Here’s the backside of the timber-frame addition that I added this farmhouse.
BUT… I’d like to turn your attention to the little log cabin seen off to the right this photo. That little cabin holds a special place in my heart.
I’m not certain if I’d call it my first log cabin, but it was certainly a pivotal project for me. Over the next day or two I’ll tell you all about it.
Originally posted 2015-04-30 15:07:01.
We would add a large vintage timber-framed addition to this house… a few years later… but that’s a story for another time…
Originally posted 2015-04-30 14:51:54.
We discovered that the first story and a half of this home was made of logs. But the remainder of the home’s second story was made of framed lumber, likely purchased from a sawmill in the early 1900’s.
There was a time when no one wanted to live in an old log cabin. And everyone wanted to live a modern farmhouse. (there goes that theme from the Walton’s playing in my head again)
I crawled up into the attic of the house. (no buzzards there… whew!) And I further discovered that the 1900 builders had reused the rafters from the original cabin. I could see the old notching in these rafters where the roof on the shorter cabin had had a 12/12 pitch and had now been changed to a shallower 8/12 pitch for this two-story farmhouse.
We debated what to do about this situation…
We could put the siding back up that we had removed. We could remove the siding that covered the logs all the way around the house (we thought that would look odd). Or, we could blow the entire top of this house off and either restore the original cabin to it’s original shorter form, or we could finish the cabin with old replacement logs creating a two-story cabin.
The owner decided to leave it like this for a few years so that she could enjoy looking at her logs, and then she would cover them back up.
What would you have done?
Originally posted 2015-04-30 14:27:31.
I once received a call from a lady who had lived in a beautiful farmhouse for many years. The outside had clapboard siding, and the inside had plastered walls and elaborate heart-pine wainscoting and fireplace mantles.
She had always been told that the house was constructed of log and she really wanted to see and enjoy those logs, even if it was only for a few years.
But she didn’t want to alter the beautiful interior so she came up with the idea of exposing the logs on the outside and so she contacted me for help.
We started removing the siding on the front of the house and by the time we got to the top of the porch we discovered that she did indeed have a beautiful early 1800’s cabin, perhaps even a late 1700’s cabin.
But then… we discovered a unexpected problem…
Originally posted 2015-04-30 13:58:04.
This is sweet little guest house outback of a much larger foursquare farmhouse. Given the choice, personally, I’d live here.
And so would Thoreau.
Originally posted 2015-04-29 13:23:36.
Just about everyone knows that Thomas Jefferson built Monticello.
Well, everyone that lives in Virgina that is.
For everyone else, just look at the back of a nickle… that’s Monticello.
But what about the guys that actually built it? You know, the guys with the saws and the hammers? (The tour guides there never seem to mention the carpenters). Did they go on to build something after Monticello?
The answer to that question… Yes, yes they did.
Their next project was this private home in Western Albemarle.
I spent more than a year of my life restoring this massive home. It was quite an experience… but I must confess that by the time it ended I was aching to build a small cabin on some mountaintop.
Originally posted 2015-04-29 13:17:06.
This is a Virginia “foursquare” house.
This style of farmhouse was quite popular in the last couple decades of the 19th century.
Almost always white in color, they had four main rooms downstairs, and four matching ones upstairs, with each room offering a fireplace and ten foot ceilings. There was also a grand hallway in the center with a highly detailed large staircase.
These large homes marked the end of era. Within their walls one can still find some heavy beams but the timber frames of the previous generation have been abandoned. And, the materials were still of high quality but were clearly imported from further west. Virgin timber in Virginia had been exhausted.
I’ve restored a few of these refined ladies. It’s always been a treat.
The crewman seen in one of these photos went on to be a professor of philosophy at a major university… I guess this house gave him something to think about.
Originally posted 2015-04-29 12:45:48.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
I’ve been in hundreds of old houses and various other farm buildings over the years.
In fact, I believe that the actual number may be well over a thousand.
I consider myself to be a blessed man to have seen and touched so many.
Most of these antique structures that I have visited were in various stages of disrepair.
Some, were near collapse.
Many had “bad spots” where a person could “disappear through the floor” if a wrong step was taken.
Some of these houses were rumored to have been occupied with ghosts. (I’ve never seen or heard a single one)
I’ve been in a few houses that had signs of human vagrant occupation… perhaps an old tattered sleeping bag rolled out in a corner with a few cans of food nearby. So sad.
Almost all of these abandoned structures had some form of wildlife living within, such as mice, rats, snakes, owls, raccoons, squirrels, feral cats, etc.
Some were so full of “stuff” from previous homeowners that were hoarders that I would have to crawl above it all with my back rubbing against the ceiling. Trust me, I’ve seen it all.
I’ve been asked to sign release documents before entering a home to free the owners from liability should I get injured or die in looking the house over. That’s always comforting.
It seems that I’ve always been warned of the dangers ahead.
And, I’m often asked… “aren’t you afraid?”
The truth is that I’ve never been injured in any way from looking at an old house. Old houses are my friends, and I’m always excited to meet a new one.
But, there is one thing that I am afraid of… baby buzzards. Nothing will increase my heart-rate faster, nothing will put goosebumps on me with greater intensity, than even the thought of an encounter with baby buzzards.
Buzzards will often nest in the attic of an old abandoned home… if they can find a way in, they will be there.
I use the term “nest” loosely. They don’t build an actual nest, they just lay their eggs on the floor in the middle of the attic.
If I arrive at an abandoned house and buzzards live there, the adults will quickly fly away before I enter the house… I am now aware that there might be young in the attic… I don’t know for sure… but it is ever present in the back of my mind.
If the young are there I will eventually find out at some point in my tour of the home. They make an other worldly noise that will freak me out, every time. Their warning call is sort of a combination between a ghostly moan and a big cat growl… and it is loud enough to be heard throughout the home.
In order to give a house a thorough inspection I have to see the attic. Trust me, it is mighty uncomfortable to stick my head up into the attic with sounds of Marley’s ghost moaning away up there. But attic flooring can be the most valuable material in the entire home, this is not an area to skip over.
Baby buzzards have got to be the only ugly babies in the world. They are in the same league as those creatures that pop out of eggs in the movie “Alien”.
And, it gets worse.
Baby buzzards have a defense weapon. (I guess that’s because mom and dad buzzard abandon them at the first sign of danger).
These infants can hurl their eaten breakfast accurately up to twenty feet away.
When you consider that their breakfast was previously their parent’s breakfast, which was regurgitated for their eating pleasure, which was originally some long dead animal alongside the road, you can only imagine how nasty this projectile is, and how much you want to avoid being hit by it.
So, yes, I am afraid when I enter an old home, just not for the reason most people would think of.
All other fears pale in comparison.
Originally posted 2015-04-28 13:59:15.
There’s not a whole lot of space to be found inside this cabin.
Originally posted 2015-04-27 15:59:04.
I have never seen more finely crafted chinking than what I saw on this little cabin.
Look at how nicely fitted each piece is that fills in the gaps between the logs.
I did not see any indication that any further methods were employed to keep out weather, which would tell me that this wood chinking was installed to keep out four legged creatures, not drafty air.
Originally posted 2015-04-27 15:41:25.
