Here are two of the outbuildings that I built at the Madison House. The one in the distance is the chicken coop. The other is the garden house.

Outbuildings add SO much to the beauty of a property. So, when it comes time to build an outdoor structure try to use old materials and design these buildings with care. Old windows and siding are some of the cheapest salvaged materials that you will find… seek them out.

I encourage you to drive on by those places that sell manufactured sheds, have some fun, get some exercise, and build something that you will enjoy looking at during the years ahead!

Originally posted 2015-03-29 21:23:42.

I am proud of the fact that so far I have been able to save over a hundred old structures from being lost. Some of these were restored, some were moved and rebuilt, and some were salvaged for the usable materials that still remained after fire, rot, and theft struck.

But for every one that I saved there were ten that I could do nothing but walk away. I am certain that by now most of these historic structures only remain in memory. There simply isn’t enough people that want to build a salvaged home.

If I may, let me share three of these lost treasures with you today.

Originally posted 2015-03-22 11:09:27.

I’ve attached three photos… the first two are of the house the day we met. The other was taken during her “finer days”.

The house didn’t look all that bad as I approached from a distance but once I entered and began to explore, the more I realized that almost every piece of this incredible home, from the basement… to the rafters, was rotten or termite ridden.

She was still standing, but a complete loss.

🙁

Originally posted 2015-03-13 16:04:08.

That’s pronounced “Mickey Tavern” for all those out-of-towners out there. 😉

Michie Tavern is a great place to visit, open to the public just about everyday and located about a half mile before you reach the entrance of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.

The Tavern offers tours of this historic structure, and from their kitchen they serve up some of the best fried chicken that you have ever tasted. It’s well worth the visit.

The folks there have always been very kind to me and they will occasionally call up me for assistance with the upkeep of some of their historic structures. Sometimes they will offer me a piece of chicken or a slice of pie as extra incentive. It works… trust me. lol

The most interesting restoration work that I ever did there was replacing the treads on the Taverns staircase. The original treads had reached the point of structural failure, where they either needed to be replaced, or the public would be denied access to the second floor.

It was a very challenging undertaking.

Every tread was a different length and width, none were what I would refer to as a rectangle, and each was somehow wedged in place. The staircase was not designed for repair… it was designed to last forever… and if for some reason, centuries later, it did need repair… well… unlucky is the chap that gets that job!

And that, would be me.

I like a challenge, I like fussy things. But there was an added twist, this was a museum that was open to the public and they didn’t want to close it for repair. So, they asked if I could come in at night, after closing, and replace the stair treads.

OK… fine.

I came in that first night carrying my tools, as the staff, dressed in their 18th century clothing, came filing out. One of the owners of the Tavern was there to ensure that all was well and to show me how to lock up when I was done.

It was then that she felt compelled to tell me that she had on multiple occasions heard and seen ghosts within the house. She went into great detail about each encounter, and then I found that other staff members would join in and share their experiences. All assured me that these “guests” were friendly. Swell.

It took me almost two weeks of working a few hours each night to replace all the treads. I needed to be so careful not to damage anything as I struggled to remove the old treads that refused to give up the ghost, and then to create exact replacements, and then install them.

I never saw a ghost or a spirit there while I was working. I sure heard many pops and groans from the old tavern, each giving me a surge of adrenaline. My mind kept me plenty alert to my unusual environment… for sure. Sometimes I would turn my radio on just so I could focus on my work. After all, everyone knows that classic rock will protect you from ghosts.

I must say it was a rare treasured moment working there. Not many people have the opportunity to spend time alone in a historic museum. Not only is the house old, and decorated to be old, and furnished with antiques to recreate colonial America… as it was… down to the smallest detail… even the lighting felt like it was from another time.

If you ever get a chance to take a candlelight tour of a historic home, seize the opportunity. You will witness a different world. I did just that, for two weeks at Michie Tavern.

Originally posted 2015-03-13 15:00:03.

Here’s the backside of this timber-framed addition… from frame… to finish… in just three photos.

A lot of folks watch the tv show “This Old House”… and from it they walk away with the perspective that everything can be completed in a half of an hour. lol. If you notice the maple tree in these photos, and how it changes from one image to the other, you can see that this project took a bit longer than that. 🙂

So, let’s go inside now and let me show you how well this project turned out!

Originally posted 2015-03-11 17:37:38.

Carpenters and stone masons need to work together as a team to build a place like this. It’s often a back and forth process, where each relies upon the other to accomplish their work.

Here we have a photo of the stone masons having just finished building the stone piers that will hold up the large front porch off of this addition. I myself have attempted to do enough stonework (I emphasize the word “attempted”) that I greatly appreciate workmanship like you see here in these images.

The next photo shows where the carpenters have come in and assembled the porch deck and some of it’s upper framing.

Then the masons moved back in and assembled their scaffolding so that they could complete the stone chimney up above the main roof.

Finally, the last photo shows how that the carpenters have returned to complete the porch.

Carpenters and masons are as different from each other as apples are from oranges.

Carpenters live in a world of power tools, sawdust, exact measurements, splinters and cuts, and constant movement around the job-site. They generally have a broader awareness of the entire project than the masons, but yet they often earn much less. The more talented “woodworkers” often go into fine trim work, cabinetry, or even become builders.

Stone masons on the other hand live in a world of dirt, mud, mortar, and rock. They are constantly lifting and their bodies generally wear out by the time they hit 40… 50 at the latest. Their tool bags are small but heavy, hammers and chisels, and a well worn trowel or two. They are their own biggest critics… I guess that’s because what they build will stand for centuries… if not thousands of years.

My life would not have been complete without having both types of tradesmen as friends.

Originally posted 2015-03-11 17:20:18.

Once we completed the timber frame we immediately began to cover it up.

We did our best to keep weather exposure to a minimum . Our top priority was now to protect the frame.

After the frame was assembled we gave her a good cleaning with a power washer. We then took an evergreen branch and nailed it up on an end-rafter to symbolize our desired blessings for the homes inhabitants. We patted each other on the back for a job well done. And we took a few photos, for memories.

And then, it was back to work.

It was really a shame to rush the moment. A timber frame is so gorgeous. It would have been nice to pause for a couple of weeks and just have enjoyed this piece of art.

But, it was time to move on.

We covered the entire structure in stress skin panels. They provided added strength to the building, an outer shell to attach siding, high insulation value to keep it’s inhabitants cozy, and a finished interior surface to brighten the interior.

Each panel was craned into place and spiked onto the timber frame.

Once the panels were installed this addition became three to five times as strong as any new home built today using standard construction techniques. (Not to mention her being environmentally friendly, energy efficient, historical, and drop-dead gorgeous).

Originally posted 2015-03-11 16:17:52.

And then, we finished re-erecting the timber frame for the coming addition.

I often ponder what the original men who built this frame would have thought if they could somehow know of what we did.

Two hundred years ago those men went into the woods with an axe to fell trees. They squared the logs in the woods with those axes, leaving the waste there, and making the material lighter to move. A team of horses would drag these hewn timbers to a pit saw where one man would stand on top and another would be down in a pit, each taking turns pulling on a saw so that dimensional timbers could be made.

Then master craftsmen would do their joinery magic and assemble a frame that would stand for 200 years, even though she endured decades of neglect.

Their work would not be seen in all those years, covered in plaster on one side and siding on the other. And then, just as the home was about to be lost, some young men came in and once again made use of their seventeenth century workmanship.

I have encountered hand prints left by those men, and pocket change that fell out of their pockets, and once, I found a chisel that had been accidentally left on horizontal beam and was covered over by plasterers, still as sharp as any in my tool box.

I’d like to think that both generations would be appreciative of the other. A brotherhood that spans centuries.

Originally posted 2015-03-10 17:48:10.

Finally, the fun part begins. I love this stage of construction… I already know what the finished product is going to look like and it’s exciting to watch it be revealed to the world.

The design work is done, the permits have been obtained, the deck has been built, the materials have been salvaged. Even the sky is bluer.

The time has come to build! One piece at a time the frame goes together.

Life is good.

Originally posted 2015-03-10 17:08:23.

We recovered some tremendous framing members from this old house that we would use to build the coming addition.

Notice the sag in the main floor system. I’ve never taken down a frame that was under such a degree of strain and stress. I was relieved when it was all on the ground.

I’ve never had a serious injury on one of my projects in the 25+ years that we have been doing this… and for that, I am very thankful.

Originally posted 2015-03-10 16:33:42.