Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas was a recent speaker at a Locke Foundation event in Asheville. This has nothing to do with the house, but the hybrid parking is pretty funny.

Interior Update

Ok, in spite of the fact that we've been living in the house for about two months, there are still a number of "details" that we've yet to complete. The list isn't long, but it's bothersome, irksome and just plain irritating. That probably summarized the list for most home-builders. In no particular order; have to get the elevator stained and a floor put in, still need touch up on the paint, need to have some more detail on the concrete downstairs, a few minor wood issues and that should wrap it up.

Things we're discovering. DUST loves WOOD FLOORS. At least carpet soaked it up, but ugh, I'm just thinking about what was in my carpet now. And crickets love to get behind wood walls and are VERY loud!

In truth, I'm having a ball watching the deer almost nightly and getting used to the flow of the house and where I spend my time. Best decision so far was NOT putting a TV on the second floor, lots more quality time happens without TV!!

Picts of the interior downstairs. The first and second picts are of what used to be the milking parlor that is now a den of sorts. The third picture of the bar (formerly milk storage area) with a late 1800s ice-box "cavinator"and the fourth is what used to be the cleaning area that is now a bathroom. I threw the fifth in for fun as it is the master shower that I'm just now getting used to (yes, I love tile!)

Wildlife, The New Focus

The new house has a spectacular view of pecan trees and nearby pond. Foxes, deer, hawks and all manner of birds. I'll post more shortly, but both of these were taken from the living room window. The first is a nesting Yellowbelly Slider in the front yard taken from the second story. The second is a red-bellied woodpecker in the pecan tree above the turtle nest.

Landscaping and The Power Of Water

Ok, so we finally got the driveway done and moved in. The final touch was some landscaping. And when I use the word "some" it's intentional. There were already over a dozen mature pecan trees around and near the road, there was the pond and then there were things like a crab apple, a grape vine and some miscellaneous dogwoods and oaks about the lot. But, to spruce things up, I decided to go for some evergreens around the base of the house, lots of grass to cover up the construction damage to the old grass and some blue juniper near the driveway entrance to give the driveway something.
Again, nothing major as you can see from the picts, ahh, but mother nature can be a cruel one. The plants were put in place as was the grass. The landscaper said, "water the grass" and so I tried (that's a LOT of grass to water.) They apparently did not water the juniper by the road as it died within 5 days. (Yes, we're having fun with the landscaper on that one.) We saved all the plants around the house, not sure yet what will happen with the grass.

Updated Photos And Finally Completed!

Lots of folks were wondering where we stood on this project as I've been kind of backdating stuff for the blog to get the full project documented or at least kind of documented. So, for your perusal are some more recent shots of the interior.

The first shot is looking down from the upstairs office area towards the kitchen. The wood really shows up from upstairs. The second shot is of the living room with the fireplace just prior to furniture being placed. Again, the wood shows up quite well. The third picture is kind of blurry (note to self to update) and looks up toward the office area. The fourth is of the master bedroom and shows the maple, cedar, poplar, pine parquet floor. The fifth is of the office. Lots more to add of the first floor and other areas, but this really shows the a lot of the wood.

Support From Ages Past

One of the more interesting aspects of this project was the attempt to preserve not only the wood, but the actual structural integrity of this barn. In so doing there was a lot to consider.

The original building, as mentioned below, used original lumber grown and timbered on the farm and cut to "actual" measurements. Thus a 2x4 was a 2x4 and not a 1 7/8ths x 3 7/8ths. (And we wonder why folks have trouble with numbers?)

Anyway, as you start mixing "nominal" and "actual" wood you end up needing to adjust for sheetrock, windows, and anything on the exterior. We also shored up the existing 20 ft., 2x10 spans with new 2x10s which was fun to attach the flooring to.

Of interest in this blog was the decision to expose many of the supports in the upper sections of the barn. Those 2x10s pictured here were originally supposed to be sheetrocked. But when looking at that proposal, the interior space started looking rather more like a peak in a pyramid than a barn and would have added two more odd angels to the sheetrock.

As such, we decided to expose those original supports in the office and above the main living area. These beams were not altered or cut. Some still have bark and many are slightly warped with age, but they are the actual support structures put in place in the 40s. And yes, that pine is hard as nails.

We did have to spend a great deal of time wrapping the wood to protect it during the sheet rock and painting process. Once unwrapped, the wood had to be hand brushed to get the dust and debris off. The finished mix of old and new only serves to compliment the wood floors and hay hook previously mentioned.

The pictures just show the progression from the skeletal frame where you can see the supports, to the wrapping and then the finished exposed beams looking up into the office area and down from that area.

General Thoughts On Renovation

If you're inclined to fits of depression and rage, DON'T do a renovation. If you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown, DON'T do a renovation. If you have lots of creativity, don't mind wasting money and have taken general leave of your senses, then a renovation might be good for you!! If you need something to push your buttons and make you think that washing cats is fun, then do a renovation. But it's not for the impatient, the faint of heart or the miserly!

As we tripped into this endeavor, there were many considerations. We had thought we'd build on the backside of our farm, but the logistics of getting power, water, driveways and such back to the site were going to run in the tens of thousands and we thought it would be wasteful. So we converted a barn thinking it'd save money. . .

We went through eight months with an architect getting that portion finished in December of '06, then we spent five months getting quotes on the various aspects of the job, finishing up those bids in June of '07, then a month to get a building permit, July '07, the first nail came out (side stripping) in late, late August of '07.

It's now May and we're hopeful to have a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) today! And we're still a LONG way from all the little things that make a house livable.

But the time period between August and December is what I'll still be focusing on as this blog progresses because I truly want to reflect on the bizarre nature of this project as I consider my next one (don't ask!) So I've included some picts of this project and a teaser for what it looks like now. Thanks for your patience!

Thar's A Hook Up In That Barn

Yes, the blessed hay hook. At least I think that's what it is. It was a curiosity that turned into a feature in the home along with the rail upon which it slides. Yes, it still slides. The hook was installed so that the barn could literally be filled with hay or whatever else you can use a giant hook to grab things with. As we built, every sub kept implying that we should keep it in place.

So the framer says it, then the electrical and plumbing folks say it, then the sheetrock and painter say it along with everyone that comes by and then somehow, you have a hay hook in your new home.

A few picts along the process for your amusement. The eventual plan will have a light dangling from this massive hook above the main floor steps. Nonetheless, it is an oddity worthy of a glance.

Tongue And Groove

Nice and catchy and an easier entry than "Wood II" might have been.

The main milking parlor, mentioned earlier, had walls and ceilings made out of 7 1/2 inch wide tongue and groove long leaf pine. Beautiful stuff, but somewhat dull in appearance with nails here and there. We wanted to keep that wood in place and we did.

We ran into several problems the first of which was having to insulate from the outside. As we were using spray in foam (for R values of 30+) our vendor did a horrific job of protecting the inside lumber. When they sprayed from the outside, the stuff went all over the inside because they did nothing to prevent it. The insulation worked, but there were problems.

And the wiring also had to be done from the outside because I didn't want to tear off the interior lumber. You can see some of this in the pictures. Over time, we got through the inspection and got the siding and rock put up which left lots of work inside.

We had to order special windows to preserve the look and feel of the original "pull in" types, and these crank outs do a fair job. We also had to cut out the hole for the bar area and used one of the original doors as the cover for it. Then the clean up room was to become a bathroom, so we had to do some painting in there. We also covered up all the bricks with bead board (carpenter - see below.)

Eddie Jacobs (our carpenter) did FANTASTIC work in this room. We'll discuss that more later as well, but he used the milking parlor as his staging area for the rest of the house. Thus the floors, steps, trim, etc. all started in this area.

Once the 2nd and 3rd floors were done, he simply hammered or removed naile, rough sanded the walls and floor (covered with dust from the concrete and wood work.) He also did a great job covering the ductwork which we were forced to put throughout this floor. Covering it with more bead board was genius. Then he simply applied some "poly" as he would say.

So, as this was supposed to be a short post, I've noticed it's run a bit long, but the wood looks fantastic. Old pine, who'd a thunk it? Nothing on the finished product, have to keep you waiting for something. . .

Stained Glass Window

This blog entry will skip around a bit as we're essentially complete and I'm trying to document what's transpired for others who may wish to go down this odd road.









The original barn had an opening that you can see at the top of this first picture. If you look closely, you can see odd shaped aluminum siding at the top of the frame with a bar protruding. That's where the original hook could move hay or tobacco in and out of the barn. (More on the hook later!)
A feature I wanted to add originally was a stained glass window approximately 8 ft. across. We also got quotes on 6 1/2 ft windows from MW and others, but they were kind of plain. As I explored the stain glass option, it became pretty clear that I'd have more of a church look than I wanted. CG&D Studios in Raleigh worked with us and I stumbled (literally) across a sample of dichroic glass which had some rather odd color qualities depending on the angle at which it was viewed.

The glass was originally ordered in early November and supposed to be ready by the end of December. All things in construction are apparently on a Mayan Calendar from the 5th Millennium or something because time has no meaning.

The pictures will reflect the opening left by the framers and how the glass was finally installed. From the outside the glass had a yello/green look (my wife called it Mello-Yellow.) From the road, the glass appears to have a touch of auburn and from the inside it has a Caribbean blue and purple hue. And the amount of light around also affects the color.

Unfortunately the one section of the glass was chipped and had to be repaired. If you clicked on the link above you'll have discovered (as I did late) that Dichroic glass is always unique, so the new replacement did not match.

Long story short, CG&D found the original piece and were able to cut another piece from it, fix it and it looks great! And the Spanish cedar frame actually matches. The other long story was the conversion from 8ft to 6 1/2 ft, but that was simply cost. The new window shows up great and can simply be attributed to my eccentricity.

The final picture is really how the window looks NOW. They'll be more updated photos later in this blog, but essentially the colors are right and the frame is wonderful. We'll see how well we can take care of this glass over time.