Lustron owners share an unwanted bond - they love their little metal houses - but many find even simple repairs and maintenance can be a real challenge. Calling in an outside “professional” isn’t always the solution either, some contractors are equally flummoxed or, even worse, prescribing inappropriate replacement products, methods or materials.
We all wish that we could “Call your authorized dealer” to get service as promised on that little blue tag in the utility area. But, fear not! You have come to the right place. In the following pages we have begun to capture the best practices that fellow Lustron owners have discovered while trying to maintain their own little piece of metal heaven. While your authorized dealer, might no longer be taking service calls, we hope the following sections will help you with your repair and maintenance issues.
Before embarking on any maintenance or repair it might be helpful to keep the following tips in mind.
- Do your homework. Review the relevant sections of the website, for example, if you are embarking on a roof repair, it would be useful to read the section on the Roofing System in addition to reading the section on Repair and Maintenance of the Roof and Gutters.
- Review the appropriate sections of the Erection Manual.
- Review the Lustron Standards for preservation of your Lustron.
- If you are working with a contractor, print out the relevant sections the website and the Erection Manual so that they will be available for your contractor to review.
- If you are hiring a contractor, talk with a few different contractors, get written estimates. Do they seem to understand the complexity of the house? Are they willing to work with you to identify solutions which preserve the historic integrity of the house and address the repair or maintenance problem?
- Begin with the least level of effort (use the gentlest means possible). When possible, make sure your repairs are reversible.
- Document. Whether you are doing the work yourself or hiring someone to do it for you, take pictures and notes of the work you are doing.
Ready to begin? Check out the following sections?
- Lustron owners check list
- Roof and Gutters
- Panels
- Windows
- Blinds and Screens
- Electrical
- Plumbing
- Heating
- Pocket Doors
- How to Find Your Serial Number
June 27th, 2009 at 8:02 am
None of these Links Work! this repair section is useless… lots of blather and no punch. I NEED to know how to remove exterior panels for replacement. I found spare panels in attic but I am not sure how to remove the old ones or install the new ones. I have printed the entire erection manual, unfortunately that is not all that informative as it mostly shows pictures of assembly. I know there are clips involved that are attached to the frame that hold the panels in somehow, and I think they are installed from top left to bottom right,(I think they may have to come back off in that order?)but that is all I can glean from this website or any other. Does anyone know how to do this? PLEASE HELP!!!
September 5th, 2010 at 11:54 am
I have the orignal metal square on my house and a two of the sqaure are begining to rust. How do i repair them?
July 22nd, 2011 at 5:53 pm
To the previous two posters (Dustin and Colleen), did you ever find out any information? I also need to make repairs and don’t know how to remove the panels.