Finished as of Summer 2010...All the aluminum gable vents were replaced with cedar wood vents louvered with screening to keep animals out but provide sufficient attic ventilation, the addition and screen porch added a wonderful flow to the floor plan where the old and new were woven together gracefully (complements of architect Coby Linton, Architect), we rebuilt several brick piers that lost their function over the years with CMU filled piers with inspected footings, replaced over 20 feet of termite ridden 4x10 band joist with double pressure treated 2x10's, restored the double hung windows througout, plaster in half the house, interior and exterior trim, german siding, and rebuilt the front porch with tapered columns custom built off-site...all in all, it was a pleasure to see something so outdated brought back to life with so much intrinsic beauty in its roots.

Kitchen coming along...

built-ins

Fireplace and plaster work

A week ago

Cliff is getting it done!

Front porch is coming together...

Siding and trim are getting done.

Archway being reinforced and plastered.

Windows and siding going in.

This front porch has been a booga-bear, as some might put it...

Termites bored through this 85 year old 4x10 inch outer band of the home. 20 feet of it had to be replaced.

Charles Echols, the old plaster guy. First two rooms will have its plaster restored.

Front porch jacked & leveled with curved rafters done, new headers, temporary posts, roof installed, chimney flashed in copper. Extra dirt hauled, back & front yards graded since all of our digging. This past weekend was truly packed.

Done...capped, and flashed, safer and better looking than before.

He and Luis, his brother, work together and they have supplied scaffolding to reconstruct the chimney. In the process, we placed a heavy duty stainless steel flexible chimney liner within the existing clay flu. It had to be maneuvered from the top and bottom, but it makes the outdated coal box functional again and ready for a wood stove insert.

Manuel Espinosa Godinez is the best brickmason I know. He has an amazing story of how he got here as well. He's rebuilding the front stairwell/stoop here. It had no footing and was sinking beyond repair into our soft soils.

This porch has been hurting over the years. The main issue has been here in front of the front door. So we took out the brick stairwell and we prepared for new footings. The old footing was obsolete. The house is basically resting on semi-solid ground. Wherever water penetrates and finds a place to rest, the ground gives way and the foundation buckles. So we are reinforcing this problematic area only to build it back the way it was. We barely beat the snow yesterday.

Meanwhile...