Filling the hole

In the former butler's pantry (now part of the new kitchen) there was a hole in the wall  We were told that the the hole was made by the former owner for a window air conditioner.  The old casement windows have openings that are too small for an A/C unit to fit, so they tore out a 2'x2' hole in the the 14" thick concrete wall.  When we bought the house the hole was covered with plywood on the inside and outside. 

We removed the plywood to do a permanent repair of the hole.  When we removed the plywood we found this:

We decided to fill it back in with concrete block.  The challenge was that the concrete block made in 1925 is sized different than today's typical 8" or 12" block.  We had to trim 8" block to fit the opening.  It took a little time and trial and error, but we ended up with a pretty good fix.  We're going to have to add a layer of brick to the inside to make up the difference in width, but it came out pretty well.  A nice layer of stucco on the outside will make it perfect.

P finds a mural

In preparing for new paint in the master bedroom, P began to chip away some peeling paint from above the fireplace.  She found some strange colors behind the peach/tan wall color.  She kept peeling and chipping away and look what she began to uncover....

It appears to be a tropical scene with palm trees and water.  Picture Panama City spring break 1986 airbrush tee shirt.  She has since uncovered a sailing ship and additional trees.  We have no idea when this mural was painted or by whom.  We are continuing to chip away to see what else we can find.  It looks like it may have been painted to be a window looking out onto the "beach."  We are hopeful that there might be a signature. 

Flat Roof? Seriously?

When we first saw her back in the Summer of 2010, one of the first things I noticed was that much of the roof was flat.  I have often wondered why in the world a flat roof was ever considered a good idea.  After this experience, I have concluded that it isn't.  The flat portion is about 20' x 20' and appeared to be in marginal shape.  I hoped that we could limp it along for a few years before replacement.  After observing during the first rain, that was clearly not an option.  So we waited for a extended dry (and warm) spell so we could remove and reroof.  Thankfully, February arrived with an extended warm and dry period.  Dad and I came up with a plan to add slope to the formerly flat roof.  Our plan required a complete removal of the old roof and decking.  That seemed easy.  We began removal on Monday morning.  We quickly found out that there were 6-7 layers of roofing!  We spent the next two days (planned for a couple of hours) removing the layers and the decking.  The decking, strangely, was made of cedar boards of various shapes and sizes.  It appeared to be made out of scrap wood from other projects.  The house does have three cedar closets, so perhaps they had some leftovers.  We then split the 20' length in half and installed a 2"x6" ridge board.  We then ripped 10' 2x6's at a taper, with the 51/2" (for those who may not know, a 2"x6" board is actually 11/2"x51/2") end at the ridge board and the tapered end at the roof edge.  This is to add some slope to the roof and prevent water from standing (standing water + old 7 layer roof = leaks).  We then decked the roof with plywood decking (not cedar), #30 tar paper, rolled asphalt roofing and lots of sticky black tar.  We chose to use white rolled asphalt roofing to help keep the attic cooler.  You can't see the flat part of the roof from anywhere on the ground, so the color didn't matter.  Six days after starting and 5,000 lbs of debris later, we have a new roof!  Two days after finishing we had some strong storms with 60+ mph winds.  I was a little concerned going back the next morning to see how the roof survived, but I was excited to see that the roof was still there and there were no signs of leaks!  Now we can move toward drywall...

Old roof

Old roof from hatch

Roof removal

Dad adding decking over new tapered roof rafters

Mom ripping out old decking

Trash or Treasure? Answer: Treasure

I put one of the Strobl tiles on Ebay just to see what would happen.  It sold for $20.50.  Not quite the $275.00 that I've seen, but I also didn't try hard.  There were several people watching the auction and I had quite a few inquiries.  When I get more time, I'm going to put a little more into research and see if I can do even better.  The good news is I have alot of them, so even at $20 a pop, it's not too bad!

$20.50 tile

Trash or Treasure?

Strobl tile rescued from the trash

Strobl name on back of tile

 

 

 

 

P and I have thought since the first time we saw our house that somebody really loved tile and not in a good way.  It turns out that what we thought of as a bad use of random tile turns out to be a bad use of random tile including some Strobl art tile manufactured somewhere between 1910-1920 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  While that probably means nothing to you (or me, until the internet- thanks Al), it turns out that some Strobl tiles are actually valuable.  The one pictured above was where the search began.  While at the dump unloading yet another 3,000 lbs load of trash (we're up to ~25k lbs so far), I saw this tile in the trailer.  I noticed it was in one piece so I picked it up.  Then I noticed it had a name on the back.  When I got home I looked it up and this is what I found...

 This is picture two of the same tiles that I found in the trash.  They sold in 2008 (2 tiles in frame) for $275.00!  Now I know that doesn't mean they are worth that now, but I have ALOT of them.  I took down at least 10 just like these today from the master bathroom. 

Of course with this new information, our demo methods have changed dramatically.  Unfortunately, we've lost some of the tiles in the demo before we knew what we had, but we are being much more careful from this point on.  With that being said, we are still not able to save all tiles because of the way they are attached.  I've worked the last two days with a diamond blade on a side-wheel grinder and have managed to save many more tiles than with our previous sledge hammer method. It is dusty, loud, and labor intensive work to save these tiles, but it is worth it whether or not they have a high dollar value.  I'm enjoying saving these handcrafted pieces of art.

Me with the grinder in a dust cloud (master bath)

So I know I said that the bad use of random tile was prolific and it was, but now I have a greater appreciation for the actual tiles.  Not saying that now I think they look good in their present configuration, just that I have a greater appreciation for what they are as individual pieces. Our plans now are to frame some of the tiles as artwork and maybe use some of the broken pieces to make a tile mosaic in the fountain.  And of course, if there is a market, sell some to finance this project.

Master Bath treasures

Work on the demo of the master bath is ongoing.  Tiles are coming off the walls and walls are coming down.  We've also made some interesting and helpful discoveries.  When removing the wall between the original bathroom and the closet, we found some old newspapers and burlap bags wrapped around the water pipes for the sink!  The newspaper was a portion of the Birmingham News from April 1, 1926 and April 6, 1926.  It included the sports section and the classified section.  Some parts were not readable and in bad condition due to the fact that they had been wadded up and stuck in the wall for the last 85 years.  Some parts were in surprisingly good condition.  I hope to get some pictures of them soon.  The best part of the paper is that is helps us date the house.  There are alot of discrepancies with the date of the house.  The tax records say c. 1935, but our neighbor says that she heard 1913 from some research done by the previous owners.  We now know that c. 1926 is a possibility too.  Much more research is in my future, but finding buried treasure makes all the physical work fun. 

When removing the wall behind the toilet, we found some more newspapers!  This one was a paper from Jackson, MS c. 1926.  I haven't gone through it yet, but it appears to be in good condition and actually has a Birmingham mailing label on it.  More research....

The two burlap bags were in almost perfect condition.  They appear to be the bags that the original interior plaster came in.  They are printed with the words "USG Co."  I think it stands for U.S. Gypsum Company (still in existence), maker of plaster and now drywall.

Wall repair

During our renovations, we found some old termite damage.  While repairing this damage, we were able to open up the existing 24" door opening to a 32" door opening.  This should add some light and easier access from the hall to the kitchen.

new wall after repair

new wall in progress

view from hallway into kitchen with newly expanded doorway