I’m excited about a new trend in preservation I’ve been reading about recently–the restoration of old train stations and depots across the country. I don’t know if it can really be considered a new trend, as historic societies and preservation organizations have been working to save the stations and depots that have played such an important part in our county’s history for many years. I think the movement might just be getting more publicity now, but that’s fine, too.

I’m excited personally because I like trains; they are one of my favorite ways to travel. It wasn’t that long ago that railroads ruled in this country; if you needed to get from one place to another, it usually involved taking a train. Every city had at least one station such as Grand Central Station and Pennsylvania Station in New York, and small towns were often identified by their train depots.

Old Train Depots Are Often near Old Houses

I’m also excited because the railroad depot was normally located in the heart of a small town, in a place that was convenient for those arriving and departing by train. The depot was close to the homes and businesses that defined the town and was often used as a place for the community to gather. Unfortunately times have changed and what was once the thriving center of a town is very often now an area full of old houses in need of restoration and businesses that shut their doors years ago.

The Preservation Journey Starts with the First Step

Train depots that have been restored or are undergoing restoration may be able to start a preservation movement in some of those towns. I mentioned in an earlier post that I live in an old railroad town where many of the old houses that once belonged to railroad employees have been restored. Quite a few of those restorations are because the town has been building on its heritage as an old railroad town and making the railroad depot a popular attraction. Buildings that have been empty for many years are now the homes of a bakery, a coffee shop, and an ice cream parlor.

Sometimes all it takes is for one key historic building to undergo a restoration and before long an entire section of a town or city has been transformed by preservation enthusiasts. I am watching it happen in my town and it has happened in places like El Paso, Texas, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, and Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Railroads played an important part in making this country what it is today, and who knows–maybe the preservation of their stations and depots can help lead the way in saving some of our history.

I’m in the process of buying an old house. A small old house.

How small?

The roof indicates the original size of this small old house: 648 square feet.

The house was originally built in 1905 and was 24 feet by 27 feet, for a grand total of 648 square feet. That included a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom. No bathroom. Well, not an indoor one with plumbing, at least.

The outdoor root cellar was converted to a bathroom and my grandpa added an enclosed front porch in the 1950s, bringing my total square footage to 984.

When I was looking at homes in this and other rural communities, I was looking for a one- or two-bedroom house. Why? I’m a single gal with a dog and no kids. How much space do I really, truly need? Because I was looking for a smaller space, all the homes I looked at were old. Somehow I came to the conclusion that a lot of older homes were small, especially because of the historic trend of new homes getting bigger and bigger.

But that’s not true.

Of the single, detached houses built before the 1920s, only 3.2 percent of houses were the size of my house! By pre-1920s standards, I still had a small house. Here are the details, courtesy of the Census Bureau:

• Less that 500 sq. ft.: 1.2%
• 500-749: 3.2%
• 750-999: 5.8%
• 1,000-1,499: 22.9%
• 1,500-1,999: 23.4%
• 2,000-2,499: 17.7%
• 2,500-2,999: 9.5%
• 3,000-3,999: 9.5%
• 4,000+: 6.7%

The number of rooms in a house was also much higher than I expected. Almost 70 percent of homes built before 1920 had six or more rooms. My house? In the bottom two percent. While I’m surprised that so many old houses were and are bigger than mine, it doesn’t make me regret buying a space that meets my needs.

Personally, I have never had much interest in keeping up with the Joneses, despite the historical trend we’ve seen in the United States. In 1973, the average square footage of a home was 1,660 sq. ft. That trend continued to climb until it reached its peak in 2008 at 2,519 (side note: houses in metropolitan areas are on average 300 square feet bigger).

Recently, though that trend has reversed. Homes are getting smaller. Sociologists, economists and other-ists have their theories, some of which include the recession. Other theories include cultural shifts resulting from urban congestion or increasing environmental awareness and responsibility. How old is the old adage “less is more,” and is it finally applying to homes? Whatever the reason, new homes are shrinking.

In 2009, the average was 2,438 sq. ft., but the downsizing trend continues.

How small?

Architect Jay Shafer designs tiny houses. Like, really tiny. They range from 65 to 774 square feet. His own home is 96 sq. ft. He sleeps in a two-person loft and his entire bathroom is his shower. The reasons why he’s lived in three houses all less than 100 feet over the past 10 years include that he doesn’t like vacuuming or dusting, or taking care of a lot of stuff he’s not really using. He’s also not spewing extra gases into the environment or consuming resources just because of a need for wasted space.

Too small?

Whether you’re into small old houses or tiny new houses, there is something to be said for being aware of your personal need of space as it relates to both cost and the environment. How much space do you need?

Here's a Restoration Project That'll Keep You Busy

I have never been a person who likes large houses; I prefer to live in a small and cozy world. My way of thinking is that I don’t need any rooms not used on a daily basis.  I can remember visiting various friends’ homes when I was younger and seeing rooms full of furniture covered in plastic. We weren’t allowed in those rooms as they were for special occasions and otherwise, there just to look at.

I don’t need a room set aside for special occasions in my old house; I have one room that functions as a parlor, sitting room, family room, and living room all-in-one (at least I think it functions as a sitting room and parlor–I have never been sure what happens in a sitting room or parlor!) Yet, I’ve never felt I lacked for space.  However, I know that small old houses aren’t for everyone, that some people like room to spread out and not feel crowded.  If you are one of those people, you may be interested in an old house in Pennsylvania that is in need of some weekend preservation work.

An Old House That Shows You’ve ”Arrived”

Lynnewood Hall, outside of Philadelphia, needs a person or organization to save it before it meets the same fate as White Marsh Hall, another old house nearby.  Lynnewood Hall would be perfect for a growing family and with 70,000 square feet and 110 rooms you may even be able to squeeze in an in-law suite.  The old house was built about 1900 by a butcher who started making his fortune selling meat to the Union Army during the Civil War.

All kidding aside, I think the old house does deserve to be restored and used for something, although I’m not sure what.  It would be way too big for a bed and breakfast unless they made really good blueberry waffles and developed a national following.  There is a social media drive underway to contribute to the mansion’s preservation, much the same as the drive to save the old house in New York I mentioned in a previous post.

These old mansions do help define a period in our country’s history and deserve a chance

Swannanoa Mansion in Central Virginia

for preservation just like any other historic homes.  Unfortunately, the odds seem to be somewhat stacked against it due to the huge financial commitment the restoration and maintenance of a home this size could require.  Lynnewood Hall may manage to beat the odds, though.  There is an old mansion near the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia that was facing the same fate after sitting empty at various times during its history, and a preservation minded owner finally stepped in and purchased it.  I’ll have to say that Swannanoa is looking pretty good these days.

Historic or Just an Old House?

I came across a story that I think is a pretty good example of the battle preservationists fight on a daily basis across our country. It has all of the components that are usually involved; an old house, renovation costs, a government that doesn’t want to spend money on an old house, a group that considers the house worth saving, and a group that considers an old house and a historic old house to be two different animals. I wish I had found this article when I wrote “What Defines Historic?”

So, What Does Define Historic?

Glen Carbon is a village in Madison County, Illinois, with a population of about 10,000. The Harmon House dates to at least 1908 when it was owned by a local coal mining inspector. Coal mining is a large part of why Glen Carbon exists today. The old house was then owned from 1916-1954 by the grandparents of one of the attendees at the recent village meeting where a motion was passed to demolish the house. The village has owned the house since 2000 and in 2008

What Defines Historic?

determined it would take about $100,000 to renovate the home. The village doesn’t want to spend the money and the plan now is to take demolition bids for the next 30 days, and if preservationists can’t raise $100,000, the old house comes down.

I found the comments after the article to be as interesting as the article itself as the opposing camps expressed their viewpoints and arguments, and it seemed like it all came down to what defines historic. If a village grows around the coal mines that support it and an old house once owned by a mining inspector dates to those days, is it historic to the area or just an old house? Who has to have owned an old house, or slept in it, or even visited it to make it a historic home? The town I live in was known as a railroad town many years ago and quite a few of the old homes owned by railroad workers and executives have been restored over the years, but I don’t think Casey Jones ever lived in any of them.

Cash for Caulkers Revived?

There are rumblings that the Home Star Energy Bill, or Cash for Caulkers as it has also been called, may rise from its dormant state in the Senate. It has been there since the House passed it and sent it over in May. The Fed Chief is calling for stimulus spending to continue to help prevent the fragile economy from faltering, so the Senate may take action on the Bill in the near future.

There are plenty of ghost tales throughout rural Nevada–it sort of goes with ghost town territory, I think. And though there are some local historic buildings where I have personally witnessed some heebie-jeebie stuff, the George A. Bartlett House is too depressing, even for a ghost.

Photo, 1907, courtesy of the the Central Nevada Historical Society in Tonopah, Nevada, home of the "Best Museum in Rural Nevada, 2010"

What kind of depressing? The kind that takes a resplendent, historic home of 8,100 square feet and makes it decrepit. Also the kind that saw its most recent promise of grandiose restoration in 2008 abandoned once again this year. If not a restoration curse, why else would the resurrection of this once-beautiful home be derailed time after time?

The George A. Bartlett house in Tonopah, Nevada, July 2010

The house Bartlett finished in 1907 is described architecturally as a two-and-a-half-story Eastern Shingle Style home. The foundation was carved from solid stone and the house and pillars’ now-aged stone was sourced from the mountain that backs up to the home. The living room on the main floor had two stone fireplaces and twin staircases. The walls of Bartlett’s study were covered with red leather. The master suite on the second floor opened directly to the deck that looks out over the valley and downtown. In all, Bartlett spent $75,000 constructing his home–the equivalent of $3,000,000 today. He lived in it less than a year.

The rear of the George Bartlett House

Bartlett, a young, ambitious attorney, almost went bankrupt during the silver panic in 1907. Shortly thereafter he left Tonopah to serve as Nevada’s only congressional representative from 1907 to 1911. The house was abandoned, foreclosed on, and remained vacant. Later, the Knights of Columbus owned the home, then it was stuffed full of officers and airmen during World War II.  The house again sat vacant until the 1970s when it was sold for nonpayment of taxes.

The southeast side of the Bartlett house

And now for the horrifying part that would make the story more depressing if it weren’t so horrifying. The home sustained the majority of its damage during the 1980s when a new owner–one of many with glorious plans of restoration–received an architectural salvage permit and gutted the home of all its woodwork, the leather from the walls, the staircases–everything. Then this owner lit dynamite inside the house so that he didn’t have to go outside to access the basement. The kicker? At the time, the house was already on the National Historic Register.

The house then went to auction again for unpaid taxes and was sold for only $2,000. This owner, whose family lived in Tonopah, also thought he would be the one to restore the George Bartlett house. He, too, failed, and sold the house to Denise Nelson and Michael Burnoroos, who, though new to the Tonopah area, had enough historic, old-house love to take on the project.

Debris from the beginnings of the most recent attempt at renovation.

But, once again, they also failed. The house has had its interior torn out, including the floors. The cement floors that had been planned for the first floor were not finished, and it’s unknown if the front of the house’s structural issues had been resolved. What happened? Nelson and Burnoroos followed a new opportunity away from Tonopah, only to have Burnoroos suffer health complications that prevented him from returning and working at Tonopah’s altitude of 6,000 feet.

Cursed? Perhaps. For over 100 years, this home has been waiting for an owner. How long can it wait?

Source credit: Burnoroos, Michael and Nelson, Denise. Boomtown History III, “George A. Bartlett House.”

Note: George Bartlett was famously known as the Nevada District Court Judge who believed in “easy” divorce and presided over more than 20,000 divorces between the 1920s and 1930s in Reno.

A Place to Enjoy Those Cool Night Breezes!

I think I feel a little better after finding out the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that April-June 2010 was the East Coast’s hottest April-June on record. I was starting to think it was just me–perhaps some sort of long-term virus that made me feel like I was locked in a sauna twenty-four hours a day without a key. The good news is that we are through June; the bad news is that it feels like another record might be set by the end of July.

My old house had a sleeping porch up until a couple of months ago. We had a heavy snow (more extreme weather) that partially caved in the roof of the porch this past winter, and I saw no reason to keep it, when I never used it. The porch was on the second floor of the old house and stretched across the entire rear side; it was designed to catch breezes from every direction except the west, which I’m sure made for some comfortable evenings. I don’t know if it would have made a difference, but I might have put a little more thought into whether the porch should come down if I had known we were going to be breaking records for heat on a regular basis.

Who Needs Air-Conditioning When You Have a Sleeping Porch?

Air-conditioning is a modern convenience. It wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted to escape the stifling summer heat of your bedroom and you were lucky enough to have a sleeping porch, you enjoyed the cool night breezes an evening outside could provide. This article about Buffalo, New York, architecture discusses the origins of sleeping porches. Most sleeping porches had roofs for protection from sudden summer thunderstorms

Three Directional Breezes and No Bugs!

and some had open sides, while others had many windows with screens to encourage bugs to find other accommodations.

Sleeping porches were fairly common at one point in our history; they were even constructed on homes in towns and cities. The Newland House in Huntington Beach, California has a virtual tour that includes the old house’s sleeping porch. Jack London used his California sleeping porch on a regular basis and slept there the night before he died.

A Texas blogger has an amusing post about her grandfather and his insistence on using his sleeping porch to nap on hot Texas afternoons, despite having  perfectly good air-conditioning in his home.

I think the stress of our modern lives makes many of us appreciate a time when things seemed less complicated, when people waved from the front porch swings of their old houses as you walked by, and you could fall asleep enjoying the fresh air, cool breezes, and sounds of the night on your summertime sleeping porch.

Families that live in rural communities like the one where I live have lived here for generations and have passed down houses that are over a hundred years old. It’s not uncommon for real estate transactions to be done with a handshake and a smile. The house next to me and the house across the street from it are both seller carry-back loans because folks know one another and a lot of the hoops and costs that go along with buying and selling property just seem like more trouble than they’re worth. A quit-claim deed or a deed of trust is all that is really needed here.

I love that living here in a lot of ways is simple.

Family homes, such as this one built 1905, sometimes have unexpected issues that can only be discovered with a title search

I am in the process of buying a house that was built in 1905 and has been in my family since the 1950s. The timeline goes like this, best I can tell: Grandpa buys 1.5 lots, Grandma and Grandpa buy house on 1.5 lots next door to Grandpa’s parcels, Grandpa dies, Grandma puts Aunt Ruthie on deed for house and lot with 3 lots, Grandma dies, and Aunt Ruthie agrees to sell me the house. Not an unlikely scenario in any family.

Though we considered having my aunt carry the papers, we both agreed that since financing wasn’t a problem for me, we’d just go that route. And since I was financing, I needed title insurance, which included a title search.

Turns out that Grandpa never put Grandma’s name on those 1.5 lots or recorded the original deed, which means the land wasn’t included in his probate or, subsequently, my grandma’s probate. My aunt had to hire an attorney and, in Nevada, they can do a “set aside,” meaning that some probate issues can be handled while setting aside some tedious administration. And we were only able to do that because Grandma was a fabulous record keeper and had saved all the original documents (on onion paper, to boot).

Instead of a being a homeowner blessed with a quick and easy sale, I am a real-life example of one of the special scenarios real estate schools warn aspiring agents about. And it’s not just my sour luck.

The lots pictured were never recorded in 1950, which created issues 60 years later.

The house across the street from me, where I grew up, is currently being sold and the buyer cannot get a title policy because the stairs (which have been there since the 50s) are on the county’s road. The house has been sold twice since those stairs were built, and one of the owners was the county’s district attorney. How is this possible? Because both were cash transactions and a title search was never done.

In talking to Don Rita Rice at Cow County Title about the issues in Tonopah, she said, “I’m sure it happens other places in other states with rural areas.” According to Don Rita, part of the problem is education and the other part is access to resources, such as a title company. She says she frequently sees problems with deeds and spouses (because Nevada is a community property state).

Her advice? “Never destroy original documents.” She said she’s heard of people throwing mortgage-burning parties, which she said is a very bad idea. Her staff was very surprised when my aunt was able to locate those original documents in my grandma’s papers, “It’s not something we see very often.”

Also, for old homes that are cash sales or seller carry-back loans, a title search is a very good idea–even if you aren’t planning to purchase a title policy. Title companies will search all public records to unearth ownership issues with deeds, IRS and property tax problems, and more. Title policies, explained Don Rita, have premiums that are based on the home’s purchase price. A title search has a flat base rate (Cow County’s is $250) and then additional fees depending on how much work is required.

Don Rita also mentioned that for owner carry-back financing, a title search is an especially good idea if a homeowner thinks a refinance may be in his or her future because the lending agency will require a title policy.

I am a big fan of handshakes, old houses, and rural living. Is it worth a couple of hundred dollars for a title search to have peace of mind? Definitely. I haven’t run into many people who are fans of owning a house–old or not–that they may have problems selling, should they ever decide to sell it.

The American Dream is Turning into a Nightmare for Some

I purchased my old farmhouse nineteen years and six months ago. That is significant to me because I have a twenty-year mortgage on the home and have six payments left until the old house is entirely mine. The house isn’t much to look at and has pretty much been an ongoing restoration project for nineteen years and six months, but it keeps me dry and somewhat warm in the winter, and in six months it will be entirely mine.

I know some financial experts say you should always have a mortgage on your house to take advantage of tax deductions and that refinancing money is cheap these days, but I don’t care what the experts say about it. Financial experts have been saying a lot of things the past 10 years and I’m starting to question who made them experts. I want the comfort of going to bed every night knowing that I own my house free and clear; and regardless of what happens with the economy, it will remain my ongoing restoration project.

One Million Foreclosures Projected This Year

I think we hear so many large numbers bandied about these days that they have started to lose their ability to shock us with their significance. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that the country may have a one-trillion-dollar deficit the first nine months of the fiscal year, and we move on to the next article after a moment’s thought–just another difficult number to comprehend.

But CBS News reports that we are on track for one million families to lose their homes to foreclosure this year and over 900,000 families lost their homes last year. Almost two million families started last year thinking they were living the American Dream, and by the end of this year none of them may be. I know that some of the homes were investment properties, and some of the families bought more house than they could afford, but I’m also sure that a lot of the homes are foreclosures due to unemployment, falling property values, and an inability to sell in the current real estate market.

If you can’t imagine what two million families might look like, the U.S. Census reports that in 2008 there were about 2,152,040 housing units in Colorado. This figure would include rental properties, condos, apartments, and single-family attached and detached homes. Imagine that in 2008 just about everyone in Colorado who lived in those housing units was told they had to move to another state! That’s kind of what two million families losing their homes would be like.

I don’t care what the experts say; I like the thought of only having six payments left on my old house.

When I bought my first 5-in-1 tool years ago I’m not entirely sure why I got it.

Purdy 5-in-1 tool with wood handle.

I knew it was for “painting” but other than that, well…

A 5-in-1 is a painters tool and lots of people have them but have no idea what this oddly-shaped item is designed for. The sharp point is a gouge, as in gouging out caulk and paint. The radius cut-out in the blade is for removing paint-saturated roller-covers from the frame. The semi-sharp blade is for both scraping and applying putty/nail hole filler (though I rarely use it for that–the blade is too stiff). You can use it as a screwdriver in a pinch, too. The square end of the blade opposite the gouge is for removing paint can covers. Trust me, it works way better than a screwdriver for paint can lids. You can even use the butt end of the handle to dimple drywall (like where you removed a screw that missed the stud and left a mushroomed hole; I press down hard with a twisting motion…works great.)

But where the rubber really hits the road for me with a 5-in-1 is all the places other than painting that it’s perfect. Its so perfect, in fact, for so many things I carry one in my tool pouch all the time. Here’s a short list:

> The wide, flat blade works great as a shim/lever for moving crown molding into position for nailing.

> The gouge and blade work great together for cutting off/knocking down/scraping off excess spray foam insulation.

> I’ve used it to remove grout and bust out thin-set replacing a broken tile.

> As a wedge, it’ll hold a door open.

> I’ve knocked out hunks of stucco.

> I also use it to back out screws that spin in drywall or while hanging cabinets. Use the blade and a little pressure under the screw-head then use your drill/driver to back the screw out. Works every time.

> Split or cut off shims.

> Scrape up spilled glue.

I re-sharpen the blade periodically, but that’s about all it takes to keep this inexpensive yet priceless tool by my side.

Part of the charm part of old West mining boomtowns like Tonopah, Nevada where I live, is that there are plenty of old and interesting places that can inspire you on your own old house projects.

The Arthur Raycraft House in Tonopah, Nevada

The Arthur Raycraft house, built in 1906 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of several houses in town that has been the dream house of just about every kid who has lived in Tonopah during the last century. As kids, we all called it The Castle House. The historic property survey on file is a little more detailed: “The addition of the two Queen Anne Style turrets on opposing ends of the front facade provides a unique adaptation of Victorian elements, applied to a basic Neo-Colonial building format.”

In 1998, Joni and Dennis Eastley purchased the house from the Pillers family and restored it. Actually, Joni and Dennis handled the renovations in a way that would make any old house enthusiast weep with joy; Joni didn’t do a single thing to the house without consulting a historian or architecture preservationist, “I’m really a purist–I want things the way they looked before.”

This original newel post was once hacked by renters who burned the rest of the banister to keep warm during winter.

The Eastleys had no old photos to use, which became a challenge when trying to reconstruct the stair banister near the front entryway. Why did the banister need to be constructed? Because some renters around the 1930s took a hatchet (yes, a hatchet) and chopped up the banister and an original window seat in the parlor and burned the wood to stay warm. The newel post, which was about eight inches in width and solid wood, was too thick to chop up (or the renters were just too lazy).

Complete Dedication to Historic Preservation

The Pillers kept that hacked-up newel post in the basement all those years, so Joni and Dennis used that post with an awful lot of putty, an understanding of craftsman style, the help of a historian, and the shape and size of holes from the other posts to reconstruct the banister.

The Kitchen, with a Stamped Copper Ceiling

The same detail has gone into all the interior renovations. Joni found an original period stamp and bought sheets of copper to construct the kitchen’s ceiling. For the crown molding and other trim throughout the house, the Eastleys found reclaimed wood from a company in Sacramento. Everything in the house has a story; Joni was even able to salvage a door from one of Tonopah’s other historic properties that burned down in the 1990s. She keeps a notebook where she lists the original home of each chandelier, piece of stained glass, and furniture.

Just as much care has gone into the restoration and preservation of the home’s exterior. The lower turret was falling apart from overgrown honeysuckle, so Dennis went to other local property owners and bartered for similar reclaimed rock. Joni discreetly told me that she and Dennis have put money equal to the purchase price into the exterior of the home (and of course I looked that up in the assessor’s records–$145,000!).

The Dining Room

The house hasn’t been without challenges. On February 1, 1999 during the renovation, the oil furnace went out. On February 2, a fire started because the space heaters overheated the knob and tube wiring. That meant on February 3, all the pipes in the house froze and burst. The electrical alone was an extra $10,000 that the Eastleys hadn’t planned for. Joni said, “It’s like the house keeps punishing us for loving it.”

The Mountain in the Basement

Despite the challenges, they have pushed on and have plans to complete the restoration by finishing the basement, which currently is occupied by a large portion of mountain, and to landscape the property. Neither Joni nor Dennis want to live anywhere else the rest of their lives, and that really is inspiring.

Cedar Mill, Oregon Sawmill in its Prime

While biking this morning, I heard the sound of a big, buzzing saw and knew that the farmer with the small sawmill was hard at it cutting up logs again. Last fall, I had watched him from a distance as he cut up decent-sized trees from the adjacent mountains. This morning, I decided to take a break from the heat, so I walked up to get a closer look as he and his son turned a large log into 2×4 and 1×6 boards for a storage building the son was constructing.

As I watched, it occurred to me what a large part small local sawmills have played in the development of our country. Many small towns exist today because they were built up around sawmills located on nearby creeks and rivers. If you have an old house built in the 1700s or 1800s, there is a good chance that the lumber used to construct it came from a local sawmill.

A Seemingly Endless Supply of Wood

When I see pictures of the large sawmills of the 1800s, I am reminded of stories about the huge buffalo herds of the Great Plains that were hunted almost into extinction. I imagine most of the mill owners thought there would always be an endless supply of trees for their saws. As the country expanded westward there was an incredible demand for wood to build the houses and buildings for the new towns, and wood was also needed to build the railroads tracks that carried many of the people to those new towns.

Old Sturbridge Village in New England, a collection of old houses and businesses that were moved to a central location from elsewhere in the area, has a sawmill from the 1800s. The description of the sawmill states that there were about 31,000 sawmills in operation in 1840. When you look at the operations of the sawmills in Cedar Mill, Oregon, and Thurmont, Maryland–and you imagine 31,000 of these mills sawing lumber–it’s a wonder there are any trees left in this country!

Use Sustainable Lumber from Sawmills with FSC Certification

Luckily we now have the knowledge to practice responsible tree harvesting, and we have organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to monitor growing and cutting operations. I wrote several months ago about Sustainable Northwest Lumber in Portland, Oregon, and how they support local sawmills and their use of FSC certified wood. There are many other distributors and sawmills such as Hull Lumber Products that are now working with the FSC to ensure that we use our natural resources responsibly. If you need lumber for your old house, support the sawmills that are following sustainable growing and harvesting practices.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like my pneumatic tools. And while I wish I could ditch the hose sometimes, the tools’ practically failure-free and no-futz performance is hard to ignore. What I haven’t had as much good luck with, however, is the compressor that provides the air.

DeWalt D55168 15 gallon compressor.

I’ve used twin-stacks for most of my career and they provide most of the air and dependability I need, but older ones have a wicked “draw” (which means they pop breakers often trying to get started). As far as new ones go, working in the same room with them is kind of like an earthquake in a bottle: when they run–which is often–the floor shakes, the noise is wrenching, and carrying them–or moving them out of the way–is an exercise in frustration.

In fact, I got so tired of the whole situation I stole an concept from a friend of mine and got a monster, 25 gallon compressor. I stationed it in the basement and ran hoses from it to wherever the work was. This worked nicely, but the compressor was such a boat anchor that moving it from shop to job site was worse than the twin-stacks. Then it died.

That’s about the time I got my hands on the DeWalt D55168. This unit combines the positives of both small, mobile compressors and the air capacity and smooth-running of larger units. From shop to job site, this unit performs.

At 200 PSI, the unit stores a load of air–plenty for two carpenters framing a deck or building a fence for example. And at 15 gallons has enough reserve air to keep up with nailing off a plywood deck which I did on a recent roof remodel. The unit runs, but it keeps up–and doesn’t leave nails proud as a smaller, lower-pressure unit would. I like this air in the shop too; because there’s so much air stored high pressure the unit barely runs when I’m doing a woodworking project. I sometimes forget its there. Ditto on trim jobs.

The 1.8 horsepower electric motor is positioned on the top of the vertical tank. It runs quietly by compressor standards (78dBA) and starts with a lower draw it seems than other units I’ve owned do (I can tell based on the number of breakers I haven’t tripped using it). The vertical orientation also means that it is more mobile than it appears. Sure, it rolls on wheels, but I can also lift it fairy easily by both ends and carry it. It’s easier with two people and I wish there were a few carry handles but it’s just as easy, in my mind, as carrying a twin-stack. Further, its easy to tuck into the trailer or lay flat in the truck bed. And, I don’t bring it into a house with me on a job site. I station it outdoors somewhere and run hoses to the work location. Much easier.

And that’s the point. You want tools that make life easy rather than add challenges. Old houses provide enough of that as it is.

In our old house renovation we’re working on our home’s heart.

When I take stuff out–notably old lumber–I hold on to some. It won’t be used to re-build, but over the years I’ve felt there’s something in there, in that tree that grew several lifetimes ago and has sheltered generations, including ours. A story perhaps.

So I collected some old studs and boards from our various projects and waited.

Our wedding photo

Then, Theresa and I got married.

We took photos, of course. And when they came back–with my bride radiant in her dress, fluttered ever so gently by the ocean breeze passing us like the current of our lives–the story of the old trees told itself.

The lumber used to build our house was rough-sawn (not planed smooth like today’s). And for some reason the carpenters who built this house toe-nailed (drove nails at angles) just about every connection. I have no idea why. So when I dislodged boards from where they’d been holding up the house, there were wire- and hard-cut nails piercing through corners at odd angles while the lumbers’ entire surface is a splinter waiting to happen.

It has to be handled carefully.

Yet, inside this material is the most graceful wood grain I’ve ever seen in wood that supports walls and ceilings. Wonderful growth rings layer upon layer, year upon year. In it’s heart, it is young and hopeful, beautiful and strong. It is, you could say, alive.

So I took some choice pieces, knotty, worn and somehow ready for a second chance. It took some time and a lot of patience, but I figured out how to make a picture frame for our wedding photo.

Modern fasteners (I fastened everything with pocket screws on the backside of the frame) hold it together. But the only ones you can see are the originals. To most people, I suppose, it’s just four old boards–you know…”distressed.” But to us, it’s more than that. Like our life together, it’s original. No store sells this. And we made it. Ourselves.

Maybe I’m over-thinking it, but that frame and what it’s made of is an emblem of our history, of our home’s shelter, and perhaps of our future together. It’s an emblem of the risk it takes to make our home and our lives better. Of our story, one made timeless, however, not by what is old but by what truly is timeless: Theresa’s heart.

Old House Owner Takes Ice Fishing to Next Level

I feel like I have been writing a lot lately about old houses being moved. I think one reason is because I’m happy that moving an old house to save it has gone from being an option for only those with deep pockets to becoming a viable alternative for anyone who wants to save a house from demolition and spend time restoring it.

The other reason I have been writing about it so frequently is that old house moving seems to be happening a lot these days. I know that in most of these cases the purchaser is an old house enthusiast who has fallen in love with the house and wants the opportunity to live in and restore the home. Sometimes it’s because of the home’s history. However, while it might not be the buyer’s prime motivation, there are also occasions when moving an old house and restoring it can even be a good financial decision.

I’ll Have My Old House with Ice, Please

An old house move that happened over a year ago was so amazing I had to include it here. The owner of this house had it moved by truck across White Bear Lake in Minnesota while it was frozen over! The move cost him $65,000, but he was able to keep his home from being torn down. In some ways it was an easy move as there were no power lines in the way or traffic to contend with. The only concern was whether the 60 ton house and moving truck would crash through the ice and sink to the bottom of the lake!

Great Old House Deals, If You Can Find Them

A Fort Collins, Colorado, man got his dream home when he agreed to move the old house from its Loveland, Colorado, location. He estimates that he has spent about $83,000 on permits, moving costs, and preparing a foundation for the house to sit on. And of course he is going to have a substantial amount in restoration costs over the next five or more years, but even if that’s another $100,000, he may have made a smart decision. He will have saved a historic old house from being destroyed and have his dream house for under $200,000–which isn’t a bad deal at all.

A 115-year-old house in Muscatine, Iowa , was recently purchased for $1,001 and moved down the street to its new address. The new owner plans to restore the home, and his family will add to the old house’s rich history. Not only did he save a house; I think he made a pretty good investment at the same time.

What Will Become of California's Historic Houses Without State Funding?

When I was a kid growing up during the 1960s, California seemed like it might be the perfect place to live. It had a certain mystique that set it apart from other states, or at least in my young impressionable mind that’s what I thought. California had ideal weather, beautiful beaches, and was full of fast cars and motorcycles: What more could a 15-year-old boy want?

California has led the country in many trends over the years, but hopefully this latest trend won’t sweep across the land like so many others have. California seems to be in a budget crisis that has no end or solution in sight.

Old House Restorations are Low Priority When Teachers Are Losing Their Jobs

I have written blog posts in the past about the great preservation efforts that have taken place in California over the years, and some of the most incredible preservation projects have been undertaken by the state park system. California has restored entire sections of towns that are considered an important part of the state’s history, and the old houses and buildings are now a part of the state park system and maintained with state funds. Monterey State Historic Park and Columbia State Park have many beautifully restored old houses and buildings that allow the public to see what life was like during periods of California’s past such as the famous gold rush of the 1850s.

Unfortunately, without state funds these historic old towns and houses are going to slowly decay due to inattention. There is already a lack of funds for anything other than minor repairs, and restorations are out of the question.

Are Old House Curator Programs the Answer?

Where will the funding come from to prevent these old houses from falling into a state of disrepair? I don’t know that anyone has an answer to that question in a state in such dire financial straits that teachers are losing their jobs and other state employees may be facing a temporary reduction to the minimum wage level until a new state budget is approved. There are too many other state programs of far greater importance to the people of California, who are facing severe budget cutbacks, for most Californians to be concerned about a lack of funding for the state park system.  Until jobs are safe and the state is back on solid financial ground, some of the historic old houses and buildings in the park system may be closed to the public–but hopefully not forgotten.

Isolated state-owned houses might be able to enter curator programs such as other states have implemented to save and maintain their historic old houses, but I don’t know if that’s the answer for whole sections of a historic town. What I do know is that I hope this is one trend that stays in California.

23 Year Restoration, One Piece at a Time

We all need a little inspiration from time to time; at least I know I do. When a restoration project becomes much more work than I originally thought it would be–or it seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day–I sometimes need help finding that energy reserve deep inside me. I recently came across an article about an English lady, the old house she loved, and the efforts she went to in saving the house from demolition. If this doesn’t inspire you, I doubt anything will.

A 23-Year Preservation Project and a Lot of Determination

May Savidge purchased a 400-year-old English home in 1947 after the early death of her husband. She grew up understanding what hard work was all about and decided to tackle the restoration work on the old house herself. In 1953, after six years of putting her sweat and labor into the home, she was informed that the house was going to have to be torn down to make way for a new highway being constructed. Ms. Savidge fought the demolition order in court for fifteen years before she finally ran out of legal options for saving the house. She was fifty-eight years old when they came to tear down the old house she loved.

Most people would have admitted defeat after fighting a legal battle for fifteen years and having no success, but not May Savidge. If she couldn’t keep the old house from being torn down, then she would save it by moving the home to a new location, and that’s what she did for the next twenty-three years. May Savidge marked each piece of the old house as it was taken apart and then moved each of the pieces 100 miles to begin a complete restoration that ended up taking 23 years to finish.  This isn’t a story about an old house enthusiast hiring contractors to move and restore a historic home; this is a story about a woman’s perseverance and her determination to single-handedly save an old house she loved from destruction.

Another Moving Preservation Story

Lynn Danaher of San Juan Island, Washington, is another source of inspiration. She is getting ready to move a 79-year-old Craftsman to a new lot and begin the restoration process. The previous owner of the old house wanted to build a new home on his lot, but he didn’t want to see his old Craftsman torn down. He is helping Ms. Danaher with the moving costs on what is going to be her fifth old house restoration in the Washington area.

May Savidge and Lynn Danaher show the rest of us what is possible if you set your mind to it and aren’t afraid of a little hard work.

Grand Old Beach House, Built 1933, To Be Replaced by Modern Homes

Temperatures have been unseasonably high the last couple of weeks in my neck of the woods–global warming I suppose–and I have been contemplating a day trip to the beach when I get caught up with work. While I was thinking about the beach, it occurred to me that I never read anything about old beach houses. I read about the restoration and preservation of old houses around the country side, in small towns and large cities, but I’ve never seen anything about old house preservation at the beach, until today.

Save the Old Beach House

I happened upon a blog that a Ms. Reitz posted concerning an old beach house her parents purchased in Newport Beach, California. It was built in 1933 and appears to be everything you might want an old house at the beach to be. Unfortunately, the reason the old house was purchased was to tear it down and construct two new beach houses on the lot. Evidently, that happens a lot with old beach houses: Maybe that’s why I never read about their restoration.

Ms. Reitz is an old house enthusiast, and from the way she describes the beach house, it is obvious she is smitten with it, but her father doesn’t quite see it that way. He offered to let her move it to another lot, but she doesn’t have the resources for an undertaking of that magnitude. He doesn’t plan to tear it down for another six months, so perhaps he will come around to her way of thinking.

I read about a family in New York who purchased an old beach house and after using it for several years decided to tear it down and build a modern home on the lot. When I look at the pictures of that new beach house and compare it to the old beach house Ms. Reitz described in her blog, I can’t imagine someone preferring a modern home over the old house at Newport Beach. The new home appears to be cold and uninviting, whereas the old beach house looks warm, comfortable, and full of character–but maybe that’s just through my eyes.

First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit Extension Passed by House of Representatives

I recently wrote a blog post about my frustration with the inaction on the motion to extend the time period for the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit, and evidently the House was concerned about irritating me further! They passed the measure today with a vote of 409-5. The Senate still needs to vote on it, but it’s expected to pass and the new deadline for closing on a qualifying home will be September 30.

I have a love-hate relationship with drywall–but apparent most people have a hate relationship with it as shown in my last drywall post.

I hear ya!

As compared with say building a deck or hanging crown, I hate it. It’s massively hard work, everything is white or a shade of white (which drives me sort of stark-raving), and sanding it is among the most onerous things in building (hack, gasp,sweat). But, once I get cranking-get the knives whirring and the radio playing–well, I kinda get into it. There’s a mojo to it.

But the only reason I survive is that I’ve developed some techniques over the years to make the ‘rock I hang easier. Here’s just a few tips.

One secret to successful drywall finishing is not to expect--or use--too much compound at a time. Thin coats are key.

Sub It Out. Sub out big jobs. I’ve seen dedicated drywall subs come in and hang, tape and 1-st coat a 30×30 basement–walls and ceiling–in the time it would take me to drag the boards downstairs. Good crews are relentless and the finish top-flight.

Hang Time. For the jobs you do take-on yourself, hang the ceiling first, then hang the walls.

Tools. As with any project, having the right tools–in good condition–is paramount. One mistake I see a lot of people make is that their tools are dirty. Joint compound must not only be cleaned completely off the knives and pan at the end of the day, but I clean them several times during the day. High quality knives–6, 10, 12 inch–and a stainless steel pan make a huge difference as well. If you use setting-type compound, I wash the tools and mixing pail after every batch to keep the stuff from drying too fast.

Setting-Type Compound. If you fix houses you should make friends with stetting-type or powdered compounds. DuraBond is a popular brand name. But it’s a good news/bad news deal. Good news is that it sets up fast (usually 20, 45 or 90 minute mixes) but the bad news is that sets up as hard as diamonds making it very difficult to sand flat. Back to the good news: it takes practice to get proficient, but it’s more mojo than rocket science.

Pre-Mixed Compound. Compound that comes in a bucket is pre-mixed, of course, is easier to apply and waaaaay easier to sand. But it takes a full 24 hours to dry…unless…

Make Your Own Mix. Unless you mix in a little 45 into your mud. This speeds up the dry-time without hardening the material too much. How much to add depends on a lot of variables. As long as you don’t change the consistency of the pre-mix too much–and you blend it in completely–you should be OK.

A Little Goes A Long Way. One major problem people have with getting the joint-compound mojo is that they expect too much–and use too much–for each coat. The first coat should be whisper thin…just enough to embed the tape. Don’t expect to smooth too much out with it. The second coat or “two-coat” I call it, should start to smooth out the lumps and bumps, but again, it should be very thin and the edge “burnished” or “feathered” to just about zero with the edge if the knife. The third coat is the finish coat and the one you’re looking to to make everything nice and smooth and flat and to fill up pock-marks left over from the previous coats.

I could–and might, but later–keep going on this. Doing your own drywall work can save you an enormous amount of time and money. But it takes skill, practice and endurance. The good news is that most people who undertake an old house reno- have that in spades.

We’re hanging a lot of “rock” in our old house remodel. The plaster simply can’t be saved so we’re stripping it all, re-framing new stud walls, insulating and, of course, drywalling.

Ceilings can be particularly tricky, so in this video we have a little fun showing a few tricks we use to make it come out right.

Straight Edge. Old house ceiling joists can have major difference in thickness and/or warping–creating some seriously wavy lines in corners, not good if you plan to hang nice straight crown. Anyway, I like to run a straight-edge–the longer the better–across the bottoms of the joists at the perimeter of the room and through the center. For very large rooms, string might be a better choice. If a joist is dropped or raised, you’ll either butt the straight-edge into it or see a sizable gap that’s either to deal with now than later.

Corner Cleat. The secret to hanging ceiling boards by yourself is (1) to be a little looney and (2) to use tools and materials to hold the board while you fasten. Along the wall I screw a few 2-by cleats to hold two edges of the drywall. On the other end I use a Rockwell JawHorse with a site-made standard to catch the other end (also works well for hanging upper cabinets alone.)

Fastening. Over-driving screws is easy to do. All you want to do is dimple the paper, setting the screw head slightly below. Too much and you create a gnarly hole and the screw doesn’t do anything. For finishing screws, I find you only need 2 passes with a 6 inch knife to get them covered. Three for all seams though–minimum in an old house.

Team Work. Working together is one of the best ways to make the onerous work of drywall hanging and finishing easier–and more fun!

Restored Old House in Historic Cape Girardeau, MO

I am normally a fairly easy-going person; it usually takes a lot to set me off. But every once in awhile something does, and an article I read today managed to do it. But first I wanted to start with a good news story–an old house story with a happy ending.

An Old House Restoration in a Historic Missouri Town

I came across an article in the Southeast Missourian about a family who fell in love with an old house in the historic town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Cape Girardeau is over 200 years old and is located on the Mississippi River. The house was built in 1898, but the land can be traced to when it was originally purchased from the Spanish government.

The house was built for Mr. Harrison, the postmaster of the town in 1898, and the Harrison family lived in the home until 1986. The old house didn’t have any major structural issues when it was purchased in 2003 by Robert and Kaye Hamblin, but it needed quite a bit of cosmetic work. They decided to do a period restoration, and the only modern part of the home is the kitchen. They tried to stay true to the old house’s past in all the other areas of the home. As you can see from the picture, they did a great job of restoration on the beautiful old house, and it was featured during National Preservation Month activities.

Tax Credit Extension May Bite the Dust

I mentioned in a post last week that there is a movement in Congress to possibly extend the June 30 deadline for the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit. The extension would benefit only those who already have a sales agreement on a home, but who are having difficulty meeting the deadline for closing on the sale due to the lengthy time it’s taking for appraisals and loan approvals. The National Association of Realtors fear that as many as 180,000 sales are in danger of missing the deadline for closing.

The addendum for the extension was attached to another bill–one which failed to pass for the third time today–and now may be shelved altogether. How could this extension possibly not be passed? The tax credit for these buyers was already approved, and they have done everything they were required to do to qualify for the tax credit. The only reason they won’t be able to close now is that the paperwork won’t be complete by June 30, through no fault of their own.

You would think that with new home sales dropping off by 33 percent last month, Congress would be doing everything possible to allow these sales to happen.

Evidently not.