Rebuilding My Rear
The Cross House sits on a highly visible corner, and all four facades can be fully seen depending on what direction one is walking/driving.
The east facade is, technically, the rear of the house but it is fully exposed to anybody driving west along Highway 50, about 25-feet away from the house. Yep, close. Scary close!
Because all four facades are so visible the architect of the house, Charles Squires, made sure that each was beautiful, and, for example, the wondrous and dramatic curved tin cornice which is such a feature on the front of the house carries around to all the other facades, even to the “rear” east facade.
The east facade, while originally quite beautiful, has had its loveliness diminished over the decades. One of the things I look forward to with GREAT anticipation is when the east facade is fully restored, and its beauty rightfully revealed after a L O N G hiatus.
The east facade of the Cross House. Can you see how it was once quite beautiful? Once?
A significant affront was a non-original (and impressively poorly built) shed over the original entrance to the basement. This HAD to go! The limestone IS original.
The awful shed is now gone! The basement entrance will get…
…something kinda like this, as it would have had in 1894.
From preliminary explorations I knew to expect termite damage. But, and excuse my language, OH SHIT! Geez, a terrifying amount of damage was discovered. You are looking at the sill, a big chunk of wood which the entire house sits on. And it was basically powder. EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! This is a piece of sill. And this was a GOOD piece! It was only like half eaten by termites!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! And, as it proved, the horizontal sill was only the beginning horror, for termites had eaten their way up VERTICALLY, too!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! Oh, and this image is really interesting because it reveals how the built-in ice chest was insulated! See the white stuff? It seems to be like some kind of cotton. Or something. I had expected sawdust.
EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! This is the NE corner and there is no there there. EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!
Bit by bit, ruination was replaced by new pressure-treated lumber. In the process, portions of the house which had drooped were jacked back up to level.
Mostly fixed. But not quite. The siding to left was then removed, revealing MORE termite damage!
Finally, after much rotted ado, all was covered in house wrap.
And new siding could be installed!!!!!!!! Note however that the siding is being installed a bit higher than normal, beginning about 12-inches from the bottom. Hi Justin! Hi Josh!
FYI: The siding sits above the water-table trim. This trim, mostly rotted away, is being newly custom made to match the original, and should be done in about two weeks. But….but…the weather is kinda good right now so the plan is to install the siding NOW and do the lower part after the recreated water-table is installed. Quite backwards but, well, in January one IS weather influenced.
A trick to the siding is to assure that it horizontally “mates” with the windows. See how the horizontal siding line meets up with the bottom of the pantry window sill? Smooth.
The original siding was VERY narrow and no modern siding was the same width. In order to make it all work the new siding had to be ripped to a narrow height. This was vital so that the siding did not protrude past the new 5/4 vertical trim boards (right). I know, this does not make any sense but anybody who has done this will totally get it!
And, zounds, some sided!
MOST of the 122-year-old siding/shingles on the house are restorable. But not on the east extension. The whole was brittle/rotted/eaten-by-termites and was just too far gone to salvage.
The new materials precisely match the original detailing, dimensions, and layout of the originals. When finished by the end of January (weather permitting) the 2017 results should look exactly like the 1894 results.
And, whoee.
Whoee!!!!!!!!
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Whoee indeed!
Indeed!
Wonderful! I’ve been wondering about the current state of the east side of the Cross House for a little while now. Your existing exterior shots were frightening even from a distance. Do you have an elevation of the original plans somewhere? If so, I don’t remember seeing it.
The east facade is the only facade for which I have no original drawings of. Sigh!
Ok, I have an old house moral/ethical quandary concerning the use of screws (and I ask because like you, I use them on exterior trim). Does it give you nightmares to think of some future owners trying to pry off trim for repair? Having disassembled buildings I am haunted by the fact that they’d be unsalvageable if assembled with puttied over screws, and yet THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING!!! Please, weigh in… (and yes, everything is looking amazing, and perhaps your head is too busy nightmaring about termites to worry about screws)….
I smile at your comment in deep recognition.
I, too, have the same worries.
The siding is being nailed on. The trim boards are being attached with those FABULOUS hex screws, I love love love them.
A close look at the trim will reveal the filled in screw holes. So, in the future, somebody could find the filled in holes, remove the putty, and remove the screws. I myself have done this with work I did years before.
Ross, what species of wood was the sill made from? In my house it is white oak. I think the timbers are 8″x 8″. Most of the sill was in good condition, despite the fact that the basement is damp. A damp basement is the breeding ground for many old house ills, including termites and creepy crawlies. I have to spray around the foundation, or I will have house centipedes- who are looking for a meal from all the other bugs that find their way in the basement. It is my fervent hope to parge the foundation and pour a new concrete floor. Whoever did the slab that is there did not use rebar, and the depth of the concrete is too thin. So I have cracks and sometimes water in the basement. I assume yours must be fairly dry since it has successfully stored items for many years. And I totally understand that all work I do on the house has to be repairable and reversible. I have received much annoyance from people working for me when I uphold this standard. Happy New Year!
Hi Michael,
I am not sure what the original sill is made of. It is, I think, 8×8 like yours.
Yes, my basement is dry, and will be even dryer after I move in and the heat/AC is working full time. The basement is also heated/cooled.
It’s a pretty cool basement.
I feel the termite/rot damage! 90% of both my structures are in the same condition. I must say though, with all the damage, I am amazed how well these structures still stand! Imagine a newer built home, out of engineered lumber and joist, all that glued together chip board! Could you imagine those houses in a hundred years and with this sort of damage there is no way they would be standing! As they say these ol girls have some great bones! And we all suffer some Arthritis sooner or later lol
I have seen many house that are a century old. And no matter the issues they can normally be restored.
But, almost without exception, when such houses have additions from the 1970s or 80s, these are in such bad shape that they need to be demolished.
Fabulous! As expected.
Wow, impressive work, especially considering the degree of deterioration you started with.
I really admire your attention to detail on the siding, and marching the original profile. Many people would just slap up whatever was stocked locally, or fiber cement or something with a totally incorrect profile.
I’ve had to make a lot of my own drip edges and moldings, but the siding on our house is 1/2″x4″ nominal bevel lap, which is still stocked here in Omaha, so that’s been convenient. What are the dimensions of your siding?
This was a great post. That siding looks great! In Chicago, mostly we do not have termites, except where I live (they like the areas by the lake that were filled with rubble/fill after the Chicago Fire). So, I have gotten pretty good at finding their mud trails and making sure that the wood is not too far gone. It makes me happy to see those repairs! What a relief.
Glad you enjoyed the post, Derek! And thanks for letting me know!
I don’t know why, but I’m entirely enamored by the roof lines. I stared at the first photograph for a good 5 minutes. Perhaps it’s because I live in an area where McMansions exist in droves and I have to look at effed up roofs every time I want a bit of sunlight.
So glad to see work on this! I’ve been on the edge of my seat since I first saw a a picture of this side of the house. Good fix with the ripped down modern siding. I probably would have done the same thing. I can’t wait to see how this turned out. Must keep reading…