1823 Landmark Part 2!!

Now that I had direction as to how to remedy the problem, I began to re-frame all the exterior walls from the interior. Using 2"x6"s, I built new walls directly behind each and every exterior wall. This meant that the total depth of each exterior wall was approximately 10 inches. This allowed for a great insulating factor, which resulted in very low heating and cooling costs. The windows we used where top-shelf insulated windows, which looked fantastic with the new deep wells. We lined all the ceilings with bead board, natural wood. All the trim was natural wood. We installed all new raised panel Pondarosa Pine doors. The floors where all random plank, screwed and plugged, then stained and finished. We installed a new set of stairs to the upper floor, with new rail and balusters, also stained and finished.

The kitchen was a real beauty, with recessed panel doors, and oak icebox hardware, solid brass, quite costly I might add. The crowning glory of the kitchen was the antique white enamel gas stove we found. It had two ovens, a broiler, a warmer, and six burners, and was trimmed in dark green enamel. It was a real beauty! The bathrooms where done with bead board on the lower portion of the walls. All fixtures where new, old style type, to carry out that old time look. All the door knobs where glass with brass back plates. This was truly a labor of love.

Everyone who came into this home absolutely loved it. You won't find another like it anywhere. We made separate bedrooms for the children, with their own little closets; the doors where made especially to accommodate the angles that the roof had made. This added a cozy feel for the children. This home had all new wiring, plumbing, heat/air. As you can see, we truly built a home within this home. To Be continued!!

1823 Landmark!!!

It was in the mid-1980's, when we decided to move the family away from the hustle and bustle of big city life. After quite a search for our new home, and with the help of a very kind and patient Realtor, we found our home, and it was within our budget. This particular Sunday, the phone rang, and it was our faithful realtor. She informed us that we'd better get up to this site pronto, and with cash in hand! So, we did. This soon-to-be home was in a great location, with the best schools for our children, and plenty of land for them to play and enjoy the outdoors.

This structure was built in 1823 as a church. As the parishioners grew, the building became inadequate to accommodate the growth. It was decided to move the structure and to use it as the Parrish House. This was accomplished by rolling the structure on wooden logs, just a few feet a day, till it was placed on the land that it sits on to this day. I learned all this because it was all documented in the Historic Landmark records, made available to the general public. Later, the building was sold as a private residence. There was also a Big Old Barn on this land; the barn was actually bigger than the house. Well, we sure had our work cut out for us, as we planned to transform this neglected, run-down building into our dream home.

The first thing I did was to gut the entire interior, right down to the original framing. This home was framed with chestnut timbers, and I mean timbers, right from the forest, and each piece had been hand axed to be used for its specific purpose. All joints where halved, lapped, and pegged with locust pegs, to hold them together, NO nails where used. This was how some furniture was constructed in the past. Japanese furniture makers, for example, made use of this peg construction. This wood was aged and hard as a rock. A drill refused to pass through these timbers.

Well, in the late evening I stood just about in the mid-section of this building, and as I was studying its condition and integrity, I realized that the exterior walls had tilted outwards approximately 1" to 2''. This ran along the entire length of both front and rear walls. After close observation and studying the structure carefully, I concluded that some of the intricate components tying this building together had been removed during the transporting and rolling process that I spoke about earlier. If any of you are familiar with what is called uni-body construction, then you know that each component part adds to the overall strength of its predecessor, therefore making the entire unit strong. I can't begin to express the wave of emotions that came over me, as this became more and more clear. WHAT NOW?

As a carpenter, I have learned that when you don't know just what to do, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!! And so I did. I asked GOD to tell me, show me, help me, as to just what to do. This was a short prayer, with a swift answer. This is what the still small voice said. "Build A House Within This House." And so I did exactly that! To Be Continued!!!

Historic Home Damaged By Hurricane! Part 4!!!

This project must have caught the attention of the local media, as one day a newsman showed up and took pictures and interviewed me. It was published in the local paper, and I hope to post the article soon. This restoration would have caused concern for any carpenter, however, I was very fortunate to have the background necessary to execute this project.

I grew up in a city where all the homes had this kind of construction and details; some, even far greater on the detail end. Many people look at a project such as this and really question whether it is worthwhile. This is understandable. You could probably build a new home on this same lot in a lot less time, and it would possibly be less costly. I never look at it like that. My first question always is, does this home still have its structural capacity and to what degree has it lost its integrity, building-wise? Most of the time, it is worth restoring, as the old time carpenters and the materials they used where far longer-lasting than those we have at our disposal today. As they say, it was a different world then, a totally different time, different values and ideas as to what is worth fixing and what should be trashed. Being a sentimentalist by nature, I try my best always to save that which is worth saving. It is quite sad in a way, how easy it is to just discard something and replace it with the new, which many times pales in comparison with the old. I guess it's just a mind set.

Well, my mind has been set and will remain set on preserving as much of the old and worthwhile as is practical and possible. This project was another great joy and blessing to all who participated. One of the biggest blessings was that I gained a friendship with a very intelligent and kind-hearted man and his wife. It was funny how all those NaySayers told me what an unreasonable person the owner of this home was, and that he was a real Meano. I sure thank God I didn't listen to their gossip!

One of the great privileges of being self-employed is you get to walk the roads and paths of your choosing; this, I will never regret. So, when I do fail or fall short, I simply look in the nearest mirror, directly at the one to blame. Well, may your next renovation project be a joy and a wonderful experience, and most importantly, money well spent. Till then... Happy Rehab!!!

Historic Home damaged by Hurricane!! Part 3!!

We used railroad ties (and I mean REAL railroad ties!) laid directly to the earth's surface, to displace the pressures we were about to apply in jacking up the two stacked porches. With reinforced header members carefully placed, and heavy duty house screw jacks placed, we were able to slowly control the lifting process. It is critical to note that all timbers have fibers, and once they get accustomed to staying in a certain position, changing that position must be a very thoughtful and careful process. If one tries to raise too much, it can cause stress and cracking, which will result in failure of the timbers to withstand the pressures and stresses that were intended to bear. A very common mistake, and a costly one I might add, is to over raise the structure to get it to perfect level. This is not what you want.

As you are lifting your loads, you must listen very closely to the sounds of the timbers; they will let you know when to stop, and you'd better listen. We did!! When we get older, things will begin to sag and settle. We can slow down the process with exercise and good diet; however, we inevitably will age noticeably. What I'm saying here is you must respect the age and conditions of the structure as a whole to do a successful rehab, restoring things in a way that will be pleasing to the eye, but not damaging to the structure. This a true restoration. In short, if you want a new house, build one. If you want an old house, restore it; work with what you have.

Well, we did. We removed all the support columns, then reworked all their damaged components, put them back where they were, and essentially reworked the entire framing and finished look of the two porches. We removed the brick support columns and aligned them as they needed to be, leveling and squaring them up in a way that made it appear that nothing had been done to them. The sign of a good restoration is, when you're done, it looks like nothing has been done. Everything looks old, but good. Thus, "an Oldie but Goodie!!" Each day we drew closer to preparing this beauty for a good paint job! To Be Continued!!

Historic Home damaged by hurricane!! Part 2 !!!

On the day work began on the old Victorian, the owner comes out with several shopping bags, I'm wondering what can be in these bags; they looked real old. As he explained to me, shortly after the hurricane hit, he went outside and gathered as many pieces of the debris that he could. If you have ever done a puzzle, you would know the type of pieces I'm referring to. I explained to him that these pieces simply wouldn't help. He said, "How do you plan on reproducing all the fancy scroll work that was mounted on top of the massive cable ends of this home?" This was an excellent question, seeing that these bags he had saved all these years seem to contain the only evidence of what the scroll work looked like.

However, age and time had left a silhouette on the large boards that this fancy work was mounted to. I used large sheets of clear plastic and push pins to hold the plastic onto the backing surface, which enabled me to trace an exact copy of what once was. I then cut the tracing out, making a stencil, which was later used to reproduce the scroll design. This was then mounted on the backing board, and Bingo, we had the old look back!!

Needless to say, the owner was quite happy, so he called the local newspaper. They came out and took pictures, and posted an article about this Historic Landmark. I hope to post that article, and pictures which I think will clearly show exactly what I'm referring to, as to the details of restoration.

This part of the project was just one segment of the challenges that awaited the home's restoration. Next, we needed to deal with structural issues, as the two stacked, open porches had severely gone out from their once level positions, and had sunk and racked out of alignment. How would we get them back in order, without causing further damage? More importantly... without them coming down to the ground in the process. To Be Continued!!

Historic Home damaged by hurricane!! Part 1!!!

In the 80's, I moved to a small city in Central Florida. One day, while driving down Main St., I noticed this very old, beautiful Victorian home. It was obviously damaged and missing the Ginger Bread trim, as it is called, which is the crowning glory of all authentic Victorians. This is one of the real workmanship components on an older home.

As I passed by, I told my children, who were in the car with me, that someday I would love to restore that home. As they say, be careful what you wish for, because you just might get your wish. And so I did. I got to meet with the owners, an elderly couple, who were two wonderful people. The gentlemen was a retired surveying engineer, and very concerned with the structural integrity of the home, as it had settled and visibly caved in in some areas. He stated that he waited for many years for me to arrive, almost knowing I was the man for the job, although we had not met before. Well, we stuck up quite a relationship over time, and he asked many questions of me about how I would do this project. Finally, he asked me to draw what I perceived to be the method and approach to re-stabilize his home.

Drawing is not my long suit; however, I fulfilled his wishes. Much to my surprise and delight, he was quite impressed with my drawing, which I still have to this day. After bartering price and cost, we agreed, and work began. Being a surveyor, he insisted on my wearing a hard hat; mine was orange, and his was white. (White hard hats are worn by the supervisors, orange by the workers. That's me.) I went along with most of his wishes, since he reminded me a lot of my Dad. They have their ways, but they know how to conduct a job, so I respected this.

By the way, as you might have read, I've been doing this for more than 35 years now, and generally don’t allow others to direct me in those areas that I excel at; however, there are exceptions to every rule, and this was one. To Be Continued!

Don't play with matches!!! Part 4

Once the home was well dried out from all the water, I began the restoration. As you can see in the pictures, the original attic had four Dutch dormers, as they are called, one on each side of the hip styled roof structure. I had to decide whether to retain the hip style or replace it with a full dormer with an A-frame type pitch.

Again, if you look at the pictures, you'll see that I went with the A-Frame type. The reason for this was to gain the full space of the attic, to be used as living space. The Dutch dormers look nicer from the exterior; however, they cut the interior space up in a way that doesn't allow for full use of the area. I also decided to add a full kitchen and bath; before the fire, this space was just used as a bedroom. Part of my reasoning for these decisions was that I intended to make rental units on each floor. Since the total area of the home after restoration was over 4500 sq. ft., it would have been difficult to find a renter who wanted or needed that much space. Turning the house into three large apartments of1500 sq. ft. (each the size of a modest single-family home) seemed to be a better option. I did this, and was able to generate a pretty good rental income.

This renovation took approximately seven to eight months to complete, a big part of which was waiting for everything to dry out. I must say that, while it is a huge undertaking to restore a fire project of this magnitude, the hard work always comes back to you through the great rewards and satisfaction of finishing the job.

The original owners showed up one day about a year later, and with tears in their eyes, they said, “Thank you, Bill, for putting our wonderful house back together”.

I thanked them back for the blessings that abounded because of it!

Don't play with matches!! Part 3 !!!

After handing my business card to the owners and offering to help with the insurance process, I proceeded to help some tenants transport their belongings elsewhere. A short while later, the owners asked me to give them an estimate on protecting the home temporarily while the insurance people did their thing. This process can take time! The entire top of this home was now gone and exposed to the elements. I furnished them with two estimates, one for a temporary flat deck, and the other for an A-frame pitch type deck. I advised them that, in light of how long this home might sit, I would go with the A-frame type, even though it was a more expensive option. They did not want to spend the extra dollars on the A-Frame type, so I offered it at the same cost as the flat type, knowing there had already been enough damage done to this structure, and it was time for it to start drying. Needless to say they gratefully accepted my offer... and so we protected this beauty!

A few days later, I came home to find the owners in my living room. Well, to make a long story shorter, they asked me if I would consider buying their home, telling me that they were too old to deal with such a large renovation and wanted to move to California to be with their son. They made me an offer that could not be refused. This was a once in a life time deal!!! Kindness and generosity surely paid off, and so I bought the home and began the restoration.

Anyone who has ever worked on a fire job will tell you that you can't have enough clothes to finish the job, as they are trash until you get past the removal of all the charred timbers and debris. This was correct in this fire job, as well. We proceeded to completely remove all signs of fire damage. This is a tedious but very necessary process, which cannot and should not be overlooked or rushed. You can never get rid of the smokey smell from a fire without being thorough during this critical process. You need to allow time to let the space heaters do their job. The house needs plenty of heat and plenty of fresh air.

I will conclude the story very soon. See you then.

Don't play with matches! Part 2

The question is, why did the blaze rekindle? The answer is that during the period of construction in which the home was built, the exterior walls were framed by a method known as balloon construction. This simply means that the cavity between the 2x4 walls ran clear up from basement to attic, creating a draft much like the way a chimney works. If an ember remained inside this cavity where we have balloon construction, it could re-kindle, and the blaze could become very aggressive. This is what happened to this beautiful 1920's Classic. Today's construction differs in that each floor is stacked on a separate deck with wood plates separating each floor, thus acting as a fire stop.

The entire attic of the old house was lost to the blaze. Extreme water damage was incurred in order to extinguish the fire, causing severe damage to the rest of the structure. It has been said that, most times, the damage caused by the water far exceeds the fire damage. This was the case here. Now, the question that I had to ask myself was, could this classic be rehabbed and was it worth the effort and cost?

My conclusion, definitely YES!!!I will post more in the next blog.

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See you in the next blog!

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