Small Cabin

Small Cabin Forum
 - Forums - Register/Sign Up - Reply - Search - Statistics -

Small Cabin Forum / General Forum / My official introduction and some ramblings.
Author Message
Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 01:47 - Edited by: Ramrod Hare
Reply 


I posted in the "Why are you here?" thread, but for those who didn't see that post, I'm Adam. I'm in East TN and I'm working on a cabin/small house. I just wanted to find a forum where I could jot down questions and maybe get some answers to things that are nagging me. So, on to some details.

I own 7 acres of land, with a little house/cabin that my Great Grandfather on my Dad's side of the family built for my great Grandmother on my Mom's side of the family about 100 or so years a go. It's about 24x24, with 12 ft ceilings and a decent sized attic. There are four rooms, I don't have the measurements of them on hand, but One is huge, I'm gonna call it the living room. Two of the others are similar sized, I'm gonna use one as a bedroom and the other as a bathroom/storage and everything else room. The final room is very narrow, but long. I figure it will be the kitchen. There's no plumbing, never has been. There was electricity up until the late 70's, but I'm not taking a chance with it. It has two porches, both run the length of the house but they need replacing. The house is structurally sound, but it needs lots of cosmetic work and the roof needs new tin, which I have, but it's a steep roof and my health keeps me from doing any big jobs and my finances keep me from being able to hire someone. * When I say finances, I need to make it clear what I'm living on here. I probably only make about $3000 or so dollars a year, meaning I have to get good stuff, but it needs to be something that's rather cheap. I was thinking used RV appliances that people have replaced or something of that nature. So that's my first big hurdle. Next issue is the chimney. It's in the middle of the house and needs a complete replacement, since I won't be using electric heat. The walls have no insulation, and have slats and plaster on the inside with wood siding on the outside. The "plaster" is cement as far as I can tell. It's almost impossible to break or remove. I honesty wanted to have wood paneling and insulation, but I don't see me ever getting these walls stripped down to the studs. The plaster is really uneven and wavy, so paneling over it would probably look horrible, so I'm looking for a good work around there. I figure I can do a temporary water and electricity setup, since the house is only about 20ft from the crappy mobile home I've been stuck in since my house burnt down back in 2001. My goal is to get this cabin decent enough to live in within a few months and then work my way to going fully off grid, while renting the mobile home to a friend to help finance my projects. I've been researching wind, solar and hydro power. While I do have a creek, it's level, slow moving and too far down the hill to be of use. Solar and wind seem to be my best bet, but I need systems that I can afford and add on to as I have the cash. My Father lives in a fairly large old uninsulated house and heats with a wood stove fairly well through the winter, so I'm hopeful that I can pull that off with either wood, propane or oil heat. Which brings up some questions about what's the best power choice for a fridge and oven. I know small RV stoves are propane, but I'm really wondering about the ones that are powered by 12v, 120v and propane. I think they call them 3-way appliances. I can do without a lot of things, but being able to store and cook food is pretty important to me.
Then there's the issue of a toilet. I have access to a septic tank, but I like the idea of a composting toilet, but I'm used to just flushing. The dumping a bucket thing might get annoying with my health issues. I'll be using filtered rain water for most things and I'll have the option of using the city water that runs to the mobile home.
I'm just tired of the increasingly high electric bills and the feeling of being tied to all this unnecessary stuff. Not to mention my feeling of being "trapped" in this metal box. I want to be closer to nature and lead a simple life, without all the distractions and annoyances of everyday life. I like to camp and sit around a fire. My dad has talked about doing something similar for years and I never understood it until I grew up. He never took the leap and I know he regrets it. I don't want to make that mistake. Don't get me wrong, I like having lights and a television, and I'm not gonna give them up anytime soon, but they aren't as big of a priority as they used to be.
I know I've rambled on quite a bit here about different things, but I tried to fill in all the important details. So,if anyone has any advice or anything, please, feel free to chime in. I can use all the help I can get. Thanks!

KSalzwedel
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 02:08
Reply 


Well, propane refrigerator will cost a fortune to run (especially now with propane going sky high). But I have a 20" magic chef stove with four burners and an oven big enough for a 9x 13 pan. I bake, a lot, and it is FAB.

KSalzwedel
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 02:10
Reply 


Forgot to mention, it sips propane. 7# in 5 months with daily household use (we retired in our cabin). Also have smallest available blaze king and will NEVER regret losing the forced air, as I am warm all the time now, no drafts like we had in our houses.

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 05:28
Reply 


Thanks for the info! I just looked up some videos on the blaze kings and I'm really liking what I see. One issue I always had with the wood stoves I've used is the fact that the wood always burned up too fast, making mornings a bit chilly until the fire was going again, but from what I've seen in the videos, it looks like the blaze kings smolder the wood and burn the gasses from it, so I'm guessing they have a much longer burn time on each load and are more efficient. I'm gonna continue researching them, but I'd love to hear more about your experience with the one you have. Also the info on the magic chef may prove to be useful. Thanks again for your replies, you've honestly been a great help already!

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 06:06
Reply 


I did some more digging and stumbled onto some sites with prices for the Blaze King wood stoves and now I'm depressed. It would take me a year or longer to save enough to even buy the smallest stove they have. I guess I need to edit my first post to include that I'm disabled and make less than $3,000 a year, since I don't get any assistance from the government. I would love to be able to afford a Blaze King, but I don't think that's in the cards.

TheCabinCalls
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 13:25
Reply 


My first thought is if you only make this much a year then it might not be wise to spend your money here - because of the cost of an old building needing repair and the government might stop supplementing if you are showing assets that are improving.

Having said that...there is nothing that isn't attainable. You can get clever:
- start with necessities (which you are)
- find things people are getting rid of (appliances, materials, etc)
- finding a buddy that can redo some wiring for you
- finding people that might want to trade time on the land (hunters, campers, friends needing leisure time) and having them trade work for time there

This site is a great place to be for what you are after. We all seem to be making the most with the least.

KSalzwedel
Member
# Posted: 11 Mar 2014 14:17
Reply 


People sometimes sell older models of their blaze kings online. Search for one there, same for a 20" stove. Where there is a will there is a way.

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 12 Mar 2014 01:53
Reply 


I understand that my financial situation is going to make things more difficult, but it's also part of the reason I need to move to the cabin. The trailer I'm in now costs about $300 a month to stay in, and the heat pump stopped working a while back and some plumbing problems have developed. On a sunny day, the inside of the trailer reaches 80-90 degrees, then at night, it can drop as low as 45. If I repair the heat pump, I'm looking at about $800 up front for repairs and I'll still be spending the $300 a month to keep the inside of this metal box warm and cool. The only way I've been able to afford it has been to let a friend stay with me who could pay half the bills, but He'll be moving out May 1st. I'm not getting any thing from the government, so the worst they can do if I fix that cabin up, would be to raise the land taxes a bit, but that shouldn't happen, since I intend to keep the outside of the cabin looking the same as it does now, except for redoing the porches and putting tin on the roof. The tin I have is used, so the new roof will look almost as old as it does now and I'll be using old wood to rebuild the porches, so all the wood will maintain it's unfinished dark gray coloring. Based on the very basic testing I've done, the cabin seems to maintain a very comfortable temperature through out the day and night, when compared to my trailer. Since I'll be working toward going fully off grid, I'll be relying on the electrical and water hookups from the trailer, to avoid dealing with the costs and aggravations associated with building codes and inspections. I'll be able to do all the repairs and get my off grid systems all installed and working, then disconnect from the trailer and be completely self sufficient. I do intend to keep an eye open for used items when it comes to appliances and a wood stove. I really want a Blaze King, but I have a feeling that even a used one will always be out of my price range. Does anyone have any opinions on whether I should try and repair the plaster walls and ceilings or remove the plaster and put up cheap wood paneling? This is something I need to decide on soon, since one of the main issues of moving in is my fear that the plaster in the bedroom is going to continue to fall from the ceiling. Which at best would only be a mess, but at worst could lead to me being injured while I sleep. There is a crack down the middle of the bedroom ceiling and enough of the cement/plaster has fallen to fill a 5 gallon bucket. it comes down in 6 inch or bigger chunks and then shatters when it hits the floor.. I had thought about leaving it up, but covering it with paneling and some large slats screwed into the beams to hold it up. Another thought I had was to put in some new lower ceilings so I'd be heating and cooling less space, but I'm not sure if dropping the ceilings would really make much difference without there being any insulation in the house. I'll be honest, If I had the money, I would just build a new cabin/tiny house closer to the creek, but I just can't afford it. I do like the idea of the tiny houses that are only 200-300 square feet, but with my health issues, I wouldn't be able to climb a ladder to get to the sleeping loft and making room for proper stairs would take up too much space in such a tiny house. Every where I turn just seems to be another obstacle, but I'm trying to keep a smile on my face and just take things as they come, but it's rough. Who knew the simple life would be so expensive. LOL

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 12 Mar 2014 07:09
Reply 


loved reading your post.interesting.i feel the same.

TheCabinCalls
Member
# Posted: 12 Mar 2014 09:17
Reply 


It is hard to tell if repairing is better without a picture. Usually plaster is repaired, but again can't tell until a picture is available.

If you found a good deal on repairing all the walls it might be a few hundred dollars. To put up panels you will have that alone in just materials. Plus labor. And it won't be true to the house's original architecture.

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 12 Mar 2014 13:41
Reply 


Ramrod Hare-we have a 200 sq.foot cabin.we dont have a loft.well we do.its for storage.i get all the stuff from the loft with a grabber.
we build our cabin as we got the money.bits here and there.
i wish u luck.it sounds like u are a real thinker. wishing u the best.

hattie
Member
# Posted: 12 Mar 2014 19:39
Reply 


Welcome to the forum Ramrod Hare. I don't have any suggestions for you but I do wish you the best of luck. I look forward to reading how you are making out.

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 12 Mar 2014 22:56
Reply 


I've used some of the ideas I got from the people here, along with research and youtube videos and plans are starting to come together. I'll try to get some pictures as soon as the weather permits. I tried to start on this project about 2 years ago, when I got the tin for the roof, but I didn't have enough money to hire anyone to help me and I soon found all the work to be overwhelming. Then right after putting it off, I came into a little money from the passing of a relative, but was so sad due to the loss and frustrated with the lack of progress I'd made, that I just didn't feel like putting any of it into the cabin/house (I don't really know which to call it, it looks like what would have been referred to as a cabin years ago, but cabin and house feel like interchangeable words to me.) Instead I spent most of the money on maintenance for the trailer, some general necessities, (mostly food and some clothing) and paying bills. I did splurge a bit and buy a new TV and a cheap laptop though. Even with my health issues, It looks like I'll be doing most of the repairs and such, just due to my lack of cash. If I can just get out of the trailer, I'll be able to make a small amount from renting it out, which will allow me to continue working on things. So, Here's my plan as of right now.

First I need to purchase-
a tall step ladder (for reaching the ceilings)
replacement glass for the broken windows
plaster repair and painting supplies

First things to do are-
Replace tin roof
Do bare minimum porch repairs (just to be safe entering and exiting while working).
Fix broken windows
Patch and paint walls
Either repair or tear down plaster from bedroom ceiling (depending on how loose the old plaster is where it's cracked and falling)
Build a composting toilet
and then move in.
I'll depend on a propane camp stove for cooking, oil lamps and rechargeable lanterns for light and I can carry water in jugs for the time being.
I figure it will be similar to camping, just with less weather concerns, more security and a comfy bed. Should be fun. I also think getting into the cabin will motivate me to do more work and less procrastinating. I'll worry about solar power and running water later on and I'll be on the lookout for used appliances and building materials. I've also been thinking about the items I won't be taking to the cabin with me, that I'll be able to sell or trade for things I need. My father told me today that he's willing to give me some old lumber he has and help me with some of the repairs. So the only thing holding me back right now is just the cold weather, which should move through in a day or so and warm back up. I'll be posting more as things progress. This forum has given me more motivation than any of my friends have. Thanks everyone!

Nirky
Member
# Posted: 13 Mar 2014 01:24
Reply 


Even if you have limited funds to hire handymen for various jobs, you may be able to barter. If you have skills that are valuable to others, you might be able to trade. Maybe check out Craigslist or any barter/trade websites with ads for trade in your area.

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 13 Mar 2014 07:47
Reply 


Nirkys right.i got all our windows on craigs list.we did not have insulation for our cabin but we found huge stacks of acoustic ceiling tiles and they were free from craigs list.we put those up pretty fast in our walls for insulation.
i got free big carpet samples we are gonna staple down to the cabin floor to use for padding and insulation.my son gave me a huge area rug and we are gonna put that down over the carpet samples to make it look better.
it just takes time.baby steps are better than no steps.
we still haul water .we dont have any power to the cabin.just a generator.
we have an outhouse but composting toilet inside it.
it just takes time ...good luck.like reading ur progress and thoughts.

lawnjocky
Member
# Posted: 14 Mar 2014 00:03
Reply 


Where abouts in Eastern Tn are you? I am heading out to Oak Ridge in a few days. I will be towing my sheep wagon on its first big trip. The purpose of the trip is to do some work on a house we own there then I am headed to DC to help my daughter do some remodeling. I won't have a ton of free time but if you are near by I would be happy to give you advice.

Also there is a website that list a whole bunch of small saw mills in Eastern TN. I don't have it handy but I found it when I was living there. If I was in your shoes I would find that and contact each one and ask about trading labor for wood.

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 18 Mar 2014 23:50
Reply 


Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a few days since I was on here. I've got a sick black lab, so I haven't had a lot of time for anything else. Her name is Happy and she's around 14 years old. I did manage to go price some building materials and some new tools. It's looking like my father is going to help cover some of the repair costs and do some of the work. After really looking over the plaster, it became pretty clear that it's beyond repair, it would need to completely be replaced, which isn't really an option. After talking to a few carpenters, I decided that the best thing to do is to cover the walls in paneling or hardboard, then paint them. This is also the solution I'm going with for the ceilings. Dad will be buying an 8ft step ladder in the morning, so we can reach the ceilings and I picked up some supplies to start repairing the windows. I bought window glaze, the little metal fasteners and a gallon of water seal. I've been very set on keeping the outer appearance of the cabin as old and worn as possible and the water seal I bought says it allows the wood to age and turn gray, so I figured it would be better to coat the window frames with as I replaced the glass, rather than painting them. The good news is, there are only 5 windows, so I won't have to buy a lot of glass, since most of them are only missing one of their 4 panes. I've realized that mo focus has been spread across too many areas, so I'm hoping that by only focusing on one small job at a time I can knock things out quicker. I spent a couple of good days last week researching stoves and solar power options when I should have been focused on getting some work done. I'll keep you all posted as things progress.

LawnJocky,
Thanks for the offer. I'm in Afton. I doubt it would be anywhere close to your route. Good luck on your trip though. I hope you have a safe trip.
As for the saw mills I don't really have have the ability to trade labor for wood, given my health issues and the few things I can do in trade aren't skills that are in high demand around here. Also I'm not in that much need of lumber right now, what I need most is a roofer and some expensive tools. LOL The new ladder my father is buying will really get things rolling as far as the interior work, but I need to rent a ditch digger that's capable of cutting through some roots and some scaffolding. Right now though, I'm just going to focus on the windows and go from there.

TheCabinCalls
Member
# Posted: 19 Mar 2014 21:37 - Edited by: TheCabinCalls
Reply 


I think he meant you trading your trees/lumber on your property for help.

TheCabinCalls
Member
# Posted: 19 Mar 2014 21:41
Reply 


BTW - sounds like you are in the same boat as a lot of us here as far as doing as much as you can with little. Keep pressing on it will be a great experience for you and your father.

I saw an episode of This Old House doing major plaster repairs and recreating modeling and thought of your project. You can check it out at PBS.org.

Keep us posted on the progress.

ErinsMom
Member
# Posted: 20 Mar 2014 05:40
Reply 


RAMROD HARE,
Greetings from Kingsport. I was born and raised in Sullivan County but married a Greene Co. boy. We spend many Saturdays in Greene Co looking for small plot mostly wooded for me to build my small cabin. I would love somewhere near Camp Creek or Viking Mt area. But land is so expensive. Look at the salvage place on 11E between Greeneville and Jonesboro; doors and windows a little more than I like but he has most everything you need.

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 20 Mar 2014 22:25
Reply 


While I'd love to be able to trade some trees, I don't have any that are any good. Over the years most of the decent trees were cut for firewood. Most of what's left is smaller and maple.

Not much of an update today, but it's something. I have two windows removed and have been working on the frames and found some used glass the right size to repair one of them. Trimmed some brush from around the front of the cabin and while looking over the front of the cabin and porch, I noticed some of the old wiring had been run from the outside of the house instead of through the walls. I just traced it's route with my eyes and found something cool. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the old ceramic tube insulators, but I found two, just hanging on the wire near the corner of the cabin, so a quick couple of snips with the cutters and I had two 8 inch long ceramic knife sharpeners! I gave one to Dad and put the other in my emergency camping pack. I also found that the old wiring is all fabric covered and solid copper, so I'll be able to strip it and get a bit of cash once it's all be removed. We also went back to Lowes to get the step ladder and just as my luck goes, the price had increased by $10 in 24 hours, which wasn't a good sign of things to come. LOL

Dad and I also started stripping some floor boards out of the attic of a 100+ year old house on his property. The house was built about 30ft from the railroad tracks, never had running water or electricity and has been vacant and slowly falling apart for over 50 years. I can't blame people for not wanting to live there with the noise of the trains all day and night. Dad uses the downstairs for storing junk he doesn't want to throw away, so the upstairs floor wasn't doing anything but getting dripped on when it rained. The best I can tell, the boards are oak and range from 8ft to 12ft, so I'm hopeful that we can salvage enough of them to floor the front porch of my cabin, which is 6x18. That will allow me to have a sturdy porch, without the look of "new" materials. I also finished the measuring today and now have all the relevant numbers written down (I don't have them on hand, but I can give you a close estimate of the size of the rooms from memory. The living room is 11x13ft, Bedroom is 11x10, kitchen is 8x13, and the bathroom/utility room is 8x10.) As far as the layout goes- Walking in the front door you are in the living room, with the bedroom to your right. Moving forward, you will pass what's left of the chimney on your right, about center of the living room and just to the left side of the bedroom door. Continuing on through a doorway into the kitchen, you will see the bathroom door to your right. If you continue a few more steps, you are on the back porch, which is also 6x18. The ceilings in all the rooms is around 10ft (I had originally thought they were 12ft, but the tape measure proved me wrong.) At some point there was a dropped ceiling put into the bathroom, but it's nothing more than 2x4 framework now and the old plaster has long since fell from the original ceiling. The attic access is small in the drop ceiling frame, but rather large in the old ceiling. I'm debating on making it large and putting a sturdy folding ladder in, so I'll have a way to get in and out of there to use it for storage if needed. I've also decided to try and dig out the loose dirt in the cellar (thanks to the groundhogs for digging so much that the filled up half the cellar with red clay dirt) and try to make use of that space too. Dad and I were talking about adding a "trap door" in the bedroom or living room to access the cellar from inside giving me better access to any supplies I might have stored, such as food or tools. So that's pretty much whats going on. I'm really sore tonight and dad has some plans tomorrow, so I don't know how much work I'll get done on my own, but I'll keep you posted!

ErinsMom,
Hello! I'll keep an ear to the ground in case any land becomes available at a decent price.
I've driven by Yankee Salvage quite often, but never stopped. From the road it doesn't look like much, but I was told by a friend today that he had stopped in and they have some decent stuff, so I'm gonna run up there in a day or two, since I now have two recommendations in one day! There's also a couple of little places in Greeneville that I haven't made it to yet, so I'll be checking those out too.

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 21 Mar 2014 22:28
Reply 


Dad's plans fell through today, so we managed to get a bit of work done. We propped up the front porch roof and tore out the old rotten porch. We were able to salvage a few boards that we can trim down to 3 or 4 feet to be reused. This also gave us a good look at the entire foundation at the front of the house. It was in very decent shape. A few rocks at the upper end have moved a couple of inches in the past 100 years, but nothing that cant be repaired. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but all the rocks used for the cellar walls/foundation, porch steps and supports, all came from an old mill that used to be on the property. It's not really important, but it adds to the history of the house a bit. So anyway, the front porch is gone and we will be doing the repairs to the foundation and then starting work on rebuilding the porch in the next few days if nothing comes up. I'm also gonna try my best to find time to take some pictures before we get much more done, so I can have something showing the progress. We also put three sheets of tin on the roof of the back porch to fix a leak that had rotted out the path that leads into the back door. For now we just have a few boards to walk in and out on, since the entire back porch, roof and all need to be replaced completely. So that was today's progress. It's moving along slowly, due to Dad's age and my health issues, but compared to the progress I had made without dad's help, we're flying through stuff! The main problem is going to be staying motivated on my bad days. As long as I have Dad there, I can tough it out, but if I'm working alone, I notice the pain more and tend to stop and sit down for long periods of time "to rest and think", which means I'm done working for the day. I want this place to be done in a few months, and I can see it coming together if we can ever get the new roof on. That's what's holding up the interior work, which is really all I need done in order to move in. Dad mentioned today that he didn't think he was up to doing the roof and there's no way I can, so he's considering paying someone to do it, if we can afford to. I'm not sure if either of us will feel up to working tomorrow, since we really wore ourselves out today, but if we do work, I'll let you know what we got done.

ErinsMom
Member
# Posted: 22 Mar 2014 06:31
Reply 




Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 8 Apr 2014 00:29
Reply 


I finally have some pictures, but I haven't transferred them to the computer yet. We've been running into issues left and right, but we've managed to get the front porch started. We worked on the rock foundation in the front after tearing off the old porch, everything was solid, but there were some cracks where the old cement had fallen out and a few rocks had slid a bit. We patched that up and started rebuilding the porch frame and the rock pillars that hold it up. It's looking like people have stolen some of the rocks over the years. We came up short and had to improvise with blocks under the middle of the porch where it doesn't show. We got enough oak bards on that we can now go in and out of the front door, but we need to figure out how to go about rebuilding the steps. They were rock steps, but as I said, people carried them off, so we don't have what we need to do them right, so we're working on a plan to still get the right look, without having to go an a hunt for cut limestone slabs. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but it turns out that all the window frames were hand made so each piece of glass will have to be cut specifically for a certain part of each frame. There's also no subfloor! It's just the tongue and groove boards and the floor joists, so now it's looking like we're going to have to add more joists to help deal with the weak boards. Things are happening, but it seems like every time we make a bit of progress, we run into a new problem. dad is already fed up with the project and I'm almost totally useless without his help, so there hasn't been much for me to do other than minor repairs to the door hardware and getting the window frames ready for glass. I had really hoped to be living in the cabin by the middle of the summer, but at the rate we're not gonna get it finished this year.

TheCabinCalls
Member
# Posted: 8 Apr 2014 12:58
Reply 


Sounds like an old house!

Hopefully it is more rewarding then frustration. Hang in there and keep pressing on!

Ramrod Hare
Member
# Posted: 28 Apr 2014 11:47
Reply 


Sorry it's been so long since me last post. The front porch has now been finished (Mostly). Oak is a pain to work with. We've went through 5 or six drill bits do far. It's almost impossible to drive a nail through this stuff without a pilot hole and the bits keep hanging and breaking off. LOL Anyway, the porch floor is 6x18ft and all 100+ year old oak, except for 6 gum boards. We ran out of oak and had to use the gum as a temporary filler until we can salvage a few more oak boards the right thickness and width. We used pressure treated 4x4 posts to keep the roof up, until we find something more fitting. All the tin on the porch roof has been replaced, except the last 3 sheets. Most people would never know the porch had been replaced, which is the look I was going for. We also started adding more floor joists the other day and that's moving along faster then the porch did. The living room floor now holds my weight without any popping, cracking or sagging boards. The bad news is, powderpost beetles have been living in the joists (only the ones in the living room and bottom side of the floor boards for maybe as long as the house has been here. We're gonna spray everything with Timbor as soon as we get done with the work in the basement. The new joists are oak, of course and came from a Post office that we helped tear down/salvage. The post office was past repair, but I hated to see it gone. It was there when the mail came by steam engine, so the wood we salvaged was well over 100 years old. Something that saddens me about this project, is that it's proving some of what we knew about my great grandfather to be , well, exaggerated. He had died long before Dad was born, so all we both knew was the stories passed through the family. He was claimed to be a "master carpenter", "the best in the state", etc. Now that we're taking apart and rebuilding a perfect example of his work, we're finding that even by 1920s standards, his work wasn't what we expected. I'm not saying he didn't build a sturdy house or anything, it's just that there are a lot of places where he did things a strange way, making it very hard to repair/replace some things. I may go into more detail on this later, right now it's time to eat, so I'm gonna run. Oh, I have some pictures uploaded to my computer now, so if I don't forget, I'll post them tonight.

turkeyhunter
Member
# Posted: 28 Apr 2014 12:04
Reply 


glad to see you giving it new life...looking forward to the pic's!!!

Your reply
Bold Style  Italic Style  Underlined Style  Thumbnail Image Link  Large Image Link  URL Link           :) ;) :-( :confused: More smilies...

» Username  » Password 
Only registered users can post here. Please enter your login/password details before posting a message, or register here first.