It's Been a Month

I am a bit behind on posting so I have some catching up to do. Chelsea and Josh have owned their house for a month now, can you believe it!

Peak Roofing finished the roof about 10 days ago. It looks great but I think we will have some challenges when we have the gutters installed.

We picked up the replacement sash window kits this past Friday night and Saturday our 'family crew' started installing them. It really went quite well. My job was to dismantle, scrape and prime the windows, Josh also dismantled and assembled windows, and Perry assembled windows. We completed 8 windows. I would really recommend replacement sashes, they were easy to install and make a huge difference for a reasonable amount of money.


The new sash fit right inside the old frame (just be sure and have good measurements when you order).To install: remove the old sashes, parting stop, pulleys and window weights. Then stuff the weight chamber with insulation. For the size of windows we had, there were five mounts on each side that fit right up against the outside stop, then you just snap in the tracks and follow with the sash. The hardest work is the prep work. Once you get the hang of it reassembling only takes about 15 minutes each.



Saturday Josh and I installed two more kits, making a total of 10 complete for the weekend. Just 13 more to go!

Don Sadler also showed up Saturday morning and finished the exterior inside corner on the S side. On the second story the trim on the exterior flares out. I went out on the porch roof after Don left to inspect his work. :) It was real craftsmanship to replicate, he did a great job.

Becky

Total bills paid the past 2 weeks:

Strange but True

It was a quick decision when we decided to take on the restoration of this house. So many things have been happening this year for Josh and Chelsea. They were married and recently became parents, but this house called out to us (at least to Chelsea and I). When we lived at 327 S Garfield which is only a block away, Chelsea and I often commented on how distressing it was to see a house with this amount of architectual detail in such a state of deterioration.

We come from a family that has always been interested in fixing up houses. Though not originally from Burlington, my parents along with a couple of his siblings lived in Burlington in the early fifties but later they all moved back down to Lee County where I grew up.

I was happy to get a phone call late one night a couple of weeks ago from my Uncle Frank Bideaux, he had been married to my dad's sister who is now deseased, as are my parents.
Frank said he saw the article about our purchase of the house in the newspaper and wanted us to know that he and my Aunt Marie had once owned that house! He said that he had laid the hardwood floors, remembered painting the house, and had installed a new boiler. He also said he had a picture of the house which he later sent to me. They owned the house around 1950 for 2-3 years. Knowing how my aunts and uncles helped each other on projects I can imagine that my father may have helped on the floors. Also knowing how close they all were, I'm sure they spent many evenings visiting in the front room. I see that same closeness in my children who are now about the same age as my father and his siblings were at that time.

We all hope to have many good memories to share in this house.

Becky

Coming to the End of Week Two

After today we will be saying good bye to Don and Matt for a while, hopefully they can come some weekends and continue to work on the exterior. The South, West and NW side are now in pretty good shape. We had hoped that they could blow in some insulation while they were here but they ran into a lot of problems caused by moisture in the walls so we decided to wait until a later date to address the insulation.

Peak Roofing has been working on removing the old shingles and have completed all the prep work. The roof should be completed next week, it will be a dark brown/slate color. The house colors are still up in the air.

There is no schedule for working over there this weekend but I sure some of us will be there. There's plenty to do.

Total bills paid this week : $5,225

I haven't posted for a few days but that doesn't mean things aren't happening.

Last Saturday Josh and Chelsea, with the help of George Bonnett and Dave Henderson, were able to remove the suspended ceiling in three of the downstairs rooms. They filled up the dumpster again and salvaged about 25 usable 2X4s.

I, in the mean time, tried my luck with the lift outside. It didn't take me long to throw it off balance but thanks to Dave being there we got it leveled out again and I actually got a lot painted on the peak of the South side.

Yesterday Don and Matt were back at it repairing the siding on the South side, hopefully today they will finish with that.



Meanwhile Peak Roofing showed up today to start on the roof. Chelsea and Josh haven't decided on the house colors yet so that really puts the pressure on. Today we are all going to have a coloring contest to see what we can come up with on colors. They need the house colors to decide the roof color. Maybe Chelsea will post the winning picture. :)

The End of Week One

Chelsea and Josh have owned their "dream house" for 1 week now and actually we have accomplished quite a bit. Don & Matt have been working on the S side and it looks like they will still be there next week. We've rented a dumpster and will have it emptied for the 1st time today, Chelsea and Josh ordered 23 window sash kits that should arive in a couple of weeks, and Marc Zaiser looked over the 'house leveling' problem today.

The window sashes that Chelsea & Josh ordered are low E thermopane window sash kits, they should make a big difference in the appearance of the house as well as being more energy efficient.

It looks like the center of the house needs to be raised at least 2 inches. Hopefully that will take care of most of the uneven floors.

Tomorrow we plan to clean out what we can inside and I may do a little painting outside using the lift. Matt gave me a lesson today, the heighth doesn't bother me but I am a little worried about running into the house. :0

For those interested; the first week bills that were paid totaled $6,272
Becky

Everyday's a Challenge

Today Don and Matt were met with a new challenge. Matt uncovered the SW corner where the dormer meets the S side of the house and found and even bigger problem then what they had encountered in the SE corner. Again water damage from the roof and built in gutters. The inside of the interior wall has mold and the exterior siding and framing is rotten.
Just Monday I asked Matt why they would come back and work on an old house when they had been building new homes. He just looked up at the house with a smile on his face and said "it's challenging". Hold that thought Matt at least for the next couple of weeks :)

Someone asked, " How do you know where to start." I think we started in the right place. All of this rotten wood needs to be addressed before the roof or any interior wall work. Days like today I guess we just have to focus on the end result. The bright side... it will be easy to put the insulation in those walls! -- Becky

Well, as of yesterday, work has officially begun! Our wonderful contractors took time away from their other jobs to give us a hand for a couple of weeks working on the exterior.

My mom wanted to keep everyone updated on the house with an email journalizing our progress, but I thought I'd bring her into the mainstream and set us up with a blog. So she, Becky Anderson, and myself, Chelsea Stevens, will be posting here regularly with updates and pictures.



Here is a copy of the email she sent out today:
~~~~~

It looks like we will be over on Gunnison this Sat from 9-5 doing some light
demo work inside. I know some trust members have said they would like to come
over and help. Of course we welcome help. :) So I'm writing this Email so that
you might forward it on.

This week work has begun on the exterior. Our
carpenters, Don Sadler and Matt Fuger, immediately found a big problem when they
tore off the sheets of particle board that were covering the 2nd floor windows
on the SE side. The whole inside corner was rotten from water draining down into
the corner. They opened up the wall to dry it out yesterday and hope to build it
back in within a few days. Also the far SE corner looks like it might be just as
bad. They were able to get cedar siding from Fullertons that should match in.
Hopefully Fullertons will have all that we need. Today they have brought in a
lift to get the high areas. These guys will be there the next 2 weeks and will
also blow in insulation in the exterior walls, the week after they leave Peak
Roofing will replace the roof. Hopefully today Chelsea will get out to Menards
and order replacement sashes for 20 windows. We are obviously trying to get
ready for winter.

Since we have a dumpster on site our plans for
Saturday are: to pull up all the carpet, remove the dropped ceiling in the
downstairs rooms, tear out a closet, clear out the upstairs kitchen (there is a
sink and some cabinets that could go to Preservation Station), and whatever else
looks like it needs to be done. So anyone that is interested in helping is
welcome to come over. We really don't need spectators though since that becomes
counter productive and we have much to do.

I will keep you informed on
our progress and know that we are appreciative of the interest that the Trust
has in this house.

Becky Anderson

~~~~~