Here’s a photo showing some of the details on the front door unit out of the “catalog house”… at least I’m guessing it was a catalog house… I found no actual proof or record.

I’ve read that Sears, Montgomery Ward, and other firms sold homes through their mail order departments. And, that part of those package offerings were highly-machined intricate pieces of woodwork.

It’s a fascinating concept, that for a period in time in American history, very elaborate trim details were the thing to have. It was fun to dip my toe into this period, just once.

Originally posted 2015-02-12 14:00:18.

This house was unique with it’s combination of good and bad materials… located just feet from a railroad track and decaying rapidly… the railroad company and the land owner decided the house had to go.

What made the house unique was that the house was framed as poorly as it could have been with minimally sized lumber that was spaced as far apart as what would hold the house up, and no more… you know… like most homes built today.

But, the house was filled with elaborate trim that I was allowed to extract before the house came down.

I wondered if it might not have been one of those “mail order homes” of the past, where the future homeowner would buy the plans and woodwork of the home from a catalog and then the homeowner would by the framing lumber from a local sawmill… there was that much of a contrast between the quality of the framing and finish materials.

Originally posted 2015-02-12 13:13:31.

A chimney coming down!

This photo series was taken with my old Canon camera with a manual advice.

A chimney comes down no faster than a tree… but it’s a lot scarier… a tree doesn’t throw rocks (or bricks in this case) every where when it hits the ground. 🙂

It is always a sad, yet fascinating thing, to watch a chimney come down. Some chimneys can stand like monuments for centuries to come, but old brick chimneys are often a danger to leave standing… the inner bricks and those facing the house are often not cured, and thus are soft and will decompose quickly when exposed to the rain.

Originally posted 2015-02-12 12:47:02.

Here’s a photo of the completed heart pine barn/home frame. It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to design and build this beauty. In a fiction world where money doesn’t exist I would gladly keep on building homes like this one.

Notice the back addition. On most of the homes I build I incorporate a standard stick built addition, whether it’s a log or a timber frame home. It’s a money saving feature… the fact is that there are rooms in a house that don’t need the pizazz of glorious wood exposure…. such as the laundry room, a bathroom, the utility room, closets, etc.

And, another bonus is that we like to put these modern additions up first, they give us, and our tools, and our materials protection from the weather. When a quick shower shows up we just quickly retreat and wait it out.

Originally posted 2015-02-11 16:20:57.

Here’s a photo taken inside the barn-home just prior to closing up the roof. The final stress skin panels are being set. We are only hours from having the house in the dry, and never again will we be worried about this frame getting wet!

Originally posted 2015-02-10 23:29:10.

Men are invincible.

Or at least we think we are.
We can stand on the “do not step here” top rung of a ladder, while wearing no safety helmet, while operating a saw… yes, even a very large saw.

I still remember this moment years later, when I showed up on the jobsite to witness this feat. The young man was given a talk on safety and an inquiry into his desire to live a long life, free of injuries. My company has had an amazing record of job site safety, no major injuries at all, the insurance companies have made out like bandits from us… thank God. Our success has not come from following the government rule books, but from practicing caution and common sense, from looking out for each other, and from listening to that quiet voice saying “is this a smart thing to do?”

Originally posted 2015-02-10 13:04:26.