A professional chimney sweep explains how to safely prep, inspect, and clean your fireplace before lighting the first fire of the season. Award-winning poet and host of The Slowdown, Maggie Smith, shows us inside the 100-year-old house that carried her family through every chapter. Cheap Old Houses creators Ethan and Elizabeth Finkelstein unpack the reality behind two dreamy listings, including a “reimagined” Southern starter in Macon, Georgia, and a wildly charming but work-heavy 1850s gingerbread house in upstate New York. And our expert shares why a cordless miter saw has become his go to tool for clean, efficient work on job sites.

In this episode you’ll learn:
* How to decide what to tackle first when your old house has sloping floors, drafty windows, and aging siding. (7:52)
* How to get ceiling-fan level comfort in a low, sloped-ceiling addition that doesn’t really have room for a standard fan. (15:12)
* How to repair loose, plank tiles and cracked grout lines without replacing your whole tile floor. (20:41)
* How to deal with a peeling refinish on an old cast-iron tub (26:50)