Geoff MRT

This house is owned by a friend who's a demolition contractor. I talked him out of vinyl siding for starters. The house was empty for a few years and luckily, it wasn't vandalized. The previous owner couldn't keep up with it and did his best but, it was a foot race between him and the elements.

The octagonal witch's hat was one more wind storm from collapse. We went in and very gingerly jacked it up to replace the lower (rotted) cantilevered joists on which it sat. Pigeons had moved in years ago and we ended up shoveling probably 100 pounds of crap out through the rotted eves...in August. The entire turret was leaning 2 or 3 degrees toward the street and the roof was leaning toward the center of the house. Jacking up this thing with easily 1000 pounds of slate shingles was nerve racking, especially since we had a 2'X2' access that 2 of us would have had to dive through in case this thing started to collapse. We reset the base of the hat as even as possible without getting crazy. We rebuilt the eves and installed collar ties on the inside to keep it steady. We put a small deck on the inside and sistered the rafters with plywood "wedges" to displace the weight across the deck. By the time we were done, we had to squeeze through the framing and crawl out. We've had some real doozies of storms this year and so far, so good.






The rest of the project was removing the internal gutter system built into the roof. Rebuilding the front porch and replacing shakes and clapboard and painting. One day he calls me, "Geoff, the back roof is still leaking. When the rain stops, I'm sending one of my crews up with gorilla bars and sledges to remove the slate..." I strung together a barrage of F bombs, hung up the phone and drove up there to kill him. When I get there, he's laughing and saying, "I knew I could get you here the same day." I then trained his demolition crew on the fine art of slate roof repair...in August...lol

Inside the house is completely original except for the kitchen (done by a former owner) and an upstairs bathroom which rotted from the leak in the roof. A real shame too. It was completely original and an early example of an indoor bathroom. At one time the house was owned by the local tax collector and has a double-brick vault with a 1890's safe door on the front, built into the office.


In a city where most of these beautiful houses have become multi-unit rentals, I'm glad this one, for now, is being saved. I'll have to get some pictures of it now. These were from last summer.

neolitic

Cool.
Nice to have something to be proud of.



Edit:
....of which to be proud.

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MALCO.New.York

Who would EVER consider vinyl on a house of that Grandeur. It is like hub-caps on a Maybach.

Beautiful project!

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Geoff MRT

He's from North Jersey...it takes all kinds. I think he said it out of frustration as many of the scallop shakes were in bad shape and they're the old, 6" (true measure) by 18" and 24" long.

It's horrible how many of these houses have been covered up by aluminum and vinyl. (and asbestos and asphalt too) I now look at it as preservation. The vinyl and aluminum cover it up until someone comes along and brings it all back.

I just talked another HO into removing the aluminum siding on her house. She has always hated it and wondered if she could afford it. As Karma seems to work, one of the storms a few weeks ago came along and tore off part of her roof (which was already on the to-do list) and tore up her front porch, splitting one of the columns. The insurance will now pay for those and she can now take the "new roof and porch" funds and put them to her clapboard and new bathroom. Funny how things work.

neolitic

I was going to say that this
and Geoff's post about his
house belong in the "Restoration"
forum....
but apparently photos evaporate
over there.
That would be a shame.

What's up with that anyway?

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buildenterprise

Hey Geoff, what street is that on Millville? Looks like Columbia Avenue but it's been awhile since I've been through there.

Geoff MRT

Thanks. That's what keeps me in this business. The feast or famine nature of this business (construction in general) the immediate gratification of nailing together a few pieces of material is sometimes what keeps me going. Over the years I've had a few jobs that I finished for pride as the profit ran out before the end of the job.

Geoff MRT

It's right on 2nd street (route 47), between Pine and Mulberry, two blocks north of route 49. It's that stretch of old houses and churches on the east side of the road.

buildenterprise

How's the remodeling market there in Millville, are you getting many calls from there? Seems to me it's pretty much dead in the water up that way.

Geoff MRT

Thanks but, my house wasn't a restoration (unless restoring it to liveable) as much as a renovation. Aside from the old radiators and trim style, it's an up to date house.

I did put a restoration post up over there.

Geoff MRT

Most of my calls are MRT and Commercial Twp. lately. When the shore "dried up" a few years ago I started getting calls locally...go figure.

Millville may be making a comeback. Right now they're plagued with gang violence (for a city of 50K people) The state is cracking down on small municipalities and the economy is in a hole.

I hope that Millville comes out the other end of this on the positive side as there are enough remodeling jobs for all of us in there. First, they have to get rid of absentee landlords and the Bloods and The Crips... Anything east of 47 is Victorian era from High Street to about 7th sreet and a good 10 blocks, north to south.

I'll surely let you know if it does.

buildenterprise

I know, there's lots of great old victorians in there that have fallen into such a bad state it's a disgrace. Figure's the part of town with the neatest old houses is also the worst area to live......

Geoff MRT

I think its because they are the hardest to take care of and only the slumlords are willing to take them on.

Jason W

Beautiful place! I'm doing some work on an old Victorian as well. Unfortunately, the previous owners already covered it with vinyl!

The new H/O is a little leary about seeing how bad thing are underneath. Can't say that I blame them. We re did there front porch last year and this spring we are going back to restore the original windows; making counter weights work and adjusting stops.

Maybe I can talk them into pulling that junk off next year.

Look forward to seeing more pic's, thanks for posting.

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Geoff MRT

The nice thing about vinyl is, it comes off easily. It may be worth the investment to remove a square and take a look at what's there. You may be able to make a deal with the homeowner and tell them the "exploratory" search is free if they go with the project. Good luck.

Deadhead Derek

Great work. It is heartening to see that one by one the grand old ladies are coming back.

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