In article , Harold and Susan Vordos says...

It sounds like a very nice place. Any chance you could send me a picture of
your place, Jim? If you're comfortable doing so, please send it via email.

LOL. It's awful harold. It has nasty faded pink siding and the landscaping
could best be described (charitably) as a varied mix of industrial and
weedy.

These were city houses put up at the turn of the century for working folks
and while they had some nice touches (we found hand-inlaid parque wood flooring
under the carpets in two of the downstairs rooms, and there are two nice
stained glass windows downstairs) the rooms are small, closets almost
non-existent, and the former owners, while well-intentioned, were strapped
for cash and moderatly incompetent in all their efforts at renovation and
maintenence.

The roof is original, with the odd construction of horizontal lath
strips over the rafters, which were then covered with cedar shakes, and
top of that went slates. This was a common local construction I think
and the cedar shakes take the place of modern plywood underlayment. Labor
costs were insignificant at the time. :^)

It's balloon frame construction because at the time one could find trees
tall enough to generate two-story tall 2X4s. There are no fire
stops, no insulation in the walls, and the thing will burn to the
ground in an instant if it catches on fire.

It needs an entire new kitchen, it still has the claw-foot bathtub in the
single bathroom upstairs, and I suspect it was one of the very first houses
in the city to have indoor plumbing - it was originally owned by a plumber
who did the work himself I think. With the idea that he'd go back and to
it right later on. Which never came to pass. The house directly to the
south had a barn and outhouse behind it, and still has a hand-pumped
dug well in the backyard. This was probably the first house in the
neighborhood.

We put a new porch on the front a few years ago because the old one was
in rough shape, so that kind of dressed up the property a bit. I'll
see if I can find a jpg of the place to put in the dropbox.

Jim


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