No, we are not storm victims...

But it does look like it. It would be an understatement to say that we have had a few setbacks and "challenges" lately. Between the rain and foundation miscalculations costing us a pretty penny, we are inching our way into living in a tent and eating Ramen noodles until our children are out of college. Maybe the neighbors will take pity on us and let us move in. I wonder if anyone has been voted OUT of the Historic Preservation Commission? I am sure we are close nominees.

I always wanted a swimming pool, although I imagined one with sparkling blue water and not necessarily under my soon-to-be kitchen. I guess beggars can't be choosers. By the way, that is about 6 feet of water in that abyss called a storm shelter. I am sure the geese next door would love it!

My poor husband is fit to be tied. He is like a tom-cat scratching at the door to be let out. He wants (and needs) to be at the construction site, but we have to bring home the bacon at our full-time jobs. With all that, I have become dependent on Starbucks' Caramel Mochiato (skinny, of course).

The framers have been hard at work, but they keep getting held up by the rain and issues brought on by previous subs. Teddy almost had a stroke when he heard that the vintage materials from our house (such as the tongue and groove wall and ceiling boards) had been torn off and thrown in the dumpster. Thank goodness Fernando and Fat Boy were there to fish them out of the dumpster and save the framers from losing vital organs and bodily parts. It would not have been pretty.

Hopefully we will have a short rain on Saturday and some sunshine Sunday through Wednesday. We need a break.... SOON.

Back Into the Groove of Things

Well the holidays slowed us down a bit. Not to mention the rain that came with it. But we are back on track for fixing the banding around the house and preparing to lower the house down onto the footers. We decided to include a storm shelter under the new section of the house - talk about a big hole. Depending on the day, it's almost like having a swimming pool!

The test results came back on the well water and it looks pretty good. No VOCs or heavy metals. Now we just have to decide whether or not we want to rebuilt the well or cover it up. If you ask me, I say rebuild it and make good use of it!

We continue to find "artifacts" under the house and in the backyard. They are probably not of interest to anyone but me... a true dirt digger and antiquities lover. I sent several photos of the bottles we found to a university department that studies bottle typology (yea, there really is a department that studies that stuff). Turns out the timeframe for the bottles ranges from 1890s to 1920s. One of the neatest bottles was a thick amber Coca-Cola bottle from Huntsville. The other was a post civil-war medicine bottle - just not sure what kind.

We should soon have the floorplans complete too. Although, I think the architect would prefer to drywall me in the walls of the house, then as to deal with me anymore. It can be very difficult to decide on ONE floorplan idea, when you have to start from scratch and there are some many possibilities. It's like the dessert table at a church potluck!

Oh, and by the way... we DID indeed break the glass. Poor Fernando tried to remove the old panes of glass, by several methods, and all of it shattered. It broke my heart. But now I look at it as an opportunity to go dumpster diving and treasure pickin' to find replacements. Already found several windows in the trash from an old victorian house in Illinois! Just call us Alabama Pickers!

Cleaning up our act

When we started this whole thing, we had the expectation that we would only use a dumpster or two for debris. Whatever. We are on dumpster number 5 now and still going. Apparently Bud (the previous resident - God rest his soul) was a "collector" of things... old tires, paint cans, boards, signage. From what we understand, he was quite the character and LOVED Christmas lights. We hope to continue his tradition.

The brick we have removed from around the house and the various old chimneys are being saved and repurposed. Most of them are in great shape and according to a local brick company, are built better than the bricks today. That was good news. The chore now is to clean the brick of the old mortar and prepare them to be laid after the footers are in place. Later this week we are scheduled to raise the house and start the footers... the most expensive task.

I wanted to thank Fernando and Sonny for all their help on this project - they have worked so hard to help us with our dream. Thank you!

All Jacked Up

So we are at a crossroads with whether to install piers or pour footers and lay block, for our foundation. I think we are of the consensus that we need to spend the time and effort to pour footers and lay block, with a brick exterior. The total cost of that makes my head hurt. But anything worth doing is worth doing right.

I was sad to see the chimney in the bedroom go. I was hoping for an exposed brick look, but Teddy says it has to go in order for us to jack up the house. We are hoping to have it lifted next week and start the cleanout from under the house. Maybe I will find some more treasures (besides the Miller High Life bottles left under the house from the 70s.)

Through all our demo, we were hoping to find some real treasures. But no luck. In fact, one of the descendents of one of the original owners said their family was Scottish, so I won't find a plug nickel anywhere. I guess the treasures are in the whole history of the house. Possibly the oldest house in historic Madison?!

And so the work begins...

Well, we closed on Tuesday, 29 November at 1600 hrs. Regardless of the fact that the sun had already set during this winter season, none of this disuaded my husband from starting demo right away. My son and my husband gathered all the tools from our current house and took off like their lives depended on it.

Through the course of the next few evenings of demolition, we uncovered our first "finds" of the remodel. We have heard conflicting stories of the age of the house and our only documented source, derived from the tax records, stated the house was in its current location in 1917. Our curret "find" states otherwise. As we removed the gypsum board from the walls (yes, gypsum), we found newspapers covering the beadboard which were dated 1898. And this was in the NEW section of the house. Other finds included an old bottle from under the house, and hand-hewn timbers - some with the bark still on them.

Soon we will be removing the windows and doors for restoration. Keep your fingers crossed that we dont break all the glass!

Beginning Our Adventure....

November 27, 2011
Today we closed on our new house/project at 302 Church Street in Madison, Alabama. It all began with a vision of what could be as we drove down Church Street one fall, Sunday afternoon. The house stood empty and run down and looked as though it longed for a family to fill it with new laughter and the wamth of new memories. And it just so happened that Teddy and I were just the right volunteers for this adventure. Although some of our children were less than enthused about the project, most are looking forward to the chance to uncover the many mysteries the house holds within it's walls.

We have met some of our neighbors, who are relieved to know that the decay that resided next door would soon be resurected into another jewel in the crown of Madison Station.

Let me caveat by saying that this was not an easy task just to get to this point. We did our research on the property as best we could and studied the level of effort that this sort of project would take. Obviously we only see the tip of the iceburg, but luckily this is not our first renovation or our first "property rodeo".

The Madison Station Historic Preservation Commission welcomed us with open arms. In fact, many of the members have family ties to the homes in the community - one of which belonged to our home. The general consensus of the Commission was gratitude for helping save another piece of history. A thank you goes out to the commission for helping make this possible and encouraging us to be a part of the restoration.