I've always thought that if I wrote a book about the reconstruction of the Hall Christy House, the above would be the title. Sooner or later you will need one. My husband's came when we were still in our previous house with the completion of the Hall Christy house only a dream. He was scraping a door which had retained its beautiful H & L hinge when his hand got a beautiful slice by that same beautiful hinge. A trip to the ER and a tetanus shot later we were back in business. My turn came while scraping floor boards when one flopped over on my leg leaving a hole the shape of a perfectly squared nail in my thigh. No ER at that time but a tetanus shot the next day.
Other than a tetanus shot, there are a few other essentials needed when restoring an old house. The most important is a Red Devil "305" scraper with carbide blades. Every single floor board had to be scraped, often on both sides as many floor boards were ceiling boards for the room below. Sometimes they were scraped bare and sometimes carefully scraped to the original paint as were those for the ceiling in the Keeping Room and the kitchen. Early Hudson Valley rooms had unpainted ceilings and beams until the English custom of plaster and paint was introduced. The Halls and Christys were great with keeping up with the times. Thus, most of our ceilings and beams had several coats of white on the ceiling and colored paint on the beams to eliminate. Then came the wall sheathing, the fireplace wall sheathings in the parlor and dining room and the dozens of sheathing boards gleaned from the Skidmore house. In the latter case, we were fortunate to have some with only the original paint - a beautiful find and a relief to put in the "done" pile. The bedroom sheathing had never been painted, but had seven coats of wallpaper on it. All these boards and beams were to be dry-scraped, excepting those with wallpaper which needed the white vinegar treatment.
Other than a tetanus shot, there are a few other essentials needed when restoring an old house. The most important is a Red Devil "305" scraper with carbide blades. Every single floor board had to be scraped, often on both sides as many floor boards were ceiling boards for the room below. Sometimes they were scraped bare and sometimes carefully scraped to the original paint as were those for the ceiling in the Keeping Room and the kitchen. Early Hudson Valley rooms had unpainted ceilings and beams until the English custom of plaster and paint was introduced. The Halls and Christys were great with keeping up with the times. Thus, most of our ceilings and beams had several coats of white on the ceiling and colored paint on the beams to eliminate. Then came the wall sheathing, the fireplace wall sheathings in the parlor and dining room and the dozens of sheathing boards gleaned from the Skidmore house. In the latter case, we were fortunate to have some with only the original paint - a beautiful find and a relief to put in the "done" pile. The bedroom sheathing had never been painted, but had seven coats of wallpaper on it. All these boards and beams were to be dry-scraped, excepting those with wallpaper which needed the white vinegar treatment.
Where to begin? We soon learned so as not to get defeated you never looked at the pile to be done or the pile already completed - just concentrate on what you were doing at the time. We both worked during the day, so the scraping had to be done at night and on weekends. At this time, all the parts were stored in two tractor trailers on site (One neighbor passed the rumor that we were living in them!). I or my husband would drive our little Chevy S-10 up to the trailers after work, the men hired to reconstruct the house would put some boards in the back and we would unload them in the carport of where we were then living. I am a night person so I would take the night shift and scrape, my husband the morning until all the boards were done and loaded back into the S-10 for dropping back off at the site the next morning. We noticed that the workmen likely had bets among themselves as to our productivity. Every night they would load increasingly larger numbers of boards into the truck only to be amazed that every morning every single one of those boards would arrive back on site scraped. On weekends, we would tackle the beams. This is where another essential comes in - several pairs of jeans. We would lift the beams a few inches off the ground, straddle one and go to scraping. At the end of the beam, we would turn it and head back down the other side. I went through several seats of my pants! By "crane day" which is when the crane comes to lift the beams in place, we had all but two feet on one side of one beam scraped and all the boards. Once they were up in place and as we fine finished each room we then went around gingerly picking out every last bit of paint and then 0000 steel woolling them down to a satin finish.
The fourth essential for me was my little Chevy S-10. I am short and even in the S-10 had a hard time turning around looking backwards without my foot coming off the clutch, but otherwise this vehicle fit me perfectly - I could see over the steering wheel after all. As previously mentioned, it was essential for the floorboards. In addition, it helped create "Lynne's Rock Pile". The foundation of the reconstructed house is 12 inch block but the last two or three feet showing above ground has a veneer of the original foundation stones of the house. Those stones arrived on the property via me loading the S-10 every night and driving them over to the house site and unload them. (My husband has a bad back.) In addition, the garage house which took the roof structure of the Skidmore house has a block first floor with stone veneer on three sides. One of our clients had to remove stone walls (by edict from the Town and not his wish) for a development project so I would go over there, stomp on top of the walls hoping any snakes (eek!) would disappear and toss appropriate stones into the truck. I created quite a rock pile for my masons. Thank you S-10.
Another essential for reconstruction is to have the mindset to never throw anything from the original structure away because sooner or later all will find its rightful place. One also should always be on the lookout for period pieces, whether it be sheathing, mantles, hardware or whatever, no matter if you have an immediate use for them or not.
We bought a box of odds and ends , hinges, pintles, iron whatnots that have mostly all been used. We have bought doors and built-in cupboards, some of which we moved around for twenty years before using. The 18th Century Dutch tiles on the parlor fireplace were found cemented in as the top of a modern outdoor iron table. Not only did we use the tiles, we are still using the table with modern leftover tiles from the kitchen in place of the old.
The fourth essential for me was my little Chevy S-10. I am short and even in the S-10 had a hard time turning around looking backwards without my foot coming off the clutch, but otherwise this vehicle fit me perfectly - I could see over the steering wheel after all. As previously mentioned, it was essential for the floorboards. In addition, it helped create "Lynne's Rock Pile". The foundation of the reconstructed house is 12 inch block but the last two or three feet showing above ground has a veneer of the original foundation stones of the house. Those stones arrived on the property via me loading the S-10 every night and driving them over to the house site and unload them. (My husband has a bad back.) In addition, the garage house which took the roof structure of the Skidmore house has a block first floor with stone veneer on three sides. One of our clients had to remove stone walls (by edict from the Town and not his wish) for a development project so I would go over there, stomp on top of the walls hoping any snakes (eek!) would disappear and toss appropriate stones into the truck. I created quite a rock pile for my masons. Thank you S-10.
Another essential for reconstruction is to have the mindset to never throw anything from the original structure away because sooner or later all will find its rightful place. One also should always be on the lookout for period pieces, whether it be sheathing, mantles, hardware or whatever, no matter if you have an immediate use for them or not.
We bought a box of odds and ends , hinges, pintles, iron whatnots that have mostly all been used. We have bought doors and built-in cupboards, some of which we moved around for twenty years before using. The 18th Century Dutch tiles on the parlor fireplace were found cemented in as the top of a modern outdoor iron table. Not only did we use the tiles, we are still using the table with modern leftover tiles from the kitchen in place of the old.
One late afternoon as I was driving up the main highway into town, I noticed bulldozers and demolishing equipment in front of an old house that had sat vacant for awhile. Immediately "old parts" danced in my head, so I hit the brakes and pulled in. There was a pickup truck parked in the driveway with what appeared to be two men in it. Otherwise, there was no one about. They were very still as I approached with my heart in my throat. Were they dead? I tapped lightly on the truck window - no movement. I tapped a little harder and was relieved to see one of them stirring. When to my even greater relief, then finally awoke from a sleep I can only envy, they answered my inquiries by telling me that the property was being demolished with no parts being saved and I was welcome to anything I could get that night.
It was already late afternoon and I hurried up to the house site, hoping my guys would be there to help me get as much as I could, but they had left for the day. I quickly drove back to our house, changed into jeans , grabbed some hammers and crowbars and set off in that trusty S-10 passing by my husband's office to drop him off some jeans and old clothes so he could join me later. The men in the truck had gone when I returned so I entered the house and scouted for good parts. I found a few doors to unhinge, but almost everything was Victorian. Although probably of late 18th Century origin, the house had been remodeled in the 19th Century. So up to the second floor I went in search for possible 18th Century recycled parts. I found some good floorboards so took the crowbar and started lifting them. Dusk was arriving. Suddenly out of no where a scruffy face appeared around the corner. All I could think of was Jack Nicolson in "The Shining" with that manic smile "Here's Johnny". I swung the crowbar in front of me as the man asked me questions and I answered. He thought it great we were trying to save some of the house and wanted to help. I let him know, of course, that my husband was coming and I kept the crowbar in hand (This was long before cell phones.) He rightfully suggested that there might be some floor boards in the attic. One problem - there was only a crawl hole in the bathroom ceiling for access. I still cannot believe that I let him lift me up, even with the crowbar still in hand and no "redrum" on the bathroom mirror, but I did and he was right. Kevin arrived shortly and as it was now dark, by flashlight and our S-10 lights shining through the windows, we did manage to lift quite a few boards that night. Those boards are now the floor of the potting shed and the ceiling of the gazebo.
Was this all worth it? You bet ya! Did our friends think we were crazy? We did find out later there were several private discussions among them about how maybe we should be committed, but living in this house is like living in a collection of short stories - incredible short stories.
Being able to take the house down and reconstruct it rather than restoring it on site was an enormous help. Obviously all that initial scraping was easier with the boards not in place. Okay, so I had to move the stones, but the end result is really a pristine historical house with all necessary conveniences - modern insulation (no seaweed like we found in it on site), dry and modern basement, electrical to code, security system, modern heat and air conditioning and even central vac, with everything hidden,not having had to be retrofitted after the fact. Anyone purchasing this house will not have any unpleasant surprises that sometimes scare a buyer of old houses. You really can enjoy both worlds.
Someone really should.
It was already late afternoon and I hurried up to the house site, hoping my guys would be there to help me get as much as I could, but they had left for the day. I quickly drove back to our house, changed into jeans , grabbed some hammers and crowbars and set off in that trusty S-10 passing by my husband's office to drop him off some jeans and old clothes so he could join me later. The men in the truck had gone when I returned so I entered the house and scouted for good parts. I found a few doors to unhinge, but almost everything was Victorian. Although probably of late 18th Century origin, the house had been remodeled in the 19th Century. So up to the second floor I went in search for possible 18th Century recycled parts. I found some good floorboards so took the crowbar and started lifting them. Dusk was arriving. Suddenly out of no where a scruffy face appeared around the corner. All I could think of was Jack Nicolson in "The Shining" with that manic smile "Here's Johnny". I swung the crowbar in front of me as the man asked me questions and I answered. He thought it great we were trying to save some of the house and wanted to help. I let him know, of course, that my husband was coming and I kept the crowbar in hand (This was long before cell phones.) He rightfully suggested that there might be some floor boards in the attic. One problem - there was only a crawl hole in the bathroom ceiling for access. I still cannot believe that I let him lift me up, even with the crowbar still in hand and no "redrum" on the bathroom mirror, but I did and he was right. Kevin arrived shortly and as it was now dark, by flashlight and our S-10 lights shining through the windows, we did manage to lift quite a few boards that night. Those boards are now the floor of the potting shed and the ceiling of the gazebo.
Was this all worth it? You bet ya! Did our friends think we were crazy? We did find out later there were several private discussions among them about how maybe we should be committed, but living in this house is like living in a collection of short stories - incredible short stories.
Being able to take the house down and reconstruct it rather than restoring it on site was an enormous help. Obviously all that initial scraping was easier with the boards not in place. Okay, so I had to move the stones, but the end result is really a pristine historical house with all necessary conveniences - modern insulation (no seaweed like we found in it on site), dry and modern basement, electrical to code, security system, modern heat and air conditioning and even central vac, with everything hidden,not having had to be retrofitted after the fact. Anyone purchasing this house will not have any unpleasant surprises that sometimes scare a buyer of old houses. You really can enjoy both worlds.
Someone really should.
