Welcome
to the website dedicated to the restoration of our
Victorian house. We purchased
the house in December 2000. The picture above shows
the current state of the restoration. To view a comparison
of what the house looked like when we obtained it,
simply place your cursor over the image. I try to
take a photo of the house from the same position
each November or December to catalog the changes
for the previous year. To view the full archive,
side by side, click here.
Since we are doing a total restoration/renovation,
and doing 99.9999% of the work ourselves, we take a
lot of pictures of the process. This site is the collection
of some of those pictures. We also describe in detail
how we accomplished some of the processes. Hopefully,
some of this information may be of help to others who
are restoring old houses as well.
NOTE: Because I'm still working
on designing this new site, there aren't a lot of pictures
up yet. If you'd like to see more pictures, please click
here
to go to the original (ugly) version of this site.
NEW! Since
I've been so busy with everything going on recently,
I haven't been able to update the site as much as I'd
like to. So, in order to get things a little more up
to date, a lot easier, I've decided to add some quick
photos here and there accessible by links. These links
will be below, in purple.
The "rummage sale" page is now live.
Please check back often as more items will be added. NOTE: The contact form on the rummage sale page has recently been fixed (I wasn't aware it wasn't working until just recently). So, if you are interested in buying something from the rummage sale page and couldn't get the form to work, please try again. Sorry!
Current status at a glance
Current working projects and their
status (updated 12/10/08):
Exterior
Painting
- Working on the tower siding on the uppermost part
when the weather's been warm enough.
New Fence
- We decided to go ahead and fence in the west side
of the yard with the same style picket fence that we
installed on the east side. It's a slow and tedious
process, but we finally completed the span across the front (updated
10/26/07), the front corner (new pic!),
and part of the side (new pic!). I think it will really add
to the look of the house when it's all complete.
Tower
- Build scaffolding. I recently finished building the
scaffolding (updated
9/11/06)
that enables me to safely reach the tower roof to install
the shingles.
- Removal of old shingles. I have the entire
front (updated
10/10/06)
of the tower roof stripped of all the original wood
shingles.
- Felt paper added. The new
felt paper (updated 10/10/06)
has been completely installed on the front of the tower.
- Re-roofing in progress.
After much research, I decided
to use cement fiber "shingles" on the tower
roof. Since none of the companies that make this
material offer separate singles the same size
as the original wood singles currently on the tower
roof, I am having to compromise. I figured out how
many separate singles were needed (approximately 1200)
and then purchased 50
pieces of the 12" cedar
textured cement fiber lap siding. Each shingle
needs to be 1 foot tall (7 inches hidden, 5 inch reveal),
so I cut all of the 12 foot
strips down into 1
foot squares (so the "wood
grain" is
oriented correctly). Next I had to cut
2,
4 3/4" wide shingles out of each square, leaving
a thin strip of scrap, and finally ended up with approximately 1200 separate
shingles.
The next step was to paint the shingles so that they
looked like they were made out of wood. I first
primed the cut edges (the faces were pre-primed) with a "raw
wood"
tinted primer and then painted the entire shingle
with 2
coats of dark charcoal. The next step is to
dry rag (from the top down only) a "fresh
wood" color
and before that completely dries, dry rag (from the
bottom up only) a "weathered
grey wood" color. The 2 colors mix a bit here
and there and produce an
old weathered look. Surprisingly,
in a side
by side comparison it's a fairly close match
to an original wooden shingle from the old roof. The
biggest difference is the "fresh wood" color.
I chose the 3 colors from the 3 main grain colors
of the asphalt shingles on the rest of the house,
so that the tower roof will blend in better than
it does now. Once they are actually installed on the
roof, over 30 feet in the air, I don't think anyone
will believe that they aren't real weathered wood.
The next step was to cut the diamond (approximately
625) and half-round (approximately
130) shaped shingles and then paint them as well.
It's a LOT of work, but I think it will be worth it
in the end.
- Installing new shingles. I have finished installing:
the
first 5 rows of straight
shingles (updated
10/10/06)
the next 9 rows of diamond
shingles (updated
7/13/07)
the next 3 rows
of the half-round
shingles (updated
12/10/08)
the next 5 rows of the diamond
shingles (updated
12/10/08)
The remaining 4 rows of the straight singles
at the very top are almost complete.
- Also replacing the lap siding
on uppermost part.
Breezeway
- Roof complete.
- In the process of demolishing/rebuilding walls.
- Left side of front (south) wall is complete (updated
12/10/08).
- Right side of front (south) wall is nearing completion (updated 10/26/07).
- Back (north) wall is nearing completion.
Summer Kitchen/Servant's
Quarters
- Old roof completely removed and felt paper installed.
There was a lot of rot in the decking and some of the
actual framing had to be replaced on the right side
of the front dormer. I used a combination of the
original decking lumber that I salvaged from the
breezeway roof and some new wood. The
east and west dormer detailing has been removed
and the underlying structure tightened up. Finished
installing all the new flashing, valley metal, and
drip edge. New shingles are now installed.
Baby's Bedroom
- Room is now complete.
Dining Room
- Demolition complete, re-wiring complete, and plumbing
moved into the wall. Ceiling papered and painted.
Walls patched, skim-coated and painted. New
crown moulding all installed. Currently working on
stripping, refinishing and re-installing all the
woodwork. Both doorways an both windows are now complete.
The new curtains are up. The only woodwork remaining
to be refinished is the part that goes around the
opening to the sitting room. But, since that can't
be re-finished and re-installed until the other side
is removed, it will have to wait. Also, the picture
rail needs to be installed.
Winter 2009-10 goals and their
status. (updated 02/22/10):
Baby's
Bedroom (100% complete)
- Finish bottom part of walls. (100% complete)
- Install chair rail. (100% complete)
- Install shoe moulding. (100% complete)
- Refinish and re-install window sashes. (100% complete)
- Install door stops. (100% complete)
- Hang wallpaper border below chair rail (100% complete)
Dining Room view
photos (new pics!)
- New "plaster" crown moulding painted and installed
(100% complete)
- Refinish and re-install window sashes. (100% complete)
- All woodwork stripped, refinished, & re-installed.
(100% complete)
- Picture rail sanded, refinished and installed. (99.9%
complete)
Spring/Summer/Fall 2009 goals and
their status. (updated 12/10/08):
Exterior
Painting
- Get as much of the main house done as possible. I'm
sort of going from "the top down."
- North side (20% complete)
- East side (10% complete)
- South side (10% complete)
- West side (10% complete)
Grounds
- Build and install front
gate for picket fence. (100%
complete)
- Complete front
of arbor. (100% complete)
- Complete left side of arbor (0% complete)
- Complete right
side of arbor (95% complete)
- Complete back of arbor (0% complete)
- Complete paved
area (updated
9/11/06) under arbor (100%
complete)
- Add bench (updated 9/11/06) to right side (100% complete)
- Build picket
fence (updated 10/26/07)
on west side of yard (40% complete)
Breezeway
- Old roof removed and new roof and drainage system
completed. (100% complete) view
photos
- Front wall removed and rebuilt. (100% complete) view
photos of left side | view
photos of right side
- Front windows restored and installed. (30%
complete)
- Back wall removed and rebuilt (90% complete) view
photos of left side | view
photos of right side
- Back windows restored and installed. (0%
complete)
Summer Kitchen/Servant's
Quarters
- Old roof removed. (100% complete)
- Rotted out decking replaced and structural issues
repaired. (100% complete)
- New felt paper installed. (100% complete)
- Drip edge and new flashing installed. (100% complete)
- New shingles installed. (100% complete)
- East and west dormer decorative work completed.
(0% complete)
Tower
- Old roof removed and new roof completed. (49% complete)
- Flat shingles cut (100 % complete)
- Diamond shingles cut (50% complete)
- Half-round shingles cut (50% complete)
- Shingles painted (50% complete)
- Upper level siding all replaced. (50% complete)
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