I was under the impression this house was built in 1917. I have since learned that approximately 3,000 acres was purchased and the original house built around 1850. It measured 16 x40 and was comprised of 3 rooms with 2 fireplaces. It underwent at least 3 additions, the second being an additional 16 x 40 mirror image attached to the back and two bedrooms added in the half story created by the attic space of the roof. Some years later the house got a bathroom and kitchen which was added to one end. It incorporated a double faced fireplace, one serving what became the master bedroom and the other side serviced the new kitchen. As the house became derelict, this kitchen area eventually collapsed and became a den for a family of red fox.
Now that the new foundation is in place and the girders are stablized, the focus this past month has been to install the floor joists for both the interior and exterior porches. All of the rough sawn pine used to construct the home was cut from timber on the land and sawn in the owners sawmill which was operated commercially for the area. None of this pine timber was treated obviously, and both the formosan termites and dry rot have had their way in some areas, so those supporting girders had to be repaired or replaced as we went along. Even though the floors and wall boards have been removed, there is still much that has to be disassembled or probed in order to determine its structural capacity before moving forward. Two weeks ago I asked my friend Mooch to come up and give me a hand which has been a tremendous help. He is a great builder and very talented.
Even though I have jacked and leveled the perimeter timber girders up off the old rock piers and onto new reinforced masonry piers, I decided to bolt a joist band inside the girders to provide a concise, level floor system. I invited the new inspector to the site to see what I'm doing and what I have planned and got no negative comments. The house sits on the main road into town (3 miles outside) and people passing by now blow their horns which is kind of cool. The owners great aunt (98 years old) stopped the other day to ask what we were doing; she wanted to tell me she grew up in this house. It's either amazing or scary that she is out driving her car at that age.
Front Porch
This will be the new Mudroom/Laundry/Powder room
Master Bedroom and Bath (was where the old kitchen was located)
This fireplace foundation was set on a pile of loosely mortared rock which was beginning to unravel. The cracking between the mortar joint is slowly opening and you could see it telegraphing between the rock. I decided to pour a reinforced concrete buttress to stabilize it.
The fireplace next to this one was the doubleface and before I arrived on the scene, the owner and architect decided one side needed to go to allow a shower to fit in the master bath. Now I have to figure out how to fix this.
This past week we started the reframing process, adding the rough openings for windows and doors and replacing bad posts and studs. In a sense, some of this work is like oral surgery, having to replace parts of the jawbone before you can implant the new teeth.
Slowly making progress. Looking ahead, the second floor joists are insufficient for the span and have sagged. We want to save the pine flooring on it and its going to be cost prohibitive to remove it. Those are ungraded 2x6 pine joists spanning 16 feet placed 24-28" on center. The rough looking wood that you see is just subflooring. There is tongue and groove pine flooring on top thats in good shape.
I think I have an answer.