Last updated on April 14th, 2014
LONG BEFORE THIS ANCIENT HOUSE WAS OURS, its west wing — which I use as a Music Room — had begun to deteriorate. Would you like to see what my partner and I are doing to restore and save this piece of Victorian history?
I should probably mention that the Music Room is a “modern,” 1850 addition to the house. It features 14-foot-tall walls, a ceiling with elaborate plaster-work, two sets of mahogany pocket doors, and an over-mantel mirror that extends to the ceiling. Here’s a tour of the room.
Naturally, before we purchased the house, we had it inspected. And when we asked about the sagging corners in the wing, the inspector told us not to worry. “The sloping floors were caused by settling,” he said. “But this wing has settled as much as it ever will.”
Ah, famous last words.
Indeed, over the past 11 years, the floor has headed nowhere except south.
Signs of distress:
On the east wall of the room, paper and plaster have developed a big split. This is the result of the shifting floor.
The floor shifted on the north end of the room, too. This has produced a long, unsightly crack in the wall.
The pocket doors no longer function as intended. I closed the doors just to show you the gap in the upper portion.
Even worse are the pocket doors at the entrance of the room. These can’t be closed at all.
But the scariest sight — the one that caused us to spring into action — is the crack in the floor, just beneath the entry-way.
We hired Joseph Iuviene, an architect, to assess the situation. After showing him the music room’s many flaws, he headed directly to the basement.
This is what he found:
The structure beneath the main core of the house — the part that Nathan Wild built back in 1826 — is strong and secure.
But the foundation under the music room — the wing that was built by Nathan’s son, Charles Wild — is in dire condition.
Several floor joists (above) are afflicted with dry-rot.
Furthermore, the foundation isn’t a “foundation” at all. It is merely a hodgepodge of loose stone that was never mortared. When the architect pointed this out, I became enraged. Did Charles Wild hire the village idiot to construct this foundation?
To make matters worse, dirt from the 19th-century excavation was never carted away. It was simply shoveled into the center of the space. The architect surmised that Charles Wild was too cheap to hire carts and oxen. (Charles, was, in fact, a very wealthy man.) As a consequence, we had to hire — 163 years later — a crew to remove much of the soil in order to gain access to the areas that require work. And that soil had to be carted out, bucket-by-bucket, up a flight of stairs. Our contractor hired Chris (pictured above) and Corey — two very nice, and certainly intelligent fellows — to help out with all aspects of the restoration project.
Now that we know what we are dealing with, the real work can begin. First, cement footings will be poured. Then, inch-by-inch, the sunken corners of the wing will raised.
I look forward to showing you the results of this massive restoration-job. Like pocket doors that close properly. And walls and floors that are stable, and crack-free.
As for the torn wallpaper, would you believe that I found extra rolls tucked away in the attic? Thank goodness the owners who installed this paper in the 1980s left their surplus behind.
Now, if you’d like to see more scenes from this hideous necessary project, by all means let me know. I’d be happy to show you what a footing looks like. Frankly, I’m curious myself.
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Related Posts:
House Tour Part One: The Music Room
House Tour Part Two: The Entrance Hall & Staircase
House Tour Part Four: The Parlor
Terri says
Please show your progress with the music room! Having been part os numerous renovations…yea good and bad…. I would love to watch the renovation steps.
Brenda Johnson says
No wonder I haven’t seen you lately!!!! Great Scott!!!! I shall keep a sharp eye out from my vantage point across the street for signs of collapse!!!! (of YOUR collapse that is… the house seems to be in good hands!) Do take good care!!!!! Your presence is missed!!!
Rosemeri says
Wow. I would be enraged too. Glad it is fixable but he really was a cheap idiot. I’d like to see the work in progress. Even though I’ll never be in a position to renovate a house like yours, I find it interesting to see how it’s done. You never know when you might pick up a good tip that will come in handy some day. Good luck with the restoration work.
Cheryl says
Oh, Kevin! I am so with you in spirit right now! I live in a house built in 1873. Tube and knob wiring, nothing was level, no ceiling beams up to code and needed replacement. When I was lamenting the restoration involved when I purchased this house in 1983–an older neighbor said, “All it really takes is time and money, time and money.” Boy, was he right!!!! Hang in there–it will all be worth it.
Louise Brouillette says
Although our house is “only” 130 years old, it requires so much upkeep, so my thoughts are with you! It sounds as if you and your partner hired excellent people, so I’m sure it will be in good shape before too long. Keep us posted!
Beth Fava says
Looking forward to watching your progress. I am curious, with the loose stone foundation, how it is that you haven’t had water problems.
Judy says
Kevin, when the architect said ‘the wing’ he didn’t mean the North Wing, did he?? Gulp!
Donna Scramling says
Relax and breathe; it sounds like you’ve put your lovely music room in good hands and that all will be well. I look forward to the photos of the progress.
Lee McLean says
It would seem that your village idiot was very busy and helped build houses that many of us ended up in. Our best wishes to you through the whole ordeal, I mean, adventure.
Tanya Narzt says
The joys of an older home. As a child our brick basement started caving in. Mom didn’t have the funds to fix it so we had to sell and move. The house was fixed for $4,000 and is now worth over $200,000. She bought it at $14,000 and had to sell at $10,000. Of course that was a wee bit of time ago….. 1974 I believe.
My siblings and I have gone back over the years to the town we lived in for a few years because it was the only house that had seemed a home to us… We also seem to every few years go find ‘the house’.
It had prism windows that cast beautiful rainbows and a beautiful wooden staircase. Memories.
Enid says
Yikes—that wood plank with the crack is scary! What a big ordeal! And I was sitting here all day feeling sorry for myself in my 100 year old house because in the last few weeks a leak has spung in the ceiling of my sitting room—the paint is peeling, it’s created a discolored stain and today, when it was raining really hard, it was dripping, so I’m all scrunched up on the side of the couch farthest away, with some cardboard and newspapers and a plastic tray—drip, drip, drip—spread on the floor. The slate roof guy is coming tomorrow morning; the leak appears to be orginating from where some kind of pipe sticks out of the roof, so a slathering of some waterproof roofing goop at the juncture of the roof and pipe should do the trick. So lucky that my fix doesn’t included buckets of dirt carried up basement stairs. Do keep us informed of the progress of operations to your beautiful music wing.
Arthur in the Garden! says
I love the signs of age. At least the ones you can live with. A scuff here. A gouge here. All part of the history and charm of old houses.
constantine says
So sorry for you! What a huge and expensive undertaking. I’d through some blame in the direction of your home inspector…it’s not to difficult to point out a mortarless wall. There had to have been a couple feet of it exposed under there to see. You’ll need another vacation after this!
Jocelyne says
What a fascinating and beautiful house! A lucky house to have caring owners and lucky owners to have found spare beautiful wall paper! Good luck with your project; it would be lovely to see how it goes along.
Susi says
Oh gosh, so sorry for your house troubles! It will certainly be worth it when you have your concerts in the gorgeous music room.. Who plays the piano?
Dennis R says
Kevin, did you provide Cory w/ a canary in a cage while he was
excavating the “older than dirt” dirt? LOL see you in a few months.
Donna B. says
Oh boy – but it’s truly a testament to the survivability of the house that it didn’t completely crack down to the floor! And by catching it before the music room collapsed into the basement means you saved a pretty penny… Dark thoughts, but true! hehe.
But yes – I would LOVE to see the progress on the foundation!
I currently live in an older home [1900’s Colonial] that was ransacked by the previous owner… they did some terrible things to the house, like taking down a wall to ‘open the space’ but then walling up a door! It took a couple of weekends for us to fix the mistake he made – he forgot to put a SUPPORT BEAM in the ceiling for the wall he took down! THAT was a fun surprise, when we noticed my art room’s floor was concave…
And just this past weekend I spent with the DH breaking the wall down and reviving the door… Now it’s time to paint! [I love home-projects… ♥]
mike says
Home ownership is wonderful, isn’t it?!
Marilyn says
This is serious stuff Kevin. Actually, stacked stone foundations were pretty prevalent back then. But we certainly have better ways of propping up our structures now. Your new concrete foundation should last the life of the house if done properly. More fun to decorate than repair, but it must be done! Save that beautiful room.
Jo says
As someone who has spent 12 years renovating an old (but not as old as yours) house, and having much work done to keep out water and shore up foundations, I salute you! There is nothing worse than having your beautiful house full of awful noise and dirt and dust for weeks on end (well, there probably is something worse. Fire, flood and tsunamis spring to mind. But it feels like nothing worse could happen at the time), and even though the end result will be that your house won’t fall down, it is still hard to live with. Hope you have a bolthole with a steaming cup of tea available..
Carole says
I love the pictures of your home and grounds that you share with all of us. It makes me feel like I’m your family or a neighbor just a couple doors away! (Also loving your crossed out words in this week’s newsletter. You are an absolute hoot, Kevin!)
Sharon says
How I feel your pain. I had a similar issue (including an inspection that said the floor was in great condition) which ended up costing a small fortune. Check with your insurance agent as part of the cost may be covered by insurance. It took me 7 yrs to repair the damage which encompassed the ENTIRE first floor of my house and I could not afford to move out while the work was being done. But once it was done, I knew the house would be solid for another 75-100 yrs. Good luck.
Ginger Blymyer says
I am so glad you can afford to fix all this. It is such a beautiful house and I love how you share. I often think that houses have thoughts and feelings and I am sure this one is so happy you have discovered what it really needed and that you have learned the history. This is so interesting.
Marty says
You are very fortunate that you have the money & someone to help share in this tedious project. We have an OLD farm house that needs gentle loving repairs, but my spouse doesn’t share my thoughts on the fix up! One day I’ll coax him into seeing it MY way! LOL
Cathy in Cleveland says
Please share every step of the journey of your music room’s return to greatness!
Alyce says
I want to watch the progress too. You are very smart to address the situation now before if becomes a reclamation instead of a restoration.
Lynda says
What a big (expensive?) but necessary project to undertake!! Kudos to you both. Yes, please share the many steps with your readers. This sounds like an episode of “This Old House” or Mike Holmes program, “Make it Right.”
anita says
would love to see “the rest of the story”. good luck with the restoration. what a beautiful room.
Donnella Bryce says
Hi Kevin, I am curious about those amazing ‘valances’ above the curtians, they appeared to be beautiful wood. Are they still there or what happened to them?
Oriane says
Oh Kevin, it was painful to look at the damage. You’ve given heart and soul to this house. So glad you found some extra rolls of paper (my heart skipped when I saw the huge crack).
It sounds as if the project in in capable hands and I too would like to see updates on the progress.
You and your partner should open a bottle of champagne when the work is done.
Best wishes for a smooth restoration.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Sharon – Excellent tip regarding insurance. We will call our agent tomorrow.
Donella Bryce – The hand-carved wooden valances are at windows behind the pocket doors. The wood is very fragile now. Thankfully there has been no damage to that wall.
Oriane – Champagne will definitely be in order when this project is finished!
Nicole says
I’m so glad there was extra wallpaper! I was just about to say I love the shade of the drapes combined with that paper!
Carolyn Contois says
I love seeing your newsletter every Sunday… I agree with Carole… you feel like a neighbor…a dream neighbor at that! Thank you for loving that amazing home. I love to watch The Rehab Addict in the DIY network….she inspires me to think that I can do anything….I feel the same way about cooking when I try your recipes… is gardening next????
Carol says
So glad the house has found someone to take care of it.
Susan says
Wow the music room is beautiful! My favorite color…red! Love the room!
Jan says
What a wonderful thing to preserve such a treasure of a home. America is to quick to tear down the old. We have had to do foundation repair due to drought stress here to our 40 year old home. I can only hope that this house will still be here a 100 years from now!
Cathy Haynes says
I would LOVE to see the progress! Your house is my dream home, though I could never afford to do what you’ve done to this house. I love it!!!
S. Taylor says
It is a shame that you have to go to the lengths you do to take care of your wonderful home but so wonderful that you can and you are!
Barb Polski says
I have a 100 year old farm house that was in desperate shape when I bought it almost 20 years ago. It ‘s much improved but not finished, if it ever will be!! I would love to see the progress on your beautiful home.
Molly says
Your wit and good humor (and maybe cracking out that champagne a bit earlier than planned) will take you through. How lucky was this beautiful home to fall into your hands. It’s very generous of you to share the good, the bad and the ugly….but mostly the good and the beautiful. Good luck with the reno.
paintedwallpanelled.com says
This room is looks like a dream room!!!
Denise in Colorado says
Please do keep us updated on your renovation, Kevin! It’s so exciting to save an old house even though it can be an expensive pain in the neck! My 113 year old house has been an ongoing project since I bought it in 1984… But it is always a joy to look at what’s been done and plan for the next project! At least you have rooms to renovate! I am out of space and I want to build a sunroom/greenhouse to enjoy during these dark cold winter/early spring days! I love your pianos and hopefully the music room will be a joy to you again soon! 🙂
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