It's on the National Park registry!

When we purchased 613, the former owner had started repainting it.

He had started repairing the front porch, but had not been able to finish it. The floor, ceiling and columns, some siding and trim were missing.

We have tried to put it back to the way the original builder of the home would have wanted it. We are not restoring the house, because we want to sell a house to be lived in comfortably for the 21st century. Having stated that, we do want the outside to be as original as possible. The National Park service has designated the house as a key structure in the Paradise Block District of Oskaloosa. There are 7 houses with that designation. There were 8 houses labeled as such back in 1980. The Spencer House at 517 High Ave East was also a key structure. It was built by H.L. Spencer. When H.L. died his wife had Spencer Chapel built on the William Penn campus as a memorial. My parents and I owned 517 when a tenant's Tv had an electrical short  which caused a fire. the Oskaloosa fire department was able to get the fire out without totally destroying the house. Problem was insulation in the attic smoldered for a week, reignited and the house was a complete loss. The house was demolished in 1983. So having owned one of the key structures of the Paradise Block and had it cease to exist under my ownership, I have no desire to repeat that. 

Basil Dutton was a contractor who built several homes in Oskaloosa with his partner Henry Wetherall. Henry's son Frank was an architect. Several houses Basil and Henry built have the "belt" around the exterior of the house between the first and second floor. Basil built 613 for his own home to live in.

There are 4 stained glass windows in the house we are attempting to repair. The one above is in excellent shape. The 2 on the 3rd floor are in horrible shape. We are putting new colored glass in front of the old faded glass and missing pieces so that the windows will be double paned. The Stained glass window on the stairs between first and second floor will be taken apart and the central yellow broken pane replaced.

Although it was a shame to remove the upstairs hallway oak floor it was damaged beyond repair by leaking hot water heat radiators. We can save all the other oak flooring except about half of the kitchen.

The half of the kitchen where we will replace the flooring is not original to the house. The garage was also built much later in 1940. I would have to say that having owned a key structure in the Paradise block Historic district that was destroyed in 1982, it is a labor of love to bring this house back to it's former glory. The house just to the west, although when it was built was an identical house to 613, has had so many changes to the exterior it is not considered a historical house. I have no desire for that to happen to 613. We want to fix it up and sell it to someone who will treasure the history and architecture of the home. 

 

winter work

We purchased our winter work this week. 

I really hate the green color on this house. Next spring we will paint it.

Although you have to admire that they painted the tarp on the east side the same color as the siding. No-one will ever know it is just a tarp if you paint it the same color as the rest of the house. I think we will put siding on instead of the tarp. The way it is now might be a code violation.

That awning to the left of the door and the window to the right of the door will have to go.

The windows in the house are in horrible shape. Every one of them will have to be replaced.

Porch screens will need work.

The seller included 5 new windows in the sale to sweeten the deal. We have replacing all the rest in our estimate of repair costs.

We will need some new cupboards and the ones that are there will need repair

There was some dry wall work done. Problem is, we will have a new breaker box and electrical service installed. You really want to do dry wall work after the electrician has done his magic otherwise you might end up cutting holes in the new dry wall.  Notice the insulation I taped over one window to keep at least some of the cold air out? That should speak volumes about how bad the windows are.

The black plastic covering the studs on a wall is a nice touch. At least here we can have any new wires run that we might need.

That half wall beside the toilet will have to go and all the flooring in the house needs to be replaced.

Window behind the washer will have to go.

Access to the pipes for the upstairs full bath is through the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom. I have never seen this done before. I think we will cover that hole in the ceiling.

As I wrote the floors are in awful shape.

There are still walls to fix. 

And we are crious what is behind the mirror on the wall above the stairway. Seems like an odd place to hang a mirror unless you are covering a hole in the wall.

Most of the stair treads are cracked and broken.

Matthew was able to get the furnace running yesterday. We replaced the thermostat that was in the house with our work thermostat, replaced the fuse on the furnace switch and he said there was another fix needed before the furnace would fire. But there is now heat in the house. YEA!!!! 

Yep we have purchased our winter work.

I have been thinking this week how thankful I am that 2 of our sons are partners with us on the houses. Our oldest son Joshua works for an agricultural company and I am thankful for him too.

But I can let youth do the tough jobs.

Micah tore out flooring on the BIG house yesterday.

Matthew found some trim to fill in the missing pieces. He painstakingly removed all the old paint.

I painted the front hall and stairway.

I am thankful, I have a variety of work that I enjoy every day. Sure there are some awful jobs but most are satisfying and enjoyable. Fixing dilapidated houses is a labor of love for me.

May your life be filled with joy and thankfulness also.

 

cheap fixes

We are painting the interior of the BIG house. Started by repairing past mistakes made by previous owners.

At some point nail holes were filled with joint compound. Filling holes with joint compound is a good idea, but... This is not the way we do it. See the flat spot where a mud knife was used to put compound on the wall. It should have been cleaned off with a wet cloth until only the hole was filled and the texture of the wall was not compromised. Usually we just leave past mistakes and repaint. In this house details matter so we are sanding all these spots down with an orbital sander.

There was one crack running up from a window to the ceiling that had the last couple of paint layers pushed out. I started up the angle grinder to grind down the ridge before sanding. Matthew came flying into the room and asked "Is the grinder your new sander?" I think he thought the old man had lost it. A little later I showed him a 45 degree corner that was poorly done and would need to be fixed. He wondered out loud how he was going to get the old joint compound scored back. I pointed at the angle grinder. Yea, looks like the old man wasn't so crazy after all.

So we sanded down previous repairs,

sprayed new texture,

and painted with primer.

Seems like we had to redo about 30% of every wall.

The finished product was worth the effort.

2 bedrooms done and only 2 more to go, oh and the hall way upstairs and down stairs, the entry way, the living room, the dining room, the extra formal front room, the kitchen and the back entry room. I don't think we are quite finished yet. 

Sometimes, we try to hide our sins under a veneer of self righteousness. Cover up what we do wrong by justifying it to ourselves. Maybe it is like a quick ugly patch. If we look at what we do wrong as God would, it is obvious we are not fixing it the right way. 

I know I have to be careful I am not just covering over my sins and I am allowing God to fix my life. The blood of Jesus is the only way to fix past sins, and allowing God to direct my life going forward is the only way for my life to be done right in the future.