Returning an old farm house to it's former glory....

4922 Views 17 Replies 9 Participants Last post by CompleteW&D, Sep 4, 2013

CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · Sep 3, 2013 (Edited)

4

Once again, I was remiss in getting all of my before pictures. So, we'll be starting somewhere in the middle.

This particular home was basterdized like so many in the 60's and covered all in white aluminum. Visions of an old Tin Man with his Caddy in the drive convincing the owner at that time, that white aluminum everywhere was the only way to go.

Now, even though "technically" we aren't really "restoring" it back to original (all wood) by using vinyl (which wouldn't have been my first choice, but what the HO wanted), I really think with all of the added detail we incorporated, along with the old Victorian style colors the homeowner picked, it came out stunning. I hope you agree.

This old girl was in pretty rough shape on the outside when we started. She needed a new roof, gutters, soffits rebuilt, siding, windows and a patio door. She got it all and then some....

Now, here we had removed all of the old aluminum. Underneath the aluminum in the gables, there was some beautiful fish scale. Some of it was in pretty rough shape, but the HO went ahead and did some paint and color testing on both the gingerbread and house color. As we were tearing off the siding, they painted the gingerbread and detail around the porch in the same colors to make certain they liked it. We ordered special "paintable" shapes to replicate the gingerbread in the gables. You can also see we're just starting the window treatments over the windows.....

A lot of old wood rot needed to be addressed for sure....

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 3, 2013 (Edited)

3

She already had some really bad replacement windows which were poorly capped. The capping leaked and caused all kinds of problems....

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 3, 2013 (Edited)

3

Starting from the top down, the roof is done and we are rebuilding the soffits....

Rebuilding some of the window openings, with new replacement windows in place.

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 3, 2013 (Edited)

6

Again, I'm incredibly remorseful that I didn't get more pictures. A lot of the "during" work was done while I was going through some health issues. But, here she is complete.

Quite a stunning transformation when you consider that a couple of months before, she was covered EVERYWHERE in white, faded, chalky aluminum.

Notice the Corbels on each side of the gable and the gable pediment? They eventually got trimmed and painted with the same mauve, pink and blue color scheme. They really look sharp and stand out nicely.

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j_sims

· #5 · Sep 3, 2013

2

From this ....

House Home Siding Property Building

To this ?

Home House Property Siding Real estate

HO had to be ecstatic :clap

and the neighbors)

I agree with you on the siding..."(which wouldn't have been my first choice, but what the HO wanted)"....but matching and replacing 100+ year old clapboards....Kaching $$$$ !

Always glad ppl want to preserve the past

Very nice! For this you get a two thumbs up :thumbsup::thumbsup:

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 3, 2013

j_sims said:
From this ....
View attachment 98804

To this ?
View attachment 98805
HO had to be ecstatic :clap and the neighbors)

I agree with you on the siding..."(which wouldn't have been my first choice, but what the HO wanted)"....but matching and replacing 100+ year old clapboards....Kaching $$$$ !

Always glad ppl want to preserve the past

Very nice! For this you get a two thumbs up :thumbsup::thumbsup:

THANKS J_Sims! It really was a nice project in the end. This house is in a really small little town outside of Indy. Many of the "oldtimers" know this house quite well. I guess the small local Post Office, burned down at one point, and this house was the actual Post Office for a few years.

The HO's have completely restored the inside and it's furnished throughout with antiques. It really does take you back in time when you go inside.

I'm just glad we could do our small part in bringing the old girl back....

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Jason Whipple

· #7 · Sep 3, 2013

Looks good. Nice balance of new and old. :thumbsup:

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 3, 2013 (Edited)

Thanks Jason! :thumbsup:

Like I said, vinyl would not have been my first choice of siding on this house, but that's what the HO wanted. So, we had to make sweet lemonade out of those sour lemons.

I think using the 20' fluted outside corner posts, the window mantels, gable corbels and pediments, along with the white j-channel around the windows blending in with the wide wrapped casings.... helped out a LOT taking away the typical "vinyl" siding look.

Over all, I think it came out pretty darned nice.

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Randy Bush

· #9 · Sep 3, 2013

CompleteW&D said:
Thanks Jason! :thumbsup:

Like I said, vinyl would not have been my first choice of siding on this house, but that's what the HO wanted. So, we had to make sweet lemonade out of those sour lemons.

I think using the 20' fluted outside corner posts, the window mantels, gable corbels and pediments, along with the white j-channel around the windows blending in with the wide wrapped casings.... helped out a LOT taking away the typical "vinyl" siding look.

Over all, I think it came out pretty darned nice.

Looks very nice John.:thumbsup: I love the trim on a lot of these old houses. specially on the inside.

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 3, 2013

Randy Bush said:
Looks very nice John.:thumbsup: I love the trim on a lot of these old houses. specially on the inside.

Thanks Randy! :thumbsup:

Yeah.... all quarter sawn White Oak trim everywhere and the doors have the quarter sawn oak, angle grained (I forget what that's called) recessed panels.

All decked out in antiques everywhere, it truly is like stepping back in time. About the only thing that's even remotely "new" looking, is the kitchen appliances and counter tops.

Just stunning on the inside. Hopefully, we helped the old girl retain some of her charm on the outside.

oldfrt

· #11 · Sep 3, 2013

Very nicely done.
Luckily,the aluminum installers left the gingerbread,and other decorative bracing in place.I've seen it completely removed to ease the installation of
aluminum way too many times.Also window sills were cut and casings were
always jumped so the siding could run right up to the window openings.
Kind of gave it what I called a factory look.

What product did you use for the scalloped area?

CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 3, 2013

oldfrt said:
Very nicely done.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

Luckily,the aluminum installers left the gingerbread,and other decorative bracing in place.I've seen it completely removed to ease the installation of
aluminum way too many times.Also window sills were cut and casings were
always jumped so the siding could run right up to the window openings.
Kind of gave it what I called a factory look.

What product did you use for the scalloped area?

It's a product I've used MANY times. The company used to be called Miami Foundry. All they make (or used to make) were scallops, shapes and various shakes. What I really like about them is they have a pretty large color selection, have paintable versions, and more importantly, they are designed to hang like siding. It's nearly impossible to find any seams once the product is up. You simply can NOT find them looking straight on.

Quite unlike some of the products like the CertainTeed stuff, which goes together like a jigsaw puzzle and is REAL temperature dependent on where you float the overlaps. So much so, they used to put a digital stick on thermometer on the back of each piece. If you didn't get it perfect, the seams and overlaps would show up and stick out like a sore thumb whenever it got really hot or cold.

Anyway, several years ago, Miami Foundry was purchased by the Mid-America/Tapco group. They changed the name to just The Foundry. I was worried that they would change everything, but other than adding some REALLY bad looking stone panels, they've left all of the MF profiles intact.

They use over a HUNDRED different molds. So, IMHO.... they have some of the best, most realistic looking shapes, scallops and shake panels on the market.

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Exlud

· #13 · Sep 4, 2013

CompleteW&D said:
It's a product I've used MANY times. The company used to be called Miami Foundry. All they make (or used to make) were scallops, shapes and various shakes. What I really like about them is they have a pretty large color selection, have paintable versions, and more importantly, they are designed to hang like siding. It's nearly impossible to find any seams once the product is up. You simply can NOT find them looking straight on.

Quite unlike some of the products like the CertainTeed stuff, which goes together like a jigsaw puzzle and is REAL temperature dependent on where you float the overlaps. So much so, they used to put a digital stick on thermometer on the back of each piece. If you didn't get it perfect, the seams and overlaps would show up and stick out like a sore thumb whenever it got really hot or cold.

Anyway, several years ago, Miami Foundry was purchased by the Mid-America/Tapco group. They changed the name to just The Foundry. I was worried that they would change everything, but other than adding some REALLY bad looking stone panels, they've left all of the MF profiles intact.

They use over a HUNDRED different molds. So, IMHO.... they have some of the best, most realistic looking shapes, scallops and shake panels on the market.

The place looks great. I hunted down and bookmarked the Foundry's website. Some of the biggest hurdles always seems to be finding just the right products.

BlueRidgeGreen

· #14 · Sep 4, 2013

Amazing.

To get that out of vinyl took some real chops. You're a better man than I. I would've traded them my only son to not use vinyl. Guess I will have to rethink that.

Really well done restoration.

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shanekw1

· #15 · Sep 4, 2013

Great job.:thumbsup:

Bold choices on the colours, but they work nicely.

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 4, 2013

shanekw1 said:
Great job.:thumbsup:

Bold choices on the colours, but they work nicely.

Thanks.... Shane. It was totally their choice for sure, but I thought it worked too. The only help I threw in, was the choice of roof shingles. And as it was, the roof they ended up with, was only my second or third choice.... LOL

FWIW, the siding is from you Cannuks. It's a Royal - Journeyman Select panel. Pretty nice stuff as vinyl goes. The roofing is from Tamko called Rustic Slate. I really thought I preferred a little lighter shingle in the OC Oakridge Sierra Gray, but the more subdued medium gray ended up looking very nice as well I think. The lighter OC color may have drawn more attention to the roof and possibly "competed" with the rest of the bolder colors of the house.

tenon0774

· #17 · Sep 4, 2013

I didn't think vinyl could look like that! :blink:

All nostalgic, like.

:thumbsup:

Nice.

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CompleteW&D

Discussion Starter · #18 · Sep 4, 2013 (Edited)

tenon0774 said:
I didn't think vinyl could look like that! :blink:

All nostalgic, like.

:thumbsup:

Nice.

LOL.... yeah I wanted to go with something else as well. But, with good wall preparation, lots of shimming (the old girl threw us a few hiccups, that's for sure), some arduous planning, a very nice panel (as vinyl goes) and frankly.... some of the best installers around, made it all come together.

The two man crew who did all of the siding and windows, spent nearly four weeks on the project. They took their time and made certain everything was as good as it could possibly be.

About the only thing that bothered me was, I sent Royal the same pictures and I never heard a peep from them. I thought they would at least send a rep by and take a look at it. Oh well.... it is what it is. At least those involved in the project (and now all of the rest of the web) knows how nice it came out. Maybe someone from Royal will stop by sometime and see it.

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