1907 Farm House Renovation

WORK LOG - 2004
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12/25/04 My wife loves me so much! For x-mas, I was given a dual work light stand to work on our old farm house with! I suppose it's fair since I gave her a Home Depot gift card. <GRIN> Merry X-mas All!

11/29/04 Due to a virus our computer had to be reformatted and we have not been able to file any updates until today. Since our last update, we have finished the roofing on the weather side of the house, finished all but three of the ceiling joists in the Living Room, laid down most of the sub-floor in the Living Room, nailed the siding back down to the side exterior wall in the Parlor, removed the damaged flooring from the Bathroom and placed a new floor joist to support the wall between the Bathroom and Jayden's Bedroom in the SE corner, and cleaned out all but one upstairs bedroom, including cleaning out the claw foot bathtub from the Bathroom.

10/10/04 Lots of progress since our last update! Kass and her dad began putting on the new roof over the side of the house this weekend! Over the last two weeks, Kass & her dad jacked up the sunken corner of the Parlor/Living Room. In the Parlor, we've removed the flooring that could be salvaged, finished replacing the sub floor, rebuilt the exterior wall, finished the floor joists and replaced the sill plate. Kass and her dad also framed in the exterior door for the Living Room. Rick cleaned out two of the upstairs bedrooms in anticipation of pulling in the exterior wall that popped out when the front porch collapsed, and he cleaned out the stairwell & entryway also. (Sweeping with a cast on one arm is not recommended by the way.) Kass purchased two more light fixtures off ebay and sometime next week we have a general contractor friend coming out to help us pull in that second floor wall and advise us on projects we're unsure how to go about just yet.

09/26/04 More progress made this weekend; we finished putting the new ceiling joists in the Parlor, re-opened the doorway from the Living Room, and cleaned out all the junk from the den! Also cleared out a lot of brush from the road to the chimney so we could back a trailer in to remove the roofing debris, and cleared some brush from the front to remove the remains of the front porch and deck. In a conversation with Kass' uncle, who used to be the local fire chief, a tree fell back in 1970 and landed on the house during a severe storm. This may explain why the upper deck & lower porch were taken off of the house on that side, and why the roof on that side had no wood shingles, and solid perlins instead of the usual spacing for wood shingles. On a sad note, Portland General Electric gave us their pricing or "fine" as Rick put it. To move the house without the roof would be approximately $5,000, while leaving the roof on will be $10,000. We both agreed it would be worth it to leave the roof on and pay the additional amount rather than re-engineer a new roof and hope it looks original. Even worse, PGE requires a 200% payment, just in case there are any additional costs, and after the move they will reimburse us minus any additional fines... err... fees they tack on. So we really have to pay them $20,000 and hope they pay us back in a timely manner.

09/20/04 Acquired two new (to us) light fixtures for the house today, and also an e-mail from a grandson of the original owners! His mother Lillian is still alive, and remembers a little about the house. She was born in 1907 and lived in the house during it's construction. We are therefore changing our mind about the house having been built in 1901. They also had a picture of the house during construction!!! (SEE BELOW) The Historical Society told us it had been built in 1901 and the exterior chimney had been added in the 1930's or later. I am having less confidence in the information provided by them the more I research and talk with the family of the original owners. <grin> Yesterday Kass, her son Rick and her dad replaced or sistered all but one of the floor joists into the Living Room! They ran out of 2x8's or they would have finished. We purchased more today and will see if we can get it done soon!

Then - circa 1907...
1907 or so...

...and now, 09-26-04.

09/13/04 We signed the contract with Northwest Structural to move the house (next summer). Now the long wait to see what PGE is going to say; will the roof stay on, or will it have to come off? We should know in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Kass and her dad have been working on raising the sinking corner between the Parlor and the Living Room and replacing floor joists in the Living Room. They also took down all the trim for the pocket doors and the doors themselves for safe keeping and repairs.

09/08/04 The threat of rain had Kass and her dad working frantically the last few evenings trying to get the roof "buttoned up". They managed to get the tar paper on the two sides that we had torn the roofing off and get a tarp over it and the rest of the roof for added temporary protection.

09/05/04 Today was a LONG day. Our friend Harry and Kass spent the day up on the roof, tearing off the four layers of asphalt shingles and the layer of wood shingles on the side of the house. They also started repairing the rafters, rafter tails and purlins so we can then put on our new metal roofing. Rick, Ricky, Cliff (Rick's dad) and Brian (Ricky's friend) worked downstairs sistering in floor joists in the Parlor and the Living room. The boys also removed the rest of the front porch. Rick and Harry found a newspaper clipping dated 1914 in the attic Titled "The Confessions of a Wife-Aunt Mary Advises" and a 1941 penny.

09/04/04 We started jacking up the worst part of the house today. We put a beam and two jacks under the floor joists in the Parlor and Living Room with some more blocks and another beam (directly over the floor jacks) under the ceiling joists so we could jack up the whole section (top and bottom) at once to level the area. We also put a couple of jacks under the outside (below the sill) on the inside corner between the Parlor and Living Rooms to raise the corner of that area. It has the worst water damage and rot.We tore out the rotted Bathroom window and wall to assess the damage. Surprisingly the siding is still intact and will not need to be replaced, however the inside of the wall and the window itself are "history". We prepared to start taking the roof off, we counted the purlins that need replacing and went to our local Home Depot and purchased our supplies. We were able to open one of the pocket doors, unfortunately we found some damage on the bottom portion, but it is repairable.

09/03/04 Our roofing arrived today. They actually brought the sheet metal in its "natural" form and rolled it into shape at the house. (see Pictures in "Roof") Rick and Ricky went to Hippo Hardware and picked up a new Kitchen window (see pictures under "Kitchen"). We traded in the other windows we had bought, as this one is a better fit. Our friend Harry came out this afternoon and helped up tear out the living room floor.

09/02/04 Happy Birthday to Kass! Unfortunately, Rick damaged a ligament in his arm and now has a cast on his right arm until October 14th. This will slow us down a little bit. :(

08/26/04 Up on the roof we went today, measuring every little nook and cranny. Then it was off to the metal fabricator to order the roofing. We chose an "antique brown/slate color" standing seam metal roof. We should have it by the end of next week.

08/18/04 All of the Kitchen ceiling joists are in! Need to move our temporary support wall so we can do the Living Room floor and ceiling joist work, then build the support wall that was destroyed by water damage.

08/15/04 Today we finished "sistering" in the new floor joists in the Kitchen and one ceiling joist "sistered" up as well...only 7 more to go in the Kitchen. It's starting to take shape!

07/25/04 Removed more of the Kitchen floor today. The Ryobi cordless sawsall kept dying after about eight feet of cutting through the old growth timbers, so the Stihl FarmBoss Wondersaw (Chainsaw) made short work of what we had left to cut through. We put our first floor joist in, and then the cordless nail gun wouldn't fire. Some progress, but not as much as we'd hoped for.

07/22/04 We tore out most of the Kitchen ceiling, more of the floor and some of the wall today. We also added an extra jack to our temporary wall brace. The Kitchen ceiling appears pretty dry & sound about 1-2 feet away from where the wood stove chimney was. We will need to replace one or two ceiling joists, and may be able to scab or sister in on the rest of the damaged joists.

07/04/04 We bought WINDOWS! We found (4) double hung wood windows to go in the Living Room and Kitchen. They are a little smaller than the originals but they will do and they were only $50 for all 4! We have started tearing out the damaged areas of the Living Room floor, Parlor floor and the wall between the Kitchen and the Living Room. We bought lumber to rebuild the wall between the Kitchen and Living Room and we put up temporary bracing with house jacks and a couple of 4x4's.

06/27/04 While Linus' cousin, Bob Miller, did not live in the house, he does recall it from a visit there with his father in the late 1970's. Bob remembered a few stories about it and those who grew up there. He is attempting to get in contact with other relatives who may have some knowledge of the house. We found out that Nora's youngest daughter, Lillian (97 years old!) is still living in the Seattle area. We're not sure how well her memory is or if she will recall much of the home though. It seems age is taking it's toll on her.

06/25/04 Received an e-mail correspondence from Linus Pauling Jr.! He believes he stayed in the house briefly back in 1936, and has forwarded our contact information to his cousin who he believes was living in the house then. We may soon have contact with someone who lived in it back in its "original state"!!!

06/19/04 We cleaned out the plaster and debris from the Living Room, Parlor & Kitchen, and removed the plywood over the windows to allow the rooms to dry out and to air out the dust. The wood flooring in the Living Room and Kitchen has a lot of water damage, but it appears the Living Room floor is at least is intact. The Kitchen has some sections where it appears the original wood flooring was removed and replaced with plywood. The Parlor has a small hole in the floor, around 1' long and about 6-7 inches wide. The extent of the damage has yet to be determined, but does not look very good. On a happier note, the pocket door located in the wall with the worst water damage appears to be in good condition.

06/17/04 Today the house officially became OURS! We signed a salvage contract with the previous owners and paid them $1.00. Our financing is in place, so now we have to do the structural repairs and have it moved to our property, hopefully by the end of summer! We also examined an old stepping stone behind the house. Inscribed in the cement are three names, "LuLu", "Jack", and "Betty". The first two are Nora's children, but we are mystified at who Betty is.

06/16/04 Rick did some research and found some original pictures of the house! They came in the mail today, and guess what? We have an original picture of the house after it was built!

Photograph provided courtesy of OSU Special Collections - Ava Helen & Linus Pauling Papers

The house was originally built by Nora & G.R. Miller. Nora is short for Elnora, her maiden name was Elnora Gard, daughter of JJ Gard, Oregon pioneer! Nora & G.R. had 12 children! They were, in order from oldest to youngest, George Miller, Blanche M, Nettie, Pearl, John P, Milton M, Clay C, Mary, Lulu G (Gorgo), Ava Helen, Gladys Patricia, and Lillian (Dickie). We don't have complete histories on all the children yet, but Clay lived locally and we are in contact his his son Bob. Ava Helen married Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize winner from OSU, and Ava Helen was an activist in her own right. Lillian, the youngest child is 97 and lives near Seattle. We are also in contact with one of Ava's sons, Linus Pauling Jr., and Lillian's son Bob. We are not using their last names to protect their privacy. The above picture came to us courtesy of the OSU Special Collections department. We are hoping to get some family information on each of the children and have a scrapbook to commemorate them.

06/10/04 Spoke to a person from the Clackamas County historical division today. According to them, our house was actually built in 1901, not 1907 as we originally thought by the current owner. It was built by Nora and George Richard Miller. She is sending us more information in the mail.

06/07/04 We obtained a picture of the house circa 1971 from our local tax assessors office. From this picture we can see the original chimney for the wood stove, and a small porch to a door in the Living Room that isn't there now. The porch in this picture does not look original, as the roof is very slanted with no railing for a balcony from the door upstairs. From later conversations with the previous owners, it appears the front porch was sagging, and that while it might have been the original porch, the railing was removed at some time. From conversations with older residents, it is believed the porch below went all the way around to the side of the house by the chimney. It appears they were working on it back in 1971, as what looks like a sheet of plastic is draped over the two windows around the chimney. Soon we hope to dig through the historical tax records for more documentation or any other (crossing fingers) pictures or written descriptions of the original house they may have. The tax records estimated it was built in the 1920's, but it matches a floor plan from the 1900's home plans book we've researched too closely for us to think that.

1971 Tax Assessors picture.

06/03/04 We discovered pocket doors between the Parlor and Living Room! Condition of which is undetermined other than they exist! :)

05/22/04 We covered the roof with a tarp to protect the rooms from further water damage. Took some of the tin off the sides where the foundation would be to help it air out some.

05/13/04 Met with the current owners, and they gave us some background on the house. An 'old timer' who lived next door thought it was built in 1908 or so. The people living there had 12 children! There was an older farm house that was just North of their property, and the remains of the foundation were there when the neighbor went to till the land for pasture. They have no interest in saving the house and are willing to let us have a go at it!

05/09/04 Sent letter to current owners of the house, asking if they would be interested in letting us fix up and move the old house from their property.

2003-2004 Kassandra Young asks her husband Rick about the idea of fixing up an old farm house to move onto their property. Rick thinks she's nuts but of course goes along with the idea. :) In May of 2004 she mentions the house on Ridge Rd where she used to go to 4H meetings at, and Rick says she should send them a letter asking if they would be interested in selling the home.

1977 Kassandra Kirchhofer went to 4-H meetings at the home of Gary & Carol Barker, and thought it was a nice old farm house.

(Estimated) 1907 House was built for Nora & G.R. Miller and family.

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