And now a paint job!!

We have one coat of primer paint going on the house today. Yesterday they (Protek Painting) finished the east side and today they're doing the west side. The difference is astonishing! Even though it's just the flat white primer and not the final paint it looks so much better to be all one color! We need to finish the foundation and replace the damaged siding on the bottom of the house before we can have the final paint applied, but this will make it look better and protect the siding in the interim.

Our renovation proposal was heard by the Corvallis Historic Resources Commission last Tuesday. We were worried that they'd want us to make a lot of changes to our plan, but not only did they say yes to all our proposal, they gave us one item we didn't ask for: they asked if the window shutters were original. We don't believe they are, and we don't like the way they look. Apparently neither did the Commissioners because they gave us the option of putting them back on after painting or not. So we'll leave them off.

We found out that for Corvallis' 150th birthday this year the City wants homeowners & businesses to plant 150 new trees in Corvallis. We've been planning to plant a couple of street trees anyway so I called the (extremely helpful) City Forester and requested 2 trees. As soon as I decide which kind we want she'll order them at no cost to us! We'll plant them when they arrive, probably in late fall.

Brian has been doing a lot of tear-out inside the house. The long-term water damage has made it necessary to replace a lot of the interior walls. I've attached a photo that's typical of what we're finding. The wood is so rotten that if I gently touch it, it crumbles. Not good! (top photo) On the positive side he's discovered some neat old joinery, the photo on the bottom shows some mortise & tenon he uncovered in the flooring!

We have a new roof & an improved back yard!

The roof is finished and it looks terrific (photo above)! It will be so nice to have the leaks stopped which will stop the ceilings & walls from deteriorating further. We’ll have Sprick Roofing back to do the shop & store room roofs when its time.

We are on the agenda for the August 28 Historic Resources Commission. The proposal came to 16 legal-size pages plus one addendum! We resolved the parking lot issue with the city, but we need a written report from a specialist certified arborist to confirm that our plan will work to save the old black walnut tree. The closest arborist of this type is 45 miles away, which means we’re paying $80 per hour of driving time plus working time! And that’s actually pretty inexpensive for this type of arborist. He’s a specialist on paving that will minimize impact on trees.

Yesterday we rented a small backhoe and Brian had a lot of fun! He cleared all the blackberry bushes from the backyard, and removed an old, overgrown lilac. I wanted to save the lilac but it was beyond that, so we’ll plant some new ones. The photos above show before (top) and after (bottom) from about the same perspective - quite a difference! The backyard looks so big now, and we can really see how much our property slopes to the north. We also found many beer & soda cans and a lot of trash. I was hoping for some old treasure lurking under the bushes, but no such luck. Brian also pulled up stumps in the front yard and I went behind him collecting the flower bulbs he’d uncovered. There were a lot; I plan to add those to the landscape plan as well.

There was an old metal shed in the yard next to the walnut tree. When Brian moved it with the backhoe we could see that some creature had been storing walnuts under it. There was a carpet of walnut shells about 3 inches deep! I tried hard not to think about which creature it might have been, but by removing the blackberries we’ve reduced the rat habitat. We should see fewer now that we’ve been getting things cleaned up.

The roofers have started! AKA Shake & Bake!

Sprick Roofing started tearing off the old shingle roof on Tuesday (7/31). They're finding a lot of damaged beams, but we expected that. Brian spent yesterday rebuilding the valley above the "sunroom" while I finished stripping the front door. I can't imagine tearing off old shingles on a 95 degree day with the dust & dirt present in such an old roof. The roofers were black with dirt by the time they quit for the day. They're pleasant guys: friendly and very hard-working. They started laying new shingles on the west side yesterday. Several neighbors stopped by to say how happy they are that the new roof is finally happening, and that we chose to replace it with cedar shingles. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished!

We were on the August 14 agenda for the Historic Resources Commission until the City planning department discovered a code that throws a huge monkey wrench into our parking lot plans. It seems that not only are we required to have access to our parking lot off the alley, but we must also widen the alley by 3 feet, and pave it at our expense! That kills our plans for a nice landscaped buffer zone between the alley and our parking lot. Now it will just be asphalt. Nothing green! It also has us, the City Forester, and the arborists I've talked to worried about the old walnut tree. The tree is up against the existing alley, and our concern is that the paving will kill the tree. We're trying to come up with alternate plans, but there's apparently no way to get around paving it all. We'd hate to see that tree die as it is not only very attractive, but also should reduce our cooling cost in summer. Stay tuned for developments!

A picture is worth...

Someone pointed out that I haven't posted a "before" photo lately! Here's the Caton House in its current condition.

I'm a stripper!

No, not that kind! I've been stripping coats of paint off the front door. It's a nice, solid wood door and so far I've taken 6 coats of paint off the outside! It was white originally, then red, green, red, teal, and green. I'll strip the inside of the door next, then start on another exterior door. I found a citrus-based stripper that isn't as harsh as the heavy-duty chemical stuff and although it doesn't take as many layers off at once as the harsh stuff it's gentler to the wood. Under many coats of paint I discovered the hinges are very decorative! I've posted a before photo, and I'll add another after I've stripped them of the many coats of paint.



Brian decided it was time to remove the old wood stove insert that sat in the fireplace. When he did we discovered that the birds were using the top of it for a nesting platform! At left is a photo of the stove with the nest on top which included a couple of tiny bird skeletons! We're going through rubber gloves & dust masks at an alarming rate!

Many of you have asked if we've found any cool stuff. I've included a photo of a wooden box with metal straps that we found under the blackberries. The Collections Manager at the Benton County Historical Museum said it was from a stage coach or covered wagon - the metal hooks on the bottom would have held it in place! We've offered it to them, but haven't heard back yet. If they don't want it we'll store it until we can find a place to display it. The wood is damaged in one corner, and of course the metal is rusty but it's in pretty good shape considering. We've also found lots of square nails, some greeting cards and newspapers from the 1940s, a chamber pot lid, and one mummified mouse - we didn't save that!

We're on the agenda for the August 14 meeting of the Historic Resources Commission at 7 pm in the Downtown fire station. We've submitted our proposal for renovation and have our fingers crossed. I'll post more about that at a later date.

The end of June already???

Hurray, we have permission from the City to replace the roof! Since we’re replacing a cedar shake roof with a cedar shake roof we don’t need to get the approval of the full Historic Resources Commission; the Executive Committee has approved this. We’ve hired Sprick Roofing who said they’ll buy the cedar now because the price has been going up, and it should be lower now than it will be in a couple of months when they replace our roof. Every little bit helps and we appreciate their forethought.

Our Project Managers jacked the house up to level it so we can also have the windows reglazed and replace the broken panes. Then we’ll weather-strip them and put storm windows on the inside for energy efficiency.

The open house was a lot of fun! We had about 70 people come through including a few who think we’re seriously nuts for taking this project on. Everyone else was having fun making lighthearted jokes about our sanity and the condition of the house. Yup, it’s in BAD shape!! The most interesting attendee was 96 year-old Marion Gathercoal (Paul couldn’t attend, unfortunately) who bought the house in 1940 and lived in it for about 4 years when they sold it to Paul’s brother & sister-in-law. She had lots of information & stories about the Caton House. She told us that when they bought it there were no indoor bathrooms so they lived in their camper in the backyard until Paul could install a half bath upstairs and a full bath on the main floor.

We’ll be working with Citizen’s Bank to get the funds for the renovations. They’ve been very helpful and we’ve liked working with them in the past. We have no worries about their end of things!

Brian removed the supporting beams (see photo) from under the 1948 addition making us wonder what was holding the place up. As someone once said to us the termites & carpenter ants were holding hands!



We’re having Beth Young Garden Design do the landscaping plan. We want the landscape to be easy to maintain, and not distract from the main purpose of the building. She and I haven’t had a discussion about specific plants yet, but I’m looking forward to that.

Terry Johnson is drawing up the plans, and doing a fine job, too! You can learn more about him at www.shelterwoodhomes.com. Terry is an excellent designer who we have hired for jobs in the past. Our clients speak very highly of his work and his professional approach.

Oh my aching back!

The house is officially ours, break out the champagne! Brian took this week off so we could get lots done in and around the house. I’ve been cutting blackberries, edging the lawn, and trimming overgrown shrubs. I found an interesting plant (photo) called a Voodoo Lily or Dragon Flower (Dracunculus vulgaris). I plan to dig it up before the excavator starts and save it for the final landscaping.

Brian had to dig a hole near the foundation and found an old chamber pot lid, still in one piece. Maybe we’ll find the rest of it later! The only other treasures we’ve found have been botanical, and many of those are beyond help because the landscape has been neglected for so long. Near the lilac is a rose bush that is fighting the blackberries for dominance. It has small flowers and a soft scent.

We’ve been pulling a lot of old lumber from under the house. Some of it we can use but what we can’t use we’ve been piling near the street with a “free” sign on it. It’s been disappearing along with other items we’ve found: an old chicken coop or maybe rabbit hutch, and the old kitchen stove. We’re glad that stuff won’t end up in the landfill. One man who stopped to get some pieces of the newer siding said he has the same siding on his house and needs a little more to repair damage!

The open house is on track and we’re really looking forward to seeing everyone. I’m having a “future home of...” banner printed at AlphaGraphics as well as some posters for the open house. They do a great job and offer good customer service.