Our House is Being Judged by it's Cover

Original Courtyard and Exterior

Chipped Paint on Trim and Banisters

 Responsible homeowners for several decades, not just to protect our investment but also to protect others who may encounter mayhem on our property...falls, accidents, let's face it life has a way of happening, and we were faced with the fact, the firm may drop us! The poor shape of our home has made maintaining a homeowner's policy a bit of a trick. They gave us a few months to clean up the outside before they delivered a CANCELLATION notice. About 6 weeks prior to “C” Day, we realized we had to stop our interior race to address the exterior condition. Torn screens over the back windows, and overgrown bush in our courtyard, and dirty, chipped trim overall the house faced us. We realized it was going to be some work to whip it into acceptable shape!

Greg cut down the bush exposing the moldy awnings, we removed the screens. I was elected to scrap and paint the porch posts and window trim, our aluminum siding and awnings cleaned up, but not to the crisp whiteness that we had hoped to see. 

Pressure washing years of mold and dirt from the awnings.

For now, we hoped this feeble face lift would work until we are further along on the interior remodel! My agent assured me, the evaluation had nothing to do with the shape of the interior. This is truly when a house is judged strictly by it's cover! Our fingers are crossed that this cleanup was going to be enough!  As we have evaluated the appearance, these upgrades will be as is until much more of the interior work has been completed.  Our neighbors have continually complimented the change from the earlier pictures.  One young man came by to tell us the bush we removed has been there the 38 years he's been alive.  It's trunk was filled with rusty nails and it's overgrown branches made trimming it difficult.  I will not miss the dark berries that we due to drop on the sidewalk.  Overall, it's still an improvement!

This article closes out a few weeks of catching us up to where we are current in our posts.  Over the next few weeks watch out for our latest changes!

Out with the Old and in With the New!

Up to this point we haven't put back anything new, so when I saw Greg pull out the saws and set up the horses to begin the re-building process it was nothing less than exciting! If you remember he said to me, “Nothing in here scares me, but issues just mean a longer wait until we are truly settled!” I am already dreaming of the wine and cheese party I plan on throwing when we are finally done. I've even considered an open house for our neighbors who have enjoyed this eye soar for many years. But I know I am getting ahead of myself.

Greg worked a few weeks replacing the foundation sills and laying the ground work for a new floor system. Our children and our friend Chris graciously shared a weekend from their busy lives to help us get those first floor joists put in place. We had to begin with getting the prep work done to make the weekend as productive as possible. Greg constructed a temporary wall of studs and plastic to make the center wall removal as clean as possible.  I had visions of dust billows entering our living space. I am m not the "germophobe" I see among my friends or family...I couldn't begin to handle this work!

It was amazing to see them work.   They tore down an interior wall and installed the joists then insulated the floor system.  The girls were pulling nails from those recycled beadboards getting them ready to be stripped. (One of my upcoming tasks!)
We couldn't thank them enough for contributing.  It was the jump we needed to move forward. ONWARD and UPWARD!

Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice!!!

Greg pulled off individual Wainscot 1x4 beadboard that appears to be around most of the house under the chair rail. These were covered in layers of paint and will have to be individually cleaned, soaked with paint remover and scraped. We plan on repainting them and reusing them in the main area of the house. Beadboard at the home improvement stores comes in sheets, so the individual boards show the age of the materials.

On the back left corner, 1x6 lapboards were individually stacked. These are two different styles of the same treatment. The lapboards are in better shape and have less layers of paint. After pulling the sheet rock from the kitchen ceiling original beadboard sheeting covered that one area. Our hope is to reuse all of these materials. It's economical and important in keeping with the original flavor of the cottage.

For now, we have these materials stacked inside in a back corner of the house out of the way. We are quickly seeing that storage of materials is going to be an issue. Anything that can be put outside in the back yard without being harmed, we are arranging carefully and covering with a tarp putting them up off the ground.

Freedman's Finds

As we have been peeling back the interior of the house, we have discovered hidden items that speak of its age and time period. We were amazed at how the original framers tucked newspapers, bottles, and other items in between the walls. I had mentioned in the demo blog, that some of our finds we want to display or incorporate them into our finished design as conversation pieces. The antique Singer sewing machine is already at a repair shop to be adjusted, oiled and put in working order. I'd like to use it to piece quilts when there is more time.

The Crisco Can was tucked inside a built in wall cabinet that was filled with items that had been there awhile....a box of baseball card was among the items left.

Historically, the privy was the place many of the home's bottles found as their resting place. As Greg was digging in the ground, he has kept his look out for anything of importance. Most of what has been discovered are older, but more common bottles without markings. Part of this experience is finding the story of the house!

Trips to the landfill with our construction debris have become commonplace. You haven't lived until you experience the sea of scavenger birds and the wonderful bald eagles that are looking for their prey among the rubbish.  

Beginning at "Ground" Level

As Greg examined the foundation and floor supports, his first major discovery was the kitchen drain had been leaking into the crawl space for some time.  It had rotted much of the floor supports, and wall framing in that area.  In the picture to the left Greg has pulled loose the flooring that was directly under the original kitchen sink.  You'll notice the hot water heater in the corner.  It's a gas unit that directly vented out through an original chimney used in the early 30's for cooking.  As he tore out the rotten flooring, the rank smell filled the back end of the house.  "What now!" kept running through my head....how were we going to be able to stay in here and work on such problems?  As we ran through possible remedies, we both realized that dirt had to be freshened.  So we did what any gardener would do...we limed the soil.

 We had not mentioned that we needed a clean sink for our cooking.  Obviously, the original kitchen plumbing was out of order. Greg installed a utility sink and tied the plumbing into the backside of our operational bathroom.  This has worked well for us.  I have a clean area for cooking and cleaning.

We were frustrated that our building permit was taking so long to approve.  Charleston City was going to require that Greg take a test to do our electrical, and we would have to find a licensed mechanical contractor to manage our HVAC.  He would have to brush up on the current codes for South Carolina and submit our plans for approval.  As hard as it was to wait, we still had tons of demo to do and it gave our kitchen soil time to "sweeten".

As a woman in these living conditions, I thought I had been doing well managing a very difficult situation and it was going from bad to worse.  Sitting down and crying was my first inclination. Instead, I put on my "Big Girl" panties and decided crying wasn't about to change our living space!  I spent the afternoon sealing the open doorways with a heavy, clear plastic to create a barrier that would keep that smell from spreading into our room.  It made a huge difference.  Stay tuned in because it just keeps getting better....