| LIFE A phone photo thread...
- Thread starter Brandon Van de Graaff
- Start date
I'm going to try to leave it standing but it depends on how the house comes down. I have no need for it and wouldn't even try to take it apart to reuse but I hate to see it trashed as well. The base of it under the house is rock.
If it were my property and it's still standing I'd build an outdoor kitchen type area with it in the middle but these folks won't.
Love the sink, looks like the kind that has the dish drainer to the side. We've got one or two of those. If I ever build a wet cabin, that's what's going in.
I see the bead board now, and you get a feel for the lap siding looking out on it. Is the board running along the ceiling a one-by or thicker?
Also, as you take down the siding - that really adds rigidity to the structure - any thought about getting some weight out of the roof, or are you comfortable with the integrity of it?
EDIT: been meaning to ask, is it put together with cut nails?
It is, my wife loves it too.
The bead board is about 1/2 inch stuff. The rough cut wide siding in the bedroom in walls and ceiling is about 3/4. There's not much weight on the roof and they used a pile of lathing so my plan is to get as much side siding off as possible while leaving some on the gables and try to pull the gable ends down. Not sure if that's the best way just what I'm thinking will work. It has regular wire nails. From what I've read they were used pretty exclusively after mid 1800's so think it was built in late 1800's or early 1900's. My cousin said his grandfather lived there as a kid and he lived to his mid 80s and died mid 1990s. Both ends have rotten flooring so it's hard to tear out the interior siding on the gables.
TerryP
Staff
What are you doing with the bricks?
Leaving them
TerryP
Staff
That's cool.
There are remnants of an old plantation home on the NE side of the property Charleston Southern owns. The only thing you can find there is the old chimney.
I can't remember the name of the family that had the place. I was hiking with a biology/chemistry prof from CSU and he said, "let me show you this place." We're going through a few swamps and a lot of brush that afternoon.
We sat there for about an hour that afternoon; just making up stories about what might have been. He brought a couple of cans of tuna, soda crackers, and a six pack of Coors. (The REAL Coors.) He also knew the history of that family.
Looking back, it was a surreal afternoon. One I didn't realize, at the time.
Man I will see how much time I have left after tearing the house down. I've only got 19 days left here and have to get the house broken down and stored. I've never dismantled a chimney so not sure how easy the bricks are to get apart with busting them. I'd hate to see the shipping bill, they would probably have to be palleted and picked up by a freight delivery person. I'll let you know as I progress and see how the time frame goes.
TerryP
Staff
It's a battery powered saws-all to take those apart correctly.
I've got some pictures, somewhere...gotta find them if they are still out there.
I took apart the hearth of a chimney a few years ago. There are pictures in the gallery on the site of that place. If I recall correctly, it was built in '27...maybe a year or two earlier. Now I want to say '29...just can't remember.
Damn...I could ramble on this place. It was next to preserved land...he could shoot deer from his back porch. Anyway...
I took apart about 8 SQ ft of that hearth...took me two days. Brick, by brick. Water, concrete blade on the saws-all, and patience.
It was built with "Charleston brick." Look it up. It means something.
I got 97 bricks out of that cut out. I took them into his back yard and made a fire pit.
Pretty cool experience...let me see if I can find the pics
That's what I'm using on the house, sawzall, 5 batteries and a bunch of blades
Cleaning brick by hand is an acquired skill. The more lime and lest Portland cement in the mortar, the easier it is. Some guys can clean 500 to a thousand a day, by hand.
@TerryP you got outbid on the brick, my wife wants them for a walkway if I take them down so they're definitely staying here. Cleaning brick by hand is a skill i don't want to acquire.
TerryP
Staff
That will be beautiful.
